Hong Kong International Fur and Fashion Fair was held on February 15, 2019.

More than 180 local and overseas exhibitors from ten countries and regions took part. The event saw new designs and outfits from various fur makers in Hong Kong. Designers from the top ten companies impressed audiences with unique fur looks that celebrated the romantic, passionate, glamorous and cheerful charm of the opulent material and its versatility.

Regal Fur and Fashion’s designs combined modern femininity, sensational visual effects and luxurious textures. Chiu’s Fur Trading Company showcased urban elegance for women with chic design and different colors. Inspired by the bright colors of spring, East Link Fur illustrated a different style of glamour with precious Russian sable. Ace Fur was inspired by the misty mornings of early winter for its clothing line, which fuses classical elements with innovative technology. Precious Fur Trading contrasted unique beauty with delicate cut design, while SF Fashion extended geometric aesthetic to illustrate the charm of modern city life.

Featuring bright yellows and light greens, Season Trading Company impressed buyers with the sensuality of down parkas. O’ Merinos mixed different materials and animal patterns with restless imagination followed by a clothing line from Hong Kong Fur Factory that epitomized avant-garde originality with pop art and refined silhouettes.

Denim Days in New York will take place June 8 to 9, 2019.

As in past seasons, attendees will find a selection of brands, designers, artisans and vintage vendors. The event will also host new activations and interactive installations from denim supply chain. An outdoor vintage denim market will feature live entertainment, food and activities for the whole family.

Amsterdam Denim Days will take place October 21 to 27, 2019. The event includes the industry-only trade show Kingpins, and Kingpins Transformers, a day-long event promoting sustainability and corporate responsibility in denim. Consumers can take part in in-store sales and parties at participating retailers. Denim Days Amsterdam culminates with the Denim Days Festival set for the last weekend of October, where denim heads can enjoy seminars, installations, shopping and entertainment.

Denim Days is the roving global festival produced by denim insiders to connect the denim sector and brands directly to denim consumers. It is a platform where consumers can buy a pair of jeans directly from the designer, attend a seminar about sustainability by an industry expert, experience a fun, interactive installation and then get in their hands blue indigo dyeing a garment. The concept is a vehicle to celebrate jeans and connect the industry to consumers in a vital and engaging manner.

Revenues of the global winter wear market are expected to increase at a CAGR of 5.8 per cent during 2018-2027. Favorable trade policies, growing apparel production globally, rise in per capita income, favorable demographics, and shifting consumer preference to branded products will boost this demand for winter wear. Other key factors driving the growth are population density, downstream industry effectiveness, and changing economic policies as well as business legislation. Abundant availability of raw materials such as wool, silk, cotton, and others is another driver of the winter wear market.

Companies across the globe are launching new products with latest fashion and high quality along with expanding market presence through establishing new manufacturing facilities as well as sales channels to reach potential customers. Manufacturers have also adopted various key differentiation strategies to have a competitive edge.

Crocs’ yearly revenues have jumped 6.3 per cent.

The company’s e-commerce business climbed 22.5 per cent while its wholesale business grew 7.8 per cent. Retail comparable store sales lifted by 10.8 per cent.

For the fourth quarter, revenues grew 8.5 per cent. The e-commerce business grew 18.9 per cent, while the wholesale business grew 9.7 per cent and retail comparable store sales grew 13.4 per cent.

Crocs had record revenues in many key markets, with the US market leading the way. It hit multi-year highs in revenues and gross margin, while at the same time significantly reducing its SG&A run rate. The company anticipates delivering revenue growth of five per cent to seven per cent in 2019.

Crocs, based in the US, also launched a number of high-profile partnerships during the year, including one with rapper Post Malone and actress Drew Barrymore.

Crocs is a world leader in innovative casual footwear. Since it opened its first store in India in 2008, Crocs has successfully carved a distinct positioning for the brand among Indian consumers. The brand will continue to focus on clogs and sandals. In terms of regions, South India, due to its demographics and very high brand recall, contributes the highest for the brand among all regions in the country.

Bangladesh Bank has increased the size of the Export Development Fund (EDF) by 16.7 per cent.
The fund was increased to boost exports and reduce the liquidity crisis in the banks, as a result of which exporters will get more loan facilities now.

The fund was introduced in 1988. It enables exporters to get foreign currency loans at reduced interest rates.

Currently the EDF interest rate is fixed at 2.5 per cent, plus Libor (London Interbank Offered Rate). Businesses from various sectors, including garments, can take loans up to 25 million dollars for a maximum of 180 days.

Under the existing provision, EDF financing is allowed for input procurements against back-to-back import letters of credit or inland back-to-back letters of credit in foreign exchange by manufacturers producing the final output for direct export.

EDF loans from the central bank are payable by the banks upon receipt of export proceeds within 180 days from the date of disbursement. The time frame is extendable by the central bank up to 270 days in case of a longer period taken for repatriation of export proceeds.

Authorized Dealer banks can borrow dollar funds from the EDF against their foreign currency loans to manufacturer-exporters for input procurements.

Smriti Zubin Irani, Union Minister of Textiles, recently launched the much awaited “Comprehensive Scheme for the Development of Knitting & Knitwear Sector (CSDKKS) with various components under PowerTex India”.

The scheme will help to promote knitting and knitwear sector and thereby achieve the inclusive growth in the country. It will also enhance the sector’s contribution to the nation building as knitting and knitwear sector is one of the major segments of the entire textile value chain and contributes about 27 per cent of the total cloth production and about 15 per cent of knitted fabric is being exported besides export of knitted apparel.

The main clusters to benefit from this announcement are Tirupur, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Kanpur and NCR.

Australia and Indonesia will soon sign a free trade agreement.This is expected to increase the value of the trade between the two countries.

For Indonesia, trade agreements with partner countries can increase the export value and increase market share. With such agreements in place Indonesia expects its exports of textile and textile products to increase three-fold. The cooperation agreement with Japan has helped increase Indonesia’s exports. Up to now lack of market access has been a constraint for the textile industry. Meanwhile, textile products from neighboring countries, such as Vietnam, can enter with a zero per cent import duty.

The trade deal has been eight years in the making and is expected to benefit Australian grain growers with Indonesia agreeing to import 5,00,000 tons of grain tariff free. The agreement should also benefit the Australian education sector, with universities and vocational training providers being given the green light to set up shop in Indonesia.

Indonesia wants greater access for Indonesians to work in Australia as well as support for its crude palm oil industry.

"This evolution in men’s shopping habits can be credited to the changes in their behavior. Men now seek novelty in their clothes. Also, they now themselves prefer to shop for their clothes rather than asking woman to do so. Today, male shoppers are more inclined to buy clothes that go beyond mere practical purchases. Social media is driving their interest in fashion especially amongst the younger consumers. Cockpit USA, known for its military-inspired outerwear, gets a lot of people coming in from social media."

Move over Eve, its Adam’s time now. Even as women’s fashion continue to garner bulk of attention, stores and brands are paying more attention to men’s fashion. First Insight recently conducted a study to identify the differences between male and female shoppers, and see how their purchasing patterns have changed, particularly over the past year. Its report, ‘The Rise of the New Male Power Shopper’, found men are shopping more than women both online and in stores.

Men’s shopping dominated by offline stores

The report states men’s online purchases this year increased from 38 to 41 per cent. They are shopping mainly at traditional retailers. So, 25 per cent of men are reporting shopping six or more times a month in the traditional retail channels, like Kohl’s, JC Penney, Macy’s, etc, compared to only 15 per cent women shopping at these channels six or more times a month.

As per Cotton Incorporated Lifestyle Monitor survey, over two-thirds of all men shop online just as often or more as in past years. This compares to 62 per cent women who shop as much or more. Additionally, 46 per cent men shop in malls just as often or more as they have in past years which is markedly more than women, where 39 per cent shop as much and 13 per cent shop more.

The findings by Monitor research also indicate male shoppers shop in chain stores as often or more than women. The trend also holds for specialty stores. However, women shopped as much or more than men at mass merchants and off-price stores.

Social media drives change

This evolution in men’s shopping habits can be credited to the changes in their behavior. Men now seek novelty in their clothes. Also, they now themselves prefer to shop for their clothes rather than asking woman to do so. Today, male shoppers are more inclined to buy clothes that go beyond mere practical purchases. Social media is driving their interest in fashion especially amongst the younger consumers. Cockpit USA, known for its military-inspired outerwear, gets a lot of people coming in from social media.

Technology makes shopping easy

Besides catering to men both online and in-store, First Insight found voice command devices can help sell products to men who are technology-centric. Nearly half of all male respondents (47 per cent) report owning a smart speaker like Amazon Echo/Alexa, Google Home or Apple HomePod. This marks a 113 percent increase from last year (22 percent). By comparison, only 36 percent of women reported currently owning a smart speaker.

The Monitor research shows 43 per cent men used a digital assistant to order products, versus 35 per cent women. Additionally, more men than women use apparel brand and retailer apps on their smartphones or computers to shop for clothes. As more men leverage these technologies and online tools to find the best prices, it’s time to stop looking at fashion as a female-dominated activity.

"The legendary British denim brand, Pepe Jeans, has formed a new partnership with Dua Lipa, one of the most successful musical artists and style icons of her generation. According to this partnership, Dua Lipa will star in the Spring/Summer 2019 campaign for Pepe Jeans. The inaugural campaign is photographed by David Sims, the British photographer who has worked on the imagery of titles of leading global fashion publications including Vogue, The Face and i-D."

The legendary British denim brand, Pepe Jeans, has formed a new partnership with Dua Lipa, one of the most successful musical artists and style icons of her generation. According to this partnership, Dua Lipa will star in the Spring/Summer 2019 campaign for Pepe Jeans.

The inaugural campaign is photographed by David Sims, the British photographer who has worked on the imagery of titles of leading global fashion publications including Vogue, The Face and i-D.

Celebrating the brand’s heritage

The campaign celebrates the heritage of Pepe Jeans, one of the first British brands to bring a distinct fashion perspective to the world of denim in 1973. In this campaign Dua Lipa is photographed in black and white wearing a range of classic denim pieces. An emphasis on strength, natural beauty and the timeless appeal of denim takes precedent in both the campaign and the collection itself.

Both Dua Lipa and Pepe Jeans are perfectly fit for each other as both were born in London and are symbols of idiosyncratic British style. Long before joining Pepe Jeans, Dua Lipa was a fan of the brand’s advertising campaigns as a teenager.

A fashion icon for millions

Taking the music world by storm at the age of 23, Dua Lipa has become a fashion icon for her millions of fans. She released her self-titled debut album ‘Dua Lipa’ in 2017, which made history by being nominated for five categories at the 2018 Brit Awards - the first female to receive so many nominations. She was awarded ‘Best British Female Solo Artist’ and ‘Best British Breakthrough Act’. For the last two years, Dua Lipa has also been the most streamed female artist in the world.

The music video for her hit single ‘New Rules, her anthem for female empowerment, gained more than a billion views on YouTube, making her the youngest female artist to hit this target Her. ‘One Kiss’ Dua’s collaboration with Calvin Harris became the biggest selling single of 2018 in the UK and old over 40 million singles and over 3.4 million albums worldwide. Dua also won two Grammy awards for “Best New Artist” and “Best Dance Recording” with Silk City for their massive hit “Electricity” at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards and the award for “Best British Single” for her track “One Kiss”, with Calvin Harris at the 2019 Brit Awards.

Inspired by the London culture

Incepted in 1973, Pepe Jeans remains devoted to its pledge to create most exciting denim-led fashion on the planet. Inspired by the diversity and unique eclecticism, the extraordinary melting pot and mix of cultures that defines the city of London, continues to inspire Pepe Jeans’ denim, women, men and junior collections.

Nike has been ranked by Brand Finance as the most valuable apparel brand in the world this year. The US sportswear label’s dominance in the rankings has been cemented over the course of the last year through a high-impact marketing strategy responsible for the likes of the brand’s controversial Dream Crazy ad featuring Colin Kaepernick. The repercussions of this campaign made front-page news as some US fans reacted negatively to the move but the weekend following the ad’s launch saw Nike’s sales soar.

Brand Finance is a brand valuation and strategy consultant. In second place in the consultancy’s ranking is Spanish fast-fashion retailer Zara. Zara supplants H&M which has seen a 16 per cent decrease in its brand value since last year and has now fallen to fourth place. Zara’s integrated store and e-commerce model has helped the brand gain access to 106 new national markets, while H&M has continued to struggle with increasing levels of unsold inventory.

In third place this year is Nike’s rival, German sportswear label Adidas. The European label also took a chunk out of Nike’s North American market but, given the current distance between the two brands’ values, its US-based competitor seems fairly secure in its leadership.

Other big winners in this year’s top ten include Cartier, shooting into fifth place, and Louis Vuitton, which held onto sixth place.