After the opening of designer Virgil Abloh’s store in Vancouver, Off-White has finally announced its next location will be Manila in the Philippines.
It will be the first Off-White retail store to open in Asia for four years.
An official announcement via Instagram shows August 1 as the date for the probable opening. The store will be in Hidalgo Drive, Makati City.
Former Billabong International chief executive Neil Fiske has landed a new job steering the ship for Gap Inc.’s struggling namesake brand.
After spending almost five years trying to flip the fortunes of Billabong prior to its acquisition by Boardriders earlier this year Fiske will again be responsible for a disrupted retail business.
As the president and CEO of Gap brand he will be responsible for charting the future of the beleaguered business, which has struggled to gain traction with younger generation shoppers.
Gap’s global same-store sales fell four per cent in the first quarter, weighing on parent Gap Inc., which also owns the Banana Republic and Old Navy brands.
In Australia Gap has also been struggling, having been cut by accessories retailer Oroton Group before its collapse last year due to its irrelevance with local customers.
Gap Inc. president and CEO Art Peck said he believed Fiske was the right leader to strengthen the brand.
“Neil brings significant retail and apparel experience to Gap Inc. and a track record of transforming and repositioning brands,” said Peck.
“He is an experienced leader who deeply understands the mechanics of this business, the value of an omnichannel strategy, and the need to build a progressive and relevant brand.”
Fiske departed Billabong earlier this year in a leadership reshuffle brought on by Boardriders’ acquisition.
During his time at the business, Fiske, who bills himself as a turnaround specialist, embarked on a revitalisation strategy for the action sports group that involved tightening merchandise disciplines and closing underperforming stores.
Fiske said in a statement that Gap has made some progress on its turnaround journey already, and that he was excited about the opportunities ahead of the business.
“The brand has made some important progress and I look forward to working with the team to drive improved performance, operational excellence, great merchandising, and distinctive and powerful marketing,” he said.
Prior to Billabong Fiske also held roles leading Eddie Bauer and Bath and Body works.
Despite a profit decline for its latest year, UK luxury leathergoods company Mulberry Group plans to form a JV to develop its business in South Korea.
It says it has signed an agreement with SHK Holdings to form Mulberry (Korea) Co. It will own 60 per cent of the new entity and the two companies will invest £4.6 million (US$6.1 million) to buy assets and to develop the business in South Korea.
Mulberry last year had plans to launch an equal-share JV with another company as well as plans to launch into Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, for the financial year to March 31, Mulberry made a profit of £6.9 million, down from £7.5 million the year earlier.
Revenue rose 1 per cent to £169.7 million, it said. Retail sales grew 3 per cent, with UK sales broadly flat and international sales up 20 per cent. Digital sales grew 14 per cent, making up to 17 per cent of group revenue, the company said.
For current trading, Mulberry says retail like-for-like sales fell 7 per cent in the 10 weeks to June 2 with international sales up 1 per cent. However, UK sales were down 9 per cent because of lower footfall.
High-end fashion brand Giorgio Armani Beauty has launched its first boutique for southeast Asia, at Central Lat Phrao.
Part of the L’Oreal Group, the store stocks Luminous Silk Foundation, Maestro Foundation and My Armani To Go Cushion, as well as the Lip Maestro line. Also available are skincare products and floral fragrances.
On the second floor of Gaysorn Village, the first Jurlique Concept Store in Thailand offers skincare products and treatments including the all-natural creams and lotions for which the ingredients are grown at Jurlique’s organic farm in Australia’s Adelaide Hills.
Spanning 170sqm, the store uses natural materials in its five full-scale treatment rooms.
Also in stock are Pandora’s new necklaces in sterling silver and leather. And, for the first time ever, the collection includes tassels combined with sterling silver inspired by Native American culture, plus handcrafted feather earrings in sterling silver finished with turquoise enamel.
As it celebrates the 10th anniversary of the first Cosmolite case, Samsonite is releasing an exclusive gold/silver limited edition to mark this milestone. It has golden embellishments and special executions.
The pull handle, the zipper pullers and details are accentuated by traces of gold and it has a black embossed lining.
Bulgari has reimagined its Hong Kong Landmark Chater flagship with a design concept specially developed by American architect Peter Marino.
Opened in 2002, the flagship has been restyled to now occupy more than 3000sqft of the facade of the Landmark Chater.
The design draws inspiration from architectural elements of the brand’s flagship store on Via Condotti in Rome, including a reproduction of the iconic door complete with a hand-crafted replica of the lantern that hangs over the entrance.
Incorporated in the floor at the entrance is the brand’s signature eight-pointed Condotti star in red porphyry – a universal symbol of balance, harmony and cosmic order, and also a graphic representation of the saying “Roma caput mundi” (all roads lead to Rome).
“Entering the store is like a walk in the city of Rome, kissed by the sunlight; with a central main ambiance that resembles a promenade or Italian piazza, then opening up the view to other spectacular rooms,” says Bulgari. “The round ceiling vault pays homage to the Pantheon dome, as well as to the cupolas of typical Baroque churches.”
In the main entrance, a light bronze oval-shaped counter in galvanized iron, inspired by the Italian architect Carlo Scarpa, is an invitation to browse the store and to explore Bulgari’s iconic collections.
Jewellery is presented on original Eros marble tables designed by Angelo Mangiarotti. The High Jewellery Room, custom-designed by Marino himself, is enriched with Imperial Saffron silk.
A stairway in Pavonazzetto marble leads to the Happening Lounge, a VIP area that echoes the lounge originally dedicated to Elizabeth Taylor, where the Hollywood actress would spend hours after escaping from the paparazzi through a secret door to chat with Gianni Bulgari. Today, Hong Kong shoppers can have aperitifs in the lounge.
On the other side of the store, the Bridal Room welcomes couples in an intimate atmosphere.
Meanwhile, the High Jewellery Room, designed specially by Marino, features windows covered with saffron-coloured silk to recreate the earthy colours of Italy, and four majestic marble columns that divide the interior, reminiscent of Rome’s baroque architectural style.
Until August 31, Bulgari has Aperitivo at the store, offering complimentary Italian beverages and snacks.
Burberry says it has entered into an agreement to acquire a luxury leather-goods business from longstanding Italian partner CF&P.
CF&P employees, including the craftsmen who have worked with the British luxury fashion house for more than a decade, will transfer to the company once the transaction is complete, expected late this year.
“This acquisition is a major milestone for us and a statement of our ambition in this strategically important category,” says CEO Marco Gobbetti. “It will create a centre of excellence for Burberry’s leather goods, covering all activities from prototyping, product innovation, engineering and the co-ordination of production.”
Uniqlo Philippines will open a global flagship store this year, saying it will be the biggest in Southeast Asia.
The Japanese fashion giant says the new flagship will be in Glorietta 5 in Makati. It will be the brand’s 15th global flagship store in 11 markets, including New York, London, Paris, Tokyo and Singapore.
“Having been a member of the local retail scene since 2012, we remain committed to contributing to the community and to being an integral part of Manila’s growth and future,” says Uniqlo Southeast Asia/Oceania chief executive Satoshi Hatase.
Its sales floor area will cover 4100sqm, and as with other global flagship stores will showcase the full lineup of “LifeWear” for men, women, kids and babies.
YOOX NET-A-PORTER GROUP (YNAP), the world’s leading online luxury fashion retailer, announces the appointment of Olivier Schaeffer as Global Chief Operating Officer for the Group.
Starting May 21st, Olivier will lead all Operations and Technological activities on a global scale. He will report into Federico Marchetti, CEO of YOOX NET-A-PORTER GROUP.
Olivier was most recently Global COO for Sephora where he spent 16 years of his career. Olivier was instrumental in leading the omnichannel expansion of the beauty and perfumes leading retailer.
Federico Marchetti, Founder and CEO of the YOOX NET-A-PORTER Group, stated:
“I am very happy to welcome Olivier to our team. We want to accelerate YNAP’s ambitious plans to grow globally. That’s why we asked Olivier to join us as Global COO. His decades of relevant experience are a perfect fit with our needs. Olivier will be a key asset to take us through this next phase of our growth”.
Noni B will acquire the Millers, Katies, Crossroads, Autograph and Rivers brands from Specialty Fashion Group (SFH) for $31 million in a major shake up of Australia’s discretionary retail sector.
The all cash deal comes at the end of a structural review into specialty fashion and will see SFH retain ownership of its most financially successful brand, City Chic.
Announcing the divestment on Monday, SFH and independent review committee chair Anne McDonald said offloading loss-making legacy brands while keeping the distinct City Chic business would optimise value for shareholders.
“In a challenging and rapidly changing retail environment, SFH has been successful in building City Chic into a market leader,” she said.
“The Board considers that a significant turnaround is required to reset the other businesses in the portfolio, and that this would require time, capital and carry material execution risk.”
A range of options were considered as part of a seven month strategic review into the business, including a whole of company transaction, alternative brand divestment and capital raising – but the independent review committee unanimously decided Noni B’s deal was optimal.
The independent review committee rejected a $100 million offer from Anchorage Capital Partners for the City Chic and Autograph brands in April.
SFH shares shot up 47 per cent in early Monday trading after the deal was announced to a one-year high of 56 cents.
Noni B confident in turnaround prospects
Noni B, which already owns the Rockmans, W Lane and Beme brands, will become one of the largest women’s fashion players in Australia under the deal, bringing its store footprint to over 1,400.
The business had 614 stores as at 2 July 2017, generating $316.8 million in revenue and a before tax profit of $5.9 million.
832 stores will be traded hands, with the businesses accounting for $642 million in revenue and a $25.7 million EBIT loss in 2017.
Noni B managing director and chief executive Scott Evans said that the combined business would deliver a myriad of synergies, bringing annual revenue to around the $1 billion mark.
“This is another exciting step forward for Noni B Group and represents the acquisition of five well-known and established iconic Australian brands that are both complementary and highly synergistic to our existing portfolio,” he said.
Noni B will undertake a $40 million equity raising to fund the acquisition. Major shareholder Alceon Group, which took over Noni B in 2014, is slated to participate.
Noni B expects to generate $30 million in cost of doing business efficiencies as a result of the acquisition by the end of FY19, excluding expected supply chain synergies.
The combined business would have generated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $31.1 million in calendar 17, including SFH’s portfolio optimisation benefits but excluding potential merger benefits and one-off costs.
After conducting due diligence over a number of months Noni B said it was confident it could turnaround the struggling businesses, but said it expects further deterioration in the near term with further losses in FY18.
“The businesses we’re acquiring are under-performing for a number of reasons,” Evans said. “However, we believe our disciplined approach to cost of doing business, combined with our customer focus, will ensure a successful turnaround.”
Noni B hopes that synergies and efficiencies will help the portfolio break even on an EBITDA basis in FY19.
The SFH deal is the second acquisition in the last three years for Noni B, which bought Pretty Girl Fashion Group – including the Rockmans Beme and W. Lane brands – in 2016.
A recapitalised Specialty Fashion
SFH will use the proceeds from the divestment to recapitalise the business, positioning it grow the City Chic brand at home and abroad.
The plus-size fashion business generated $14.1 million in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in 2017 from $134.2 million in revenue. Comparable sales growth was 16.6 per cent.
The business is expected to generate EBITDA of $19 – 20 million in FY18 on $138 – $140 million in revenue.
That will bring SFH in at the higher end of its previously announced underlying EBITDA guidance of between $14 – $20 million.
City Chic has been a standout performer for SFH in recent years, having grown into a profitable omnichannel operation with 37 per cent of its sales coming from online.
It has operations in Australia, New Zealand and the US (through a drop ship model into department stores and on Amazon), across 110 stores.
It was also announced that recently appointed chief executive Daniel Bracken will step down after overseeing the separation and transition process before SFH’s November AGM.
He will hand the reigns over the Phil Ryan, who is currently City Chic’s general manager.
Dunhill describes the launch of its new Dunhill London store in Hong Kong’s IFC Mall as “a strategic milestone” in the brand’s evolution and global expansion.
“A new language of retail design builds an engaging visual conversation, where an open and clean space showcases the best of British luxury menswear in an understated, relevant and approachable way,” the company says, describing the essence of its newest store in Hong Kong, one of four opened in greater China over recent weeks.
“Engineering and craftsmanship are combined to create a masculine and contemporary space, through the interplay of walnut woods and marble, together with signature leather and metal details.”
The other new stores opened simultaneously in Shanghai’s Grand Gateway, Beijing’s Wangfu Central & Xian SKP.
The Dunhill London store at IFC Mall has a 123sqm footprint.
T-shirts will be the primary focus of a new partnership between retail supply-chain company Li & Fung and US sewing technology company software.
The aim is to create a fully digital manufacturing supply chain for apparel and textile products.
Softwear’s digital t-shirt Sewbot Workline is fully autonomous and with a single worker produces one complete t-shirt every 22 seconds – twice as fast as manual sewing.
“This partnership with Softwear Automation is another building block in our end-to-end digital supply chain,” says Li & Fung group CEO Spencer Fung. “Through this collaboration we want to partner with an initial set of manufacturers to create our first fully digital apparel supply chain and use those learnings to scale the technology and create customised systems for our supplier network around the world.”
“We have a shared vision with Li & Fung that the analog will become digital,” says Softwear Automation chairman/CEO Palaniswamy Rajan. “Consumers’ demand to get things faster than ever before is only increasing. With Li & Fung, our revolutionary Sewbots will enable the speed needed for on-demand, made-to-measure manufacturing at scale.”
Tiffany & Co has turned New York City’s yellow cabs to the jewellery brand’s trademark eggshell blue.
Seven locations across the city have also been given the blue treatment, inspiring an Instagram scavenger hunt.
The move celebrates chief artistic officer Reed Krakoff’s first jewellery collection for the label, themed around the iconic moment from the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s in which Audrey Hepburn’s character stands in front of the store’s window with a coffee and croissant.
The Atlas clock at the Fifth Avenue flagship store has also been transformed into a digital screen featuring behind-the-scenes footage and vignettes from a campaign film.
Desigual Singapore reopens its Orchard Road store today, the first to feature the fashion brand’s new design concept with its customer-oriented shopping experience.
The 300sqm space will also be the first Singapore outlet for the brand’s sports category, along with women’s and men’s shoes and accessories.
Created in collaboration with architect Lazaro Rosa Violan, the store draws its inspiration from the Mediterranean with bright tones and such elements as coffered walls.
Desigual’s sports category features garments designed for women who want to embrace physical exercise while still following fashion trends.
Established in Barcelona in 1984, Desigual has more than 4500 employees and a presence in nearly 100 countries through 13 sales channels, more than 500 branded stores and eight product categories.
Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC) is set to buy Norwegian sportswear brand Helly Hansen for US$771 million.
Helly Hansen, founded in 1877, has been progressively expanding its footprint to cover 40 countries, specialising in clothing for sailing, skiing, mountain sports, wet weather gear and workwear. The business was previously owned by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
Despite its name, CTC is Canada’s largest retail operator with interests in apparel, food, car tyres, sports and homewares. Its brands include Mark’s, SuperCycle and FGL (formerly Forzani). Mark’s is one of Helly Hansen’s largest retail customers.
“For more than 10 years, Helly Hansen has been an exceptional fit with CTC and this acquisition will strengthen our assortment across all of our banners,” said Stephen Wetmore, president and CEO of CTC.
“With our capabilities and Helly Hansen’s trusted global brand and management team, we see tremendous opportunity for CTC and Helly Hansen, in Canada and internationally.”
Helly Hansen’s CEO Paul Stoneham and his management team based in Oslo, will continue to lead the business.
Factories in Vietnam produced 44 percent of Adidas footwear volume in 2017, up from 31 percent in 2012.
The chief executive of Adidas expects a shift in its sourcing of footwear from China to Vietnam to continue although he shrugged off concerns on Wednesday about the possible imposition of U.S. tariffs on Chinese-made shoe.
Factories in Vietnam produced 44 percent of Adidas footwear volume in 2017, up from 31 percent in 2012, while Chinese suppliers made 19 percent, down from more than 30 percent in 2012, Kasper Rorsted told a annual meeting of shareholders.
“I’m not going to rule out that this trend is going to continue,” he said, adding: “China is still an important procurement market, irrespective of trade duties.”
Rorsted noted that there was still a lot of uncertainty over what sectors could face new U.S. tariffs. “We might be hit by import duties but it will also apply to our competitors.”
German rival Puma, which makes about a third of its products in China, said last month that it is working on contingency plans to move some production from China to other Asian markets if U.S. tariffs are imposed.