NEW YORK CITY — January 22, 2018 — LushuLux — a new brand of affordable, luxury-quality sheets launched in 2017 — is now available on Amazon.com and at select retailers. The 100-percent cotton sheets come in six different colors in Queen and King sizes; thread counts (TC) range from 300 to 600 threads per inch.

To understand what really makes LushuLux products special, consumers need to understand a bit about their manufacturing process, said Melicia Palmer, senior relationship manager, for the LushuLux brand.

While it is true to some extent that higher thread counts tend to indicate better-quality sheets, Palmer explained, luxury consumers who focus on extremely high thread counts—in the extreme 800 to 1,000 TC range — may be unaware that more isn’t always better.

“Higher thread counts, such as 800 to 1,000, can only be achieved by adding extra threads called ‘picks’ that are twisted into the weft,” Palmer explained. “These extra threads, which you pay way more for, can actually make the sheets more fragile. They’re more likely to tear or fray.”

In fact, Palmer noted, most weavers consider 400 to 600 threads-per-inch to be the ideal count for softness and durability. “We’re proud that our LushuLux products are in that maximum-quality range,” Palmer said. “However, what’s most important about our brand is our insistence on 100-percent cotton.”

Even though the word “cotton” might appear on the label, sheets with extremely high thread counts and low prices are often not 100 percent cotton. “It is becoming more common in the marketplace for some manufacturers to market 800 to 1,000 TC ‘cotton’ sheets as low as $19.99,” Palmer said. “But don’t be fooled. These are CVC or blended-cotton sheets. They’re not 100 percent cotton.”

The new Lushulux brand sheets are manufactured by weaving more warp threads than weft. “This produces a luxurious, soft, silky feel — sheets that are durable and that you’ll love to sleep on in winter and in summer,” Palmer said. “It’s called a sateen weave and is what we use to produce all our LushuLux sheets.”

Posted January 22, 2018

Source: LushuLux

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — January 19, 2018 — CVR Uniforms, Shippensburg, Pa., has been recertified Clean Green, reflecting the company’s dedication to standards for operational efficiency and sustainability. The certification quantifies green performance by measuring adherence to TRSA-designated water and energy use thresholds and verifies use of green best management practices (BMPs) by inspecting laundry plant operations.

CVR Uniforms’ customers can be assured their uniforms, mats and other reusable textiles are washed, dried and finished with processes that maximize sustainability and reduce greenhouse emissions. Clean Green certified operations demonstrate significant commitment to conservation and green operations through these BMPs:

• Recovering heat from drained hot water and heat dispersed from the process of warming water;
• Recapturing drained water from rinses for reuse;
• Using environmentally friendly detergents;
• Removing solids and liquids from wastewater;
• Solar energy and energy-efficient lighting;
• Recycling programs;
• Re-routing trucks to save vehicle fuel; and
• Spill prevention plans.

CVR Uniforms earned Clean Green certification initially in 2014. The designation is valid for three years at a time. TRSA approves documentation of water and energy use and BMP deployment through production reports submitted to auditors during the inspections. TRSA’s certification management protocol includes auditor training by the association’s inspection program administrator.

Clean Green encompasses the ASTM International standard, Guide for Sustainable Laundry Practices, which recognizes key criteria for the certification as universal indicators of maximum sustainability in commercial laundry work. ASTM’s review of TRSA BMPs verified these as the most effective and practical techniques for a laundry to achieve green objectives.

TRSA members prompted development of the ASTM standard, which was vetted in the sustainability subcommittee of the group’s Committee on Textiles. Top technical experts, scientists and environmental professionals from outside the linen, uniform and facility services industry reviewed the BMPs. ASTM is the global leader in developing and delivering voluntary consensus standards unparalleled in building consumer confidence in product and service quality.

“I applaud CVR Uniforms for their ongoing sustainability efforts and maintaining the highest standards in their production and delivery operations,” said Joseph Ricci, TRSA president and CEO. “Meeting all the criteria for certification is not easy, but the company is committed to industry-leading processes and technologies.”

Posted January 19, 2018

Source: TRSA

BONN, Germany/NEW YORK CITY — January 18, 2018 — DHL has introduced a new and unique early indicator for the current state and future development of global trade. The DHL Global Trade Barometer is based on large amounts of logistics data that are evaluated with the help of artificial intelligence. Since global trade fuels the world economy, the DHL Global Trade Barometer not only provides an outlook on future trade, but also on the prospects for the global economy. The indicator has been developed in cooperation between DHL and Accenture and will be published quarterly.

“As the world’s leading logistics provider, DHL has both, a deep understanding of the driving forces behind global trade volumes and the industry expertise to analyze and interpret market data. Our network, knowledge and experience uniquely position us to understand global supply chains in order to derive a global trade outlook,” said Tim Scharwath, CEO of DHL Global Forwarding, Freight. “The DHL Global Trade Barometer shows impressively how digitalization — with the use of Big Data and Predictive Analytics — opens up entirely new opportunities that we can use for the benefit of our customers.”

Accenture will provide data modeling and predictive analytics to forecast future trade trends for DHL. DHL will receive one unified view of the insights which will give them a stronger understanding of current and future state of global trade logistics for its customers.

Detailed bottom-up data modeling

The DHL Global Trade Barometer is based on import and export data for a number of intermediate and early-cycle commodities that serve as the basis for further industrial production, e.g. brand labels for clothes, bumpers for cars or touch screens for mobile devices. Sources for the index are aggregated market data from air and containerized ocean freight in seven countries, which account for more than 75 percent of world trade. Using artificial intelligence and various statistical methods this data is compressed to a single index value, which is published on a global level and individually for the seven countries evaluated.

The DHL Global Trade Barometer index represents the weighted average of the current growth and the upcoming two months of global trade. An index value above 50 indicates a positive development; values below 50 point to a decline in world trade. Tests with historical data have revealed a high correlation between the DHL Global Trade Barometer and real containerized trade, providing a three-month forward-looking estimate.

January index points to continued moderate growth in global trade

The DHL Global Trade Barometer for January 2018 indicates that global trade will continue to grow within the next three months. On its initial release, the index scored 64, which is slightly below the values calculated for previous months. That means that world trade is still considered to be in an expansive mode, but growth loses momentum. The decline is due to weakening prospects for Chinese and Japanese trade, which is only partially offset by improved prospects for India, South Korea and Great Britain.

In addition to the findings on world trade in general, the DHL Global Trade Barometer provides deep insights into specific issues, e.g. the main macroeconomic factors that are affecting trade trends or the countries and regions that are driving global trade. By breaking down the global supply chain, volume trends within industry sectors could be identified, pointing to outperforming and declining sectors.

The insights from the DHL Global Trade Barometer will help DHL customers to optimize their business processes, for example providing guidance for investment and supply chain decisions. Moreover, DHL itself will leverage the indicator to fine-tune its own resource planning for its international logistics operations. Due to the high quality of the data, the company believes that the DHL Global Trade Barometer has a high significance also beyond logistics. Since it is an indicator for future trade and economic growth worldwide, the index could be integrated into forecast models by banks, associations or economic research institutes.

“In a world characterized by volatility and uncertainty, we are contributing to greater transparency and predictability — for the benefit of our customers, our business and society,” Tim Scharwath said.

Posted January 19, 2018

Source: DHL

SAN FRANCISCO — January 18, 2018 — Citi Ventures today announced the launch of Citi® University Partnerships in Innovation & Discovery (CUPID), a new program that engages and embeds students from leading universities in innovation efforts across Citi. Currently, more than 80 students from 12 U.S. universities are receiving course credit for their work in semester-long projects focused on emerging technologies such as machine learning, natural language processing, and big data analytics. CUPID leverages talent from beyond business graduate programs to include individuals studying design, engineering and public policy.

“We are diligently working to create a fabric of innovation across Citi and an important part of that is interacting with a wide array of diverse and emerging talent,” said Vanessa Colella, Head of Citi Ventures and Citi’s Chief Innovation Officer. “While our employees continue to test and validate new solutions that help our clients, we want to also create a platform in partnership with leading academic institutions where new ideas can percolate. The energy and creativity of the students is palpable, and it’s been incredible to work alongside them.”

The students are matched based on their interest and skill set with internal Citi initiatives including projects within Citi’s D10Xsm program, an internal strategic growth model managed by Citi Ventures that enables employees to take new business ideas from concept to launch. Grounded in the disciplines of venture capital and Lean Startup methodology, D10X provides employees with the opportunity to discover and validate new ideas that are at least ten times better for clients and could potentially solve critical pain points. We currently have more than 200 employee founders actively working on nearly 100 internal D10X startup ideas, and over 1,500 employees have been involved in D10X since it was introduced two years ago by Citi Ventures.

“NYU Stern students are really responding to the opportunity to work on these types of real-world innovation projects, and doing so at a global bank will not only help them hone their skills in strategy and technical product development, but also expand their awareness of future career opportunities at Citi and beyond,” said Jamie Tobias, Assistant Dean, NYU Stern, who oversees the School’s Stern Solutions experiential learning projects.

Participating universities include Cornell Tech, Columbia University Business School, Georgetown University, NYU Stern School of Business, NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, Parsons School of Design at The New School University, The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Texas at Austin and others. Citi recently expanded its collaboration with Cornell Tech, as the only financial institution at the Tata Innovation Center at Cornell Tech. The new Cornell Tech campus opened in September on Roosevelt Island in New York.

CUPID builds on existing efforts including hackathons and design sprints to create, test and prototype new ideas that have the potential to generate the best solutions for clients. Since the start of this work in early 2017, more than 200 university students from 16 different universities in the U.S, U.K and Canada have participated in some element of innovation work through CUPID. The program will continue and expand into 2018 through new partnerships with additional universities.

Posted January 19, 2018

Source: Citi Ventures