Tag: Armani Exchange

  • Fossil wearables offering doubles

    Fossil wearables offering doubles

    Fossil Group will double its Fossil wearables production this year to 300 new products, plus add new brands.

    • Fossil Group has announced it will double its Fossil wearables production this year to an unmatched 300 new products, plus add new brands.
    • New connected products were also revealed by the US group’s brands…
      Armani Exchange has entered the wearables market with Armani Exchange Connected, a collection of hybrid smartwatches.
    • Fossil has extended its Fossil Q hybrid smartwatch line with Fossil Q Accomplice, with the brand’s slimmest case to date.
    • Skagen has introduced Hald and Jorn hybrid smartwatches, offering thinner cases.
      Misfit has unveiled Vapor, the brand’s first touchscreen smartwatch featuring heart rate, GPS and standalone music access.

    Fossil Group’s wearables include touchscreen smartwatches, hybrid smartwatches and activity trackers.

    “Customers crave connectivity that doesn’t compromise style,” says Fossil Group chief strategy and digital officer Greg McKelvey. “We’re creating more options to seamlessly integrate desired tech features into our customers’ style and lifestyle.

    He says the group’s design, scale, speed to market and portfolio of fashion brands, coupled with its cloud and app platform plus tech and hardware innovation “have pulled us ahead of the wearables pack”.

    Fossil Group last year launched more than 140 wearables across Chaps, Diesel, Emporio Armani, Fossil, Kate Spade New York, Michael Kors, Misfit and Skagen brands throughout 40 countries and in 20 languages.

    “The success of our hybrid smartwatches has proven that our consumers want a balance of function and fashion,” says McKelvey. “We’ve effectively filled that gap in the market. Hybrids pack the power needed to efficiently accomplish daily tasks in a beautifully crafted timepiece.”

  • Giorgio Armani Asia suffers in China

    Giorgio Armani Asia suffers in China

    Italian fashion house Giorgio Armani Asia is the latest luxury retailer to cite greater China as the cause of a downturn in sales.

    Burberry and Hugo Boss have also been hit by China’s economic slowdown, leading to Hugo Boss cutting its prices in Asia.

    Armani says revenues grew 4.5 per cent last year, a 16 per cent drop from the year before. Revenues totalled €2.65 billion (US$ 2.95 billion). Prada had sales of €3.55 billion.

    The Milan-based group, whose products include accessories, cosmetics and furniture, and the more affordable Armani Exchange range, says earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation edged up 1 per cent to €513 million last year, from €507 million in 2014.

    Despite the slowdown, the firm says its cash reserves of €640 million allowed it to step up investments in its brands to “further strengthen its competitive market position”.

    “These results are the outcome of an attentive diversification policy for the group’s lines, paired with the co-ordination of distribution channels and enhancement of the role that our trade partners play,” says president Giorgio Armani, who founded the company in 1975. The 81-year-old designer is still actively involved in the business.