Global news roundup

The following is a round-up of apparel and footwear news from the world’s local media. just-style has not checked these stories so cannot guarantee their accuracy.

• Thousands of workers at a Taiwanese footwear factory in China’s Dongguan province have staged a strike protesting at wage cuts and enforced redundancies following a reduction in orders. The Yue Cheng facility in Yue Yuen Industrial Park makes shoes for brands including New Balance, Nike and Adidas. REUTERS

• More than 400 female workers at a bra factory in Shenzhen have gone on strike in protest at management bullying, according to state-run media. Workers who walked off the job at Hong Kong-listed Top Form Underwear also complained a shift to a piecework payment system prevented them from making enough money to meet the rising cost of living. AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

• Chinese-owned garment businesses in Prato, Italy are being forced to shut down as the European debt crisis continues to escalate. The town has become known as a low-end garment-manufacturing base operated mostly by Chinese immigrants, but many small companies have closed and their owners returned to China amid a sharp fall in sales this year. It is estimated that about 30% of Italian garments came from Prato – and that there are more than 3,000 Chinese garment companies and workshops in the city. GLOBAL TIMES

• Garment firms in Thailand have joined calls urging the government not to go ahead with an increase in the daily minimum wage to THB300 (US$10). They say higher labour costs will hold back businesses already reeling from the recent floods, and that new investment in the industry would move to other countries in the Asean region. THE NATION

• Tunisian textile and clothing exports fell by 3.29% in October, while imports went up by 5.97%, compared to the same period of 2010, according to the CETTEX Technical Textile Centre. Clothing exports dropped 3.95%. Major customers between January and October were Germany (+21.8%), Netherlands (+ 21.7%), the United Kingdom (+5.9%), Italy (+4.7%), France (+ 3.8%), Spain (+3.4%) and Belgium (+2.3%). TAP

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