Jun
28
2021
Transforming fluffy white silkworm cocoons nurtured on Chinese mulberry trees into high-fashion silk shirts, blouses, jackets and other garments is a long, multi-stage process of harvesting, washing, spinning, weaving, dying and sewing. One privately owned Hong Kong company will soon own and manage every stage of this silk journey.
Jun
8
2021
Pineapple leaves, fungus fibres, sugarcane, cactus: all botanical elements used in the production of various kinds of plant-based leather. Inspired by the environmentally-sustainable thinking now sweeping the world, these so-called “vegan” leathers have become increasingly popular alternatives to hide leather.
May
24
2021
The different directions are as sharp as the angles on a multi-faceted brilliant. Pandora, the Danish company that makes the world’s most jewellery pieces, mostly inexpensive High Street ware, has announced it will no longer use naturally-mined diamonds.
May
16
2021
The robot arm zooms back and forth in the workshop of LifeArt in Hong Kong, shaping a sheet of thick, hard cardboard into a modern and environmentally kind cardboard coffin, or eco-coffin. Wilson Tong, chief representative of LifeArt, the only manufacturer of eco-friendly cardboard caskets and coffins in Hong Kong, believes they are the way …read more
Apr
26
2021
Ever-creeping climate change is spelling the end of the lawn as we know it. Environmentalists everywhere see the neat and weed-free grass lawn as an ecological disaster in an age of ever-increasing heat, shrinking water resources and increasingly scarce wild habitat.
Apr
2
2021
Alex Metcalfe started experimenting with no-alcohol beer about five years ago. Originally from Britain, he now lives in Hong Kong’s leafy Sai Kung district with his wife and two small children and he works as a teacher in a Hong Kong school. “I started drinking no-alcohol beer because I wanted to reduce my alcohol intake,” he …read more
Mar
25
2021
Those loaves of bread won’t be fresh enough for customers tomorrow, so tonight they will be collected by a charity for distribution to the hungry. The containers of cooked soup won’t be ordered by restaurant customers for a set lunch today, so tonight they will go to a discount food rescue app for a flash sale. …read more
Mar
25
2021
The dark side of fashion is a ravaged landscape of waste and environmental damage, but a retailing revolution could change that picture. On-demand manufacturing will eliminate oversupply and waste, proponents say, ensuring only those items that have already been paid for will get made.
Feb
20
2021
With 20 million followers on social media, Becky Li is considered a top key opinion leader, or KOL. Her income depends on the sales she can generate, and these days her influence in China is directly measurable, she says. Luxury brands operating in China now give each KOL a different link to attach to a post …read more
Feb
10
2021
Joe Biden chose to wear a classy US$7,000 stainless steel Rolex Datejust when he was sworn in as US president on January 20, giving the up-market Swiss watch brand a fillip after a diabolical year for luxury watches. Unlike a number of his predecessors who chose to wear utilitarian brands as men of the people …read more