Woodnotes was honoured at the IMM Cologne furnishing fair, held during January 18 – 23, 2011 in Cologne. This year three Woodnotes products were Innovation Award Winners. The awards were granted by The German Design Council. Today, the German Design Council is one of the world's leading competence centres for communication and knowledge transfer in the field of design. The Interior Innovation Award is among the most prestigious awards of the furnishing sector world-wide and was launched in 2002 by imm cologne.
Bridge Carpet
Bridge paper yarn carpet has two bridge-like stripes that grow in size as the carpet gets longer. It gives the space a broadening effect: a view opens up from the Bridge. The striping break up the colour tones and really bring them out.
Bridge
Whisper Acoustic Panel
The Whisper acoustic wall collage is a painting and sculpture like combination of panels. The appearance of the collage can be changed with the choice of different colours, sizes and thicknesses of the panels making it possible to create an individual panel installation for different interior solutions. The panels are upholstered with Sand paper yarn cotton fabric, available in 9 colours.
National Cotton Council economists say a tight overall cotton supply/demand situation coupled with continued pressure from competing crops for the coming year is consistent with cotton prices above historical norms.
“As 2011 begins, the global cotton market is experiencing unprecedented prices with the “A” Index at $2.00 and nearby futures trading in the $1.70’s,” Council economist, Dr. Gary Adams, said in his outlook for delegates at the NCC’s 73rd Annual Meeting. “Unlike the price spike of March 2008, the current price situation has support from the fundamentals.”
Adams, the NCC’s vice president, Economics and Policy Analysis, said a key issue to watch will be the ability to sustain cotton demand in the prevailing market conditions, particularly given the uncertain nature of the macroeconomic recovery. He said that consumers in developing markets such as China and India will increasingly become the drivers of global retail cotton demand.
“Growth in cotton demand bodes well for total cotton trade,” Adams said. “Increased mill use in China will require additional imports as available cotton stocks remain at low levels. In fact, for most countries, beginning stocks for the 2011 marketing year are at the lowest levels in recent years, and leave little room for further reductions during the upcoming marketing year.”
He said the increased import demand will create a positive environment for U.S. cotton exports, which are forecast at 15.6 million bales for the 2011 marketing year – the second highest level after the 2005 marketing year.
“U.S. stocks that began the marketing year under 3.0 million bales will fall to 2.3 million bales by July 31, 2011,” Adams said. “When compared to the past 50 years, ending stocks for the 2010 marketing year will represent a new low. The United States will be essentially sold out of cotton as any remaining stocks will be committed to a textile mill, either in the U.S. or abroad.”
Marimekko is expanding its distribution and reinforcing its position in the United States by extending its collaboration with Crate and Barrel, a prestigious home furnishings retailer. According to the contract which was signed on 3 February 2011, Crate and Barrel plans to open 22 new Marimekko shop-in-shops by the end of the year 2013.
Crate and Barrel will have exclusive rights to retail Marimekko interior decoration products in the US and Canada in the home specialty and department store chain category; these exclusive rights will not apply to clothes, bags or accessories. In addition to furnishing products imported from Finland, the product range for Crate and Barrel’s stores will also include Marimekko products made under licence such as bedding and bath textiles.
In October 2010, Crate and Barrel opened a Marimekko shop-in-shop in its SoHo store in New York City. The first four of the new shop-in-shops will be opened this spring: on Madison Avenue in New York as well as in Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The shops’ range focuses on interior decoration products, including home textiles, ceramics and glassware, and some bags and accessories will also be on sale. Crate and Barrel will also open an online shop specialising in Marimekko products within its website in the spring, making available a comprehensive range.
In November 2010, a very special event took place in the heart of Manchester City Centre, textile professionals and academics joined together to celebrate 100 years of The Textile Institute. The Textile Institute Centenary Conference was a huge success with almost 90 oral presentations and over 40 poster presentations covering a vast array of topics from design, fashion and footwear to healthcare and medical textiles; from sustainability to marketing and management.
To highlight the excellent standard of presentations given at the conference, The Textile Institute presented some very special awards in recognition of the commitment many of the presenters put into their work; awards were given for the following; Best Paper, Best Poster and Best Student Paper.
A panel of judges, which included the Session Chairs as well as chosen academics and professionals, assessed the strengths of each paper and poster. Each winner was presented at the closing ceremony of the conference at Manchester United by Professor Subhash Anand MBE CText FTI, chair of the conference, the winners were awarded a certificate and a received a cheque for GBP£500.
The winner of the Best Paper award was Mei-chun Cheung, from Hong Kong Polytechnic University for her paper entitled ‘Brand Names in the Brain: An EEG Study’. This paper discussed how brand names are recognised in the brain using the results of a study which tested the EEG coherence of 32 participants during 4 reading conditions. This study found that brand names have a distinct neural substrate response in the brain and are processed at the semantic level. The judges felt that this paper had the best content and most industry relevance and also had the most publishable material from all the papers presented at the Centenary Conference.
“All fashion information is here”. With this sentence, the designer Mario Queiroz, from Rio de Janeiro, summed up the perceptions of each of the 4,815 visits of Première Brasil Spring/Summer 2012, 57% more compared to January 2010. Out of these, 5% are foreign visitors from countries like Argentina, Colombia and Peru. The event held on January 19 and 20 in São Paulo had 108 exhibitors divided into five universes: Denim & Sportswear, City & Glam, Yarns & Fibers, Design, and Accessories.
For the show manager Carolina Riente, Première Brasil once again brought together major representatives from the Brazilian and foreign textile markets. “We realized that the labels have achieved their major goal. In a single venue, they have unveiled their summer collections and welcomed a highly qualified audience, including fashion entrepreneurs and designers seeking materials for their upcoming collections,” adds Mrs. Riente, from Fagga Eventos.
Participating for the second time in the event, São Joanense, based in São Joao Del Rey, Minas Gerais, confirms the comments from the organizers. According to Director Sergio Etz, right on the first day of the event they had 50% more visitors, compared to the first day in January last year. Investing in a casual-style denim collection with a different structure both for plain and for printed fabrics, São Joanense unveiled its main items for the Spring/Summer 2012 season. “We had visits of businesspersons from all over Brazil, and representatives from Argentina and Colombia. We have participated in other textile trade shows, but today we are only exhibiting at Première Brasil,” Mr. Etz said.
Given the growth of the entire domestic textile industry, which each year exceeds expectations, it is climbing to a new level and establishing itself on the international scene. Jacques Brunel, Managing Director of Première Vision, stated that “the Brazilian fashion industry has all the tools to become a major world power.” For Mr. Brunel, the third edition of Première Brasil exceeded all expectations, showing the strength of the country.
Parivartan Awards for Sustainability and Innovation 2011 recognize and showcase such companies that have used innovation for making their products, processes, facilities and operations sustainable.
The Parivartan Awards will be announced at Parivartan 2011, March 24 in New Delhi, India’s only forum to focus exclusively on driving adoption for sustainability initiatives in businesses by promoting the business case with decision makers: both on the production side as well as on the consumption front. It is the forum of choice to promote sustainably driven market development and innovation.
Award nominations are invited from the companies with sustainability innovations in products, processes and operations in the following sectors:
• Textile and Apparel
• Processed Food and Beverage
• Automotive
• IT and IT Enabled Services
For all verticals except IT and ITES:
I. Sustainability Award for Product Innovation
A. Sustainable Material Usage
B. Sustainable Packaging and Logistics Innovation
C. Easy Recycling and Reuse
II. Sustainability Award for Process Innovation
A. Process Improvement leveraging Energy Efficiency
B. Process Improvement leading to Water Conservation
C. Process Improvement for Waste Management
CASHMERE WORLD 2011 will move to 24-26 October, 2011. This allows exhibitors and visitors to combine their sales and buying trips in one month. The fair will take place in the same venue, the Chinese National Convention Center, in Beijing.
Mr. Tian Hong, Director of The China Chamber of Commerce of the Import and Export of Foodstuffs, Native Produce & Animal By-Products (CFNA) and co-organiser of CASHMERE WORLD explained, “The new dates, which are one month earlier, give buyers more opportunities to gather information, look for new suppliers and compare prices before placing orders.”
CASHMERE WORLD is the only trade show dedicated exclusively to the whole supply chain of the international cashmere industry. It is designed to help the global cashmere industry grow sustainably. Displayed products cover every stage, from raw materials, through manufacturing technology, testing and grading standards methods, to finished fashion products.
As a small, but prestigious part of the overall global apparel industry, the demand for cashmere is driven by fashion. For example: determining fashion colours for the up-coming season has led to the first Cashmere World Colours - now a regular feature of the fair, where visitors can view the upcoming colours, materials and styles.
