14th February 2017

A possibly unscripted February 13 remark by Donald Trump might indicate he wants to break up NAFTA, not merely renegotiate it. At a press conference for the Washington visit of...

4th January 2017

I think the biggest event of 2016 for our industry was the outright opposition to international trade on which America’s Republican Party campaigned successfully in the Congressional elections. Most people...

6th April 2016

Despite years of widely denied decline, British garment-making showed serious signs of a revival in the second half of 2015. There's a touching annual ritual in our trade, which goes...

3rd April 2015

In the April 3 Sourcing Journal Online, I look at the continuing fall in US apparel making jobs. However much hype gets generated about the alleged onshoring boom, jobs in...

19th March 2015

The US Department of Defense launched on March 18 a competition to form a new manufacturing hub focused on revolutionary fibre and textile technologies. The $75 million federal investment will...

11th February 2015

The standing Democrat on the US Congress Joint Economic Committee (charged with "making a continuing study of matters relating to the US economy") issued a perceptive report on the US...

31st January 2015

In addition to its deal with Australia, in early November, Korea announced it had initialled an FTA with China, though said it would not release details until a provisional signature...

26th January 2015

Hanesbrands announced on January 26 it was adding 120 jobs to the 450 at its Clarksville, Arkansas, sheer hosiery plant in a $1.5mn expansion. A decade ago, the plant employed 480....

16th January 2015

“Santana will open very soon,” said a Santana representative on January 13 about its much-delayed Texas operation as local authorities in Edinburg approved a resolution that supports the company’s application...

2nd November 2014

There is nothing in the announcements about Fruit of the Loom (FOTL) selling its US spinning mills to Parkdale that explains why. I can imagine why there isn't: FOTL used...

27th March 2014

The China Cotton Association announced a 4.2% reduction, effective from April 1, in China’s base cotton selling price to RMB 17,250/tonne ($1.27 per pound)  from RMB 18,000 ($1.32) on March...

27th December 2013

Cotton Leads, a promotional device for US and Australian cotton growers, announced 30 participants - none of them retailers or major brands - on December 20, after the programme's mid-October...