The American Apparel and Footwear Association, in collaboration with the Manufacturing Solutions Center (MSC), has released industry guidelines establishing testing standards for legwear, hosiery, and socks. Covering a range of issues - including product safety, labeling, and physical attributes such as color, fastness, and fit this resource provides useful, product-specific testing recommendations for the industry and its lab partners.

Rick Helfenbein, President and CEO of the American Apparel and Footwear Association says these testing guidelines are the latest in a series of member-driven tools that AAFA has released to help the industry ensure cost-effective solutions for common problems.

The legwear industry is unique explained Dan St Louis, Director of the Manufacturing Solutions Center at Catawba Valley Community College. Specific industry testing guidelines are long overdue to ensure the industry has the proper and specific guidance it needs to produce quality, compliant products.

This testing guidelines document is a free, open-industry resource that will be housed on the AAFA and MSC websites. Future versions will be released as updates become necessary.

Woolmark has partnered with Australian shopping centre Westfield to put the spotlight on wool this winter’s retail season. Australian wool is the star in a curated selection of winter accessories, boots, denim and apparel. The campaign supports local retailers, starring wool in a curated selection of winter accessories, boots, denim and apparel, and celebrates Australian merino wool, the growers who produce the fiber and the designers who use it.

Westfield and Woolmark are telling the farm to fashion wool story, recognising people who produce one of the most important fibers for fashion worldwide. The campaign gives customers inspiration on how to integrate wool into their new season wardrobe, alongside a wide range of winter footwear, accessories and apparel from a number of Australia’s favorite brands, all available at Westfield.

The initiative champions the eco-credentials of fiber and says it is the perfect choice for today’s conscious consumer and that, natural or biodegradable, wool provides the global apparel industry with the most renewable, recyclable and reusable fiber on the planet.

The event is not only an engaging way for consumers to experience the natural attributes and luxuriousness of Australian merino wool, it also offers Australian woolgrowers a window into the commercial aspect of the fiber they work hard to produce.

Circular Fibers is an industry-wide initiative to build a new global textile system based on the principles of the circular economy. The initiative has been launched by Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Circular Fibers brings together key industry stakeholders, such as H&M and Nike, to collectively define a vision for a new system that benefits businesses and citizens, and also phases out negative impacts such as waste and pollution.

The project will encourage businesses to shift away from the current take, make and dispose model, which puts high demand on land, energy and other resources. It aims at catalysing change across the industry by creating an ambitious, fact-based vision for a new global textile system, underpinned by circular economy principles, that has economic, environmental, and social benefits, and can operate successfully in the long term.

Textiles play an important role in the global economy. But a growing trend in consumerism has led to an inefficient waste and resource management system. In the US, for example, an estimated 85 per cent of clothing waste ends up in landfills.

Circular Fibers will provide an analysis of the textile industry. It will look at what a new circular economy for textiles could look like, and lay out the steps needed to build it.

China will be the next stop in Cividini's growth strategy. The men's and women's clothing brand, which was founded by Piero and Miriam Cividini in the late 1980s, generated 90 per cent of its €12 million turnover in 2016 from sales abroad.

Piero Cividini explains the company has made a deal with a local distributor, Singapore IFFG, to expand in the Far East over the next five years, with a network of ‘shop in shops' in some of China's most prestigious malls. The first store opened at the end of April in Shanghai, inside the Golden Eagle International Shopping Center. The day after a multi-brand IFF Gallery was inaugurated in Nanjing: 3,000 sq. mt. of space dedicated to high-end fashion, including Cividini's collections.

So far in 2017, the brand has shown signs of development, with a positive sales campaign: Piero Cividini, states that the orders for the fall winter 2017/18 season ended with a slight increase and the company is looking to end the year with a single-digit increase in sales. Cividini's main markets are Japan, where it has 20 shop-in-shops and 60 MBOs, and the United States, where they're present in 40 multi-brand boutiques.

The company from Gorle, near Bergamo, Italy, is present in 250 wholesale stores elsewhere throughout the world, in Italy, Europe, Russia, South Korea, and Taiwan. In order to reach their global clientele, the company enacted a development process that, according to the founder, the company has a great deal to do with the generational change and it is important to look for demographics that have different consumption habits.

Women make up the major share of Cividini's clientele, their menswear collection was launched only a few years ago and these clients appreciate the brand's quality and discreet elegance.