Sonia Rykiel Spring Summer 2011 | Source: Moda Paramujer

Sonia Rykiel in talks with investor Fung Brands (Reuters)
“Sonia Rykiel, one of the last family-controlled French fashion houses, is in exclusive talks with privately held Fung Brands which could lead to the investment firm taking an 80 percent stake in the company to help it expand internationally.”

China’s Hidden Wealth Feeds an Income Gap (NY Times)
“Wealthy Chinese are snapping up gold, Rolls-Royces and yachts, Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Gucci faster than ever before, with increases registering not in baby steps, as a decade ago, but in giant leaps — 20, 50, even 80 percent, year on year. The Chinese have become the world’s biggest duty-free shoppers. Where is all the money coming from?”

Italy woes weigh on luxury shoemaker Tod’s in Q4 (Reuters)
“Italian luxury goods maker Tod’s reported lower-than-expected sales in its crisis-hit core Italian market in the last quarter. The owner of the Hogan, Fay and Roger Vivier brands, with a market value of 2.1 billion euros ($2.7 billion), said on Wednesday global sales grew 13.5 percent last year to 893.7 million euros, slightly above analysts’ estimates.”

Vogue keeps No. 1 rank among fashion titles (New York Post)
“In the closely watched March issues of fashion magazines — where fashion designers typically advertise their spring and summer collections — the Condé Nast flagship Vogue retained its customary No. 1 spot. Vogue had 442.74 ad pages, up 3.7 percent, handily beating Time Inc.’s In Style, which came in No. 2 with 347.0 ad pages, up a healthy 39 pages, or 13 percent.”

Cool Designer Ervell Hates to Shop, Wants NYC Store (Bloomberg)
“Dressed in jeans, New Balance sneakers and a simple blue button-down shirt, Ervell, 32, is indistinguishable from the vaguely mussed creative types who pack downtown. What makes Ervell — and all those scenesters — so effortlessly cool is his own, eponymous clothing line.”

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Arriving in Rio de Janeiro in the middle of the Brazilian summer, in a country experiencing an ongoing economic boom, certainly puts the bleak, uncertain economic outlook of wintry Europe and North America into sharp relief.

I was invited to Brazil on the generous invitation of ABIT, the Brazilian Textile and Apparel Industry Association, to attend Fashion Rio, the smaller of two semi-annual fashion events just concluded in Rio and São Paulo this week. And as ever on my trips to international markets, it was the perfect opportunity to explore firsthand one of the fastest growing luxury markets in the world, to see some local designers, and to get to know the local BoF community as well. Brazil ranked 13 on our list of countries with the most BoF readers, based on website traffic in 2011.

I came to Brazil with three questions on my mind: what are the prospects for the Brazilian luxury industry, what’s it like to do business here, and who is the Brazilian consumer?

… Continue Reading

Givenchy Couture Spring 2012 | Source: Style Heroine

The Fine Line (NY Times)
“Nowadays, almost no one talks about its demise. Quite the opposite. Not only have revenues reportedly risen, thanks to big spenders in countries like China and Brazil, but there are also more new names on the calendar, like Giambattista Valli and Bouchra Jarrar, who makes ready-to-wear but because of her small quantities and fine sense of craft, shrewdly decided to show during couture. This season Versace returned to Paris after an absence.”

Chinese Shoppers Putting Premium On “Made In USA” Labels (Jing Daily)
“By this point, it’s well established that China’s shoppers are fans of American brands like Coach, Ralph Lauren, Levi’s and Tiffany & Co…But for smaller brands, particularly those made on a smaller scale in the US, opportunities are opening up in the Chinese market as well.”

H&M Q4 profit falls, see tough economic outlook (Reuters)
“Hennes & Mauritz, the world’s second-largest fashion retailer, posted a surprise drop in fourth-quarter pretax profit on Thursday and said 2012 was looking tough due to a worsening economic climate in many of its markets.”

J.C. Penney Permanently Cuts All Prices by 40 Percent (The Cut)
“As part of J.C. Penney’s new pricing strategy, they’re marking down all of their merchandise by at least 40 percent — permanently — so that shoppers don’t have to wait for sales to get the best price. To make up for the revenue they’ll sacrifice to do this, Penney’s will have fewer sales and promotions throughout the year.”

The Year in E-Tail: Lessons Learned and Looking Ahead (WWD)
“If 2011 was seen as the year e-tail exploded, it was a mere precursor to what’s expected in 2012. Mobile commerce spending on smartphones is expected to reach $10 billion this year, said Sucharita Mulpuru, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research, and this projection doesn’t even include tablet shopping.”

Hermès Flagship, Mumbai | Source: skyscrapercity.com

In our second article this week focused on India, we investigate the barriers impeding the growth of India’s international luxury goods market, which go beyond the recently lifted restrictions on foreign direct investment.

MUMBAI, India — “By the end of 2015, emerging markets should account for more than 50 percent of luxury sales,” Antoine Colonna, a luxury analyst at the asset manager Carmignac Gestion in Paris, told The Wall Street Journal in the spring of 2011. “This isn’t evolution. It’s revolution,” she continued.

But in India, the revolution has yet to take hold. Despite having the world’s second-fastest growing major economy and a rapidly expanding population of high net worth individuals, the country’s market for international luxury goods, worth around $1.3 billion, remains surprisingly small. In fact, while China currently accounts for an estimated 10 percent of the global luxury market, India makes up a mere 1 to 2 percent.

So why has India’s market for international luxury goods failed to take off?

… Continue Reading

Burberry store Chennai India | Source: Luxury Facts

Worst of times prove best for luxury brands (CNN)
“Luxury brands, including fashion label Burberry and vehicle manufacturer Rolls-Royce, have all enjoyed bumper years, recording slump-busting profits that may raise eyebrows among consumers forced to tighten their non-snakeskin belts. Such income surges will dispel doubts raised when markets first began to falter over the resilience of the high-end market.”

Chanel’s Blue-Sky Thinking (IHT)
“Chanel took flight on Tuesday — both in its air travel stage set, inside the Grand Palais, and in the soaring imagination of its summer 2012 haute couture collection, all in blue, like an open sky. Trim and elegant as fantasy air hostesses, the first models were sent out by Karl Lagerfeld, who appeared in front of a mock pilot’s cabin at the end to take his bow.”

Jean-Jacques Picart Shares Four Decades of Fashion Wisdom (WWD)
“In a dense new book comprising 30 interviews with famous names and hidden talents, Paris-based fashion consultant Jean-Jacques Picart gleans life and career lessons — and unearths some candid snapshots of yore that alone are worth the price of admission.”

Osklen, Brazil’s First Global Luxury Brand (Forbes)
“Brazilians are snapping up luxury goods at a staggering rate. Industry sales were up 33% last year to $12 billion. So one would assume that the big, domestic brands would treat Brazil’s own consumers as a priority. Not Osklen, the sought-after maker of sportswear founded in 1989 by the orthopaedic physician Oskar Metsavaht.”

LVMH: daring to ditch the runway circus (FT)
“The Céline  move marks a conscious decision to choose the designer over possible marketing returns from the runway pictures (front row, celebs, backstage) that benefit brands every season, and is the first time I can remember that an LVMH house has done anything like this. Even after John Galliano’s fall, they continued to have major shows for Dior, refusing to miss a season.”