The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
"Fashion Inflation is Unsustainable" (The Business of Fashion)
"In China, price increases have been felt even more sharply as some luxury brands continue to set the base price of their goods higher than what they charge for the same items in the US or Europe, even before luxury taxes and currency adjustments are taken into account."
"Hong Kong Retail Hinges on Welcoming Mainlanders" (Bloomberg Businessweek)
"Hong Kong's retail sales dropped for five straight months since February amid a slowdown in visitor arrivals from the mainland, as China's economic growth moderated, and a decline in demand for big-ticket items such as jewelry and watches."
"Singapore's Great Sale That Wasn't: China Tourists Staying Away" (Bloomberg)
"Visitors from China to Singapore dropped 27 percent in the five months through May from a year earlier amid slower economic growth on the mainland and the impact of a new Chinese law that clamped down on cut-price shopping tours."
"China's Malls Add Snoopy Parks, Playgrounds to Attract Big-Spending Parents" (The Wall Street Journal)
"As China's spending on luxury products wanes amid a clampdown on corruption and slowing economic growth, operators of shopping malls are looking to another retail segment: children's goods."
"China Cotton Output May Plunge as Government Ends Stockpiles" (Bloomberg)
"Cotton output in China, the world's biggest user, may fall 24 percent next year as the government ends direct purchases from farmers, according to a state-affiliated researcher. Policy makers have given no indications how they will sustain planting in central and eastern China as the new measures only cover northwest Xinjiang province, said Xi Jin, a manager at Cncotton.com, a researcher owned by China National Cotton Reserves Corp."
With consumers tightening their belts in China, the battle between global fast fashion brands and local high street giants has intensified.
Investors are bracing for a steep slowdown in luxury sales when luxury companies report their first quarter results, reflecting lacklustre Chinese demand.
The French beauty giant’s two latest deals are part of a wider M&A push by global players to capture a larger slice of the China market, targeting buzzy high-end brands that offer products with distinctive Chinese elements.
Post-Covid spend by US tourists in Europe has surged past 2019 levels. Chinese travellers, by contrast, have largely favoured domestic and regional destinations like Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.