In the week that British Prime Minister David Cameron continues his tour of Asia, Japan has announced a £200m investment in the UK. One of the deals is a renewed collaboration between London-based fashion designer Orla Kiely and Japanese apparel brand Uniqlo for the autumn/winter season.

Marks and Spencer has admitted to running out of stock in some of its best-selling lines of womenswear, which contributed to a drop in sales.

Garment companies have voiced their worry that the target of 19 billion dollars worth of export turnover in 2012 could be an “impossible mission,” for many reasons.

A paradox has been existing that the salaries of workers in foreign invested enterprises (FIEs) are even lower than that of workers in state owned enterprises. It is because of the unreasonable regulation on the minimum wage.

The Department of Commerce’s Office of Textiles and Apparel reported Feb. 10 that monthly U.S. textile and apparel imports fell 8.3% in December, compared to a year earlier, following a 7.1% year-on-year drop in November. Imports of cotton, wool, manmade fiber, silk blends and non-cotton vegetable fiber textile and apparel products totaled 3.78 billion square meter equivalents in December, down from 4.245 billion SME in November. Textile imports dropped 4.2% to 2.21 billion SME while apparel imports plummeted 13.5% (following a 14.5% drop in November) to 1.58 billion SME.

Groups representing Cambodian garment workers are holding a "people's tribunal" next week to investigate pay and conditions at factories making clothes for brands including Adidas, Puma, H&M and Gap.

As the second decade of the 21st century unfolds, the ASEAN region has gained increased significance to the global economy and is setting in place the final measures to become the world’s newest economic community. United Nations Secretary General H.E. Ban Ki-Moon remarked that “This is the moment of ASEAN, now is the moment for ASEAN, to step in the global role.”

India’s Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) has launched a new code of conduct for the country’s garment industry, in partnership with its Textiles Ministry.

Vietnam's textile and garment exports jumped 38% year-on-year in 2011 to reach a record US$15.6bn, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Research finds that people who identify strongly with their racial ethnicity are generally happier. So, what better way of spreading joy and self confidence than with ethnic fashions?