More info of what is going on in the business

Daily Morning Edition from sporting good business

Monday, March 16, 2020

Nike Closing Stores In Response To Coronavirus

Nike Inc. on Sunday said it is closing all stores in the U.S., Canada, Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand from Monday, March 16, through Friday, March 27, to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
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VF Corp. To Shutter Stores Through April 5
In response to the global COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, VF Corporation announced the temporary closure of all owned retail stores across North America, effective March 16 through April 5. Read more

NRF: Retailer Leaders Issue Statement On Responsible Shopping During Covid-19 Pandemic
National Retail Federation President and CEO Matthew Shay and Retail Industry Leaders Association President Brian Dodge are advising consumers to shop responsibly during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Read more

REI Retail Stores Closing Until March 27
REI Co-op is closing its retail stores from Monday, March 16, through Friday, March 27, to “help protect the health and safety of our employees and customers” from the coronavirus, CEO Eric Artz said in a statement. Read more

Lululemon To Close All North American, European Stores
Lululemon on Sunday provided an update on its global store operations in response to the continued spread of the coronavirus. The company said it will close all stores in North America and Europe from Monday, March 16, through Friday, March 27. Read more

Alterra Mountain Co. Suspends Operations At North American Ski Resorts
Alterra Mountain Co. has suspended operations at its 15 North American ski resorts, starting the morning of Sunday, March 15, until further notice, according to CEO Rusty Gregory. Read more

Patagonia ‘Temporarily’ Shuts Down Operations
Patagonia on its website said it is “temporarily shutting down operations” to protect its community from the spread of the coronavirus. Read more

Under Armour To Shut Doors To Combat Virus
Under Armour announced it will close all 188 of its company stores in North America from March 16 through March 28 as a precaution amid the global spread of coronavirus. Read more

Columbia Sportswear To Temporarily Close Stores
Columbia Sportswear Company said it was closing its store locations from March 16 through March 27. The company also announced a number of other steps being taken in response to coronavirus. Read more

Survey: Nearly Half Of Retailers Expect Hit From Coronavirus
About half (47 percent) of retailers expect some downside in revenue due to the coronavirus, according to a survey conducted in March 2020 of 304 retailers by Digital Commerce 360. Read more

Petzl’s America Employees To Work From Home Indefinitely
Beginning on Monday, March 16, all Petzl America employees with the ability to telecommute will be working from home until further notice Read more

WIGGY'S IS WORK AS USUAL, HOWEVER I HAVE READ UP ON THE SPANISH FLU OF 1918 AND ALL OF THESE CLOSURES INCLUDING BARS AND RESTAURANTS ETC WILL HELP STEM THE MOVEMENT OF THE VIRUS AND THAT IS WHAT IS IN THE BEST INTEREST OF THE COUNTRY.

THE RELEASE OF POLYESTER FIBERS INTO THE ENVIRONMENT

MAYBE WE SHOULDN’T WEAR CLOTHING!

Wearing clothes can release even greater quantities of microfibres to the environment than washing them, new research shows.

In a first-of-its-kind study, scientists from the Institute for Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials of the National Research Council of Italy (IPCB-CNR) and the University of Plymouth compared four different items of polyester clothing and how many fibres were released when they were being worn and washed.

The results showed that up to 4,000 fibres per gram of fabric could be released during a conventional wash, while up to 400 fibres per gram of fabric could be shed by items of clothing during just 20 minutes of normal activity.

Scaled up, the results indicate that one person could release almost 300million polyester microfibres per year to the environment by washing their clothes, and more than 900million to the air by simply wearing the garments.

In addition, there were significant differences depending on how the garments were made, which the researchers concluding that clothing design and manufacturer has a major role to play in preventing microfibres from being emitted to the environment.

The research, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, was conducted by scientists at the National Research Council of Italy and the University of Plymouth. It builds on their previous studies which showed substantial quantities of fibres are released during the laundry process.

Dr Francesca De Falco, Research Fellow at IPCB-CNR and lead author on the current research, said: "Recently, more evidence has been accumulating on the presence of synthetic microfibres not only in aquatic environments, but also in atmospheric ones. That is why we decided to design this set of experiments to study microfibre release by garments to both media. This is a type of pollution that should be mainly fought at its source, the fabric itself, but we investigated the influence of different textile parameters on the release. Results have shown that textiles with a very compact structure like woven, with yarns highly twisted and composed of continuous filaments, can release less microfibres to both air and water."

The study compared four different garments, which were washed at 40°C with any released fibres being collected. It showed that anywhere between 700 and 4,000 individual fibres could be released per gram of fabric during a single wash.

The researchers also created a dedicated clean lab used by multiple volunteers wearing each of the four garments separately and then performing a sequence of movements simulating a mix of real life activities. Any fibres emitted by the garments were then collected, with up to 400 being released per gram of fabric in just 20 minutes.

The polyester/cotton garment showed the greatest release during both washing and wearing, with a woven polyester one releasing the least quantity of microfibres.

However, based on the overall results, the researchers say previous estimations of microplastic pollution have actually underestimated the importance of synthetic textiles since they did not take into account the quantities released directly into the air.

Professor Richard Thompson OBE, Head of the University of Plymouth's International Marine Litter Research Unit, was a senior author on the current study and gave evidence to both the UK Government's Sustainability of the Fashion Industry inquiry and the recent OECD Forum on due diligence in the garment and footwear sector.

He added: "The key story here is that the emission of fibres while wearing clothes is likely of a similar order of magnitude as that from washing them. That constitutes a substantial and previously unquantified direct release to the environment. The results also show textile design can strongly influence both release to the air and release due to laundering; that is a crucial message highlighting the importance of sustainable design for the fashion industry. Indeed many of the current issues associated with the environmental impacts of plastic items stem from a lack of holistic thinking at the design stage."