China's e-commerce giant Alibaba to expand business in U.S

BOAO, Hainan, April 17 (Xinhua) -- China's business-to-business(B2B) e-commerce giant Alibaba Group still regards the United States as its most important market in its overseas investment strategy, Wei Zhe, chief executive officer of the company, said Friday.

The group will invest one third of its newly added 30-million-U.S.dollar fund for overseas marketing in the United States this year, he told Xinhua during the annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia in China's southern province of Hainan, which started Friday.

"Alibaba plans to double its staff in the United States to further boost its marketing and improve customer service," he said.

Enterprises worldwide need new business opportunities to address the present crisis, which has provided a strong chance for Alibaba to expand its own business, he said.

The group has been developing Indian and Japanese markets in the past year and has set up the largest e-commerce platform in the two countries.

The group also plans to develop trading platforms in other languages such as Spanish, French and Russian, according to Wei.

"We've never considered to acquire or control other enterprises, but hope to help local e-commerce enterprises to achieve success, which in turn brings the success of Alibaba's global strategy," he said.

Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/

Colour Blocking - Smarter way to a fashionable clothing look

The art of color blocking dates back to the 60s, when it was popularized by the ‘Mod Fashion’. Color blocking involves cutting the fabric along the line where the color change is required, and then adding a seam allowance to both the sides.

When the pieces of fabric are sewn together, the final fabric is of the same size and shape as of the original piece, but with two or more complimenting hues.

A perfect assortment of different colors and various shades play an important role in defining the look of the finished outfit. Initially, blocks of square or rectangular pieces of clothing were sewn together.

The ‘Mondrian Dress’ designed by late designer Yves Saint Laurent during the 60s consisted of flat planes revealing the artistic sensibility of that time.

Later during the passage of time, color blocking has evolved into other geometric shapes and angular patterns in many vibrant colors. It can also be described as a ‘Fashion Optical Illusion’.

Source: fiber2fashion

Agra footwear industry facing new challenges

Arrival of footwear manufacturing units in the infrastructure-rich towns like Noida and Chandigarh as well as slowdown in export orders due to unavailability of credit facilities to the major footwear importers, are the new challenges for Agra footwear industry. This makes footwear units in the town to run at less than 50 percent of their production capacity.

Agra footwear industry is already facing a 30 percent decline in export orders due to financial meltdown. First quarter of 2009 has experienced a sharp decline in export orders. Though only a few number of footwear units have come up in Noida and Chandigarh, the business of small exporters of Agra is getting affected. So, there is a need to develop a supporting infrastructure for Agra footwear industry.

Big exporters of the town are looking for a substantial share in the economic package announced by the Centre for the leather industry, totaling to Rs. 1,300 crore. According to the experts, though Kanpur is known for utility footwear exports and Chennai has the largest share in men’s footwear, the top position in exports of men’s & women’s fashion footwear rests with Agra.

Growth rate of Agra footwear industry was 27 percent for the past few years but this drop down in business would make it difficult to maintain that growth rate this year. According to experts, situation will change in the near future, as China faces import restrictions from several countries and cost of footwear manufacturing in the Eastern European Countries is going high.

Experts hope that in coming years, bulk buyers will turn to India and country’s share in the world footwear trade will rise, at least to 7 percent from 4 percent.

Source: http://www.fibre2fashion.com/

Craft exporters bank on designs and innovation

While the world’s financial markets stumble, Philippine exporters from the home and fashion lifestyle sectors are banking on design and innovation to overcome the crisis.

As support to Filipino exporters, Manila F.A.M.E. International (now on going at the SMC Convention Center), a government-led trade platform will re-launch the Katha Awards, a recognition for design excellence given to manufacturers and exporters.

Over the years since its inception, the Katha Award recognized close to 300 SMEs whose product designs provided a definitive mark to Philippine design in the global market. The Katha Award likewise became the stepping stone for a number of previous awardees to receive international recognition in international fairs held in Beijing, Milan, London, Paris, Seoul, and Dubai.

“Foreign buyers recognize Katha and we were able to get more buyers after winning the Award. Despite the slowdown in US markets due to the global financial crisis, the Europeans are still keen on Philippine design,” said Mr. Robert Locsin, general manager of Locsin International, a regular exhibitor of Manila F.A.M.E. Locsin International was awarded the Katha Awards in 1992-1995 and then 2007.

“The Award encouraged us to come up with better designs that will live up to the expectations of winning the Katha. Getting the recognition also helped boost the design capabilities of the Philippines unmatched by our Asian counterparts,” Mr. Locsin added.

Another exporter and exhibitor of Manila F.A.M.E. Dr. Romeo Balderrama Jr., CEO of Sarilinlikha Novelties said that Philippine design is still what gives local products the edge and the Katha recognition further solidifies this image. “We were recognized by foreign buyers and although there is a financial crisis, it should not dampen our spirits. Many foreign buyers still recognize Philippine design to be great and excellent.”

“No less than the foreign buying agents of the Philippines had described Philippine design-driven products as recession-proof because of their design. As tribute to our manufacturers, we decided to re-launch Katha, a recognition for design excellence so that Filipino manufacturers will appreciate better the value of quality design and craftsmanship to differentiate themselves from the rest of the world,” said Manila F.A.M.E. project director and CITEM Deputy Executive Director for Consumer Business, Thelma Dumpit Murillo.

Manila F.A.M.E. will also feature players from the local creative industries including designers engaged in fashion design, industrial design, product design, interior design, architecture design, visual arts, photography, illustration, and graphic design as well as schools and institutions supporting them.

The show will also feature a special setting for Philippine fashion to highlight local labels and fashion accessories from established and up and coming Filipino designers. The setting is in collaboration with the newly formed Philippine Garments and Textiles Development Office.

“We want to show small businesses how they can use design as leverage to become more profitable,” added Dumpit-Murillo.

The Katha Award under Manila F.A.M.E. will have a new feature, the Eco-Luxury Award category for Filipino companies who use recyclable or sustainable alternative materials in product and packaging while upholding world-class aesthetic quality.

Manila F.A.M.E. is led by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) through the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM). The show will be held at the SMX Convention Center.

To date, Manila F.A.M.E. is the only made show in the Philippines accredited by the Union des Foires Internationale, an international organization of trade show organizers based in Paris. The show attracts 3,000 foreign buyers every year from buying countries namely Spain, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Germany, Australia, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Source: http://mb.com.ph/

Avenir to offer Opal fixed line

Distributor launches first fixed-line broadband package in Opal's first airtime partnership

B2B telecoms distributor Avenir Telecom has launched its first fixed-line broadband package after partnering with Opal.

The deal marks the first time Opal has partnered with a sole B2B air time distributor, and will provide Avenir dealers with its 'Premium Grade' broadband package, with speeds up to 24mbps downstream and 1mbps upstream as standard using Opals next generation network.

Customers will also receive up to 100GB of download allowance each month, with a guaranteed bandwidth priority for business traffic, preventing a performance slow down during peak times.

Installation also includes a business-grade router worth £129.99 and customers can chose between seven 'builders' packages for businesses to customise their deal and includes international call, peak and off peak packages.

Avenir managing director Andy Tow (pictured) said: "There could be no better partner than Opal to deliver Avenir's dealers with a compelling business broadband solution.

"They have been in business for over 15 years and carry a huge amount of broadband traffic every month. And, just as Avenir is dedicated to B2B telecoms, Opal is a B2B broadband specialist with a team of over 900 professionals, all based in the UK.

"Avenir is committed to providing its dealers with as many legitimate cross-sell and up-sell opportunities as possible.

"We're continually developing our portfolio to enable our clients to better equip themselves in today's marketplace and to benefit from increased revenue achieved outside of traditional mobile airtime offerings.

'This includes - but is by no means restricted to - accessories, broadband, applications and devices."

Opal's director of wholesale Andrew Hollingworth said: "The partnership came as a result of Opal providing Avenir with a premium broadband solution dedicated to business and backed by a market leading support and commercial model.

"We are delighted with the contract with Avenir as their strong dealer base provides us with an excellent opportunity to increase our market share."

source: http://www.mobilenewscwp.co.uk/

Agra Footwear Industry Treading a Downward Path

Not long ago, the footwear industry in Agra saw healthy growth due to the high demand and robust sales in both the global and domestic markets. About a year ago, small and mid-sized footwear manufacturers and suppliers saw substantial demand for both men’s and women’s footwear from buyers in the US, Europe and West Asia. However, this scenario has changed drastically over the past few months.

Recently, there has been a considerable drop in sales, which has consequently had a negative impact on margins. This has resulted in tremendous pressure for the Agra footwear industry that is fighting to stay afloat. A sector, which once recorded a 27% growth rate, is now struggling to maintain its previous growth levels.

Dwindling exports
“The export revenues have declined considerably since the last financial year as orders from western B2b Marketplace are rapidly diminishing. A large number of small-scale units, which produced fancy shoes for international buyers, are now shutting shop due to decreasing sales in export markets,” says RK Khindri, Manager and Coordinator, Agra Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Chamber (AFMEC).

Moreover, this year, the Agra footwear industry has witnessed a decline in demand in chief domestic markets like Delhi, Mumbai and Pune as well. The industry has seen more than a 30% drop in orders from January to March, this year. With the demand having slumped considerably, thousands of skilled footwear labourers and technicians across the city have lost their jobs.

Additional challenges

Besides dwindling export volumes, Agra footwear manufacturing units have also faced the adverse affects of delayed payments and lack of infrastructural facilities.

On the other hand, footwear manufacturing units based in well-developed regions like Noida and Chandigarh have access to better infrastructural facilities. This facilitates production of higher quality shoes at a lower cost, thus garnering the loyalty of both domestic and overseas buyers. This in turn, has hampered the business of small Agra footwear units, as majority of the orders are now being shifted to units based in regions like Delhi, Noida and Chandigarh.

Inadequate bank credit has further added to the financial predicament of small-scale footwear traders in Agra. “Despite the directives issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), banks are reluctant to lend to SME units. They are turning down loan-against-inventory requests and are now demanding collaterals, which most of footwear units are unable to provide. Consequently, small footwear manufacturers have begun to resort to cost-cutting measures such as lay offs, which eventually lead to under utilisation of their production capacities,” says Kuldeep Singh, Proprietor, Aryman Footwear Exports.

Given the current scenario, small footwear units are banking on government aid, infrastructural reforms and assistance from financial institutions in order to recover from their recent loss.

source: http://www.bestsyndication.com/?q=node/27901