Haas team boss Guenther Steiner said in Bahrain on Friday that the US outfit will reveal its all-new driver line-up for 2021 in the next two weeks.

Haas is expected to confirm a rookie formation comprising Ferrari junior Mick Schumacher and Russian F2 charger Nikita Mazepin.

However, as both drivers are engaged in this weekend’s FIA Formula 2 Championship finale in Bahrain, Haas is logically reluctant to distract the pair from their commitments at Sakhir.

“We plan to announce it before the season is ending,” said Steiner. “We don’t know exactly the date yet, or the day, but it’s not long to wait. It’s a maximum of two weeks, so please be patient.”

With just three points to its name in 2020, Haas’ season has obviously fallen short of expectations, with Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen struggling to extract pace as well as consistency from the team’s VF-20.

Formula 1’s decision to extend the life of this year’s chassis into 2021 and regulations that will allow for only limited development mean that Haas will likely be hard-pressed to improve its fortunes next season.

Steiner says ‘survive’ is what Haas did best in 2020

But Magnussen believes the period of restrained progress is perhaps the right time to bring in a pair of young apprentices.

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“If we bring in rookies – if – I think next year is a good time to bring in rookies,” said the Dane.

“Because next year the car will not be developed a lot. There’s a freeze on the car, a homologation of the car, so you cannot make big changes.

“Obviously we can make aero changes, but the car will not change in terms of fundamentals.

“So it’s a development, and not a new development. And next year our focus will be on the ’22 car anyway, so I think it’s a transition year.

“I think it will be a good year for rookies to come in, to learn about being in F1 to start off with, getting to know the people around, getting to know how to go to press conferences, and things like this.”

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Made from delicate silk, intricately
embroidered and with vast, flared sleeves: Vietnamese 19th-century outfits do
not seem a perfect fit for life in the country’s hectic modern cities.

But Nguyen Duc Loc, a 28-year-old entrepreneur, together with his 11-strong
production team in Hanoi, is convinced the attire of their ancestors can make
a return to modern-day living.

“My ambition is that in any Vietnamese wardrobe, as well as suits,
trousers, dresses, there will be at least one outfit based on an ancient style
to wear on important occasions,” like festivals and weddings, he told AFP.

Based on his own research, Loc and his company Y Van Hien reproduce outfits
largely from the Nguyen dynasty that spanned close to a century and a half
from 1802 — a time when the ruling class wore extravagant, brightly coloured
designs embellished with symbols of power, such as dragons.

He wants everyone, both men and women, to appreciate the “astonishing
beauty” of ancient imperial-style dress, he says, and understand the part this
clothing plays in Vietnam’s cultural history.

In one of their first major commissions, Y Van Hien was asked to produce
costumes for Phuong Khau, an 18-episode YouTube drama about the emperor and
empress of the Nguyen Dynasty.

The company — which was set up in 2018 — has also designed costumes for
singers, music videos and fashion shows.

Preserving culture

Despite some criticism that the designs have strayed too far from the
originals, they are also seeing a growing interest among young people.

Many choose to rent an outfit for a photoshoot, with prices starting at $17.

“I think ancient-style costumes… are part of Vietnamese culture that we
need to preserve,” said Pham Trang Nhung, a 22-year-old student who had come
to see Loc’s designs.

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“I think young people today know more about Western dress.”

Blossoming curiosity over outfits worn by generations past comes as
officials from the sports and culture department in the central province of
Thua Thien-Hue began wearing the traditional “ao dai” — a long tunic worn
over trousers — one day a month as a way to promote and preserve cultural
values.

Although a far more comfortable and modern prospect than royal 19th-century
clothing, some say they are too restrictive and impractical in today’s world.

Nevertheless, a simplified version of a woman’s ao dai still forms part of
some school uniforms in the south and central regions, is worn by flight
attendants on flag carrier Vietnam Airlines and is embraced by many on special
occasions.

Social media shows plenty of pictures of young women posing in traditional
dress — and with more than a dozen Facebook groups catering to those
interested in ancient designs, some aficionados have even banded together to
create a rival design company to Loc’s.

Nguyen Duc Binh, an editor of an arts magazine and an expert on traditional
culture, said the attraction among the young stems from a desire to assert
themselves, and their pride in their country, in a similar way to the youth of
other Asian nations.

“In some more developed countries such as Japan and South Korea,
traditional costumes can be seen as icons for the young people to look at,” he
said.

Young Vietnamese “admire those countries’ development” and “they have tried
to find some traditional things” from their own country’s past to celebrate.(AFP)

The European Union is funding a new project to harness fashion industry collaborations and technology to create circular fashion. Under the ‘New Cotton Project,’ a consortium of brands, manufacturers, suppliers, innovators and research institutes will be tasked with proving that circular, sustainable fashion “is not only an ambition, but can be achieved today”.

The twelve participating fashion companies and brands include Adidas and the H&M Group, alongside Finnish biotechnology group Infinited Fiber Company, Aalto University, Fashion for Good, Frankenhuis, Inovafil, Kipas Textiles, REvolve Waste, Rise, Tekstina, and Xamk.

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The project, which has received 6.7 million euros in funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, aims to not only demonstrate an entirely circular model for commercial garment production. This would be a world-first in the fashion industry and it hopes that it will also inspire and act as a steppingstone for “even bigger circular initiatives” in the industry going forward.

To demonstrate circularity in textiles, over a three-year period textile waste will be collected, sorted and regenerated into Finnish biotechnology group Infinited Fiber Company’s unique, cellulose-based textile fibres. The fibres will be used to create different types of fabrics for clothing that will be designed, manufactured and sold by global brand Adidas and companies in the H&M Group, explained the project in a statement.

The initiative will also include at the end-of-use, apparel take-back programmes that will collect the clothing to determine the next phase in their lifecycle. Clothing that can no longer be worn will be returned for regeneration into new fibres, “further contributing to a circular economy in which textiles never go to waste, but are reused, recycled or regenerated into new garments instead”.

Adidas and H&M Group join EU-funded circular, sustainable fashion project

There is “high potential for circularity within the textile industry,” explains the EU, but also notes that there is “urgent need” for the development of technologies to produce and design sustainable and circular bio-based materials. Making sustainable products commonplace, reducing waste and leading global efforts on circularity are outlined in the European Commission’s EU Circular Economy Action Plan as necessary for Europe’s efforts to drive sustainable growth.

It is hoped by funding ‘New Cotton Project’ alongside a consortium of partners from Finland, Portugal, Sweden, Germany, The Netherlands, Slovenia and Turkey, it will help directly addresses what the EU calls “critical issues” while pioneering the implementation of a circular operating model for the textile industry.

The ‘New Cotton Project’ is in direct response to the fact that most of the textile industry’s environmental problems relate to the raw materials used by the industry: cotton, fossil-based fibres such as polyester, and viscose as the most common man-made cellulosic fibre, are all associated with serious environmental concerns.

It is hoped that this research initiative will offer a “valuable solution for textile waste and an alternative to the industry’s reliance on virgin materials like cotton” as the project recaptures the valuable raw materials in discarded clothing and regenerates them back into high-quality, cellulose-based fibres that can be spun into new yarn, woven into new fabric, and designed into new clothes – again and again.

As this is the first project of its kind, the consortium also notes that this is an opportunity to identify and find solutions for potential bottlenecks to scaling up circular textile production and for calculating the environmental impacts over the lifecycle of textiles.

Infinited Fiber Company to lead a fashion consortium to demonstrate circular fashion possible

Infinited Fiber Company, whose patented technology can regenerate cellulose-rich textile waste into unique fibres that look and feel like cotton, is leading the consortium of 12 companies and organisations that span the entire supply chain. Manufacturers Inovafil, Tekstina and Kipas will use the regenerated fibres to produce yarns, woven fabrics and denim respectively, while Adidas and companies in the H&M Group will design, manufacture and sell clothing made from the fabrics.

In addition, sportswear brand Adidas will also be collecting customer feedback and insights and, developing its textile take-back programme to reintegrate returned apparel back into the loop.

Other members of the consortium including Frankenhuis will sort and pre-process the textile waste used in the project, while the South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences (Xamk) will develop a technical solution for the continuous processing of textile waste fibres for pre-treatment and REvolve Waste will collect and manage data on textile waste to estimate feedstock availability in Europe and define the grade of the used textile waste.

Rise, the research institute of Sweden, will conduct the sustainability and techno-economic analyses for the project together with Infinited Fiber Company, as well as managing the eco-labelling for the project and subsequent fabrics and garments. While Finland’s Aalto University will analyse the created ecosystem and circular business models more broadly to help define the most feasible business model for the project.

Sustainable fashion innovation platform Fashion for Good will facilitate stakeholder cooperation and conduct training, leading all project communication, branding and dissemination with support from Aalto University and Infinited Fiber Company.

“We are very excited and proud to lead this project, which is breaking new ground when it comes to making circularity in the textile industry a reality,” said Infinited Fiber Company’s co-founder and chief executive, Petri Alava. “The enthusiasm and commitment with which the entire consortium has come together to work towards a cleaner, more sustainable future for fashion is truly inspiring.”

Image: courtesy of New Cotton Project – Infinited Fiber – shredded textile to regenerated cellulose carbamate fibre

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With France on lockdown, the show must still go on. Chanel is going to stage its Métiers d’Art show next month, but rather than its usual lucky list of guests the show will be audience free.

Instead it will be filmed on December 1 at the Chateau de Chenonceau in France’s Loire Valley. It will be streamed online December 3.

In the past, Chanel has chosen many international locations to debuts its Métiers d’Art show, which showcases the finest in Chanel’s craftsmanship from top suppliers, in cities like New York and Moscow. However, due to coronavirus that has made any hope for international fashion shows or travel next to impossible.

France’s lockdown is set to expire on December 1, but daily coronavirus cases are still quite high at 21,150. It is possible the lockdown could be extended, and all non-essential retail is still closed.

Former F1 driver David Coulthard says a Michael Schumacher in his prime today would be “staring in the eyes of his equal” if he competed against Lewis Hamilton.

Coulthard chimed in on the great debate comparing the two F1 legends after Hamilton broke even with the great German in Turkey, where the Mercedes driver clinched his seventh world crown.

Coulthard, who raced against both Schumacher and Hamilton, insists both drivers are on the same exceptional level.

“There is no question that if Michael was still racing today, at his prime, he would be staring in the eyes of his equal,” the Channel 4 pundit and 13-time Grand Prix winner told Stats Perform News.

“Because I think Michael is exceptional and I think Lewis is exceptional. And I think the way that he won his championship in Istanbul was the perfect way to show how good he is.

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