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A Woolworths window display wins big in London

A Woolworths window display that incorporated milk bottles and plastic hangers has snapped up a prestigious global award

The retailer won the prize for the best sustainable display at the annual Creative Retail Awards in London. The Creative Retail Awards recognise and reward innovation and excellence in retail design from around the world.

The festive-season window featured 3D flower artworks, including striking, oversized models of iconic Proteas – made from discarded plastic.

The flowers were handcrafted by South African women using recycled plastic bottles, plastic cutlery, and plastic hangers. 2-litre milk bottles, 5 and 1.5 litre water bottles as well as many common single-use plastic items such as cutlery and hangers.

“Our aim was to create a visual representation of Woolworths’ zero packaging to landfill journey over the holiday season,” explains Woolworths’ marketing head, Charmaine Huet.

Woolworths also snapped up the Best Use of Social Media at the Content Council’s Pearl IMPACT Award, presented in New York, for their digitally-led Bring It Home Christmas campaign.

The campaign gave customers the chance to bring their loved ones home to share in their Christmas celebrations. 100 lucky winners were selected from the nominations received, and these festive homecoming stories were shared via video and social media. Business Insider

Hi-viz – glowgear sun shade hat youtybe presentation

New Rivatex production line to open soon in Kenya

The turnaround of Eldoret-based textile manufacturer Rivatex East Africa is in full swing with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta expected to open a new production unit soon. The cotton mill is back in action three years after the Kenyan and the Indian Governments equitably injected Sh 6 billion into the plant that was used to buy modern equipment.

The factory collapsed two decades ago due to mismanagement and corruption. It was then a fully state-owned company. Moi University acquired it four years ago.

It employs 600 people now and aims to have 3,000 workers when the revival is complete. It expects to increase the consumption of cotton from 10,000 bales per day now to 100,000 bales. By then it will be producing 40,000 metres of textiles per day compared to the current 5,000 metres, according to Kenyan media reports.

Rivatex has already won contracts to produce materials for police uniforms and government agencies like Kenya Power, the Geothermal Development Company, hospitals as well as gowns for public and private universities.

The company is also eyeing the regional markets as well as the African Growth and Opportunity Act market through the Export Processing Zone.

The company has signed contractual agreements with farmers and ginneries to boost the production. Some 40,000 cotton growers in 22 counties are expected to benefit F2F

Indonesian batik attracts South Africans at Cape Town expo

Various Indonesian batik clothing and fabrics attracted visitors at the 2019 Apparel Textile and Footwear (ATF) Trade Exhibition in Cape Town recently. According to the Indonesian industry ministry, the export value of woven and batik commodities reached $53.3 million in 2018, with the destination nations comprising Japan, the Netherlands and the United States.

Though Indonesian business apparel presence in South Africa is limited, its high-quality fabrics and batik products have vast potential in the country, , said Indonesian consul general in Cape Town Krishna Adi Poetranto. The event was held on June 12-14.

The ‘Wastra Nusantara’ sequence at the fashion show on the second day of the exhibition was enlivened by the latest collection of batik designers and entrepreneurs from Lampung, Pekalongan, and Bandung, a news agency report citing a press release by the Indonesian Embassy in Pretoria.

Batik Siger, with experience in showcasing its collections in various countries, presented clothing lines for men and women, with a typical Siger style of Lampung Province.

Lovely Zia from Bandung displayed contemporary batik clothing, including patchwork skirts, shirts, dresses, and outer wear for both genders. Aruni Batik Pekalongan is showcased batik clothing for men and batik fabric.

Indonesian batik was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009 and is expected to go global and drive the exports of small and medium industries. F2F

Did you know……..

Coco Chanel was an orphan at the age of 12, but that didn’t stop her becoming one of the greatest fashion designers the world has ever seen. As well as the little black dress, she also created costume jewelry.

The record for the world’s longest wedding dress is held by a dress which has a 1.85 mile long train.