Fashion
ASEAN manufacturing sector shows sustained recovery momentum
Strengthening demand and higher production needs boosted business confidence, which surged to its highest since March after hitting a five-year low earlier.
ASEAN manufacturers saw their sharpest output rise since June 2024 in August, with the PMI climbing from 50.1 in July to 51, as per S&P Global.
Growth was fuelled by renewed new orders and stronger demand, while business confidence rebounded to a five-month high after July’s 5-year low.
Despite modest job shedding and price pressures, output growth accelerated, signalling sustained recovery momentum.
The rise in the headline index was supported by a solid and stronger increase in production, as well as a renewed, albeit a modest uptick in new orders. Output has now risen for a second consecutive month, with the rate of growth in August the fastest since mid-2024. Additionally, the fresh uptick in new orders effectively ended the previous four-month sequence of decrease, S&P Global said in a press release.
Job shedding was recorded for the fifth consecutive month in August, indicating that firms remained hesitant to take on staff. However, the respective seasonally adjusted index rose further since June, reaching a five-month high, indicating only a slight decline in employment—the weakest in five months.
On the price front, while input prices rose at a weaker pace than seen in July, charges were raised modestly but at the strongest pace in eight months.
After hitting a five-year low in July, confidence rose in August across ASEAN manufacturers. Firms on balance were more positive about output growth in the year ahead. While below the long-run average, the respective index posted a five-month high, added the release.
“The August PMI data signalled building momentum across the ASEAN manufacturing sector following the recovery experienced in July. Demand conditions strengthened, as reflected by a fresh increase in new orders. Additionally, output growth accelerated,” said Maryam Baluch, economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.
“The enhanced performance of the sector led to an increase in business sentiment regarding production prospects over the next 12 months. Confidence levels reached a five-month high in August, rebounding from a five-year low recorded in July, suggesting that the region could sustain and even build upon the growth observed during the latest survey period,” added Baluch.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (SG)
By
Bloomberg
Published
December 5, 2025
A new crop of Chinese gold jewelry brands are attracting investor interest in the wake of Laopu Gold Co.’s breakout success.
Hangzhou-based Borland, a gold jeweler specializing in traditional Chinese goldsmith technique known as “filigree”, said this week it has raised more than 100 million yuan ($14 million) from investors including Kering Ventures, the startup investment arm of Kering SA, and Shunwei Capital, a top Chinese venture capital firm co-founded by billionaire Xiaomi Corp. chairman Lei Jun.
Kering said the small minority interest in Borland through Kering Ventures enables the company to “participate in the development of a rapidly growing brand in the particularly buoyant 24-karat gold jewelry segment”.
Separately, Dayone Capital in recent days announced a strategic investment worth more than 100 million yuan in Lamchiu, a maker of hand-crafted bespoke pieces based in the northwest Chinese city of Lanzhou.
China’s high-end gold jewelry boom has been fueled by the surprise rise of Laopu, which has defied the weak performance seen among Western luxury rivals in China. Laopu’s revenue in the first half of 2025 soared more than 250% year-on-year to 12.4 billion yuan, on top of 168% sales growth the year before.
“Laopu has shown the market that this niche sector can continue to break out, and rising gold prices also help lift the overall buzz,” said Richard Lin, a consumer analyst with SPDB International Holdings Ltd. “The rising investment and financing enthusiasm for the heritage gold segment is clearly driven by confidence in the category’s long-term growth potential.”
Heritage gold jewelry refers to gold pieces rooted in Chinese culture and traditional goldsmith techniques, including filigree work. With stores in top-tier malls, Laopu’s clientele overlaps — and increasingly threatens — stalwarts from Hermès International SCA to Richemont-owned Cartier.
Still, while Borland and Lamchiu have official stores on e-commerce platforms like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Tmall and JD.com Inc., both have a limited physical presence — Borland operates just three mall outlets and Lamchiu, despite more than 1 million followers on ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok-like Douyin, has only one Lanzhou storefront.
Borland said it will use the new funding to expand distribution and boost supply chain resilience. Dayone has formed a team to help Lamchiu with similar tasks.
The average November price settled at BRL 3.4505 (~$0.65) per pound, 1.91 per cent lower than in October 2025 and 12.5 per cent below November 2024. Over the month, the Index slipped 0.23 per cent and remained below export parity, signalling little support from external markets.
Brazil’s cotton prices fell in November, hitting their lowest real level since September 2009 as strong supply, weak domestic demand and softer global quotes pressured the market.
The CEPEA/ESALQ Index stayed below export parity, with buyers taking minimal volumes and sellers accepting lower prices to clear stocks.
ABRAPA reported 81.73 per cent of the 2024-25 crop processed by November 27.
Market participants are preparing for the year-end period, buying only small volumes. Sellers under cash pressure or looking to clear inventories have shown greater price flexibility, adding to the downward momentum, CEPEA said in its latest fortnightly report on the Brazilian cotton market.
Beyond ongoing shipments under term contracts, traders are already negotiating new deals for early 2026 deliveries and for cotton from the next season. According to Brazilian Cotton Producers Association (ABRAPA), 81.73 per cent of Brazil’s 2024-25 crop had been processed by November 27, with progress at 79 per cent in Mato Grosso and 92 per cent in Bahia.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KD)
Fashion
‘Made in Italy’: Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy named among 13 luxury giants suspected of exploiting Chinese workers
By
AFP
Published
December 5, 2025
Thirteen further leading luxury brands, including Gucci, Versace and Yves Saint Laurent, are suspected of having used subcontractors in Italy who exploited Chinese workers, according to a request issued on Thursday by the Italian judicial authorities.
In a request for information seen by AFP, a prosecutor in Milan said they had found bags, wallets and garments from these brands during searches of Italian workshops employing ‘Chinese labour in severely exploitative conditions’.
Thursday’s proceedings concern brands from the French group Kering (Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen), Givenchy (LVMH group), as well as Prada and its new acquisition, Versace, along with Ferragamo, Pinko, Dolce & Gabbana, Missoni, Off-White, leather goods maker Coccinelle, and the sportswear giant Adidas.
The Milan prosecutor is asking the brands, which are presumed innocent, to provide documents on their supply chains promptly, such as internal audits.
Other leading names have already been singled out by the Italian judiciary in similar cases: Dior, LVMH’s second-largest brand, the leather goods houses Tod’s and Alviero Martini, as well as an Armani subsidiary and cashmere specialist Loro Piana.
Poverty pay, workers sleeping in the workshop to produce items sold for thousands of euros: investigations carried out by the Milan public prosecutor’s office have revealed a serious lack of oversight across supply chains.
Under Italian law, companies can be held liable for violations committed by authorised suppliers. Advocates for fashion workers have been denouncing such abuses for decades.
The Italian government has gone on the offensive to defend its brands, with the Minister for Industry and ‘Made in Italy‘, Adolfo Urso, declaring that their reputation was ‘under attack’.
Tod’s, after denying any irregularities, was given an 11-week period by a Milan judge on Wednesday to strengthen its system for monitoring suppliers.
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