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Tag: Fashion

  • Handsome markets brands in Paris Fashion Week

    Handsome markets brands in Paris Fashion Week

    Handsome, a Korean fashion brand owned by Hyundai Department Store, brought two of its labels to Paris Fashion Week in an effort to expand on the global stage. System for Women and System Homme, the two Handsome brands, showcased their fall and winter collections in a rented showroom for eight days starting from Jan. 17. The Handsome event included a presentation of the collections followed by showroom events, where item were modeled for clients.

    The brands are presenting their new collection one season early to major buyers in the fashion industry.

    In addition to 180 buyers, the event was attended by the Wall Street Journal, Vogue and GQ as well as by fashion influencers.

    It was the first time Handsome has taken its brands to a foreign showroom since being founded in 1987.

    System for Women debuted in 1990 and System Homme in 2008. The company has also introduced other names, including Time, Mine and SJSJ.

    Handsome was acquired by Hyundai Department Store Group in 2012.

    At the Paris event, which featured 200 items for men and women, around 40 department stores from 14 countries participated. Samples were purchased ahead of possible quantity orders.

    It was a buyers’ who’s who. The list included representatives from Bloomingdales, France’s Le Bon Marche, Hong Kong’s Lane Crawford, Japan’s Isetan and Shanghai’s 10 Corso Como. Inquiries also came in from parties in Switzerland and Israel.

    “We predicted the number of businesses that would visit our showroom would be 40 at maximum. But since System Homme was introduced via major media outlets and social media after the presentation on Jan. 18, a great number of fashion businesspeople visited,” said a source from Handsome.

    The company said that visitors appreciated the designs as being unique and set apart from other major Asian brands.

    “In the case of businesses that received the samples, they will decide on quantity purchases in February, and in June, the main products of System [for Women] and System Homme will be sold at department stores and in multibrand shops of each country,” said a source from Handsome.

    Handsome is planning to use the Paris showroom event as a stepping stone for its international expansion efforts.

    In line with the strategy, it will complete its product development earlier and present new design concepts to the market one season ahead.

    It is rare for a ready-made brand to utilize this sort of advanced development.

    “Our brand is still new in the global fashion market, but we will elevate awareness to the point where we could open an exclusive fashion show at a foreign fashion week,” said Kim Hyung-jong, the CEO of Handsome.

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  • Shinesegae targets US$90 million with a new brand

    Shinesegae targets US$90 million with a new brand

    Major South Korean travel retailer Shinsegae Group is set to launch an in-house developed cosmetics line, Yunjac, into the duty free channel at its Myeong-dong store in the capital city, Seoul. An ambitious sales target has been set for the brand. The opening on 2 February of an independent Yunjac cosmetics area adds to existing domestic market locations in Jung-gu and Gangnam in Seoul, and Centrum City in Busan. The brand was launched in October 2018.

    Fashion, beauty and lifestyle specialist, Shinsegae International, which developed the 42-strong product line, has told The Moodie Davitt Report that it aims to make US$90 million in sales by 2020. Four travel retail exclusive sets are part of the product range.

    The duty free exposure will promote Yunjac to a wider audience, with a particular focus on Chinese travellers. A Shinsegae Duty Free spokesman said: “The Myeong-dong store is a trendy shopping place where you can easily experience the world’s most popular brands. We will try our best to be the centre of world beauty. The line is targeting the global market including China.”

    Yunjac, which means ‘nature’s masterpiece’, is chiefly built around skincare with some makeup and other smaller segments, also part of the portfolio. It is the result of several years research and preparation by Shinsegae International. The product development was a joint effort with global cosmetics maker Intercos and world-renowned botanical research institute Vitalab.

    The manufacturing process involves extracting active ingredients from the best Korean herbs and combining them with state-of-the-art science. The end result is what Shinsegae describes as “the whole plant effect” which is claimed to restores the skin’s natural strength.

    Yunjac’s 42 products are priced at around US$30 for cleansing products, US$100 for skincare and US$50 for mother and infant items, according to Shinsegae Duty Free.

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  • Sandro parent unphased by trade spat

    Sandro parent unphased by trade spat

    The parent of affordable-luxury fashion labels Sandro, Claudie Pierlot and Maje appears unphased by the Sino-US trade spat, vowing to continue its expansion in the region. SMCP’s CEO Daniel Lalonde said in an interview that the company plans to continue to open new stores in Mainland China and invest in e-commerce across the region.

    “From our perspective, everything is still intact [in China]. Any slowdown in our business is related to the comparison base … and we still expect to grow that market by more than 20 per cent this year,” Lalonde said. “We’re still confident on the region.”

    France-based SMCP is controlled by Chinese company Shandong Ruyi. This week it reported an 8.1 per cent increase in fourth-quarter sales to €276.1 million.

    SMCP has doubled its annual sales during the past four years, reaching €1 billion last year, largely due to rapid expansion in Mainland China. Asia is now SMCP’s third-largest geographic market behind France and the rest of Europe, with China accounting for the bulk.

    However, he said sales in Hong Kong were “a little softer” as a result of currency fluctuations between the Hong Kong dollar and the renminbi.

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  • LVMH is “eyeing stakes” in OFF-WHITE‘s parent company

    LVMH is “eyeing stakes” in OFF-WHITE‘s parent company

    LVMH is “eyeing stakes” in OFF-WHITE‘s parent company, New Guards Group, WWD reports. If the rumors are true, the move would bring LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton even closer to fashion’s main man, Virgil Abloh, the founder of OFF-WHITE and artistic director of menswear at Louis Vuitton.

    New Guards Group Holding SpA is a Milan-based holding company that also looks after OFF-WHITE as well as Palm Angels, Heron Preston, and Marcelo Burlon County of Milan.

    This is not the only venture on the cards over at LVMH at the moment, either. The company is reportedly also making moves to create Rihanna her own luxury fashion house.

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  • Lancôme uses Alibaba Cloud Technology for Chinese New Year promotion

    Lancôme uses Alibaba Cloud Technology for Chinese New Year promotion

    Lancôme has teamed up with Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group, to launch its Chinese New Year campaign in Hong Kong. The partnership leverages Alibaba Cloud’s cutting-edge technologies and Lancôme’s bestin-class beauty offerings to bring consumers the warmest festive wishes with fun and engaging experiences.

    As a leader of the beauty industry and a pioneer in adopting technology-enabled customerengagement, Lancôme has worked with Alibaba Cloud to create an augmented reality (AR) game for customers.

    The game, alongside a Lancôme pop-up store in Harbour City, Hong Kong, enable customers to engage with an online and offline brand experience during the Chinese New Year anywhere in the city, at any time. Lucky consumers will be able to bring home limited edition Lancôme products and special gifts.

    “Lancôme is glad to partner with Alibaba Cloud to engage with our consumers in Hong Kong using the most advanced data technologies. One of the brand’s priority is to build ‘Beauty-tech’ leveraging the latest innovations to transform our campaign and offering our customers better interactive experiences. We are excited to see these technological advancements helping us to create a modern Chinese New Year with better understanding of the consumer behavior and eventually with great business uplift with high conversion,” said Lee Sue Jong, Brand General Manager, Lancôme Hong Kong.

    “We are excited to partner with Lancôme to foster the digital transformation of Hong Kong’s retail industry. Our technologies not only offer innovative ways of engaging consumers, but also help Lancôme better understand customers’ needs using data analytic tools,” said Leo Liu, General Manager of Alibaba Cloud Hong Kong, Macau and Korea.

    Lancôme will spread joy and good wishes across the city for the coming Year of the Pig with thehelp of Alibaba Cloud’s image search technology and cloud services. Consumers can participate in a Lancôme-branded AR game on their smartphones. Those who find and capture augmented reality images of Lancôme’s signature beauty product Genifiques on their smartphone will be invited to send their seasonal wishes for a chance to win a selection of prizes.

    Alibaba Cloud Image Search is an intelligent service based on machine and deep learning. It enables end-users to take a screenshot or upload an image to search for desired products and fulfill other search requests.

    Alibaba Cloud’s cloud-based technology is part of the Alibaba Operating System, a holistic onestop solution to accelerate the digital transformation for corporations. With strong cloud-computing capabilities, the infrastructure is able to deliver insights and analytics instrumental to better satisfying customer needs and growing their business. New Retail, a strategy that drives innovation around online and offline solutions, is a key interface through which businesses can tap into the Alibaba Operating System.

    The latest collaboration on Lancôme’s Chinese New Year campaign follows L’Oréal Group’s longstanding working relationship with Alibaba businesses across multiple platforms. The beauty company has continuously deepened its use of Alibaba’s ecosystem to meet and create new aspirations from consumers. In terms of grasping the benefits of New Retail, L’Oréal Group was an early adopter of merging online and offline during the 2018 11.11 Global Shopping Festival.

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  • Patek Philippe may come up for sale

    Patek Philippe may come up for sale

    Patek Philippe, the closely held maker of $10,000-plus Calatrava watches, may be coming up for sale, according to analysts at Berenberg who cited industry talk. The 180-year-old Swiss watchmaker could fetch 7 billion to 9 billion euros ($8 billion to $10 billion), analysts led by Zuzanna Pusz wrote in a note. Patek Philippe has been owned by the Stern family for almost a century, and Thierry Stern became the company’s chairman in 2009.

    A Patek spokeswoman declined to comment except to say deal speculation tends to occur during the annual watch fairs in Switzerland, including last week’s Geneva show. A sale of Patek Philippe would upend the watch industry and could lead to a bidding war, as it is one of the last prize assets that hasn’t fallen into the hands of a luxury conglomerate. Swatch Group AG, which has bought up brands including Omega, and Richemont, which owns Cartier, make more than half of Swiss watches.

    Patek Philippe has sales of 1.5 billion francs, according to Berenberg estimates. On its website, the company says its “intention is to independently pursue the path that led to its success.”

    “We understand that one of the largest conglomerates in the sector would likely be interested in the asset given its currently relatively low exposure to the watch category,” the analysts wrote. Pusz was not immediately available to comment further.

    Two years ago, family-owned Breitling was sold to private-equity owners CVC Capital Partners for more than 800 million euros.

    In 2014, Stern told Swiss newspaper Le Temps that the company may eventually need to leave Geneva or put itself up for sale if its tax burden was not reduced. Months later, the company announced a 450 million-franc ($451 million) investment plan in the canton.

    Stern’s wife, Sandrine, works in design at Patek Philippe. Their children are in their teens, and Patek’s chairman has said he wouldn’t push them into the business if they did not want to join.

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  • Kering faces €1.4 billion Italian tax bill

    Kering faces €1.4 billion Italian tax bill

    Kering is facing an Italian claim for €1.4 billion (£1.2 billion) in unpaid taxes. The company’s Swiss-based Luxury Goods International (LGI) subsidiary has been under investigation for allegedly avoiding tax on earnings generated elsewhere. The probe has largely centred on Gucci, Kering’s star brand and biggest revenue driver. Italy’s tax police carried out checks at Gucci’s Florence headquarters and Milan offices in 2017, and drew up the report that has now been handed to Kering, a source close to the investigation said.

    Kering has consistently denied avoiding tax, saying its activities were fully compliant with all tax obligations.

    In its statement on Friday, the group said the Italian tax authorities’ findings for the years 2011-2017 had yet to be finalised by their own enforcement team.

    “Kering challenges the outcome of the audit report both on the grounds and the amount,” the company said, adding that it “does not have the necessary information” to record a provision against any potential bill for back taxes or penalties.

    The company has said that LGI is a substantial firm in its own right, with 600 employees handling inventory, billing and supply-chain logistics, with a business model “known to French and other competent tax authorities”.

    According to reports by France’s Mediapart newspaper and Germany’s Der Spiegel, Kering’s wholesale activities – the sale of products to retailers such as department stores – have come under particular scrutiny.

    Some business carried out by Kering employees in locations including Milan and Paris was billed through the Swiss unit, incurring lower tax rates, according to those reports.

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  • China’s Trendy Group buys the Denham Group

    China’s Trendy Group buys the Denham Group

    Dutch denim company Denham Group has a new major shareholder, according to reports in the Netherlands, with China’s Trendy Group named the official buyer. The parent company of denim label Denham the Jeanmaker, Denham Group was snapped up by Trendy from Amsterdam-based investment firm Amlon Capital for an undisclosed amount.

    Denham’s current chief creative officer Jason Denham will remain in the top design spot, following the acquisition, and will remain a shareholder, Trendy said in a press release.

    However, Ludo Onnink, CEO at Denham Group, will depart the company his post, with Andre Chen, senior vice president at Trendy Group, to succeed him.

    Denham Group

    Trendy views the Denham Group acquisition as an opportunity to nurture and expand the Denham brand in current markets such as China, via the production of new items.

    Denham Group and Trendy are familiar allies. Back in March 2017, the companies announced a joint venture to further expand the European denim brand in China, resulting in the opening of 16 retail stores in key cities in Chin. Now, there are plans to further grow the business in the coming years as a result of the acquisition.

    “We see many opportunities to grow the Denham business in the existing markets but also as the most influential denim player in the future,” said Chen.

    “This will not only be achieved by extending our jeans business, but also by adding additional product categories.”

    Founded in 2008 in Amsterdam by Jason Denham, Denham retails in some 20 cities including its local Amsterdam, as well as nearby Antwerp and Hamburg. As for Asia, it is present in Tokyo, Osaka, Shanghai and Seoul.

    In wholesale terms, the label is has global partners and is available for purchase via its namesake online store. The Denham is also headquartered in Amsterdam, with sub-offices in Düsseldorf, Shanghai and Tokyo.

    Launching in 1999, China’s Trendy Group is today a global fashion and denim mecca with a stable that includes fashion brands form the Italian house Sixty Group: Miss Sixty, Killah and Energie.

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  • Lanvin names Bruno Sialelli as its new creative director

    Lanvin names Bruno Sialelli as its new creative director

    Luxury fashion house Lanvin announced the appointment of Bruno Sialelli to the role of creative director. A relative unknown in the fashion world, Sialelli has worked for other luxury companies including most recently, Loewe, where he was head of menswear, under the guidance of the Spanish company’s creative director, Jonathan Anderson. Chinese conglomerate Fosun, who acquired Lanvin in 2018, said that the 31-year-old Frenchmen was hired to take the company in a “pivotal new direction,” a crucial call for the world’s oldest couture house.

    Lanvin’s chief executive Jean-Philippe Hecquet harmonised the sentiment.

    “We’re thrilled to welcome Bruno as the new creative director of Lanvin,” commented Hecquet. “His singular and very personal vision, his audacity, his culture, his energy and ability to build a strong creative team definitely convinced us. I can’t wait to discover Bruno’s first collections which will fully bring back to life this beautiful and unique fashion house, and once again inspire a passion among our customers.”

    In what has been a rollercoaster of a ride for the high-end French brand, Sialelli will take the top design spot as the fourth creative director to work at Lanvin in just four years.

    In 2015, Lanvin announced the shock departure of the label’s acclaimed designer Alber Elbaz, who was let go after disagreements with its previous owner, Taiwanese media magnate Shaw-Lan Wang. Elbaz had worked as Lanvin’s creative director for 14 years prior.

    Since then, it has been a tough slog for the 130-year-old company, which at its peak in 2012, was reportedly made 235 million euros, but sales have been steadily dropping ever since.

    In 2016, Lanvin reported a massive 18.3 million euro loss, after ten years of profitability.

    Following Elbaz’s departure, Bouchra Jarrar joined Lanvin, but quit as creative director after just a year-and-half, making way for Olivier Lapidus, who also quit, making way for Siaelli, the brand’s ray of hope.

    Before coming to Lanvin, Sialelli has also held design roles at brands like Paco Rabanne and Balenciaga. He is a fashion graduate of Studio Berçot in Paris.

  • Pronovias enters China with Shanghai store opening

    Pronovias enters China with Shanghai store opening

    Spanish bridalwear firm Pronovias has launched its first Chinese location in Shanghai. The 500sqm store is opening in luxury shopping centre Plaza 66, which hosts a range of high-end brands including Chanel and Dior. The move sparks off a greater strategy for the region, in which the Shanghai location will serve as Pronovias’s flagship.

    The brand was founded by BC Partners explicitly to tackle the difficult Chinese and American markets. China is the world’s largest producer of wedding dresses, and local custom is often to hire rather than buy the dress.

    The firm is simultaneously moving to expand in the US, with eight openings planned for the American East Coast.

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  • LG Household sells 1 trillion won of cosmetics in quarter

    LG Household sells 1 trillion won of cosmetics in quarter

    LG Household & Health Care sold 1 trillion won ($885.2 million) of cosmetics for the first time ever in a quarter, the company said Thursday. In its 2018 fourth quarter, cosmetics sales totaled 1.05 trillion won, an increase of 18.2 percent year on year. It credits strong sales of luxury line “The History of Whoo” for the good performance, adding that Whoo became the first single brand in the domestic cosmetics industry to reach 2 trillion won in annual global sales.

    LG’s health care arm achieved another first. It recorded annual operating profits over 1 trillion won for the first time last year, while posting 6.7 trillion won in total sales.

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  • Gucci adds 6 new intriguing Gucci Places

    Gucci adds 6 new intriguing Gucci Places

    Luxury fashion brand Gucci has labelled six international destinations as ‘Gucci Places’ – a list that includes Daelim Museum in Seoul. The Gucci Places were selected by the Italian Fashion House as destinations that “surprise, arouse interest, and inspire a creative response”, according to a report in Prestige Online. They were chosen in collaboration with well-known artists who were tasked with visiting the place and record their impressions, establishing a visual journey of photographs, travel notes and sketches.

    Daelim Museum was named for its association with Coco Capitan, an artist whose calligraphy has appeared on Gucci collections.

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  • Time for South Korean cosmetics to face challenges

    Time for South Korean cosmetics to face challenges

    South Korean cosmetics stores that have been the drivers of the ‘K-Beauty’ industry for the past 15 years are facing a crisis, exposing their limitations. The cosmetics industry is undergoing a series of transformations due to decreased demand from China and a change in distribution structure resulting from stagnant domestic demand and increased competition.

    Nowadays, it is common to see health and beauty shops (H&B) such as Olive Young and LOHBs reorganise and shift their main focus online.

    According to cosmetics industry analysts, the size of the South Korean cosmetics stores’ market was 2.29 trillion won (US$2.05 billion) in 2017, which reflects a rapid decrease since the peak in 2016. It is estimated that total sales last year decreased by 15 per cent from the previous year.

    With sales decreasing, the industry is closing down branches. The number of South Korean cosmetics stores began to shrink in 2017 and is estimated to have fallen to 5200 last year.

    Popular brand Skinfood is facing an imminent crisis. The company, once a huge hit with the phrase “Don’t eat, give it to your skin” entered corporate restructuring last October, after encountering difficulty securing liquidity due to excessive debts.

    Those who suffer the most in the process are franchise owners, who are protesting that the company is trying to avoid the worsening situation without taking responsibility.

    The causes of the decline of the retail shop are numerous. The first reason is the excessive competition within the industry.

    Add to this, China’s retaliatory actions as part of the THAAD missile crisis in 2017 led to huge decrease in sales.

    Changes in distribution structure have also played a role. H&B shops are now leading the market, offering a variety of brands in one place, instead of a closed structure.

    These types of stores are a gaining competitive edge as they can sell occupy low and medium-priced brands and new venture brands as well as establish strategic products.

    Retail shops became a mainstream cosmetics market in the early 2000s. Amid the economic slump, retail shops continued to grow in number as brands gradually added fast product launch strategies and functional products aligned with trends based on affordable prices.

    Chinese tourists clearing out the shops in the wake of the Korean wave contributed to the growth of retail shops. However, in the current situation, retail shops are only beginning to restructure.

    While some chains of South Korean cosmetics stores are choosing to downsize their branches, others have chosen to invest aggressively.

    Those who chose aggressive investment plans in a bid to become global cosmetics companies hope to achieve economic success despite the difficult situation and uncertain prospects for the future.

  • Net-a-Porter launches kidswear with Gucci

    Net-a-Porter launches kidswear with Gucci

    After its Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana childrenswear pop-up e-shops generated a resounding “more!” from Net-a-porter.com customers, the retailer is launching a multi-brand kidswear collective. By “collective”, Net-a-porter.com means, quite simply, a tight edit of brands which have all created exclusive capsule collections for the website. Yeah Right NYC Kids, Alanui Kids, ATM Kids, Chinti & Parker Kids, Lingua Franca Kids, Golden Goose Deluxe and Veja make up the list of seven labels for girls and boys ages one to 12.

    “The new year felt like the perfect time to launch this collective,” Elizabeth von der Goltz, Net-a-porter.com’s global buying director, tells Mini Vogue. “It’s January – kids are back to school but there’s this idea of cosiness and wanting to feel comfortable.”

    The capsules, accordingly, reflect this: cashmere sweaters, comfy cardigans, track pants and trainers populate the new section. “Whether it’s for ourselves or for our kids, we are always thinking about wellness in January so this this an extension of that – it’s luxe athleisure for kids!”

    If the list of brands feels more offbeat than the global labels Net-a-porter.com first dabbled in the kidswear market with, this was intentional.

    “As an online global retailer known for our distinct fashion point of view, we wanted to take this and bring it to the kidswear market, creating something different from traditional retailers.”

    Von der Glotz is particularly excited about the patterned cardies from Alanui Kids collection and the mini-me versions of Golden Goose and Veja sneakers – two of Net-a-porter.com’s best-selling shoe styles.

    The e-tailer is confident it has quietly developed a recipe for success: “Our customers have been highly engaged with all of our kidswear pop-ups with most styles selling out within just a matter of weeks of launching,” she continues.

    Four out of five of the Gucci products sold were logo T-shirts, and the fifth was the belt bag. “It’s so interesting to see, as the pieces are in such high demand in our adult range too.” Starting them early is certainly paying off for the business.

  • Sergio Rossi redefines the power pump

    Sergio Rossi redefines the power pump

    “It is a new definition of the power pump,” is how celebrity stylist Elizabeth Stewart describes styles from her capsule collection with Sergio Rossi. Stewart, who counts Julia Roberts and Viola Davis among her clients, celebrated the launch of the collaboration Thursday in Los Angeles at the Italian luxury brand’s pop-up store at Westfield Century City.

    Pumps and sandals in black, red and light pink are emblazoned with empowering words like “strength,” “hope,” “kindness” and “sharing.” The messages are meant to give women a chance to embrace style, substance and solidarity, with 100 percent of sales supporting Time’s Up, an organization dedicated to women’s safety and equality in the workplace.

    “I wanted the shoes to be a sort of a talisman for the wearer,” Stewart told Footwear News at the event. “First it was ‘strength’ and ‘power’. The idea being you can go on a job interview and you put them on and it gives you strength, but also I don’t want to forget things that women want to be, like kind and sharing. It’s a reminder and source of strength.”

    Sergio Rossi Group CEO Riccardo Sciutto said working with Stewart on the collection was an organic process as she has had a longtime relationship styling her famous clients in the brand’s shoes.

    “When you get trust, the relationship is stronger and it’s easy to do something together all the time,” Sciutto said, adding that it’s the label’s first time supporting a social movement issue.

    Though the words and messages on the shoes were easy to conceive, rendering them on the shoes proved to be a challenge. Initially, Serigo Rossi designers tried to emboss the verbiage, but the production technique used to pull the leather material made the words unreadable, Sciutto explained. To achieve the desired effect, the designers created a special technique to print the words in a slightly different but matching color on the material.

    Along with Stewart’s capsule, which is sold exclusively at the store through March 6, the space also features 37 different styles from Sergio Rossi’s resort ’19 and spring ’19 collections, as well as a customization bar.

    The temporary digs are a part of Sciutto’s retail expansion strategy in the American market. “Half of the business is in Asia, and the rest is split between Europe and America. America is the opportunity. It’s the smallest market for us,” he added.

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