Anna Le
IVANA J
Samantha Mariko
Martine Falk Andersen
Izzy Bea
An official of Fujian Inspection and Quarantine Bureau expressed the satisfaction on footwear exports, and said the unite price increase is evident to the improvement on competitiveness and value-added in footwear exports, high-priced footwear exported to EU and America shows strong growth, shoe made from textile to EU grew 199.1% while exports to Middle East, Africa, ASEAN and other emerging regions remained the same or even slight decline.
The Total Sales of Social Consumer Goods reached 1257 billion yuan in August in China, up 18.4% from the same period last year. The growth rate is 0.5 percentage point higher than that in July. From Jan. to Aug., the Total Sales of Social Consumer Goods accumulated to 9749.2 billion yuan, up 18.2% year on year, the same pace of growth with first seven months. By the category of regions, the Total Sales of Social Consumer Goods in urban regions were 1093 billion yuan in August, up 18.8%; while 164 billion yuan in rural regions, up 15.9%.
The total sales of clothes, shoes, caps, knittings and textiles were 39.9 billion yuan this month, up 22.1% on a yearly basis, but the pace of growth were 2.3 points down from one month earlier. From Jan. to Aug., the total sales of clothes, shoes, caps, knittings and textiles accumulated to 354 billion yuan, up 23.7%. That??s 0.1 point lower than that of first seven.
The designing competition for leather goods launched on September 18, 2010 in Baigou, Hebei province, which was organized by the Ninth Luggage, Bags and Fashion Festival organizing committee, and Baigou government.
The participating works including bags for men and lady and packsacks and travel luggage were divided into 90 groups to compete for 28 items of awards.
The results came out after assessment made by the competition committee and experts, the works from Weisite and Yutu won the golden medals for man’s and lady’s bags, the first awards for luggage and packback went to the works designed by Guangshun Company and Qinglang Travel Luggage Group. The best designing award won by a student in Beijing Environment and Art Schoo.
The annual Hong Kong Jewelry and Gem Fair glitters with color this year, as Gan Tian finds out.
Big, bold and colorful. These are the hottest trends in jewelry this year, if the latest designs at the Hong Kong Jewelry and Gem Fair are any indications. Colored gemstones stand out on jewelry that combines two or more varieties. Some of the more popular gems include ruby, deep pink sapphire and sky-blue topaz.
An example is an opulent necklace glittering at Hong Kong Premier Pavilion, set with a giant Paraiba tourmaline. It is priced at a cool 20 million yuan ($2,974,000).
The crystal-blue Paraiba tourmaline is the most precious colored gem in the world, according to Enzo Jewelry, the designer of the piece.
Customers who are interested cannot buy off the shelf and will need to book in advance. Every piece is unique, because the designs may vary according to the color and quality of the gems used.
Lorenzo Yih, chairman and CEO of Enzo Jewelry's parent company (the Nasdaq-listed Lorenzo Group), says that the demand for gemstones has grown substantially since his company tapped into the mainland market in 2005.
Enzo now produces rings set with green tourmalines, rubellites and tanzanites. They are featured in the label's Diana collection, available in the market this year.
Vicky Chan, sales and marketing director of Enzo, says that while colored gemstones have become more popular, she has noticed an interesting difference within Chinese market.
Beijing clients are more cautious. She once met a customer who hesitated, finally coming back three days later to buy the piece of expensive green tourmaline jewelry. But in Shanghai, the clientele is more decisive. Here the customer will buy immediately, if he likes the piece.
"Shanghai consumers pay more attention to style, but Beijing consumers focus on quality and value," Chan says.
"That is why we opened our first store in Shanghai, although the Beijing market is also growing in recent years."
Chan says the company also noticed that while clients from the West like jewelry pieces set in 9- or 10-karat gold, the Chinese prefer settings made with 18-karat gold.
Yellow and purple stones are more popular in Europe and the Unite d States, while white, red and green are favored by the Chinese market.
According to Chengdu Aikexin, another jewelry-maker targeting the Chinese market, jewelry set with rubies and tourmalines do particularly well. This has attracted many jewelry-makers, including Hong Kong-based Dame Bijoux, which has launched its products in the mainland as far as in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, according to its deputy general manager Alex Poon.
The fair attracted thousands of jewelry dealers, designers and buyers. More than 3,200 jewelry companies from 45 countries and regions flocked to the fair. The one-week event, held at the AsiaWorld-Expo and the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, dazzled the thousands of visitors with gemstones, diamonds and pearls.
This year the fair has drawn the most participants since it was launched 28 years ago. It also features the largest-ever Diamond Pavilion, with over 400 exhibitors, according to Jime Essink, president and CEO of the fair's organizer, UBM Asia.
Milan Fashion Week kicked off here on Wednesday as catwalks rolled out in the downtown area and mostly fanfared the 2011spring/summer wear for women in love with elegance and home.
More than 169 collections of 71 international brands presented at the six-day event are celebrating a sort of return to motherly but sophisticated womanhood, said Lina Sotis, journalist from local newspaper Corriere della Sera.
"Men have had enough of steel-nerved zippy women," she told Xinhua, adding that 2011 spring/summer collections showcase the image of an elegant, home loving woman.
"The daywear style is chaste but sensuous and free. Long skirts are accompanied by wide bags that contain all a real woman needs for her busy day, from personal items to office papers," Sotis said.
Gucci staged its pageant on Wednesday. Fendi and Prada will display their collections on Thursday, and then Moschino and Versace on Friday, Emporio Armani on Saturday. Salvatore Ferragamo will come on Sunday, followed by Roberto Cavalli on Monday.
Organizers have come under fire for excluding collections for larger sizes. Notably, fashion designer Elena Miro, whose real name is Elena Miroglio, has not been invited as the fashion week's opener, but she presented a show on Wednesday outside of the official calendar.
SATRA has published a Slip Resistance Guide. The guide will be useful for everyone in the supply chain concerned with safety, protective and occupational footwear supplied into the European market.
The SATRA Slip Resistance Guide contains user-friendly information on footwear and floorings considerations, risk assessment, factors influencing slip risk, legislative requirements for occupational footwear, slip-resistant footwear design, and considerations for the buyer.
A PDF copy of the guide can be downloaded from SATRA's PPE survival guide website which was recently launched in Shanghai -
http://www.satrappeguide.com/safety_footwear.php
Thirty years ago SATRA designed and built the first prototype laboratory-based slip testing rig. The technology centre also developed SATRA test method TM144 for the machine's operation. Since the work on the original prototype, the machine and test method have been the subject of continuous improvement. In 2004, the European standard EN 13287 for slip resistance of safety footwear was published and ISO adopted this method. The introduction of the standard meant that the test parameters changed.
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NOTES TO EDITORS: SATRA is the world's leading research and technology centre of its kind and employs scientific, technical and support staff in the UK and China. The brand is recognised and respected in over 70 countries. SATRA is a leading authority on international legislation and testing, and the technical aspects of a wide range of consumer products including footwear, leathergoods, apparel, toys, safety products, furniture, floorcoverings, construction products, and homeware. Many of its test methods become industry standards and its production efficiency and accreditation systems are unrivalled. It also houses a well equipped chemical analysis laboratory to meet the global demand for restricted substances testing. SATRA's objective is to help its customers increase their competitiveness. It provides support and expertise throughout the whole supply chain, from product research and development, material and component evaluation, quality assurance, manufacturing efficiency and cost saving, to testing and certification. SATRA also builds and sells its own branded test equipment. SATRA is a Notified Body for the EU Directives on personal protective equipment, toys, medical devices and construction products. SATRA publishes technical articles on a wide range of subjects in its own publications, on its website and in leading international industry publications; it also runs courses and seminars to help promote quality, excellence and professionalism throughout consumer products industries.
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Models present creations of designer Kina Fernandez during a fashion show in Madrid, Spain, Sept. 22, 2010. The 52th Madrid Fashion Week ended on Wednesday.
Models wear creations by designer Alma Aguilar at the Cibeles Madrid Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2011 show in Madrid September 21, 2010.
Models present creations from the Burberry Prorsum 2011 Spring/Summer collection at London Fashion Week September 21, 2010.
Models present creations from the Peter Pilotto 2011 Spring/Summer collection at London Fashion Week September 20, 2010.
British model Naomi Campbell arrives at the memorial service for Alexander McQueen at St. Paul's Cathedral, in London September 20, 2010.
British fashion designer Stella McCartney arrives at the memorial service for Alexander McQueen at St. Paul's Cathedral, in London September 20, 2010.
U.S. actress Sarah Jessica Parker arrives at the memorial service for Alexander McQueen at St. Paul's Cathedral, in London September 20, 2010.
British model Kate Moss arrives at the memorial service for Alexander McQueen at St. Paul's Cathedral, in London September 20, 2010.
