From the Sector

At the Munich Fabric Start in Munich, TINTEX proudly announced its complete switch from the use of conventional cotton and the concomitant launch of a new fabric range that is the highest expression of the new generation of cotton: Naturally Advanced Cotton by TINTEX.

This new range is able to offer an advanced smart choice of 4 different premium and responsible advanced cotton solutions such as BCI Cotton, ECOTEC® by Marchi & Fildi, GOTS certified organic cotton and Supima. These new fabrics maintain and upgrade the transparent, hi-tech and sustainable organics that are at the heart of the TINTEX DNA. They represent better, smarter ecomaterials with new levels of performance and hi-tech smarts, thanks to a first class expertise in specialist dyeing and finishing techniques, coatings and applications that use the latest research, equipment and processes to deliver it. 

This new launch is confirming once more the commitment of TINTEX to its ‘Naturally Advanced’ position meaning “advancing beautiful, organic and natural materials to the next level combined with unique, hybrid ‘nature-tech’ smarts, with added value and creativity, thanks to dedicated investments that serve and secure our customer’s demands both now and in the seasons to come” says CEO Mario Jorge Silva.

The “Naturally Advanced Cotton” on Collection by TINTEX:

BCI cotton: The Better Cotton Initiative has specific aims:

• Reduce the environmental impact of cotton production
• Improve livelihoods and economic development in cotton producing areas
• Improve commitment to and flow of Better Cotton throughout supply chain.

ECOTEC® by Marchi & Fildi: a range of full-colour yarns, a smarter cotton made from pre-consumer clippings that save up to 77,9% water during manufacture. This season TINTEX is also introducing a new, finer ECOTEC® yarn called Phoenix, also GRS certified, being made from 50% ECOTEC® cotton and 50% recycled polyester. Here wellbeing credentials are guaranteed with Tessile e Salute* certification. 

GOTS Organic Cotton: The Global Organic Textile Standard GOTS is the most important standard for sustainable production of garments and natural fiber textile products from organic farming such as organic cotton or organic wool. GOTS criteria measures environmental, technical quality, toxicity and social impacts. GOTS is backed by independent certification for the entire supply chain.

Supima Cotton: Luxury, quality and craftsmanship are the benchmarks of American-grown, extra-long staple cotton. TINTEX offers 100% Supima precious fabrics and blends with tencel.

These special 4 cotton actors are made even more “advanced” by unique smart finishing as Plummy and Naturally Clean, for clean surfaces, bright colours, outstanding touch always with a very careful eye at the responsible values.  

Beijing - Tencent Holdings Limited (“Tencent”) (00700.HK), JD.com, Inc. (“JD.com”) (NASDAQ:JD), and Vipshop Holdings Limited (“Vipshop”) (NYSE:VIPS), today jointly announced that Tencent, a leading provider of internet value-added services in China, and JD.com, China’s largest retailer, have entered into definitive agreements with Vipshop, a leading online discount retailer for brands in China, such that Tencent and JD.com will invest an aggregate amount of approximately US$863 million in cash in Vipshop at the closing of the transaction.

Pursuant to the share subscription agreement, Tencent and JD.com will subscribe for newly issued Class A ordinary shares of Vipshop in the amount of approximately US$604 million and approximately US$259 million, respectively. The purchase price will be US$65.40 per Class A ordinary share, which is equivalent to US$13.08 per American Depositary Share (“ADS”) of Vipshop, five of which represent one Class A ordinary share. The purchase price represents a 55% premium over the closing price of the ADSs as of the last trading day on December 15, 2017.

The transaction is expected to close in the near future, subject to customary closing conditions.  Upon the closing, Tencent and JD.com will beneficially own, taking into account any existing holding, approximately 7% and 5.5%, respectively, of Vipshop’s total issued shares. The Class A ordinary shares issued to Tencent and JD.com will be subject to a two-year lock up restriction. Tencent and JD.com will have the right to appoint a director and an observer, respectively, to Vipshop’s board of directors during the two-year lockup period. After the end of the lock-up period, for so long as Tencent and JD.com hold approximately 12% and 8%, respectively, of Vipshop’s total issued shares, or otherwise by mutual agreement with Vipshop, they will maintain director and board observer rights.

Concurrently with the entry of the share subscription agreement, Tencent and JD.com have entered into business cooperation agreements with Vipshop, effective upon closing, establishing a cooperative relationship among Tencent, JD.com and Vipshop. Under these agreements, Tencent will grant Vipshop an entry on the interface of Weixin Wallet enabling Vipshop to utilize traffic from Tencent’s Weixin platform, and JD.com will grant Vipshop entries on both the main page of JD.com’s mobile application and the main page of its Weixin Discovery shopping entry, and will assist Vipshop in achieving certain GMV targets through JD.com’s platform.   

“I am truly delighted about Vipshop's new strategic cooperation relationships with Tencent and JD.com,” said Mr. Eric Ya Shen, Vipshop’s Co-founder, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer. “This undoubtedly is an important event for Vipshop as well as China's e-commerce and internet industries. We, together with Tencent and JD.com, will leverage our respective strengths to form a strategic cooperative alliance aiming to achieve a deep, win-win cooperation and to benefit internet users and consumers. We will develop a holistic cooperation with Tencent on the Weixin platform and expand our strategic alliance with Tencent into more and broader areas.  We will explore win-win opportunities in multiple areas with JD.com, including establishing a strategic alliance in collaboration with brand suppliers, and an on-line traffic alliance. We will continue to operate as an independent e-commerce platform and further deepen and enhance our leading e-commerce capabilities in fashion (including apparel, shoes, bags and accessories) and cosmetics categories as well as our strong female user base, thereby offering higher value and better user experience to our customers.”

“The strength of Vipshop’s flash sale and apparel businesses, as well as its outstanding management team, create clear and strong synergies with us,” said Richard Liu, Chairman and CEO of JD.com. “This partnership will further extend the strong inroads that we have made with female shoppers, and will expand the breadth and reach of our fashion business. We continue to add the top-notch partners to complement JD.com’s core strengths, ensuring that JD and our partners provide the best customer experience for every shopping need.”

Martin Lau, President of Tencent Holdings, said, “We are pleased to become strategic investor in and partner with Vipshop. We look forward to providing Vipshop with our audiences, marketing solutions, and payment support to help the company provide branded apparel and other product categories to China’s rising middle class. We already see substantial demand from our users to discover, discuss and purchase branded apparel in our applications, and we believe that connecting our users more deeply to products on Vipshop’s platform will enrich their online experiences while benefiting Vipshop. We are proud of the role our resources such as marketing technology, payments handling, and machine learning play in facilitating a healthy and diverse retail ecosystem, online and offline.” 

About JD.com, Inc.

JD.com is both the largest e-commerce company in China, and the largest Chinese retailer, by revenue. The company strives to offer consumers the best online shopping experience. Through its user-friendly website, native mobile apps, and WeChat and Mobile QQ entry points, JD offers consumers a superior shopping experience. The company has the largest fulfillment infrastructure of any e-commerce company in China. As of September 30, 2017, JD.com operated 7 fulfillment centers and 405 warehouses covering 2,830 counties and districts across China, staffed by its own employees. JD.com is a member of the NASDAQ100 and a Fortune Global 500 company.

About Vipshop Holdings Limited

Vipshop Holdings Limited is a leading online discount retailer for brands in China. Vipshop offers high quality and popular branded products to consumers throughout China at a significant discount to retail prices. Since it was founded in August 2008, the Company has rapidly built a sizeable and growing base of customers and brand partners. For more information, please visit www.vip.com.

About Tencent Holdings Limited

Tencent uses technology to enrich the lives of Internet users. Our social products Weixin and QQ link our users to a rich digital content catalogue including games, video, music and books. Our proprietary targeting technology helps advertisers reach out to hundreds of millions of consumers in China. Our infrastructure services including payment, security, cloud and artificial intelligence create differentiated offerings and support our partners’ business growth. Tencent invests heavily in people and innovation, enabling us to evolve with the Internet. Tencent was founded in Shenzhen, China, in 1998. Shares of Tencent (00700.hk) are traded on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates,” “confident” and similar statements. Among other things, statements regarding the expected closing of the transactions and the quotations from management in this announcement are or contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to, those included in JD.com’s and Vipshop’s filings with the SEC and in Tencent’s filings with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and none of Tencent, JD.com or Vipshop undertake any duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

Lectra brings together partnership schools and industry experts to discuss how changing professions
in fashion are impacting training programs

Lectra, the world leader in integrated technology solutions dedicated to industries using fabrics, leather,
technical textiles and composite materials, recently welcomed partners from the world of
education to the company’s Bordeaux-Cestas campus for its eighth education congress. The
event was dedicated to the mega trends shaping the fashion industry and impacting
professions from design to production.

Over fifty representatives from among the most important fashion schools in Germany, Canada, China,
USA, France, Hong Kong, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom, Switzerland and Sweden, participated
in this biannual meeting between industry experts and teaching professionals.

Fashion professions are evolving as companies make their first steps towards Industry 4.0, adopting 3D
and rationalizing the lifecycle management for their collections thanks to PLM. Lectra’s congress enabled
schools to discuss the developing role of designers and patternmakers, and the new elements to be
integrated into training programs.

Lectra illustrated future changes through presentations on design, patternmaking, 3D prototyping, and PLM.
“It is fundamental to bring innovation experts in the industry together with fashion schools, because
students will drive the evolution of this industry,” stated Pascal Denizart, Managing Director of the Centre
européen des textiles innovants (CETI).

Working with schools to design courses which meet the needs of fashion companies has always been at
the heart of Lectra’s education program. During the event, the company presented collaborative
experiences between partner schools and fashion brands, such as the competitions organised by Lectra
with Missoni, Balenciaga, and Armani in Italy, as well as Peacebird in China and JC Penney in the United
States.

In the United Kingdom, Lectra collaborated with COS (H&M group) and the Arts University Bournemouth
(AUB) for a competition centred on the design of a collection with zero waste.
“The process was totally digital, from design to the creation of a virtual prototype in 3D. Our students learnt
to optimize each stage of the process. By leveraging the use of Kaledo®, Modaris® and Diamino®, the
collaborative work between AUB, COS and Lectra is exactly the type of project that enormously motivates
our students. Live briefs developed with leading fashion brands and Lectra offer excellent opportunities
which directly inform industry currency and student employability,” explained Penny Norman, a lecturer at
AUB.

The event also shone the spotlight on China and its major role in the evolution of the fashion industry.
Li Min, Vice-Dean of the fashion and design faculty at Donghua university in Shanghai spoke of the event,
organized by Lectra, which brought together major Chinese companies, experts, and representatives from
the biggest schools in China.

“Exchanges on the impact of the Made in China 2025 plan on the fashion industry can better prepare
students for tomorrow’s professions, where digital and automation will occupy a far more central position
than today,” testified Li Min.

"The fashion industry is evolving so fast that sharing insights and best practices with experts and other
fashion schools has become vital to ensure we offer the best learning experience and technology tools to
our students", said Dr. Trevor J. Little, Professor of Textile and Apparel, Technology and Management in
the College of Textiles at NC State University.

“Lectra’s eighth education congress confirms the company’s commitment to our partner schools. We
shared our analysis of the market, the digitalization of the eco-system, and how Industry 4.0 principles can
be applied to the fashion industry. We also discussed mass customization and the role of PLM. While these
are key subjects for our customers, many schools are only now approaching them. We are preparing
tomorrow, today: Lectra is supporting our customers, and schools to play an essential role,” concludes
Céline Choussy Bedouet, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Lectra.

• Revenue up 9.4 percent to EUR 1,726.6 mn
• EBITDA improvement of 23.9 percent to EUR 397.1 mn
• Retail bond of EUR 120 mn redeemed – Lenzing with net liquidity as at end of September
• State-of-the-art application innovation center opened in Hong Kong

Lenzing – The Lenzing Group generated a substantial increase in revenue and earnings in the first nine months of the 2017 financial year compared to the prior-year period. The company is continuing the implementation of its Group strategy sCore TEN in order to further expand the offering of specialty fibers and be even closer to its customers and business partners.

Consolidated revenue climbed 9.4 percent year-on-year to EUR 1,726.6 mn. This increase is mainly attributable to higher prices for all three fiber generations. Consolidated earnings before tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 23.9 percent to EUR 397.1 mn, corresponding to an EBITDA margin of 23 percent, up from 20.3 percent in the prior-year period. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) increased by 34.6 percent to EUR 298.4 mn, resulting in a higher EBIT margin of 17.3 percent (Q1-3 2016: 14 percent). The profit for the period improved by 35.3 percent to EUR 219.3 mn, and earnings per share rose 36 percent to EUR 8.12 per share. In September Lenzing redeemed the retail bond of EUR 120 mn. At the end of the reporting period the Group had net liquidity of EUR 16.9 mn.

“In the first three quarters of 2017, we successfully captured value in a very positive market environment and we continue to implement the sCore TEN strategy with great discipline. The opening of our new application innovation center in Hong Kong is an important step to boost our regional innovation capabilities. We were particularly proud to launch TENCELTM Luxe as a sign of Lenzing’s ongoing commitment to innovation and sustainability”, states Stefan Doboczky, Chief Executive Officer of the Lenzing Group. “After three excellent quarters we are confident to deliver substantially better operating results in 2017 compared to 2016, but at the same time we do expect more headwinds in 2018.”

Focus on customer intimacy

In September 2017, the Lenzing Group opened a new application innovation center (AIC) in Hong Kong, thus setting a further milestone in strengthening its innovation offering to all partners along the value chain. New applications for Lenzing fibers will be developed and tested at the new facility, among them applications for recent innovations such as the TENCELTM Luxe branded lyocell filament, the RefibraTM branded lyocell fiber and the EcoVeroTM branded viscose fiber.

Furthermore, new sales and marketing offices were opened in Turkey and South Korea in the first half of 2017. The direct contact to customers and well-equipped showrooms featuring products made of LenzingTM fibers serve as the basis for providing even better customer support.

Investment program in progress

The Lenzing Group aims to increase the share of specialty fibers as a percentage of revenue to 50 percent by 2020. Following the capacity expansion initiatives in Heiligenkreuz (Austria) and Mobile, Alabama (USA) which are both underway, Lenzing announced its intention to construct the next plant to produce TENCEL® fibers in Thailand.

A new era of sustainable production

In October 2017, the Lenzing Group presented a new product, TENCELTM Luxe, at an exclusive event held in Paris. The TENCELTM Luxe branded filament yarn represents Lenzing’s entry in the filament market. This fiber will support the Lenzing Group’s path towards becoming a true specialty player in the market for botanic materials derived from the sustainable raw material wood.

The launch volumes of TENCELTM Luxe are being produced at the Lenzing site. The basic engineering for a commercial scale plant was commenced.

Outlook
Demand development on the global fiber market remains positive within the context of a generally friendly macroeconomic environment. Lenzing expects wood-based cellulose fibers to grow at an even higher rate than the overall fiber market. After three excellent quarters, the Lenzing Group will achieve an operating result in 2017 that is significantly better than 2016.

For 2018, Lenzing sees a number of somewhat opposing factors that limit visibility regarding fiber price developments. Overall market demand is expected to remain high. However, the Group expects a substantial increase on the supply side, especially for viscose but also for cotton. Price trends for selected key raw materials, especially caustic soda, are difficult to predict. Against this background the Lenzing Group expects a much more challenging market environment for standard viscose during the upcoming quarters.

The above-mentioned development reassures the Lenzing Group in its chosen corporate strategy sCore TEN. The Group initiated its transformation from a volume-oriented viscose player to a value-oriented specialty fiber player at the end of 2015, and will continue the disciplined implementation of its business strategy.

• Registration Phases 3 & 4 of REACH well on track
• Company is a funding member of the major consortia relevant to the textile and paper industries (Dyes, OBA, Fluorotelomer), with a role of lead registrant and expected total investment of 14.5 million USD

Reinach, Switzerland - Archroma, a global leader in color and specialty chemicals, today announced solid progress on Phases 3 and 4 of REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and restriction of Chemicals) with more than 60% of our commercial products active in EU complying already with the June 2018 requirements. In total, 369 different chemical substances are within the scope of the REACH phases 3 and 4. These include 135 dossiers where Archroma has a lead registrant position in the EU.

In the first two phases – completed, respectively, in November 2010 and May 2013 – the company recorded a total of 60 chemical substances that are produced in or imported to the countries of the European Union with volumes greater than 100 tons per year. In the third and fourth phase of REACH that is currently under way, all the remaining chemical substances of more than 1 ton per year must be registered by June 1, 2018.

With its expert chemical management system, Archroma, unlike many EU importers of textile and paper chemicals, controls the composition of its formulations and can therefore ensure full REACH compliance of each ingredient in its products.

With its broad product portfolio, Archroma is one major registrant of substances relevant to the textile and paper industries at the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). The company expects the total investment needed to be REACH ready to amount to 14.5 million USD.

“The REACH objective to improve the protection of human health and the environment from the risks that can be posed by chemicals is fully in line with our own belief that we can make our industry sustainable. Hence our early commitment to REACH without the slightest hesitation – because it’s our nature,” comments Carole Mislin, Global Head of Product Stewardship at Archroma.

“Everyone benefits from more sustainability – the people, the planet, our customers and even us here at Archroma,” Mislin adds. “Archroma will benefit because we will be able to reapply the invaluable expertise we have gained from the REACH registration process in the EU to other regulations under way or expected soon in countries such as South Korea or Turkey. And our customers and partners will gain because they can count on a reliable supply source and an expert partner to accompany them through the REACH preparation process.”

At Heimtextil, which is to be held in Frankfurt from 9 to 12 January 2018, Trevira GmbH will be represented together with some important Trevira CS clients in Hall 4.2 at a 1,305 m2 booth.
The core of this joint booth will be a Trevira exhibition. Participating clients will present their latest Trevira CS collections for home textiles and commercially used textiles at individual stands around this core exhibit. The joint stand is located in close proximity to the new exhibition “Interior. Architecture. Hospitality. EXPO” of Messe Frankfurt.
“We are delighted to be able to make a significant contribution to the new thematic focus of Hall 4.2 with our trade fair concept for next year. It enables us to offer a platform to our clients allowing them to reach important decision-makers. In

addition, visitors to the trade fair will appreciate being able to find such a large number of Trevira CS novelties and collections in a one-stop-shop,” says Anke Vollenbröker, Head of Marketing at Trevira GmbH.
Trevira CEO Klaus Holz is pleased that the idea of a joint stand has been so well received by their clients. “The high level of demand shows that our concept of a comprehensive partnership with our clients pays off. Our long-standing clients appreciate that we not only offer them high quality and sustainably produced fibres and yarns, but that we also support them with our technical expertise and in marketing their Trevira fabrics.”

The following clients will be represented with a large selection of their beautiful and modern Trevira CS fabrics at the joint booth in January: Baumann Dekor Ges.m.b.H., Engelbert E. Stieger AG, FIDIVI Tessitura Vergnano S.p.A., Jenny Fabrics AG, Johan van den Acker Textielfabriek B.V., Mattes & Ammann GmbH & Co. KG, Pugi R.G. S.R.L., Spandauer Velours GmbH & Co. KG, SR Webatex GmbH / Getzner Textil AG, Swisstulle AG, Tessitura Mario Ghioldi & C. srl, Torcitura Fibre Sintetiche S.p.A., Torcitura Lei Tsu S.r.l., Vlnap a.s. / Wagenfelder Spinning Group, Wintex S.r.l., Mersem Teksil San. Ve Tic. Ltd. Sti, Teksko Kadife Kumas San. Ve Tic. A.S.

Lectra has developed partnerships with over 850 fashion schools across the world, providing them with solutions and expertise to help the teachers prepare students with the skills they require for the workplace. Working with leading education partners, Lectra organises regular student competitions in association with customers. The latest competition with Istituto Secoli, renowned for its pattern-making savoir-faire, and organized with Armani, is a clear example of industry and education working hand-in-hand to nurture young fashion designers.
Students at Istituto Secoli developed their collections using Lectra’s Modaris® and Diamino® solutions to create their patterns, prototypes and markers. In addition, students from the master’s program in menswear cut their creations with Vector®, Lectra’s state-of-the-art fabric cutting solution.

Thanks to the trusted relationship that Lectra has with its customer G.A. Operations of the Giorgio Armani group, one of the winning students, graduating in menswear, has the opportunity to take up an internship in the collection development department. "We were very pleased with Lectra's initiative and were delighted to offer educational internships at G.A. Operations. We chose the winning student for his creative skills and for his training on Modaris and Diamino. This gives us the important advantage of bringing somebody with proven technical skills into our team," stated Giorgio Ferremi, industrial director G.A. Operations at Trento.

Composites use in Building and Construction will be highlighted at JEC newest event dedicated to this specific Composites Industry next month in Chicago, IL, USA. The numerous and diverse benefits that these innovative materials bring to the Building Industry will help overcome the coming challenges such as, urbanization, increase of natural disasters (floods, storms, tsunamis, earthquakes…), along with the decrease of non-renewable raw materials and the high standard levels set by the society in terms of lightness and fluidity. Composites Materials bring answers and opportunities to tackle those issues in sustainable, durable and reliable manners. Solutions like ease of fabrication (Owens Corning), structures durability (Biteam), anti-seismic reinforcement (DowAksa), use of end-of-life products such as recycled bottles of water (Premier Composites Technologies), aerial forms (Optima Projects Ltd) or again energy saving (Armageddon Energy).

Following its strategy to address every Composites End-user, the JEC Innovation Awards will reward these 6 Composites Innovators in Building & Construction that will change the way we build.
If the majority of submissions relied on glass fibers, which is common in the Construction field, we see an increased interest in carbon fibers, especially for structural applications. And similarly to all sectors of the composite industry, thermoplastics are gaining in importance in Construction. Therefore, to promote the growing use of composites as a construction material, 6 categories are awarded, covering a large panel of applications and possibilities.