Apparel Online Bangladesh Magazine Magazine May 2018 | Page 42

BEYOND BD HAVE YOUR SAY BREAKING NEWS Tell us your news by emailing at [email protected] To read the latest sustainability news, go to https://apparelresources.com/business-news/sustainability/  Invista to open ‘Advanced Textiles Innovation Centre' in China Invista Apparel and Advanced Textiles recently signed an agreement to build an Advanced Textile Innovation Centre in China. The centre is expected to be opened at Sanshan Scientific Innovation Park, Foshan in late 2018. The Textile Innovation Centre, extending over a wide area of more than 4,500 square metres, will have all the latest textile machines to be used for weaving and knitting. It’ll be fully equipped with the latest equipment for fabric certification and garment engineering as well. Additionally, there will be a separate area in the centre where clients and the R&D team at Invista can meet not only to build innovations but also to test those innovations in fibres, fabrics and garments. Jack Yang, who works as CTO, East Region, Invista expressed optimism on the setting up of the innovation centre. He said that besides attracting an R&D team to the new innovation centre, the facility can also be used to bring together experts from the company’s other laboratories. It is worth noting that Invista has many R&D laboratories in Taiwan, Italy and the USA. Yang further added that Invista is committed to developing textile solutions, which are not only functional but also in sync with the fashion trends. Therefore, the company is striving to conduct research programmes based on fibre, fabric and garment innovations. This assumes more importance considering 2018 celebrates the 60th year of Invista- owned Lycra, a brand that is synonymous with innovation today. The centre is expected to be a hub to enhance communication between its customers across the Asia Pacific and the local brands in China. Cambodian Government to compensate dumped garment workers Workers of 4 garment factories in Cambodia will now be duly compensated after their owners fled recently. This was announced by the Ministry of Labour. Earlier, the Ministry had said that 9 factories would be provided with compensation. However, the status of 5 factories is not clear as yet. The 4 factories that are expected to be compensated are Yu Fa Garment Industry, Chung Fai Knitwear, Benoh Apparel and Great Honour Textile Factory, stated Ith Sam Heng, Labour Minister of Cambodia. However, there was no mention of how much amount the garment workers would receive. Several workers said that the factories owed them money as well as severance. One of the workers, Roeum Sao Leap, from Benoh Apparel, welcomed the decision of being compensated. A spokesperson from the Ministry said that the Government was keen to fix this issue. The severance payment deposit programme initiated recently by the Labour Minister is one such effort on the part of the Government. According to the scheme, business establishments in the country would have to regularly deposit severance amount to National Social Security Fund (NSSF). The objective is that if the factories close down suddenly, the NSSF would ensure, on behalf of the factory, that the severance is 42 Apparel Online Bangladesh | MAY 2018 | www.apparelresources.com distributed among the workers. Ken Loo, GMAC representative, however, said that before implementing such a severance programme, a detailed analysis would be needed to understand its impact on business, both local and international.