Ink, a concept store in the Dongcheng district of Beijing | Source: Ink Concept store Ink opened earlier this year in a “hutong,” or alleyway, in the Dongcheng district of Beijing. When this reporter visited the shop, at dusk, the matte black door was barely visible in the dimly lit passage. Nearby, workers were fixing a pipe; residents were returning from work on foot and bicycle; and between the electric scooters and the caged birds, Lilliputian grandmothers in black twill pants and flowere

Safilo Group, a multinational company dedicated to the production and distribution of sunglasses and high-end view, closed the first half of the year with a net profit of 20.08 million euros, 6.7 percent less, compared to the 21.52 million euros in the previous year, the company said in a statement. The Italian company also suffered a 2.4 percent decline in sales in this quarter, to 598.4 million euros, compared with 613.2 million euros the previous year. The decline in group sales was due to t

Tommy Hilfiger has canceled its men's spring summer '14 runway show during New York fashion week. The company stated it would focus solely on its womenswear, and stage its show on 9 September during NYFW. "We've made a strategic decision to focus our attention during New York Fashion Week on our women's business," Avery Baker, Hilfiger's press and marketing director, told WWD. "Menswear remains at the heart of the Tommy Hilfiger brand, and we will continue to develop innovative ways to present

Market sentiment has turned back in favour of the luxury sector, driven by solid second quarter results, reports Pierre Mallevays of Savigny Partners. The Savigny Luxury Index (“SLI”) gained 4.5 percent in July, overperforming the MSCI World Index (“MSCI”) by over two percentage points. Market sentiment has turned back in favour of the sector, driven by solid second quarter results, and all SLI constituents have gone up. Big news ? Growth in tourismspending in Europe accelerated

Orange Hermes Birkin | Source: Hermes From shoes to handbags to ready-to-wear, the price of designer fashion has increased precipitously over the last decade. What's driving the rising prices? And how high can they go? It's easy to find a nice-looking pair of shoes for $40 these days, and even easier to find a trendy $40 dress. But while "fast fashion" prices are so light on the wallet they almost feel as though they’re going to disappear altogether, the cost of luxury goods continues to r

American Apparel has announced its first acquisition: New York City based Oak. Oak will operate as a separate division under the guidance of its founders and current top executives. The independent fashion boutique’s total sales are currently at circa 5 million dollars. “I’m excited by this because I saw an opportunity to build Oak without a lot of extra costs. They can leverage our manufacturing capabilities, our POS [point-of-sale] and RFID [radio frequency identification] systems, our warehou

In the month of July 2013, Uniqlo Japan same-store sales increased by 5.5 percent year-on-year while sales at company's own stores increased by 10.1 percent. Total sales including online sales increased by 10 percent. Same-store sales proved strong in July because of favourable seasonal weather and buoyant sales of summer garments.For the full year, Uniqlo opened 46 stores in Japan and closed 38. It has a total number of 834 stores at present. During the month of July, Uniqlo closed one store in

First e-commerce, now Zara Home. The ever-popular Spanish megabrand is certainly showing Canadians a lot of love as of late. Once the store we’d only ogle while on vacation in Europe, Zara’s home décor spinoff is now launching in North America with two Canadian locations. The first location, at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre will open on August 22 to coincide with an e-commerce launch on the same day at zarahome.com. The second, in Quebec’s Carrefour Laval, will open a week later on August 2

Beyonce for H&M | Source: H&M Budget fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz launched an e-commerce operation in the United States on Thursday, taking on rivals in the world's biggest online market. The launch is highly anticipated and follows successive delays. But retail experts say H&M may struggle to make the kind of profits from U.S. e-commerce enjoyed by pricier rivals. H&M has prospered in the United States without a big online presence and is mindful of the likely

For the second quarter of 2013 Steve Madden net sales increased 3.1 percent compared to the same period in 2012. Retail comparable store sales increased 2.5 percent. Gross margin expanded 110 basis points to 37.2 percent compared to 36.1 percent in the same period last year. Operating income was 15.3 percent of net sales compared with operating income which was 13 percent of net sales in the same period of 2012. Retail gross margin increased to 64.7 percent in the second quarter of 2013 compare