Holiday Shopping Season Forecast Looks Grim

As the holiday shopping season fast approaches, predictions abound regarding its success or failure. At least one major forecaster expects disappointment, potentially the worst season since 2009. 

ShopperTrak predicts that retail sales for this coming November and December will inch up a meager 2.4%, a drop from last year’s 3 percent increase and the 4 percent increases of both 2010 and 2011. These conclusions are based on a wide-ranging statistical analysis of store traffic at more than 60,000 locations.

ShopperTrak’s founder Bill Martin cited a number of factors for the forthcoming malaise, including rising interest rates, congressional infighting over the national budget, uncertainty regarding U.S. involvement in Syria and a bevy of macroeconomic indicators. “It’s got people feeling more tenuous about the holiday season, “ said Martin.

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 https://www.sourcingjournalonline.com/holiday-shopping-season-forecast-looks-grim/

China’s Textile Industry Leans Green

Speaking at the Texworld USA show in midtown Manhattan, Zhang Yankai, vice president of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, promised an increased commitment by the Chinese textile industry to environmental progress. ‘In the next four years, we are going to work very hard to create a green environment so [the industry] continues growth in the future.”

In a rare moment of candid self-criticism last week,  China issued a report card on the nation’s environmental conditions, describing them as “grim.” The report also noted a “marked deterioration in China’s air, water and land quality.” A shockingly low twenty-seven out of 113 cities evaluated satisfied the bare minimum quality standards, set by the Ministry of Environmental Protection. More than 30 percent of China’s major rivers were labeled either “polluted” or “seriously polluted” while more than 57 percent of the groundwater assessed in 198 cities was “bad or “extremely bad.”

Resource URL: https://www.sourcingjournalonline.com/chinas-textile-industry-leans-green/