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Category: Fashion

Retail News Asia is committed to providing both local and global retailers with the latest Fashion news throughout the Asian market. This on a daily base.

  • Celine and Givenchy joins Paris menswear show schedule

    Celine and Givenchy joins Paris menswear show schedule

    After Hedi Slimane premiered Celine menswear via a co-ed catwalk show on September 28, the brand has announced that it will join the Paris menswear calendar in January 2019. Celine is currently negotiating a show date with the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, and it is not yet known whether the brand will present solely menswear, or whether Slimane will pepper the offering with womenswear as per his debut.

    The move is indicative of the fact that Celine’s parent company LVMH has got its sights set on the burgeoning menswear market.

    When Slimane took the helm in February 2018, it was made clear that the new category will be a key sales driver, along with leather goods, accessories and fragrances.

    “The objective with him is to reach at least two billion to three billion euros, and perhaps more, within five years,” LVMH chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault said of Slimane’s appointment.

    In the last year, LVMH has appointed new head designers at Berluti, as well as the menswear divisions of Louis Vuitton and Dior. And, just weeks ago, Givenchy, another brand within the French conglomerate’s stable, announced that it will rejoin the menswear calendar for the autumn/winter 2019 season.

    As a growing number of brands, including Maison Margiela, Stella McCartney, Balenciaga, Haider Ackermann and Sonia Rykiel, merge their menswear and womenswear for the sake of presentations, LVMH is making great strides to make a splash on both schedules and to take a hold of both markets.

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  • Cover Story to launch accessories line soon

    Cover Story to launch accessories line soon

    Kishore Biyani-led Future Retail launched fast fashion brand Cover Story almost two-and-half years back with an aim to take international brands like Zara and H&M head on. The company then proceeded to set up a design house based out of London to develop cutting edge fast fashion. This design house was dubbed Future Style Lab, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Future Group, which developed and procured styles for Cover Story. And since then there has been no looking back.

    According to Manjula Tiwari, CEO, Future Style Lab, a fantastic growth has been seen for the brand, in terms of its popularity with customers and retailers alike. “Being just a 2.5 year old brand, Cover Story has established itself as a formidable competitor in the fast fashion space to international players. The brand is among one of the very few Indian brands to be present on ground floor locations across the leading malls in India, a great indication of the journey so far.”

    “We place customers in the centre of all that we do. Our product is a blend of latest trends and suitability in the Indian context and that has struck the right chord with our customers,” she adds.

    Target Audience

    The target audience of the fast-fashion brand is the 23 to 40 year old, financially independent woman with a rising disposable income which she loves to splurge on frequent shopping trips.

    “She thrives on social media, is a traveller in spirit and embraces new experiences. She frequently seeks to refresh her wardrobe. Feminine and eclectic, she switches effortlessly between Indian and western wear. Dressing up for her is a form of self-expression. She is modern but rooted,” says Tiwari.

    Store Design

    All Cover Story outlets are designed to recreate the intimate boutique and provide a comfortable shopping experience. The layout is layers of transparency with opacity, which encourages a sense of discovery while shopping.

    “A warm and neutral palette has been chosen for the store as well as all the equipment in it. Colours such as Rose Gold have been opted for, to give the place a feminine touch, to help women identify with the store,” states Tiwari.

    The display panels in the store are designed to look like magazine editorials. Exclusive fashion clusters display merchandise as if they were stories, luring women into reading them.

    Visual merchandising is done by and premium in-store windows are designed by London stylists on the lines of international luxury brands. The cash counter mimics a woman’s vanity bag, while changing rooms have seating for the comfort of waiting friends and family.

    “Customers can browse tablets with fashion content and styling tips. Cover Story’s in-store ‘selfie booths’ are bound to create brand excitement. Consumers can browse through stores and merchandise, share their personal information, and then have their shopping home delivered,” asserts Tiwari.

    Shoppers can even make a request for sizes not currently available at the store. A personal shopper then locates the size from other outlets and delivers it to consumer.

    Product Category

    The brand offers around 450 SKUs per season under the categories like dresses, tops, tees, trousers, skirts, shorts, jackets and sweaters.

    “We also do footwear and bags and are planning to launch a jewellery and accessories line,” reveals Tiwari.

    “Dresses and tops are our fastest moving categories because we provide a wide variety in both categories for all occasions. Also these categories are generally the most sought after categories by women in general,” she adds.

    Marketing Strategy

    The marketing strategy of the brand is a healthy mix of generating brand awareness and driving traffic to the stores to convert to sales.

    According to Tiwari, “We ensure our campaign imagery is of high quality and for that we shoot internationally to bring forth the true image of the brand, being designed in London. Locally, we rely on heavy mall activations and branding to steer the customer to our stores. We also turn to Instagram as a great tool to highlight our fashion authority in the market along with a lot of support from celebs and influencers.”

    “We believe the future of consumer engagement is to get personal – create a connect with the consumer through great experiences. We intend to bring our customers a connect to our London designers with regular events and interaction, and to create constant content around international fashion and style to establish Cover Story as a go to fashion authority for the Indian consumer,” she adds.

    Future Plans

    The brand, which has 23 EBOs, 61 SIS across the country and presence on 5 online channels, will cross 100 doors by the end of this year.

    “We have been more than doubling the turnover every year and same store sales growth has been in the health double digits. Currently online contributes 5 percent to the overall revenue and we see it growing significantly in the times to come,” concludes Tiwari.

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  • Luxury footwear label A.Testoni bought by Hong Kongese group Sitoy

    Luxury footwear label A.Testoni bought by Hong Kongese group Sitoy

    Hong Kong leather goods manufacturer Sitoy Group has acquired Italian luxury brand A.Testoni. Sitoy’s investment allows A.Testoni to maintain its brand identity and maximise on its artisanal heritage in a long-term strategy to drive the brand’s ongoing development.

    Sitoy’s chairman Michael Yeung Wah Keung said: “We are very pleased to welcome A.Testoni as a part of the Sitoy Group and work together to realise the full potential of the brand. As we celebrate our 50th anniversary this year, the acquisition marks an important milestone in the transformation of our retail and brand management business into a global dimension.”

    CEO of A.Testoni Bruno Fantechi said the acquisition comes after many years of fruitful partnership in Mainland China, where Sitoy has been a key partner in developing the brand’s distribution.

    “It recognises the inherent value in the brand’s unique levels of quality, craftsmanship and innovation which will drive significant future growth and development.”

  • Roger Dubuis appointed new CEO

    Roger Dubuis appointed new CEO

    Effective December 1, Nicola Andreatta will be the new Chief Executive Officer of Manufacture Roger Dubuis. Nicola comes with 20 years of experience in the management of luxury and watch industries. In 2013, Nicola was appointed Vice President and General Manager of the Swiss entities of Tiffany & Co.

    Prior to that, Nicola founded N.O.A. Watch Company in Ticino, Switzerland, which he developed during more than 10 years. And before founding his own company as an entrepreneur, Nicola held various roles in Asia in the watch and luxury industries, as Managing Director, COO and CFO, with the companies, AC Services Ltd, Harwood Investments Ltd and Art Concord Ltd, where he has started his career in 1998.

  • Nike appointed two new leaders

    Nike appointed two new leaders

    Nike Inc is bolstering its executive management with its two latest hires. The U.S. sports giant has announced earlier in the month that Carl Grebert, currently the Vice-President, General Manager of the Global Jordan Brand, will become the company’s new Vice-President, General Manager of its Asia Pacific and Latin America (APLA) geography, effective December 1.

    In his prior role at Jordan, Grebert worked for 18 months and drove the basketball brand’s global product engines and marketing, merchandising, and oversaw Jordan category management teams for the brand, pushing the business into a position for the next phase of growth.

    Before Jordan, Grebert headed up the Japan geography team as Vice-President, General Manager of Nike Japan.

    He has also held senior roles in marketing and ran territory business units in Europe.

    Grebert replaces Ann Hebert, who will become the new Vice-President, Global Sales, after working as APLA head for two and a half years.

    Hebert will be responsible for driving Nike’s global sales teams and partnering with Nike Direct “to build a seamless Nike network that will continue to elevate service to consumers around the world,” said Nike in a statement.

    She replaces Mike Best, who has decided to retire after a nearly 30-year career stint at Nike.

    Likewise, Hebert has been at Nike for 23 years and served in various leadership roles.

    Prior to her APLA role, the Nike veteran was VP of the Global Nike Direct Partner business and led the North America sales team as the VP, North America Sales.

    Both new management roles will report to Elliott Hill, Nike’s President of Consumer and Marketplace.

     

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  • FILA India collaborates with Streetwear Label Norblack Norwhite

    FILA India collaborates with Streetwear Label Norblack Norwhite

    The Italian sports-fashion brand Fila has announced its first ever Heritage collaboration with indie streetwear brand Norblack Norwhite which are now available in its stores. FILA India’s partnership with Norblack Norwhite pays homage to a heritage of textiles from Italy and to the age-old traditions of Indian textile makers, debuting with this India-only exclusive collaboration.

    Fila India’s Creative Director, Abdon Lepcha worked closely with NBNW for almost a year to design a limited edition collection that fuses iconic FILA silhouettes with their signature prints and patterns. The collaboration is a fusion of Indian streetwear with sports fashion. The collection was created applying the NBNW love for pattern and color, keeping it breathable within the sporty space. The styles focus on comfort, playing off some of Norblack Norwhite’s textile styles applied in a new way to work with Fila fabrics.

    Speaking on the collection, Mriga Kapadiya & Amrit Kumar said, “NBNW celebrates textiles and colors and patterns so creating within the FILA form and brand has taken us out of our comfort zone and pushed the boundaries on our design capacity. Fila is a brand we grew up on and we were super excited when Fila India approached us to collaborate on this capsule collection. We’ve never got to design athletic wear and it’s been super fun and also challenging to apply our style and aesthetic in this form! It’s important for our process to stay true to things we feel comfortable and empowered in while balancing the visual story of our favorite elements of India combined with our guiding feelings of classic streetwear.”

    Rohan Batra, the MD of Cravatex Brands, the Licensee for Fila in India, says, “This collaboration is one that is very special for us. It is the first time a global brand has collaborated on an entire collection with an Indian streetwear label. The limited India-only drop for the collaboration is part of our commitment to building and nurturing the streetwear fashion culture in India.”

    The collection comprises of baseball jerseys, tracksuits, fanny packs, tees and a special edition Disruptor. The price points for apparel, footwear and accessories start from Rs 1,999 and go up to Rs 8,999.

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  • Takashimaya opens in Bangkok megamall

    Takashimaya opens in Bangkok megamall

    Japanese department store operator Takashimaya has opened inside a brand new shopping mall in Thailand, opting for the capital city of Bangkok to bring the Japanese way of luxury retailing to the nation. Scaling seven floors, the newly named and opened Siam Takashimaya will form just a small part of the $1.7 billion megamall, which also houses the entertainment development project, Iconsiam.

    The Iconsiam is a sprawling 525,000-square-metre complex developed by Siam Piwat and Charoen Pokphand Group, which includes two residential towers over 50 floors high, a movie theatre, a concert auditorium and a variety of retail options, outside of Takashimaya.

    The mall location looks to serve as draw card for the Japanese retailer, whose expansion into Thailand comes at a time when Japanese physical retail is shrinking back home and consumer tastes are moving toward online shopping.

    The shift means Takashimaya  — and other Japanese department stores like it – are entering nearby Asian economies where tourism is high, and retail is burgeoning, in order to survive.

    “Southeast Asia and China are growing economically, so in order to increase our sales we have to go to these types of markets,” said Hironobu Hanai, a Takashimaya representative.

    “That is one of the reasons why we are opening a store in Thailand.”

    Takashimaya has already witnessed great success with its Singapore store opening some 25 years ago, and it is hoping to replicate the same in Thailand – bringing the best of Japan to rich Thais.

    To date, the Singapore store accounts for around 20% of the group’s operating profit, at 6.1 billion yen ($54 million).

    The department store’s complete offerings include a large proportion of Made in Japan, with 30% of the 530 brands, on sale at the new Siam Takashimaya, originating in Japan.

    An entire floor is dedicated to Japanese food, including a supermarket selling luxury products and premium restaurants.

    Another floor of Siam Takashimaya is devoted to beauty products and perfume along, as well as cosmetic services, in addition to floors for women’s and menswear.

    Finally, the last floor sells kid’s products and homewares and will host more restaurants.

    Siam Takashimaya expects to turn its first profit in the year ending February 2020.

  • Catwalk to be presented in Dear So Cute China store

    Catwalk to be presented in Dear So Cute China store

    Design firm Lukstudio has created a theatrical-style shop and cafe as a promotional and retail space for fashion platform Dear So Cute in Chinese Haining. Inspired by South Korean cafe/fashion trends, the design is intended to communicate the brand’s values and showcase products to younger consumers. The store layout features a backstage rigging system to adjust display features as with a theatre stage, and incorporates elements of the Hainingese shadow puppet tradition in its design.

    According to a report, the retail space emphasises the brand’s “forever young energy” with a minimal, contemporary look and pink highlights, serving as a neutral backdrop for the activities going on in the space. One standout feature is a stage in the fitting room area for customers to “catwalk” before friends while deciding on purchases.

    “In today’s retail environment, most people shop online for the convenience and the reassurance of the review system,” Lukstudio’s founder Christina Luk said. “However, I believe when it comes to delivering a brand’s identity and values, the physical store is much more effective.”

    View the store design in the gallery below (7 images) :

  • Dolce & Gabbana dropped by Lane Crawford, Alibaba, JD.com and Yoox after racism scandal

    Dolce & Gabbana has cancelled a high-profile catwalk show in Shanghai following an outcry over what many in China perceived to be a racist marketing campaign.

    The Italian brand products have now been dropped by e-commerce giants Alibaba, JD and Yoox Net-A-Porter.

    Leading Chinese e-commerce platforms Alibaba and JD.com were joined by Suning, VIPshop, Secoo and Netease in dropping the Italian fashion house’s products from sale.

    Hong Kong-based luxury department store operator Lane Crawford has also joined Chinese retailers in dropping Dolce & Gabbana products after it offended Chinese partners and internet users this week.

    Andrew Keith, president of Lane Crawford, told the Post: “With respect to our customers, we have taken the decision to remove Dolce & Gabbana from all stores in China, online and in Hong Kong.”

    The decision would take effect at 1pm on Friday, Lane Crawford said.

    Amazon China and Yoox Net-A-Porter have also removed products, with the latter dropping the brand from its Net-A-Porter, Mr Porter and Yoox.com platforms.

    Meanwhile, high-profile Chinese celebrities and KOLs including actors Li Bingbing, Chen Kun, Diliraba, Zhang Ziyi and actor-singer Huang Xiaoming were among a host of stars distancing themselves from the brand and vowing not to buy D&G products.

    A video posted on Weibo Monday of a Chinese model attempting to eat Italian food with chopsticks was taken down after less than 24 hours, but widely shared on both Chinese social media platforms and Instagram.

    The social media storm was made worse by comments attributed to Stefano Gabbana and Dolce & Gabbana’s official Instagram accounts on Wednesday, the day the brand’s #DGTheGreatShow catwalk presentation was scheduled to take place in Shanghai.

    In what Dolce & Gabbana claims was the result of a hack, the brand’s social media accounts featured derogatory comments about China and Chinese internet users.

    Though quickly removed, screenshots of the comments were widely shared on Chinese social media, along with the trending hashtag #BoycottDolce. The Weibo hashtag #DGTheGreatShowCancelled has been read 540 million times, and mentioned in 74,000 discussions.

    Show invitees have been informed that the 500-look runway event will no longer go ahead.

    China Bentley Modelling agency released an official statement saying 24 of their models who were booked to walk in D&G’s first Shanghai fashion show were boycotting the event.

    The Chinese government also stepped in with the Cultural and Tourism Department ordering Dolce & Gabbana to cancel the event just a few hours before it was scheduled to take place.

    Chinese consumers have flooded social media platforms Weibo and WeChat criticising the brand and posting videos and images of D&G products being destroyed, burned and used to clean floors and line animal litter trays. Security guards and police officers have been stationed outside Dolce & Gabbana stores in Beijing and Shanghai.

    This marks the second high-profile outcry over racist messaging from Dolce & Gabbana in only 18 months. A previous #DGLovesChina campaign depicted Beijing in a way that Chinese internet users felt looked backwards and underdeveloped.

    Both Gabbana and co-founder Domenico Dolce have been accused of making politically insensitive statements, from referring to babies conceived by in vitro fertilisation as “synthetic”, to refusing to support the right of gay parents to adopt.

    The duo has also described gladiator sandals as “slave sandals” and were quick to endorse First Lady Melania Trump.

    Gabbana in particular has a history of posting insensitive comments on social media, and came under fire for calling Selena Gomez “ugly” on Instagram in June, and the Kardashian family “the most cheap people in the world” in July.

    Though the designer duo have been known for using social media to voice their controversial opinions, upsetting Chinese consumers could have far-reaching commercial consequences.

    According to Bain & Company’s latest report on the luxury market, Chinese consumers account for an estimated 33 percent of global luxury goods spend, a share that is likely to hit 46 percent by 2025.

    SEE ALSO : How is China revolutionizing retail?

    Seeing as Chinese support can make or break a brand’s performance, how the label manages the controversy will be critical for its future success in the market.

    Dolce & Gabbana could not yet be reached in China or Milan for comment.

    According to a post published on Dolce & Gabbana’s Weibo account on November 21, the event has been rescheduled, and the brand has apologised for the inconvenience caused.

    Dolce & Gabbana reposted Gabbana’s ‘Not Me’ screenshot on its Weibo account, accompanied by the following statement, which mirrors the brand’s post on Instagram: “Our Instagram account has been hacked. So has the account of Stefano Gabbana. Our legal office is urgently investigating. We are very sorry for any distress caused by these unauthorised posts, comments and direct messages. We have nothing but respect for China and the people of China.”

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  • Victoria Beckham signed eyewear license deal with Marchon Eyewear

    Victoria Beckham signed eyewear license deal with Marchon Eyewear

    Marchon Eyewear and Victoria Beckham Ltd have entered into an exclusive, long-term global licensing agreement for sun and optical eyewear. New collections developed under the agreement will roll out globally beginning Fall next year. The collections will be developed in Italy to align with Victoria Beckham’s brand aesthetic. Paolo Riva, CEO of Victoria Beckham Ltd, said the new partnership with Marchon comes “as we work towards reaching our global potential and expanding the brand following a series of strategic partnerships and appointments since our new shareholders Neo Investment Partners joined the business at the end of last year”.

    “Eyewear is synonymous with our founder and this license will allow us to scale our presence in the eyewear retail market and capitalise on Marchon’s technical innovation, expertise in product development and global distribution network.”

    President and CEO of Marchon Eyewear Nicola Zotta added: “We believe that the Victoria Beckham brand is on the rise and quickly becoming one of the most influential in the industry. We are committed to the success of this partnership and look forward to producing eyewear that characterises the brand’s trend-forward designs and contributing to the brand’s continued global growth.”

    The new line is planned to be sold globally in select department stores, specialty stores, and premium sun and optical retailers, as well as in Victoria Beckham retail locations and online at victoriabeckham.com.

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  • Moschino launches limited edition for Hong Kong

    Moschino launches limited edition for Hong Kong

    November 15, Harbour City welcomed a new pop-up store by Moschino with an exclusive collection designed  by Jeremy Scott, Creative Director of the brand, for Hong Kong only. Colorful, ironic, super glamorous and absolutely Moschino: these are the qualities of the collection made exclusively for Hong Kong. The collection represents the vibrant city and reflects the pop soul of Moschino’s Creative Director.

    It is a triumph of colors. 12 pieces each adorned with fun multicolored patches: two T-shirts and a T-shirt dress, a hoodie, a sweater, a bomber jacket, 4 denim pieces, a backpack and a bag.

    The Moschino logo is revisited in a super colorful version along with iconic graphics like the peace sign. Each letter and each symbol becomes a silk satin patch, applied to the pieces using a special zig-zag stitch technique and made even more ironic with graphics created in thread and crystals.

    Moschino Hong Kong Exclusive Collection is available exclusively at Moschino stores in Hong Kong.

    It is an incredible moment for the brand, that has been gaining popularity among Millennials and GEN Z thanks to the ironic touch brought by Jeremy Scott.

    Earlier this year, Moschino gathered attention globally for its capsule collections in collaboration with H&M and Disney with celebrities such as Gigi Hadid and Naomi Campbell.

    In the run-up to the official release, Moschino’s Creative Director Jeremy Scott put on a celeb-tastic fashion show in New York. During the show, Gigi walked the runway in a hoodie printed with Moschino’s signature chain-print alongside her sister Bella in a zip-front black leather mini dress. Naomi Campbell closed the show in a silver sequinned hoodie dress and over-the-knee black quilted boots.

    To catch momentum with the success of capsule collections, Moschino has also announced the launch of a new retail concept starting from the stores in Paris, which focuses on the creation of a design that facilitates the rotation of different collections throughout the year.

    The design, thought to be a blank canvas ready to host diverse concepts at the same time, will be experimented in Europe to appeal to the new generation of customers.

    If it is true that in the digital era,  the instant generation is no longer attracted by what is the promise of timeliness, limited editions aimed to satisfy a short-term desire of being among the happy few to win, it might be the key to steal the heart of GEN Z.

  • Da Milano aims for 100 stores by year end

    Da Milano aims for 100 stores by year end

    Indian-Italian handbag and accessories retailer Da Milano is aiming to be operating 100 stores by the end of this financial year, including in Singapore. The company offers “affordable luxury” items and is likely to open further locations in airports and Tier II and III cities across India. It currently runs 80 stores across the country, as well as three in Dubai and one in Nepal.

    Stores are scheduled for launch in London, Singapore and more in Dubai. Its distribution network currently covers eight countries, retailing the brand’s more than 300 products per season. Designs are produced in collaboration between Italian and Indian teams.

    Da Milano sales grew 25 per cent over the last financial year, with expansion expected to continue through 2019. Efforts to promote the brand online are at the forefront as the brand approaches its 30th anniversary.

  • Le petit h by Hermès launched in HK

    Le petit h by Hermès launched in HK

    Hermès presents a workshop of metamorphosis for materials and the invention of forms themed from now on till 9th December in Hong Kong. From a giant elephant pouffe to a target mirror, the Landmark Price’s store is transformed with scenography designed by Hong Kong artist Kevin Cheung. Once upon a time, there was a meeting of materials, their inimitable mix, their singular hybridisation. Petit h shares with upcycling product designer Kevin Cheung a passion for slumbering materials, from bamboo to silk, cashmere and many more.

    The staging is inspired by daily life and everyday objects. A tree and its bubble-like buds unfurl across the three levels of the store where new petit h inventions appear, paying homage to the diversity of Hermès materials and know-how, and to the dreams that take shape during our daily lives.

    Petit h was founded in 2010 by Pascal Mussard, who had the idea of bringing leftover materials from all over the house under one roof and giving them new life through Hermès craftsmanship and know-how.

    Godfroy de Virieu, creative director since January 2018, is now leading the dialogue between artisans, designers and artists from all backgrounds.

    Together, they create dreamlike, playful, poetic and surprising objects from noble materials as either unique pieces or limited editions.

    Petit h permanent home remains in Paris, in the Hermès store at 17 rue de Sèvres, as well as Hermes.com.

    Petit h will be traveling Asia in 2019.

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  • Dolce & Gabbana Sparks Racism Backlash With Chinese Ad

    Dolce & Gabbana Sparks Racism Backlash With Chinese Ad

    Italian luxury retailer Dolce & Gabbana is facing a growing backlash in China after an ad campaign that was meant to promote the brand in arguably its most valuable market has been decried as racist.

    Amidst growing calls to boycott the brand on Chinese social media, popular e-commerce sites, including Alibaba’s Tmall and JD.com, have seemingly removed listings for Dolce & Gabbana products. Searches for the brand on those sites at the time of this writing returned no results. NetEase’s Kaola said that it had taken down the brand’s listings.

    The growing backlash forced the brand to postpone a fashion show in Shanghai just hours before it was set to take place on Wednesday, after models and celebrities reportedly said they would not attend the event. Dolce & Gabbana’s ambassadors in the region, Karry Wang and Dilraba Dilmurat, who is of Uigher ethnicity, have ended their contracts with the company.

    The uproar follows the publication of a series of ads on Chinese social media platform Weibo earlier this week, featuring a young Chinese woman attempting and failing to eat traditional Italian food, such as pasta, pizza and a cannoli, with chopsticks. The ads were released as part of the brand’s #DGLovesChina campaign ahead of the scheduled fashion show in Shanghai, but critics decried the videos as playing on racist stereotypes. The ads are still visible on Dolce & Gabbana’s Instagram page.

    The controversy was made worse after screenshots of direct messages purportedly from founder Stefano Gabbana’s Instagram account were leaked, showing offensive comments about China and Chinese people. Both Gabbana and the brand have denied that the messages were sent by the Italian designer, saying the accounts were hacked, but many have expressed scepticism, given Gabbana’s track record of getting into verbal spats on social media.

    “I love China and the Chinese culture. I’m so sorry for what happened,” Gabbana wrote in an Instagram post that asserted his account was hacked.

    The boycott is especially troubling, since China is such a crucial market for luxury retailers. A 2017 McKinsey report found that Chinese consumers account for nearly a third of the global luxury market, spending RMB 500 billion (approximately $99 billion) annually. The consulting firm expects Chinese consumers to account for the majority of the growth in the global luxury goods market in the coming years, and by 2025, the country is forecast to make up 44 per cent of the total global market.

    At the same time, McKinsey said that Chinese luxury consumers increasingly rely on word of mouth from friends and family to make purchase decisions, even more than the in-store experience. This creates treacherous terrain for global luxury brands, and Dolce & Gabbana is not the only one to have made a culturally insensitive or simply out-of-touch decision, causing offense in its most valuable market.

    Ikea, among many other brands, has faced criticism for listing Taiwan as a separate country on its packaging or website, while Mercedes-Benz ran into problems for quoting the Dalai Lama in an ad campaign. China considers the spiritual leader to be a dangerous voice for separatism in Tibet.

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  • Zara confirms it is taking part in Black Friday, with huge discount

    Zara confirms it is taking part in Black Friday, with huge discount

    High street giant Zara has finally confirmed it will be taking part in this year’s Black Friday event. The retailer has remained very tight-lipped about its plans for the shopping event which officially takes place tomorrow, and has even opted against advertising its plans in its windows.

    Speculation has been high as to whether the retailer would be taking part this year- following last year, which marked the first time Zara has been involved in the discount event.

    But it has finally released details of the money its customers could save tomorrow.

    Zara will be offering shopper 20% off selected departments for Black Friday.

    Last year, there was a variety of products which the discount could be used on, including coats, shoes, tops and more.

    Fans have been eagerly waiting for Zara’s Black Friday announcement. On Twitter @amarjhot said: “Still waiting on Zara to drop a Black Friday sale? … no? Ok.”

    @CharlyOConnor said: “I need to place a Zara order but I’m holding out for the Black Friday sale – this is going to end up being a disaster I bet.”

    And, @_JAEopardizes said: “Zara need to hurry up and put their Black Friday sale up.”