Benetton Unhate campaign | Source: Foto Telegraf

Benetton to make decision on delisting (FT)
“The Benetton family will decide at a board meeting on Wednesday whether to delist the Italian knitwear group known for its brightly coloured jumpers after the company posted another plunge in profits as it struggles to compete with Inditex and H&M.”

Luxury Companies That Can Bring You Closer to the Good Life (Money Morning)
“A lot of consumers are hurting right now, but you wouldn’t know that looking at the earnings of major luxury companies. Many luxury companies like LVMH Moet Hennessey Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Hermès, and Coach Inc had a stronger-than-expected 2011 campaign.”

Bright Young Things (Vogue)
“The British Fashion Council has announced the launch of International Fashion Showcase – a platform for international emerging designers – which will take place during London Fashion Week. Nineteen embassies and cultural institutes across London will display work from over 80 rising designers, spanning the world from Belgium to Botswana.”

The Finnish Fashion Blogger Who Landed A Deal With Diesel (Business Insider)
“Sandra Hagelstam, 24, is the founder of the hot fashion blog 5inchdesandup.com. She started blogging to create a daily log of what she wears… ‘(The blog) has opened up doors for me I never would have imagined in terms of being able to design my own collection and collaborate with others.’”

Divided they stand: the new extremists (Telegraph)
“This may look like a classic case of Roundhead versus Cavalier. Or Minimalist meets Maximalist. But that’s too simplistic.Neither Mary Katrantzou or Osman Yousefzada can be that easily pigeonholed.”

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?

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT REGULATIONS

Recently, enormous attention has been focused on India’s foreign direct investment (FDI) laws, which for years capped foreign ownership of India-based retail operations at 51 percent. In a landmark decision earlier this month, India formally lifted restrictions on foreign investment in its single-brand retail sector, allowing global fashion brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Burberry to acquire 100 percent ownership of their India operations and trade without local partners.

“This was the last frontier to open. It will make India a preferred market,” Tikka Shatrujit Singh, chief representative in Asia for French luxury conglomerate LVMH, told BoF. But the decision comes with a caveat: foreign companies are required to source 30 percent of their production from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in India. “We’re delighted with the decision, but the 30 percent caveat about working with small industries has to be carefully looked into, since there are concerns over child labour and quality factory production,” added Singh.

“Sourcing from Indian SMEs will restrict investments since it’s difficult for brands to match their quality standards and positioning,” said Abhay Gupta, executive director at Blues Clothing Company, a firm that represents Versace, Corneliani, Cadini and John Smedley in India. “Besides, most brands cannot alter their DNA and signature specialisation of ‘made in country of origin.’”

“A bureaucrat’s delight, a business person’s nightmare,” commented Darshan Mehta, president and CEO of Reliance Brands, a subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, which represents international brands Ermenegildo Zegna, Diesel, Paul & Shark and Kenneth Cole in India. “India’s cottage industries are not equipped to even produce H&M quality goods, forget catering to luxury brands.”

But new sourcing requirements aside, FDI reform only addresses one of the many challenges that international fashion brands face in India.

HIGH IMPORT DUTIES

For one, high import tariffs mean that luxury products can cost between 20 and 30 percent more in Mumbai and Delhi than in London or Paris. “The government has assured us that at an appropriate time, the duty structure will be adjusted to realistic levels,” said Singh. But for now, the problem persists. “We have only seen year-on-year growth, but the reason that the business suffers, even if slightly, is on account of high import duties,” said Bertrand Michaud, president of Hermès India. In fact, affluent Indians, who are extremely price-conscious even when shopping for luxury goods, buy more than 50 percent of their international luxury goods abroad.

Brands also face significant difficulties finding suitable retail space and understanding and catering to Indian tastes and sensibilities, challenges that can make partnerships with savvy local allies highly advantageous.

NO RUSH TO END LOCAL PARTNERSHIPS

Indeed, despite recent changes to FDI law, few brands are in a hurry to snap their ties with their Indian partners. “The FDI announcement doesn’t affect Hermès at all,” said Michaud. “Our partners in India, Ashok and Neelam Khanna, have been friends of the brand family for 50 years. They are in sync with our aesthetics and the Indian market.”

“The relaxation in FDI norms is a progressive move in the economic reforms process; it opens up the economy further to competition from global players, resulting in better processes, improved supply chains, better pricing and of course, more jobs,” said Sanjay Kapoor, managing director of Genesis Luxury Fashion, which holds Indian franchising and distribution rights for Burberry, Paul Smith, Bottega Veneta, Canali, Jimmy Choo and Etro. “But on their own, brands may not have enough understanding of the Indian market, its nuances and customer demographics; all critical to the luxury retail business,” he added.

A SCARCITY OF SUITABLE RETAIL SPACE

In particular, the challenge of finding suitable retail space in a country without equivalents to London’s Bond Street or New York’s Fifth Avenue makes local knowledge highly valuable. “One of my jobs is to continue an ongoing dialogue with real estate developers,” said Singh. “Purchasing property is extremely expensive and quality rental space in India comes at a premium.” Ambiance, cleanliness and security can be significant concerns, as well. As a result, luxury retailers have historically favoured opening stores in five-star hotels and upscale malls. But in cities like Mumbai, for example, brands face a shortage of premium mall space and selecting the right retail location is no simple task for those unfamiliar with the local landscape.

Hermès was the first international luxury brand operating in India to open a stand-alone boutique with an open storefront to the street in South Mumbai’s Fort District in 2011. The brand’s two other outlets in Delhi and Pune are both housed in hotels.

“Retail is about detail,” said Mehta. “Galleria gets 10 footfalls a day! Tod’s had to shut down,” he continued, referring to retail space at South Mumbai’s Hilton hotel. “The next best bet is malls. Palladium in Mumbai is doing well,” he added, mentioning a luxury mall in Mumbai’s Lower Parel neighbourhood that houses international brands like Burberry and Zara (which in India is positioned as a premium label).

CULTURAL COMPLEXITY & LOCAL LUXURY COMPETITORS

International brands operating in India also face a market with cultural complexity and culturally-attuned, local luxury goods. “Indian consumers are price-sensitive when buying Western high fashion. They won’t spend easily on that one lakh-plus rupee ($2,000) eveningwear dress. But they’d splurge on Indian couture-based wedding wear in a jiffy,” said Sanchita Ajjampur, a design consultant to international fashion brands including Lanvin, Gucci, Marni and Etro, underscoring the enormous cultural and economic importance of India’s wedding market and the local designers who cater to it. Indeed, a wedding outfit by Indian designer Sabyasachi, for example, can come at couture prices, which leaves less “share of wallet” for international brands. “This probably explains the decision to launch the Hermès India sari collection,” she continued.

“I am not here to get tourists. I want Indians. I want Hermès to be in the hands of Indians,” said Christian Blanckaert, senior executive vice-president of Hermès, at the launch of the brand’s first India store at New Delhi’s Oberoi hotel back in 2008. But achieving this is no simple task. To attract local clientele, Hermès has experimented with a number of India-inspired product lines, including a recently launched line of saris, based on the company’s famous scarves.

Other international fashion brands have also offered Indianised products, tailored to local tastes, like Bottega Veneta’s Knot India clutch, Jimmy Choo’s Chandra clutch and Canali’s Nawab line, all designed to cater to the country’s large wedding market. But while most India experts emphasise the importance of a tailored offering, localising product isn’t a guarantee of commercial success. “India-inspired collections add PR value to the brand, but they don’t always translate into serious sales,” said Mehta.

“Every brand has a different approach; global but tinged with local ideas,” said Singh. Indeed, knowing exactly when and how much to localise is a delicate act and each brand has a different formula that must be fine-tuned to its specific positioning and target customer. “When we tied up with Diesel, my friends asked me, ‘Are you launching desi (local) Diesel or the real Diesel?’” Mehta continued. “Luxury brands have a Western quotient attached to them. That’s what adds the aspirational value for Indians.”

LONG-TERM DIVIDENDS

Indeed, despite recent FDI reform, the on-going challenges of cultural complexity, scarcity of suitable retail space and high import duties mean the “Indian problem” is far from solved. But for brands with staying power, India presents a compelling long-term opportunity. According to Swiss wealth manager Julius Baer, the number of high net worth individuals in India with assets of over $1 million is expected to reach 403,000 by 2015. Furthermore, according to the United Nations, India is set to enjoy favourable demographic momentum for another three decades and will add over 241 million people to its working-age population by 2030 (far more than Brazil or China) boosting the country’s economic growth prospects in the coming years.

“Doing business in India doesn’t have a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am formula,” said Gupta. “It’s a slow process but it’s one that will eventually pay long-term dividends.”

Shweta Shiware is a freelance journalist based in London and Mumbai.

Savigny Luxury Index December 2011 | Source: Savigny Partners

LONDON, United Kingdom — While the luxury industry entered 2012 with an overall outlook that remain uncertain, the sector remained resilient.

Big news

• The Savigny Luxury Index (SLI) lost 2.6 percent in December, whilst the general market index MSCI gained 3 percent over the period.  The cause for this divergence was a temporary sell-off in luxury stocks in mid-December.  Two factors contributed to this: the Italian sovereign debt crisis prompting an exodus from Italy-based stocks and the finalisation of Hermès’ defensive structure, which sent its share price down 7 percent in the days following the announcement.

• Despite treacherous capital market conditions, Michael Kors’ listing in New York on 15^th December was a resounding success.  Kors sold more shares than expected, achieving a valuation of close to $4 billion, or 3.8x LTM sales.  Shares jumped 25 percent on their debut and have since climbed a further 8 percent.

• In contrast, the listing of Chinese jeweller Chow Tai Fook in Hong Kong on 9^th December was received with lukewarm interest, which may be attributable to high valuation expectations.

• A Swiss court ruled that Swatch Group can cut down deliveries of watch parts to third parties from next year.  This will create supply issues for a number of watch brands and has already prompted luxury groups such as PPR and LVMH to snap up small watch component manufacturers.

Going up

• Both Hermès and Swatch share prices gaining around 3 percent over the last four weeks as a result of the events mentioned above.

Going down

• Ferragamo continues its downward slide, losing another 12 percent, and now a tad under the sector average, in contrast with its lofty IPO valuation.

What to watch

• The luxury sector has proven resilient to date despite the difficult economic environment, but investors are looking at the year ahead with caution.  Sector growth continues to be highly dependent on the Chinese customer at home and abroad.  Insight into the growing importance of the Chinese tourist versus lacklustre traditional developed markets will be key in shaping our outlook for 2012.

Sector Valuation

Pierre Mallevays is a contributing editor at The Business of Fashion and founder and managing partner of Savigny Partners, a corporate advisory firm focusing on the retail and luxury goods industry.

App Icons | Source: Blogversity

Online retailing: The mobile allure (FT)
“The transparency and convenience of ‘mobile commerce’ have given Americans the upper hand over retailers, according to Mr Thompson, who echoes the connect-and-inspire ideology of Silicon Valley when he says: ‘The consumer ultimately holds all the power.’ Indeed, for many traditional retailers, rising competition from the internet has capped sales growth, squeezed profit margins and forced them to re-evaluate how they use their store space.”

LVMH stake in Hermès reaches 22.3 pct (Reuters)
“The world’s biggest luxury group, LVMH, has increased its stake in leather bag maker Hermès to 22.3 percent and now has 16 percent of voting rights, according to a statement from France’s AMF stock market regulator. LVMH, which previously held 21.4 percent of its smaller rival, plans to continue buying Hermès shares ‘according to circumstances and the market situation,’ LVMH said in a filing to the AMF.”

Brand power helps Nike beat estimates (Reuters)
“Nike Inc’s quarterly results beat Wall Street estimates, as its swoosh logo attracted shoppers, especially in emerging markets, despite higher prices. Nike shares were up 3 percent at $96.65 in after-market trade on Tuesday, after closing at $93.63 on the New York Stock Exchange. Worldwide futures orders for the Nike brand, a closely watched measure of demand in coming months, grew 13 percent to $8.9 billion at the end of the quarter.”

Founder with an eye for design (FT)
“One of Mr Totterman’s ideas at the start of the business, was to ask Jean Paul Gaultier, the French fashion designer, if Inspecs could distribute Gaultier-branded spectacles in the UK. ‘At the time we had no design function – we were reliant on other people’s products and we felt we needed a big name if we were to get anywhere. To our surprise [Mr Gaultier] said, ‘Yes.’”

Sophie Theallet on Running a Fashion Business (Thread NY)
“Sophie Theallet worked under masters like Azzedine Alaïa and Jean Paul Gaultier in Paris before decamping to New York City to start her own label, which launched in 2007. Since then, she has racked up acclaim — including the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Award, which she won in 2009 — and has dressed everyone from Jessica Alba to Michelle Obama.”

Michael Kors | Source: Wall Street Journal

Kors IPO sets US fashion record (FT)
“Michael Kors, an upmarket fashion and accessories brand, has launched the biggest-ever public offering in US fashion, selling more shares than expected in a deal that will value the company at nearly $4bn… The deal was heavily oversubscribed and priced at $20 a share, above the projected range of $17 to $19. Investors in the company sold 47.2m shares, more than the 41m initially offered and raising $944m. The sale valued the company at $3.8bn.”

Hermès family finalises holding to prevent takeover (Reuters)
“The family owners of Hermès said on Wednesday that they had finalised the creation of a holding company with 50.2 percent of the share capital to protect the luxury house from hostile takeover. The creation of the holding, dubbed H51, has been in the works since last autumn when fashion giant LVMH revealed that it had secretly built up a 17 percent stake in Hermès.”

For Fashion Start-Ups, a Bridge to Investors (NY Times)
“Fashion is fickle, making it harder for start-ups to raise capital. But FashInvest, created by David J. Freschman and Karen Griffith Gryga, venture capitalists, is a platform that acts as a kind of matchmaker between seedling fashion companies and investors.”

5 Top Retail Success Stories for 2011 (Forbes)
“Sustainable, savvy, and stylish could best describe the business moves made by certain retailers now winding down the year in stellar fashion.”

Insiders | Susannah Frankel (AnOther)
“Ever since documenting the seminal Fashion-able? shoot by Nick Knight and her close friend, the late Alexander ‘Lee’ McQueen for Dazed’s 1998 issue; Susannah Frankel has forged an ongoing collaboration with Dazed and Confused which led to being appointed as Fashion Features Director of AnOther when it launched in 2000.”

Hermès Store | Source: GQ

Hermès and the secret of luxe appeal (GQ)
“Hermès is a phenomenon: probably the most successful, perhaps the most creative, certainly the most respected and one of the most profitable luxury-goods companies of all time. After a brief blip from 2009-10, the tur­bulent economic times seem to have, if any­thing, accelerated its success.

Putting a Price on Michael Kors (NY Times)
“The fashion designer Michael Kors is seeking a luxury price tag on his stock. His company’s initial public offering, expected this week, would value it at up to $3.6 billion. The metrics are in line with Prada, which listed earlier this year. But Michael Kors Holdings may struggle to sustain the growth needed to stay in style with investors.”

“Tweeting Without Fear (WSJ)
“By now, even the stodgiest companies have found their way onto Twitter. They have discovered it isn’t just another marketing channel with a funny name, it’s more like a conversation they need to join or risk losing influence over how consumers view them or their brands… But there’s a flip side… Ill-considered tweets or hacked Twitter accounts have caused plenty of embarrassment.”

What the Internship Bust Means (Elle UK)
“Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs has warned London Fashion Week designers that failure to pay interns the national minimum wage could lead to prosecution… Interns are the engines that drive the fashion industry. The framework is so prevalent that most designers, public relations executives, editors and stylists in staff jobs today completed internships at the beginnings of their careers.”

Q&A With Rupert Sanderson (WWD)
“Rupert Sanderson never planned to be a footwear designer. It was only after an ill-fated career in advertising that he decided to pursue the career. But 10 years after launching his eponymous line, he is now firmly planted in the shoe industry. Not only has he established a high-end label, but Sanderson has built a vertical business as well.”

François Lesage | Source: Simple Virtues

‘Big O’ Birthdays for Generations of Designers (IHT)
“The loss last week of François Lesage, the beating heart of Parisian embroidery, at age 82, marks fashion history. A mighty tree in the landscape of haute couture has fallen… Fashion has a way of holding up a mirror to the wider world. But in the fading days of 2011, the bellwether is not about changes in style. It’s about designers themselves and a seismic generational shift.”

Hermès sees 10 percent growth in 2012 (Reuters)
“French luxury goods group Hermès expects sales growth of 10 percent next year, with trends in the current quarter broadly in line with the rest of the year… Last month, Hermès raised its full-year sales forecast to between 15 and 16 percent, reflecting strong demand in Asia, Europe and America, up from a previous forecast of 12 to 14 percent.”

‘Cyber Week’ Sets New Record With $6 Billion Take (Mashable)
“Online sales for the so-called “Cyber Week” that ended on on Dec. 2 were just shy of $6 billion, setting a record, according to comScore. With an estimated $1.25 billion take, Cyber Monday 2011, Nov. 28, was only the second billion-dollar day for online U.S. sales in history, following the equivalent day in 2010.”

China’s answer to Prada? (Telegraph)
“Just as Western luxury brands colonise and coin it in China, it is inevitable that Chinese companies will want to do the same right back. While some might currently be lacking in savoir faire , what those with big ambitions won’t lack is money; Beijing and Shanghai are packed with newly minted billionaires looking for glamorous investment opportunities.”

What Women Want: Jonathan Saunders (Independent)
“Saunders is nothing if not serious about his work – so much is evident in his sliced and precise patterns, a signature lightness that never becomes frothy, and his attention to detail. But he also speaks about the clothes he makes with a businesslike sense of creating merchandise – a hangover from his original line of work in product design.”

Savigny Luxury Index November 2011 | Source: Savigny Partners

LONDON, United Kingdom — As the luxury and fashion sector enters the critical holiday shopping period on the back of strong results for the first half of the year, there are growing signs that executives are worried about what the future holds for the luxury market in 2012.

Big news

• This has been another month of record results for the luxury sector, with Hermès, Richemont, Ferragamo, Burberry, Tiffany, Prada and Ports all posting outstanding numbers for their first half or third quarter period.  Buoyant growth in Asia continued to lift sales; Richemont in particular shone with revenues in the region soaring by 60 percent in its first half report.  Growth was also present in mature markets, notably in the USA where Burberry’s first half sales and Tiffany’s third quarter revenues rose by 25 percent and 17 percent respectively.  This was confirmed by recent news of a very strong Thanksgiving weekend, with US retail sales estimated at a record $52.4 billion.

• Yet worries are growing over 2012.  The global markets rebound which took place towards the end of November following news of concerted action to solve the eurozone debt crisis did not happen for the luxury sector, with our Savigny Luxury Index resuming its downward slide.  Some market participants have issued thinly veiled warnings over next year, notably Richemont and Tiffany (see below).  Retailers are keeping inventories low into the end-of-year season; we have heard reports of some of them asking leading fashion brands not to deliver too early, a shocking role-reversal mode.  Industry CEOs are hoping for the best but quietly making contingency plans.  Overall, the SLI has lost 4.9 percent over the month of November, compared to an increase of 1.8 percent in the MSCI general index.

• The long-rumoured acquisition of Italian tailor Brioni by PPR finally crystallised, evidencing the importance of the menswear segment for the sector’s growth expectations, especially in China.

Going up

• Luxottica’s share price is the only one to have risen during November, attributable to recent M&A activity.  The world’s leading eyewear group continues to expand geographically its successful vertical integration model to emerging markets, namely Latin America.

Going down

• Tiffany’s candid statement that trading was starting to be difficult in Europe and on the East Coast in the US caused its share price to tumble, taking US luxury peer Ralph Lauren down with it.

• At nearly 12 percent down, Ferragamo’s share price performance for the month ranks near the bottom of the sector, despite strong third quarter results and sales momentum.  Investors’ concerns seem to centre around the Italian’s group relative lack of scale compared to most of its peers and on Ferragamo’s already large Chinese presence, potentially signalling a lesser upside.

What to watch

• Investors are hanging on to every piece of news in anticipation of the Christmas results. Sector outlook has rarely been so uncertain.

Sector Valuation

Pierre Mallevays is a contributing editor at The Business of Fashion and founder and managing partner of Savigny Partners, a corporate advisory firm focusing on the retail and luxury goods industry

Burberry Bespoke Screen Shot | Source: Burberry.com

Mink or Fox? The Trench Gets Complicated (WSJ)
“Signaling how interactive the online shopping experience has become, Burberry, the British fashion label, is offering a way for customers to design and order custom trench coats online. Called Burberry Bespoke, the program is a full-scale attempt at “mass customization,” a long-time goal of retailers and unusual for a designer fashion house. Customers select the cut of their trench coat, the fabric, the color, and then navigate through options such as bronze-studded sleeves, bridle leather cuff straps, mink linings and shearling collars.”

Hermès raises full-year sales goal (Reuters)
“French luxury group Hermès raised its full-year sales goal on Friday after growth in the Americas and Asia drove an 18.2 percent rise in third-quarter revenue. Sales growth at constant exchange rates could reach 15-16 percent this year, Hermes said in a statement. This compares with a previous forecast of 12-14 percent… Hermès said a “remarkable growth trend” seen in the Americas and Asia, excluding Japan, in the first half of the year had continued in the third quarter, with sales up 22 percent and 34 percent respectively.”

3 Ways Digital Innovation Can Make Luxury Brands Exclusive Again (Mashable)
“Luxury brand marketing must preserve exclusivity — on that we can agree. But successful luxury brand marketing today must also put the ‘e’ in experience… Luxury consumers in this economy are more interested in whether a luxury product is ‘worth it,’ and that all depends on the experience. While protecting brand exclusivity is a viable concern, such digital and new media tools offer inestimable opportunities to market luxury brand experiences.”

Macy’s $400 Million Makeover (Forbes)
“It’s going to be one helluvaface lift. Macy’s Herald Square, which dates (at least part of it) back to 1902, is going to zoom into the millenium thanks to the company’s $400 million investment. The sweeping renovation is expected to take four years to complete and when it’s done nearly every part of the world’s largest store will be refreshed. Macy’s has been making all the right moves to attract an older, affluent customer to both its department stores and e-commerce site.”

Dazed 20th Anniversary Somerset House Exhibition (Dazed Digital)
“Hosted by Somerset House and curated by Jefferson Hack and Emma Reeves, the exhibition is an immersive representation of the magazine’s – and the book’s – best bits, featuring original artwork created especially for Dazed & Confused, including Jake & Dinos Chapman’s GCSE work and Sam Taylor-Wood’s 360 revolutionary seconds.”

Savigny Luxury Index October 2011 | Source: Savigny Partners

LONDON, United Kingdom — The market roller coaster continues, but the luxury sector has once again outperformed the general market. While questions remain about the ability for China to sustain the growth of luxury brands, investors seem to be on side again, at least for now. Analysts remain divided about the future of the luxury sector in 2012, amid much macroeconomic uncertainty.

Big news

• Renewed confidence in the sector prompted the SLI to recover the ground it lost from the mass sell-off in September.  The SLI posted an impressive increase of 21.9 percent over the month of October, versus an increase of 7 percent in the MSCI.

• Positive newsflow has boosted the sector, with LVMH, Burberry, PPR and Coach’s quarterly results beating market expectations.  Swatch announced that September was a record month for the group and that 2011 promised to be its best year ever.

• Investor concerns over a slowdown in China were addressed as all major sector players confirmed the Chinese market’s resilience.

Going up

• Up more than 35 percent, Tiffany’s share price rise over the last month is the strongest in the field.  Surely some savvy investors took notice of the termination of the Swatch partnership, which now makes Tiffany a more palatable target for the big luxury conglomerates?

• Prada posted the second strongest gain for the month underpinned by an 18 percent increase in the Hang Seng Index.  Its China-led growth strategy also appears to have regained favour with investors.

Going down

• With the whole sector bouncing back up, Hermès, Safilo and Luxottica look like they have been left behind.  Hermès’ newly implemented defensive structure has taken the bid-spec wind out of its sails, whilst the two eyewear companies’ share price performances were marred by lacklustre growth expectations.

What to watch

• The all-important holiday season is just around the corner.  Early signs will come from the USA as trading over the Thanksgiving weekend beginning 24 November is usually a bell-weather for Christmas sales.

Sector Valuation

Pierre Mallevays is a contributing editor at The Business of Fashion and founder and managing partner of Savigny Partners, a corporate advisory firm focusing on the retail and luxury goods industry