News Briefs
-
News briefs
Germany requires Covid tests for travelers from China
Travelers coming into Germany from China will be required to present a Covid-19 test to enter the country, announced the German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach. Passengers from China must present “at least a rapid antigen test,” Lauterbach said in a note. At the same time, he added that there would ...
-
News briefs
First wave of Chinese Covid cases may peak on Jan. 13
A first wave of Covid-19 cases in China is expected to peak on Jan. 13 with 3.7 million cases a day, according to Airfinity, a British provider of global health intelligence and analytics. Deaths are estimated to peak 10 days later at approximately 25,000 a day. By that stage, China ...
-
News briefs
China condems Covid tests on its travelers
China has condemned the imposition of Covid-19 tests by about a dozen countries for travelers from the country and has warned that “countermeasures” are possible. “Some countries have taken entry restrictions targeting only Chinese travellers,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said during a regular briefing. “This lacks scientific basis and ...
-
News briefs
Spain introduces Covid controls for passengers from China
Spain is introducing Covid-19 controls in its airports for passengers coming from China, announced the health minister Carolina Darias. Passengers will have to prove that they have been tested negative or are fully vaccinated, she said. Other countries including, Italy, have also introduced mandatory tests on travelers coming from China, ...
-
News briefs
New Russian Covid restrictions hit retailers
Most Russian regions have made it mandatory to present Covid-19 vaccination passes using QR codes to enter shopping centers and non-food retailers. So far, less than 35 percent of the Russian population has been vaccinated and the measure has drastically limited access to stores for a large swath of the ...
-
News briefs
APLF rescheduled to March 2022
The organizers of APLF-Leather, Materials+ and Fashion Access have rescheduled the events from November 17-19, 2021 to March 30-April 1, 2022 in Hong Kong. The events had already been posptoned from July 5-7 due to restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. In a statement, the organizers said that in ”the ...
-
News briefs
Stella Q2 sales rise by 58.1%
The sales of the Hong-Kong-based footwear group Stella International rose by 58.1 percent to $392.1 million in the second quarter from $248.0 million a year earlier, when sales were negatively impacted by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Top line growth was also underpinned by a recovery in orders in ...
-
News briefs
Covid-vaccinated Europeans to enter France freely from June 9
Europeans vaccinated against Covid-19 will be able to enter France without a PCR test from June 9, said the Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari. From June 9 “vaccinated Europeans can come to France without a PCR test,” he said in an interview with the television CNEWS.
-
News briefs
Japan prolongs state of emergency to June 20
The Japanese government has extended a state of emergency in Tokyo and other areas of the country due to the Covid-19 pandemic to June 20, just over a month before the planned start of the Toyko Olympics on July 23. The restrictive measures currently in place, which are less rigid ...
-
News briefs
Desma cancels its house fair
Desma Schuhmaschinen, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of machines and systems for shoe manufacturing, has canceled the 2021 edition of its house fair exhibition scheduled in September because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Desma house fair is held every two years in autumn in the German company’s headquarters in ...
-
News briefs
U.K. retail sales surge driven by clothing and footwear
In April, U.K. retail sales rose by 9.2 percent month-on-month in volume thanks to the easing of Covid-19 restrictions, including the re-opening of all non-essential retail from April 12 in England and Wales and from April 26 in Scotland. During the period, sales for textile, clothing and footwear stores rose ...
-
News briefs
Frankfurt Fashion Week goes digital-only this summer
The organizers of the Frankfurt Fashion Week have scrapped plans for a physical event and will go ahead with a digital-only edition amid lingering uncertainty, as Germany and the whole of Europe continue to grapple with the Covid-19 pandemic. The trade fair will be held from July 5 to ...
-
News briefs
Italy to reopen trade shows as soon as June 15
On April 21, the Italian cabinet approved to reopen trade shows from June 15 and conventions and congresses from July 1, after having been suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The reopening of trade fairs could occur sooner than previously announced. Initially, the Industry Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti had indicated a ...
-
News briefs
Russia appeals less to foreign brands
A research by CBRE indicated that international brands have partly lost interest in the Russian market due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In the first quarter of 2021, only three fashion brands entered the country: Ecco Kids, Shikkosa and Accessorize. This is estimated to be the lowest number since the 2014 ...
-
News briefs
Sabu postpones its general assembly to October
The German retail cooperative Sabu has postponed its 69th ordinary general meeting from June 18-20 to October 22-24 because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The event is scheduled to be held in Berlin. Joachim Seibel, the chairman of Sabu’s supervisory board, said that there was no alternative, because of slow progress ...
-
News briefs
Delay in Covid vaccinations may cost EU €123bn
The delay that the European Union is experiencing in its Covid-19 vaccination campaign may cost the bloc €123 billion in lost economic activity in 2021, according to credit insurance company Euler Hermes. The EU is currently seven weeks behind its vaccination program, compared with a five-week delay in February, according ...
-
News briefs
EU plans to introduce a cross-border Covid pass by the summer
On March 17, the European Commission unveiled plans to create the so-called “Digital Green Certificate” to facilitate free movement inside the European Union during the Covid-19 pandemic. The certificate will be a proof that a person has been vaccinated against the virus, received a negative test result or recovered from ...
-
News briefs
Cologne orthopedic shoes fair postponed to 2022
The latest footwear trade fair to be postponed due to the coronavirus is Germany’s Orthopädie Schuh Technik, which - along with the congress of the International Association of Orthopedic Shoe Technicians (IVO) - will be held in Cologne on Oct. 14 and 15, 2022, one year after the originally planned ...
-
News briefs
Germans’ willingness to buy is in “freefall”
The propensity to buy of German consumers is “in freefall,” according to the think tank GfK. Hit by strict Covid-19 related lockdowns, consumer confidence in Germany is seen falling to -15.6 in February from -7.5 in January, which was revised from an original reading of -7.3. “The closure of the ...
-
News briefs
H&M sales resume decline from end Oct due to Covid resurgence
In the fourth quarter running from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30, Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) saw net sales decrease by 10 percent year-on-year in local currencies. For the whole financial year, net sales declined by 18 percent in local currencies due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to ...
