Dior replaces John Galliano with Raf Simons

More than a year after it fired John Galliano as creative director, Dior has reportedly selected Raf Simons to replace him, the New York Times reports. Simons, 44,  previously led Jil Sander for six years, leaving in February when Sander returned to the brand. Unlike the flamboyant Galliano, who ended each runway show with a flourish of theatricality.

Searcher drawing new attention in the hunt for Amelia Earhart

For most of the 25 years he’s been investigating the disappearance of famed aviator Amelia Earhart, Ric Gillespie has gotten little traction. Experts and various self-proclaimed skeptics have dismissed, doubted, and debunked his theory that she and her navigator did not plunge into the vastness of the Pacific, but instead lived as castaways on a pinpoint of land called Nikumaroro.

A smudge in a 74-year-old photograph turned everything around. A forensic analyst in Washington thought it looked more like an object than a photographic defect. With some of the same techniques he had used to analyze security-camera footage, he made out what he thinks is the landing gear of Earhart’s long-lost plane.

Now, a senior official at the State Department has seen the photo and publicly stated there’s a “possibility that this is a strut, a wheel with a surrounding mud flap, of an airplane.”

N.C. State hosts its first fashion week

Paris. New York. Milan. N.C. State?

The university has something in common with the world’s most fashionable cities this week by hosting its inaugural fashion week. N.C. State Fashion Week (www.ncstatefashionweek.com), which started Wednesday and goes through Friday, is three days of fashion shows, guest speakers and exhibitions.

The event developed as an extension of the curriculum of the university’s colleges of textiles and design.

“The idea originated over a year ago because we were implementing a new textile design program,” says Nancy Webster, professor in the textile design program and fashion week organizer. “We wanted to showcase our ability to drive the front end of the business with the creative. We are known for the technical and scientific side of textiles and design, and we wanted to show our capacity for the creative and business side, as well.”

The event kicked off on with the “Avant Garde” show, featuring radical designs by students from N.C. State, as well as those from partner schools: the Fashion Institute of Technology of New York, China’s Donghua University and Hong Kong Polytechnic University. A concluding show, with the theme “Color Fusion,” will close the event at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

US space companies prepare for space station docking

Two US rocket companies are readying the first private space missions to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX and Orbital both have multi-billion dollar Nasa contracts to supply cargo to the station, filling the void left by the retirement last year of the space shuttle.

California-based SpaceX has set the pace so far, having successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule into orbit, and safely returning the capsule to Earth, in December 2010.  The company says it could launch for the ISS as soon as 30 April.

Specialty Textiles Inc. receives expansion grant

In Kings Mountain, N.C., city council members awarded Specialty Textiles Inc. (STI), a local textile goods manufacturer, a $15,000 grant to support its planned expansion in the community. The expansion will bring an estimated 62 new jobs and $5 million in taxable investment into Kings Mountain.

Smart fabric for new soldier uniform

British soldiers’ uniforms could soon use electrically conducting yarn woven directly into the clothing, replacing cumbersome batteries and cabling.  The “e-textiles” could provide uniforms with a single, central power source.

This would allow soldiers to recharge one battery instead of many and cut the number of cables required in their kit. Surrey-based Intelligent Textiles showcased the lightweight uniform at an event organised by theCentre for Defence Enterprise (CDE).

The company has patented a number of techniques for weaving complex conductive fabrics. “We have built-in conductive yarns that then take power and data to where it needs to be,” Asha Thompson, director of Intelligent Textiles, told BBC News.

Textile exports suffer $647 million loss in fiscal year 2012

Pakistan’s textile exports continued a downward trend suffering a loss of 647 million dollars during FY 2011-12 (July-February) as compared to the same period of FY 2010-11, the data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics revealed on Thursday.

The newly formed PBS’s data indicated that the overall textile export proceeds declined from 8.625591 billion dollars to 7.978645 billion dollars during the first eight months of the current fiscal year.  It also meant eight percent negative change over viz a viz the last year.

Mexico changes textiles & apparels labeling standards

The Mexican Ministry of Economy issued a resolution on December 23, 2011, to amend the labeling requirements of the official Mexican Standard NOM-004-SCFI 2006 for textiles and apparel – that sets out the labeling of textile products, garments, accessories and household linen, and was originally published in the Official Journal of the Mexican Federation on June 21, 2006. The new requirements became effective on February 23, 2012.

The amended requirements apply to most textile products where the textile component exceeds 50% by mass. This includes all items of clothing as well as associated accessories and household linens. However, certain disposable and household products are excluded from the labeling requirements.

It is time for us to call the shots in textiles, Pakistan tells India

Stating that it was time for both India and Pakistan to re-work their trade strategies, and tap the huge potential, especially in energy, petrochemicals, textiles and cotton, the All Pakistan Textiles Mills Association (APTMA) has called for removal of all non-tariff barriers to ensure free trade of cotton and textile products.

“It is time for India and Pakistan to set the international trend and price in the field of textiles and cotton trade. Together both the countries account for nearly 40 per cent of the world’s cotton production. Pakistan produces around 15 million cotton bales and India around 34 million bales.

J. Crew Suits Up for Overseas — In a Reversal, Retailer Says It Will Expand Abroad, Open Stores in Europe, Asia

J. Crew’s move overseas also comes amid tougher competition from foreign retailers expanding in the U.S. Last October, Fast Retailing Co.’s Uniqlo opened a 90,000-square-foot flagship store on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue as a kickoff to broader expansion in the U.S. Uniqlo currently has just three U.S. stores, but U.S. Chief Operating Officer Yasunobu Kyogoku says the chain ultimately plans to have “hundreds of stores” here.

J. Crew