Sae-A Trading, a leading global textile and apparel manufacturer and subsidiary of the Global Sae-A Group, announced that it has completed the acquisition of Swisstex’s manufacturing operations in El Salvador, as well as Swisstex Direct, LLC, a U.S.-based sales arm company. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition enhances Sae-A Trading’s capabilities in sports and performance apparel while reinforcing its manufacturing footprint in the Americas. Swisstex’s U.S.-based manufacturing facilities will continue operating independently, and its current management team will remain in place across both regions.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, Swisstex specializes in advanced fabric knitting, dyeing and finishing processes and employs approximately 500 skilled professionals, of which about 300 are part of the acquired El Salvador operations. Swisstex’s innovations and accomplishments, with regard to wet processing, are well known throughout the industry, defining Swisstex as a global leader in sustainable textile manufacturing. The company offers specialized treatments, including moisture management, enhanced absorbency, UV resistance, and antimicrobial finishes.

Sae-A Trading has acquired Swisstex’s El Salvador manufacturing operations and US-based Swisstex Direct, expanding its capabilities in sports and performance apparel.
The acquisition strengthens Sae-A’s presence in the Americas following its Tegra integration.
Swisstex’s management and 500-member team will continue operations, ensuring innovation, sustainability, and quality across all facilities.

Through this acquisition, Sae-A Trading gains control of Swisstex El Salvador and Unique El Salvador, two highly regarded facilities known for their integrated production processes in knitting, dyeing, and finishing. These facilities utilize advanced automated technology and environmentally sustainable practices, while maintaining strong relationships with leading global apparel brands. Swisstex’s management team will remain in place post-acquisition at the Los Angeles manufacturing facility and the El Salvador facilities to be acquired by Sae-A Trading, to ensure continued operational excellence, consistent product quality, as well as continuity and commitment to its valued brand and retail partners and existing customer base.

Building on the successful integration of Tegra in 2024, this acquisition further strengthens Sae-A Trading’s production network in the Americas and advances its vision for global growth and industry leadership. Tegra is a prominent sportswear manufacturer with facilities in the United States, Honduras, and El Salvador. It aligns with Sae-A Trading’s vision for global expansion and industry leadership.

James Ha, CEO of Sae-A Trading, stated, “This acquisition marks an important milestone in our strategy to expand our global footprint and reinforce our leadership in the industry. By integrating Swisstex’s advanced production capabilities, we will better meet customer demand for innovative, high-quality apparel. Sae-A Trading brings nearly 40 years of textile industry experience, significant financial resources, extensive vertical integration, and a comprehensive global supply chain. Following the acquisition, we will invest further in technology, automation, and AI to enhance operational efficiency, increase production scale, and remain sharply focused on customer needs across all markets.”

Keith Dartley, President of Swisstex Direct, commented, “Sae-A Trading’s commitment to excellence and customer service aligns seamlessly with our own values, making them an ideal partner. We are confident this acquisition will benefit our employees, customers, and stakeholders, enabling us to effectively address future market opportunities and challenges.”

Founded in 1986, Sae-A Trading specializes in OEM/ODM apparel manufacturing and operates a highly integrated global supply chain. Its production facilities span North and Central America, including the United States, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Haiti, El Salvador, and Honduras, as well as Southeast Asia, including Vietnam and Indonesia. The company emphasizes continuous innovation and exceptional service.

The selling owners were advised by Robert Rein of Rein & Associates as their legal advisor and by Servatius, O’Brien & Fong, LLP as their tax and accounting advisor.

Swisstex was established in 1996 and is a leader in knitting, fabric dyeing, and finishing. It has production sites in Los Angeles and El Salvador. The Los Angeles manufacturing facility will operate independently from the acquired Central American operations. Swisstex’s vertically integrated approach ensures exceptional quality, competitive pricing, rapid delivery, and dedicated customer service.

Note: The headline, insights, and image of this press release may have been refined by the Fibre2Fashion staff; the rest of the content remains unchanged.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RM)

The American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) recently wrote to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation expressing concern over the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) analyte restrictions at the proposed levels and urging the department to clarify that the testing thresholds do not apply to products made with recycled materials.

In its proposed PFAS restriction levels, the department suggested the introduction of limits as low as 25 parts per billion across ten specific PFAS substances for all apparel products and product components.

“This proposed restriction is not only inordinately expensive, given the number of product components in apparel products and the expense to do the additional tests across each analyte, but is also inconsistent with other state laws,” Chelsea Murtha, AAFA senior director for sustainability, wrote in the letter.

US trade body AAFA recently wrote to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation expressing concern over the PFAS analyte restrictions at the proposed levels and urging the latter to clarify that the testing thresholds don’t apply to products made with recycled materials.
It advocated for explicit exemption from PFAS regulation for items made with at least 50 per cent recycled content.

AAFA suggested that to promote a shared regulatory landscape across the country and a commonsense approach to managing chemical exposure, the department should mirror California and adopt only its proposed Total Organic Fluorine 50 ppm limit.

“We further note that, per a recent Notre Dame study, that a total organic fluorine result of less than 100 parts per million (ppm) indicates that PFAS were not intentionally added, which is understood implicitly in California’s current 100 ppm limit,” the letter said.

Testing at the proposed specific analyte levels will create tremendous strain on the department’s resources, as well as on the manufacturers who will be responsible for testing at a granular level across everything from zipper to buttons to screen prints, AAFA observed.

A TOF-only approach—a method that measures the total amount of organically bound fluorine, or TOF, in a sample—to limiting potential PFAS exposures would be preferable given the current regulatory landscape and the overall likelihood of PFAS exposure, AAFA wrote.

Such low concentrations of specific PFAS analytes, as proposed by the department, pose a low chance of exposure and may be present in a product in trace amounts due to processes or contamination outside of the responsible manufacturer’s control, it noted.

Companies should have the capacity to rebut the presumption of intentionally added PFAS for exceeding the TOF limit posed by the department, it said.

In keeping with the department’s stated goal of promoting a circular economy through cutting down on waste sent to landfills and incinerators by 85 per cent before 2050, AAFA strongly advocated for the explicit exemption from PFAS regulation for products made with at least 50 per cent recycled content.

According to the Apparel and Footwear International RSL Management (AFIRM) Group’s consultation comments on a universal PFAS restriction in the EU, “there is currently no economically viable way for sorters/recyclers to know whether, and in what quantity, an incoming product contains PFAS, and, consequently, it is not possible to sort PFAS-containing products away from the recycling stream.”

A recycled content exemption is absolutely necessary to enable the industry’s transition to more sustainable and circular sourcing and production, AAFA added.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)

So, finally, the big one – fashion’s most anticipated debut at the richest fashion house in history – Matthieu Blazy’s opening show for Chanel, a bold, gutsy, ingenious, often beautiful and oddly risqué collection that was an undoubted hit.

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The omens felt right as soon as one entered the Grand Palais, where Blazy had built a truly magnificent set. Like the great planets in the solar system; giant fabric balls with interior illumination, the sun 15-meters in diameter. The catwalk a lacquered lunar landscape suggesting molten rock and lava. 
 
So epic was the staging, the 2,800 guests were encouraged to come an hour early to admire the space. The new universe of Chanel, before which the show began, unveiling a beguiling and intriguing collection.

Matthieu opened with suits, of course, but pants suits in gray flannel, in a quirky surprise, culled from pants that Coco borrowed from her great love, Boy Capel. Cut with mannish pants and officers’ mess jackets, they set the scene for a brave, often experimental display by Blazy.

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He sent out dozens of Chanel suits or split suits. Many with a new wrap skirt made with pockets and cut at the knee and left frayed generally. Made in both classic and unexpected materials: lighter semi-sheer bouclé wool, airy plaids, windowpane checks or stiff denim, while the famed four-pocket jackets were all finished with filigrees of gold or contrasting trim.
 
Surprisingly, he showed multiple skirts slung so low, underwear peaked up two inches. It seems unlikely that many of the well-heeled VICs in the audience will actually wear that idea, but its chutzpah was very appealing.
 
Blazy played artfully with many codes, like conceptual double-sized camellia brooches or Coco’s love of pearls, though used in densely woven necklaces. And referenced Mademoiselle’s obsession with wheat by embroidering a golden sheaf into an organza top. 
 
Even the little black dress, which Coco is credited with inventing, got a smart makeover – either finished with golden strings or ruched radically with side knots.
 

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For evening, Matthieu went into overdrive: dense fabric flowers and petals used in flamenco skirts, even if some of which flapped alarmingly. While the lacquered surface alarmed some models, with one taking a shoe off right in front of a movie star posse in the front row – Tilda Swinton, Pedro Almodovar, Penelope Cruz, chatting animatedly beside a silent Kendall Jenner.
 
All presented to a massive mash-up of music created jointly by Chanel’s long-time DJ Michel Gaubert and Belgian sound architect Le Motel. It included Isao Tomita’s electronic track “Venus, the Bringer of Peace”, The Corrs plaintiff hit “Runway” and spoken snippets from TV series “Dawson’s Creek”.
 
At the finale, the collection won Blazy a prolonged standing ovation, ignited when the Ethiopian-Canadian Awar Odhiang in the final look began clapping and beseeching the audience to rise.

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“Chanel is about love. The birth of modernity in fashion comes from a love story. This is what I find most beautiful. It has no time or space; this is an idea of freedom. The freedom worn and won by Gabrielle Chanel,” said Blazy.
 
Ironically, in a set that imitated the vacuum of outer space, the collection felt like a huge blast of fresh air into the lungs of the house of Chanel.

All told, very much a home-run hit show and pathbreaking collection that will be highly influential. And, one has to say, the most successful of the 15 designer debuts at important fashion houses in this unique series of fashion week.
 
One needs to recall, that the Franco-Belgian designer was an under-the-radar candidate for the biggest creative job in fashion. But after garnering rave reviews consistently in a three-year tenure at Italian luxury label Bottega Veneta, he nabbed the position. It is a major step-up in size. From a mid-sized provincial Italian house to Chanel — the world’s largest luxury fashion label with annual sales of around $20 billion.

See fashion show

Chanel’s uber-discreet family owners, Alain and Gérard Wertheimer, clearly would like another long low-term career for Blazy at the house.

He is only the fourth creative director in the brand’s storied history. Coco Chanel founded the brand in 1910 and led it until 1973 when she died in the Ritz; Karl Lagerfeld who ruled supreme from 1983 until his death in 2019. Virginie Viard – Karl’s key assistant, by contrast, only lasted five years until June 2024.
 
In an uber busy week, on the day of the show, the brand also announced two new ambassadors: Oscar winner Nicole Kidman and rising star Ayo Edebiri, the award-winning American actor, director, and screenwriter, known for her standout roles in hit series “The Bear”.
 
Kidman wore a white oversized shirt – Boy Capel-style – and duck-egg blue pants to the show, attending it with her daughters.
 

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“From the unforgettable Baz Luhrmann film to her countless red carpet looks, Nicole has always been part of the history of the house. Free and ever-changing, she is for me the embodiment of the Chanel woman,” said Blazy. 
 
Edebiri recently wore Blazy creations from Chanel at the Venice Film Festival and the New York Film Festival.
 
“Ayo is all strength, but at the same time, she is vulnerable enough to always put herself out there. She writes, she acts, she directs… Nothing can stop her,” insisted Blazy.
 
While tourists in Paris could not help noticing this week’s new giant billboard in front of the Paris Opera: a beautiful Chanel high jewelry necklace from its No. 5 collection.  
 
Suddenly, the Chanel dream seems very alive and well again.