Komatsu Seiren employs new method for cost reduction by expanding international purchase for dyes and in-house quality adjustment.

Komatsu Seiren cut costs by 216 million yen, with a 260 million yen increase in expenditure because of the escalating price of raw materials during the period for intermediate settlement ending March 2007. 6 % of the total amount cut was realized by international purchasing of dyes. According to the company, it is aiming to realize the target cost through further increases in international purchases.

(Note) = The way Komatsu Seiren deals with international purchase is to aquire dyes including disperse dyes at a lower unit cost from Chinese dye manufacturers and readjust them with its dye quality uniform technology to meet the quality criteria for use in Japanese dyeing firms.

Nippon Kayaku promotes textile auxiliaries in China
preparing for exhibition in China Interdye 2007.

Nippon Kayaku has started to lay out the framework for selling various textile auxiliaries in the Chinese market. It has been putting emphasis on selling dyes in China so far, and will focus on selling its textile auxiliaries in parallel with sales of dyes. To introduce its auxiliaries for China, it is proceeding with preparation for participating in China Interdye (put on annually) to be held in Shanghai in April 2007.

Shikibo confirms deodorant effect of cool-biz fabric "Trehacool"
for odors associated with aging and perspiration.

Shikibo has confirmed that cool & dry material "Trehacool" which is compatible with cool-biz has a deodorizing effect on odors associated with aging and perspiration. It will promote "Trehacool" from its 2007 spring/summer product line as a cool & dry fabric for cool-biz with quick-dry, heat releasing, soil release and deodorant properties.

(Note): "Trehacool" is a cool & dry material compatible with cool-biz, which has enhanced its heat releasing property by combining cotton with "trehalose" generally used in materials for foods and skincare cosmetics in a collaboration between Shikibo and Hayashibara Biochemical Labs as of April 2006.

1. Age-associated odor formation-inhibiting action, examining test results

2. Deodorizing effect of Trehacool for perspiration odor sensory test results

New representative office opened in Egypt on November 1 and
website will be available in more languages to expand scope of Oeko-Tex certification.

The meeting of the heads of the Oeko-Tex institutes which certificate textile product safety internationally took place in Hong Kong from November 2 to 4. It announced officially that it had opened a new representative office in Egypt on November 1. It presented the measures to promote its activities more effectively as a worldwide certification authority aiming to be a global leader for quality certifying organizations for textile products, and one such example is to expand the range of available languages for its website which provides information on the Oeko-Tex Standard. In addition to the German, English and French language versions, there will also be a Chinese version which will be available to the public at the launch of the website on 1 December, and the range of information will also soon be available in Japanese, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.

Fashion Industry System Machine & Attachment Exhibition (FISMA TOKYO) held in Tokyo Big Sight from December 6-8.

Fashion Industry System Machine & Attachment Exhibition (FISMA TOKYO) will be held under the theme, "NIPPON, the Power of Creation," for 3 days from December 6 (Wed.) to 8 (Fri.) 2006, at West Hall 3 in Tokyo Big Sight (3-21-1, Ariake, Koto-ku, Tokyo). More than 70 companies will exhibit, and industrial sewing machines, apparel CAD and production control machines/systems will be presented.