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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.

V-Mart to invest Rs 200 cr, add 200 stores in 5 years
Retail chain V-Mart will invest around Rs 200 crore to add nearly 200 new stores in different part of the country in the next five years.

The company is also targeting over four-fold jump in revenue to touch Rs 2,500 crore by 2020 with smaller towns expected to be its key growth drivers.

“We will have around 300 stores in the next five years with a revenue of around Rs 2,500 crore by then,” V-Mart Retail Chairman and MD Lalit Agarwal told PTI.

The company had a revenue base of Rs 574.96 crore in FY 2013-14. It is, at present, operating 109 stores in 91 cities.

Agarwal said: “We have clear vision that smaller towns will be our growth drivers as they have very high potential and aspiration level is growing up.”

Of the total stores that the company has, 56 are in tier III clusters, 35 are in tier II towns and 18 in tier I cities.

“Presently, the tier III clusters contribute between 55 to 60% of our revenue and we strongly believe that it would go up to 75% in next three years,” Agarwal said.

V-Mart is present at district level markets including Purnia, Saharsa, Madhubani, Motihari, Basti, Gonda, Lakhimpur, Bahraich and is in process to expand its base in the Eastern regions of Bengal and Orissa.

“We are finalising the properties there. Presently we are concentrating on Orissa and Bengal,” he said.

He said in order to drive up sales further, the company would enhance its in-house labels, while also increasing offering existing brands. Currently, it has 21 in-house labels, which contributes around 25% of the sales.

“We would increase the ratio to 50% from the existing 25% in the next three years. We would add more labels and expand the depth of the existing ones,” he added.
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May 8, 2015
L’Oréal ‘Brandstorm’ national award goes to Indonesia’s ‘Absolute Jetset’ concept
L’Oréal has named ‘Bisnis.com’, a team from the University of Indonesia as the national winner of its’ Brandstorm competition for their ‘Absolute Jetset’ concept for the Lancôme brand.

Brandstorm is L’Oréal’s business competition for students to unleash their creativity and apply ground-breaking ideas to one of the cosmetics giant’s international brands and distribution channels.

This Indonesia team consists of three students in their twenties; Daviantri Apsariputri, Rangga Husnaprawira and Nabila Izza Dhia whose concept is a new service for Lancôme’s travel retail stores that replicates first class treatment on planes.

The goal is to increase the brand’s sales by 60 per cent by developing the travel retail market business unit for travelers at every stage of their journey – from the airport, to duty free stores and aboard the plane.

The group will represent Indonesia at the international level of the competition in Paris in June, where 45 winning teams will compete for the top three prizes.

Searching for new talent in the beauty arena..

L’Oréal’s program has been running over 23 years and was introduced in Indonesia in 2009.

Coached by top executives, competing teams also get to work with global advertising agencies in designing a marketing strategy in the area of travel retail.

According to Restu Widiati, director of human resources, L’Oréal Indonesia; “It is the company’s strategy to identify the best talent to become actively involved in promoting the company and to contribute to the beauty industry in Indonesia. “

In 2011, Widiati says the national winner of the competition in Indonesia went on to win third place in the international competition in Paris, beating teams from more than 40 countries.

The HR director says the competition has been unique this year in that students were not given the task of creating new products, but to promote the travel retail business unit.

“The students were challenged to act as international marketing director for L’Oréal travel retail to design a new experience for one of the iconic beauty brands, namely Lancôme,” he reveals.
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May 7, 2015
Xiniya Fashion axes 685 stores

Chinese menswear chain Xiniya Fashion culled 685 stores last year as part of a major restructure to restore profits.

It says it opened 180 new retail outlets and closed 864 plus one flagship outlet.

The result was a 38.4 per cent decline in revenue to RMB813.1 million (US$131 million), compared with RMB1.32 billion in 2013.

It posted a net loss of RMB170.7 million ($27.5 million), compared with a net profit of RMB97.2 million in 2013.

Fourth quarter revenue was down 58.6 per cent

“We continued to focus on stabilising our retail network during the quarter as China’s economy enters a period of slowing growth and the menswear industry faces a crisis of excess capacity and intense competition,” said Qiming Xu, Xiniya’s chairman and CEO.

“We completed the first phase of our inventory buyback from our distributors during the quarter. Remaining flexible and adaptable is key to the future success of our strategy. We will continue to monitor our distributors and authorised retailers closely during the next phase, and may implement appropriate initiatives accordingly.

“We are making every effort to sell the remaining inventory, which is mostly composed of more recent products, through our retail network by offering discounts and promotions over 2015.

“We also implemented a number of cost cutting initiatives such as reducing advertising and promotional expenses during this transition stage. I am confident that these initiatives and changes to our business model will further strengthen our brand’s popularity and allow us to weather these difficult and unpredictable times.”

May 5, 2015
Greater China launch for Joseph
London label Joseph fashion will launch in Beijing later this month, the first step in a Greater China roll-out.

While based in Great Britain, Joseph is owned by Japan’s Onward Kashiyama group, which bought the business in 2005. The brand’s founder Joseph Ettedgui died of cancer in 2010.

“Like all our stores globally, our Beijing store will offer the foundations of a sophisticated wardrobe with our luxury essentials along with our catwalk pieces,” said Takehiro Shiraishi, Joseph MD.

The China launch for Joseph in Beijing will be followed over the next five years by store openings in Hong Kong, Macau, Shenzhen and other cities.

“After having seen a period of luxury market growth in China, we feel there is an expansion of sophisticated highly fashion-conscious consumers,” says Shiraishi, bullish about the brand’s prospects in China.

“We feel the market is maturing and needs affordable products.”

Joseph Ettedgui was credited with introducing the narrow-legged stretch pant in the 1990s, a line which remains a centrepiece of the the brands often androgynous range today.

Louis Trotter, Joseph’s current creative director, whose past credits include Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, believes the range will appeal to Chinese consumers.

“Our customer has a certain attitude, Joseph is not overtly branded, it is quite discreet and it takes a certain type of woman to appreciate our product.”
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May 5, 2015
Shanghai Tang launches fragrance range
Hong Kong born luxury fashion label Shanghai Tang is expanding from fashion and homewares into the fragrance business.

While Shanghai Tang, now part of French based Richemont Group, has offered scents for some years, this week’s launch takes it into the top tier of parfumeries.

The Silk Road Fragrance Collection, the company says, “conjures up the spirit of adventure through a sensory journey from East to West – reflecting the essence of the brand which fuses Chinese with Western fashion”.

“Inspired by the exotic landscapes, rich colors and sense of adventure of the Silk Road, our master parfumier has created for Shanghai Tang a captivating collection of precious fragrances… infused with all the mystery and sensuality of the Silk Road.”

The parfumier is Carlos Benaim, a past winner of the prestigious American Society for Perfumers Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to the world of fragrance who has created signature scents for brands including Armani, Carolina Herrera, Prada and Maison Martin Margiela.

Drawing on his personal travels in China, Benaim designed the collection to pay tribute to the grandeur of Chinese culture through a suite of eight multi-layered, unique scents – five for women and three for men. Each highlights one or two exceptional ingredients that evoke the romance of the ancient caravans carrying Chinese treasures along the Silk Road to the western world.

Each fragrance is housed in precious bottle that prominently features the Shou. This Chinese symbol of longevity is cited as one of the Five Blessings: longevity, wealth, health, love and virtue.
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May 4, 2015
Australian fashion giants under fire two years after Bangladeshi factory accident

Australian fashion giants Just Group and Best & Less are under fire for refusing to sign a legally binding pact that protects Bangladesh’s garment workers, two years after the country’s worst industrial accident.

The pair are the last of Australia’s top 10 fashion companies to have resisted calls to join the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, developed by unions, non-profits and industry following the Rana Plaza factory collapse on April 24, 2013, that killed 1129 people.

Oxfam said the Just Group’s decision to sign the comparatively weaker Alliance for Bangladesh Work Safety was “disappointing” and was now being targeted in its social media “heartbreakers” campaign.

April 30, 2015
Pandora opens in Disney parks
Pandora Jewellery is now on sale to guests of two of ‘the most magical places on earth’.

The resurgent European jeweller, has partnered with Walt Disney Parks and Resorts to open dedicated Pandora Jewelry boutiques within two Disney merchandise locations: Uptown Jewelers in Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and La Mascarade d’Orleans in Disneyland park in California. Both locations carry Pandora’s newly released spring 2015 Disney jewellery collection and the Disney Parks collection, as well as the full assortment of Pandora jewellery.

The redesigned Uptown Jewellers is reminiscent of a Victorian era collectibles shop, echoing the nostalgic style of Main Street USA, the first themed land within Magic Kingdom Park. With classic decor and ornamental touches, Uptown Jewellers “reflects the prosperity and optimism of early 20th century America”.

The newly renovated La Mascarade d’Orleans, located in the heart of New Orleans Square in Disneyland park, brings the festivities of the French Quarter to life. Fantastical masks, rich fabrics and vibrant colors complement fixtures displaying Pandora rings, necklaces, earrings, charms and bracelets.

Pandora’s new Disney jewellery collections of hand finished silver and 14K gold charms feature inspirations from some of Disney’s most beloved characters, and include more than 101 different styles for Disney Parks guests to choose from.

The Disney jewellery collection is sold at Pandora concept stores throughout the US, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Central America and the Caribbean, as well as through select Disney merchandise locations, including DisneyStore.com.
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April 29, 2015
Bagllerina Hong Kong opens in Sogo
French ballerina shoe brand Bagllerina has opened its first store in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay.

Founded in 2011 by Christine Natkin, Bagllerina specialises in handmade, foldable ballerina shoes that are comfortable, simple and elegant made from 100 per cent leather.

Observes fashion blogger Butterboom: “We are big advocates of comfortable shoes especially with the amount of walking we do in Hong Kong. You can slip your heels in a matching leather small bag while wearing a pair of Bagllerina, and slip out of them once you’ve arrived at your destination to switch to your heels.”

Bagllerina Hong Kong has opened on level B1 of the Sogo shopping centre at 555 Hennessy Rd.

Bagllerina shoes come in more than 70 colours and three different cuts, with a new version, the Summerfeet cut, described as ‘sandals with a bit of hell” due soon.

For more details of the range, and images from Bagllerina, read Butterboom’s report.
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April 28, 2015
Gucci China blamed for Kering slowdown

Falling sales by Gucci China have been blamed for a higher than expected drop in Gucci parent Kering’s first quarter global sales.

Sales at Gucci’s own 502 retail stores fell four per cent in the quarter and overall sales, on alike-for-like basis, fell eight per cent.

The worst performing region was Asia-Pacific, where sales slumped a full 10 per cent. Sales in Greater China “deteriorated compared to earlier in the year”, France-based Kering said in an earnings statement.

Sales rose six per cent in Western Europe and remained stable in North America.

Kering has responded with a promise to give its flagship Gucci brand, which accounts for 60 per cent of its sales, a revamp.

“Our priority is to give Gucci new impetus,” Kering finance director Jean-Marc Duplaix said.

The company blamed the sales drop off as part of a transition period, following its sacking of the brand’s CEO and design director last December. It has since split the roles, naming Marco Bizzarri as CEO and in-house designer Alessandro Michele as creative head. Bizzarri is credited for having turned around Bottega Veneta.

Michele’s strategy is to improve its entry-level offer, including small leathergoods and handbags.

Gucci will also continue to invest in building its online business.

Bottega Veneta, Kering’s second brand, also experienced slowing sales in the first quarter, but maintained growth at 3.1 per cent on a same store basis.

The company cited poor trading in Hong Kong and Macao for the drop, specifically a change in the demographic of mainland Chinese tourists. Hong Kong achieved 19 per cent of its sales in Hong Kong and Macau.

April 27, 2015
Ted Baker Hong Kong flagship opens

Ted Baker has opened a new flagship in Hong Kong – inspired by the style of the territory.

The UK-based retailer has created a unique store design which incorporates famous Hong Kong themes such as the city’s skinny double decker trams.

The end result is a mix of British and Hong Kong – tongue and groove timber ceilings with train carriage styled lights suspended on both sides give the feel of being inside a vintage Hong Kong tram.

Timber panelling on the lower wall, with a blurred image sitting behind glass evoke the feeling of looking through the window of a speeding tram.

The front of the Ted Baker Hong Kong store features vertical panels of glazed tiles, similar to those on the London Underground.

And as shoppers climb the stairs to the store’s second floor, images of Hong Kong’s modern skyline convey the feel of a steep ascent on the territory’s popular Peak tram.

There are rows of model trams at the cashier’s desk and custom designed wallpaper featuring old tram tickets in the fitting rooms.

The store is in the Fashion Walk Mall, Causeway Bay.

April 27, 2015
Levi Strauss aims to revive its past glory
Founder Levi Strauss patented the blue jeans in 1873 but the brand itself was established in 1853, and today its jeans can be found in over 2,800 stores in 110 countries.

Although long enjoying iconic status, it has been difficult for Levi’s to consistently stay relevant and be at the centre of culture. It was 1996 when Levi Strauss reached its peak year, amassing USD7.1 billion of global sales – even bigger than Nike, which booked USD6.5 billion in sales that year.

Entering 2001, the denim maker saw its sales plummet to USD4.1 billion – which for the next decade became the norm. The challenge today is that customers in its biggest markets, the United States and Europe, are not out spending on retail. And CEO Chip Bergh sees that over the past decade, denim and apparel in general has been on the decline.
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April 23, 2015
Glue Store’s recipe for keeping customers sticky
After years of steady growth, sales of the Australian fashion retailer Glue Store were going backwards and the company was losing wholesale accounts as large chains such as Myer cut costs by bypassing middlemen and sourcing stock directly from overseas.

Hilton Seskin, who owns Glue Store and the Topshop Topman franchise in Australia through Next Athleisure, adopted an “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” approach, taking on Zara and H&M by snapping up the exclusive Australian franchise for Topshop and Topman from Britain’s Arcadia Group.

Seskin, the founder of Rebel Sport, also overhauled the business model at Glue Store, relaunching the brand and introducing exclusive labels such as British brands Miss Selfridge and Glamorous in womenswear and Dutch label Minimum and Le Coq Sportif in menswear.
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April 23, 2015
Michael Kors Names Hanjoon Kim President of Korea
Michael Kors, a global luxury lifestyle brand, is pleased to announce that Hanjoon (Michael) Kim has been named President of Korea, a newly created position. He will report to Stephane Lafay, the Company’s President of Asia.

Kim’s appointment, effective on 13 April 2015, follows the company’s recent assumption of direct control of the Michael Kors business in South Korea. In his new role, Kim will focus on building the infrastructure for this region and developing an expansion strategy for South Korea to position the business for long-term growth. “We believe that Korea represents a tremendous opportunity for Michael Kors,” says John D. Idol,

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Michael Kors. “Michael’s appointment is an important step in building the brand’s success in the Korean market.”
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April 23, 2015
Benetton stumps up for Rana Plaza fund

Italy’s Benetton Group has announced a US$1.1 million commitment to the Rana Plaza Trust Fund.

But it wasn’t enough to end the criticism from the Clean Clothes Campaign which has for months singled Benetton out for failing to contribute to the fund.

To end off the predictable salvo from CCC, Benetton engaged PwC to independently assess what contribution it should make to the fund relative to its share of the clothing sourced from the Plaza. That assessment was then checked by WRAP, an NGO focused on special compliance through global supply chains, which endorsed PwC’s recommendation. Benetton doubled the recommended payment.

Rana Plaza, in the Bangladesh town of Savar, was the scene of the 2013 disaster where 1129 workers were crushed to death in the collapse of sweatshops producing clothing for western fashion brands.

Benetton’s contribution follows an earlier $500,000 payment made through the BRAC organisation prior to the trust fund being established.

“We welcome the PwC report and WRAP’s contribution. We have decided to go further to demonstrate very clearly how deeply we care,” said Marco Airoldi, CEO of Benetton Group. “Whilst there is no real redress for the tragic loss of life we hope that this robust and clear mechanism for calculating compensation could be used more widely. For this reason, we decided to make the PwC report publicly available to all stakeholders”.

“Benetton has a proud history of social commitment. We believe that by working closely with the right suppliers we can help to improve factory conditions for workers in Bangladesh and in many other parts of the world,” he added.

But Clean Clothes Campaign was unimpressed.

“Benetton had a real opportunity to emerge as a leader and prove that their pledges of empathy, understanding, and care for the welfare of the victims were not just some PR spin. Unfortunately, the true colours of Benetton are now revealed” said CCC spokeswoman Ineke Zeldenrust.

“In February Benetton announced they would pay ‘within a few weeks’ and that they engaged an independent credible third party to determine how much they should pay. Today, Benetton finally revealed this to be global accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The US based World Wide Responsible Apparel Program (WRAP), which Benetton described as an ‘NGO working on social compliance endorsed the PwC assessment. WRAP is in fact an industry sponsored social auditing and certification organisation with one of the worst track records in the industry. The Garib and Garib factory for example, that went up in flames, killing people, in Dhaka in 2010, was WRAP certified at the time,” the CCC statement continued..

“Benetton again wasted time, spending money on a process in order to try to legitimise their insufficient payment. It’s deeply troubling that Benetton engaged a firm with no track record on human rights issues to lead their process.

“Red flags need to go off when the PwC assessment is only endorsed by one of the least reputable auditing firms in a very flawed sector. Let’s be clear, Benetton’s process was not transparent. The process excluded all trade unions and labour rights organisation directly involved in compensation efforts in Bangladesh,” says Zeldenrust.

Benetton was one of 29 brands connected to companies operating in the Rana Plaza building.

The Italian company said PwC based its report on an assessment from the International Labour Organisation that in total $$30 million compensation should be paid into the Rana Plaza Trust Fund. “PwC calculates Benetton Group’s contribution to be $550,000 based on the level of its commercial association with the Rana Plaza.

“However PwC has not factored in contributions from other third parties, such as the Bangladesh government and the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers Exporters Association, unions and others. This means that, if its mechanism were followed by all brands operating at the Rana Plaza, after payments from other third parties the total fund could significantly exceed $30 million.

“Based on Benetton’s commercial association with Rana Plaza, we believe this is a fair basis to calculate payments to the Rana Plaza Trust Fund as quantified by ILO,” said Sudhir Singh Dungarpur, Partner PwC India.

“With a tragedy of this scale, no financial compensation can ever really be enough, but we welcome Benetton’s decision to pay more than its calculated share of the fund based on the report published by PwC,” said Avedis Seferian, president and CEO of WRAP. “If everyone took the same approach as Benetton, the overall fund could more than exceed its stated goals”.

April 21, 2015
Denmark’s Wood Wood arrives in Bangkok
Danish fashion brand Wood Wood has opened its first store in Asia.

Wood Wood, known for sporty silhouettes, and a hallmark Scandinavian style, has opened a store inside The Mall Group’s new EmQuartier shopping centre on Bangkok’s Sukhumvit Rd.

The store is a partnership with Thai brand UnCensored and described as “an exhibitional retail space” with an urban-boutique feel. It is in the centre’s Helix Quartier.

The Wood Wood boutique features a black-and-white graphic design on the walls.

Thailand is Wood Wood’s third overseas market, following Berlin, where it has two stores, and Moscow. It has three stores in hits home market.

THe fashion brand was founded in 2002 by Karl-Oskar Olsen and Brian SS Jensen who grew up in the 90s when graffiti and street culture was popular.

They mix high fashion, sports and streetwear with youth culture, art and music creating clothing they believe is balanced between style and function.

“Wood Wood is much more than a brand. It’s about style and attitude. We were raised with the desire to constantly evolve and we’ll keep on taking the brand even further by combining elements of underground and high-end into our very own aesthetic,” says Karl-Oskar Olsen.
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April 21, 2015