All Trade & Sourcing articles
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ArticleFDRA calls on US president to remove duties on Chinese footwear imports
Matt Priest, the president and CEO of Footwear Distributors & Retailers of America (FDRA), is urging the US president, Joe Biden, to remove by executive order Section 301 import tariffs imposed on China. In an open letter to Biden, Priest wrote that “retail footwear prices have risen sharply since implementation ...
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Birkenstock invests €15m in Portuguese plant
Birkenstock is investing €15 million in Portugal to expand its recently acquired component manufacturing facility in the Iberian country. The new 13,000-square meter factory in the São Domingos Industrial Zone in Arouca, in the Metropolitan Area of Porto, in the Norte Region, is expected to be completed by December 2024, ...
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ArticleH&M and Inditex accused of allegedly using unethical Brazilian cotton
The British non-governmental organization (NGO) Earthsight is accusing H&M and Inditex of allegedly using cotton “linked to land grabbing, illegal deforestation, violence, human rights violations and corruption in Brazil.” It is also calling on governments to regulate the fashion industry on the grounds that it has failed to ensure sustainability ...
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ArticleNovoloop’s pilot plant for recycled plastic comes on stream in India
Novoloop, a US plastic circular economy technology company, announced the startup of its pilot plant in Surat, India. The plant was built in collaboration with Aether Industries, an Indian speciality chemical manufacturer. Groundbreak for the plant was announced in January 2024 and construction completed in March 2024. The pilot plant ...
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ArticleHyosung to build a bio-BDO factory in Vietnam as part of a $1bn investment plan
Hyosung TNC plans to build a bio-butanediol (BDO) factory in Vietnam with an annual production capacity of 50,000 tons. The project is part of a $1 billion investment program to reach an annual output of 200,000 tons of bio-BDO. On March 30, Hyosung TNC received approval for the “Hyosung BDO ...
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ArticleC-Suite interview: Palmroth plans to double its sales in three years
Palmroth is a family-owned footwear company based in Tampere, Finland, whose history dates back to 1928. Largely centered on winter shoes, the brand aims to double its sales volumes within the next three years. Run by Mikko Palmroth, who represents the third generation at the helm, the company sells annually ...
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News briefs
Vietnam relies on China to uphold 2024 exports
Vietnamese shoemakers expect 2024 to be a challenging year but are relying on China to underpin exports, according to Phan Thi Thanh Xuan, the Vice President and General Secretary of Lefaso, the Vietnam leather, footwear and handbag association. In 2023, Vietnam generated $24 billion in revenues from leather and ...
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ArticleSpanish footwear exports rose in value but slipped in volumes in 2023
Spanish footwear exports totaled €3,260 million in 2023, up by 6.6 percent compared to the previous year when exports breached the €3 billion threshold for the first time. In 2022, exports rose by 22 percent to €3,056 million, according to data released by Fice, the Spanish footwear association. However, in ...
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Moreschi to outsource its manufacturing
Moreschi, an Italian producer of upscale shoes, plans to outsource its production to third parties. In a statement, the Italian footwear company controlled by the Swiss group Hurley deems its own production “not adequate to the required standards” of the brand. According to media reports, the move will lead to ...
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News briefsMaersk warns that Red Sea crisis could last well into H2
Maersk is advising customers to prepare for a Red Sea crisis that could last well into the second half of this year. “Unfortunately, we don’t see any change in the Red Sea happening anytime soon,” Charles van der Steene, the regional president for Maersk North America, told the television network ...
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ArticleKenyan footwear producer seeks a partner to launch leather-shoe production
Saagar Shah, whose family owns and manages Kenya Suitcase Manufacturers (KSM), is planning to enter the leather-shoe market and is seeking a partner with skills in the production of uppers. The Mombasa-based company generates half its revenues from the production of rubber boots, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) shoes, for adults and ...
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ArticleHow Starlet continues to develop its fashion line as it grapples with adverse forex
The Starlet group, a Pakistani shoemaker based in Lahore, has continued to develop its line of fashion shoes, with a foray into women’s footwear, while having to deal with the consequences of a sharp devaluation of the local currency. Between early 2022 and September 2023, the Pakistani rupee declined by ...
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ArticleHow Kidderminster Footwear weathered Brexit
Like other British exporters, Kidderminster Footwear suffered the double-whammy of the Covid-19 pandemic, which broke out in Europe in the latter part of the first quarter of 2020, and the UK’s departure from the European Union on Jan. 1, 2021, the so-called Brexit. The company states that its business, excluding ...
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ArticleSanctions weigh on Turkish plans to expand exports to Russia
A fresh round of U.S. sanctions is reportedly jeopardizing the planned growth of Turkish footwear exports to Russia and other post-Soviet countries. Turkish footwear companies are looking to expand exports to Russia, Central Asia and the Middle East to compensate for the losses suffered in Europe, according to the Turkish ...
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ArticleBrazilian footwear exports collapse in December
In December, Brazilian footwear exports fell by 41.5 percent year-over-year in volume to 7.45 million pairs and by 33.3 percent in value to $73.44 million, according to data released by the Brazilian footwear industry association, Abicalçados. For the whole of 2023, exports dropped by 16.6 percent in volume to 118.34 ...
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Some CMA CGM ships continue to use the Red Sea route
The French container carrier CMA CGM is still sending some of its ships through the Red Sea despite attacks on commercial vessels by Houthi rebels based in Yemen, according to the news agency Dow Jones. The shipping company, which is the third largest in the world in terms of capacity, ...
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Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk join forces
The German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd and its Danish peer Maersk have signed an agreement for a new long-term operational collaboration called “Gemini Cooperation”, which will start in February 2025. “The ambition is to deliver a flexible and interconnected ocean network with industry-leading reliability,” the companies said in a joint statement. ...
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Boohoo embroiled in factory closure and label-changing scandal
British fast fashion company Boohoo found itself embroiled in two more potential scandals as it considers closing a factory it established as a flagship center of excellence and was accused of removing original labels at the same plant and replacing them with ‘Made in UK’ tags.Boohoo is consulting with up ...
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Maersk to divert shipping from Red Sea for “foreseeable future”
Maersk said that it will divert all vessels from the Red Sea and the Suez Canal south around the Cape of Good Hope for the “foreseeable future”. The decision was taken by the Danish shipping company because of the volatile situation in the Red Sea as Yemen’s Houthi rebels ...
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Nepal shoe industry working at 40% capacity
Nepal’s footwear manufacturing industry is working at only 40 percent of capacity due to a decline in exports, higher imports and smuggling, the local news agency RSS reported, citing Naniraj Ghimire, the president of the Footwear Manufacturer’s Association of Nepal. According to the association, Nepal has the capacity to produce ...
