🇧🇷 Brazil’s Magalu and China’s AliExpress ink strategic partnership. The two online retail giants have agreed to start selling a “complementary” product assortment on each other’s marketplaces. Magazine Luiza, known colloquially as Magalu, will sell items from its own inventory on AliExpress’s Brazilian platform while Alibaba Group-owned AliExpress will sell items from its premium shopping service Choice on Magalu. Shares of Magazine Luiza, which faces growing competition in Brazil from the likes of Singapore’s Shopee, China-founded Shein and Mercado Livre, the local branch of Argentina’s MercadoLibre, rose more than 13 percent last week on the news. [Yahoo Finance, BoF, FashionNetwork]
🇦🇪 Abu Dhabi Investment Authority increases its stake in India’s Purplle. An arm of ADIA, the sovereign wealth fund operating on behalf its namesake emirate in the UAE, has led a funding round worth 1000 crore rupees ($120 million) in the Mumbai-based multi-brand beauty retailer founded in 2012 by Taneja and Rahul Dash. The capital injection raises Purplle’s valuation to $1.25 billion and is expected to be used to fuel the expansion of its physical store network across India. ADIA invested an estimated $50-60 million in the company last year. [Mint]
🇦🇺 Australia’s Adore Beauty to acquire local brand Ikou for $25 million. The pureplay online retailer selling over 270 beauty brands has agreed to purchase the Australian organic beauty and wellness brand founded by Naomi Whitfeld and Paul Whitfeld in 2007. “Ikou complements and strengthens our existing business, delivering revenue growth and margin expansion, as well as supporting private label and physical store initiatives,” said Tamalin Morton, CEO of Adore Beauty, which was founded in Melbourne in 2000 by Kate Morris and James Height. [InsideRetail Australia]
🇷🇼 Rwandan manufacturer Pink Mango explains split with Chinese partner. Maryse Mbonyumutwa, the Kigali-based founder and CEO of the firm behind two apparel factories that employ 1,000 people in the East African nation, has said that she walked away from a joint-venture with China-based C&D Inc. last year due to a “misalignment in strategy and approach” after the supply chain management firm “neglected the importance of cultural integration.” She is also co-founder of Asantii, a Rwanda-made womenswear brand designed by a team from 12 African countries. [Sourcing Journal]
🇨🇳 L’Oréal Group CEO sees slower beauty market growth as China struggles. Nicolas Hieronimus told investors that he now sees the global beauty market growing between 4.5 percent and 5 percent this year from a previous forecast of 5 percent earlier this year, a company spokesperson told Bloomberg News. He blamed the downward revision on a flat market in China. [BoF]
🇵🇭 Allure magazine will launch an edition in the Philippines. The new magazine, scheduled to debut in March 2025 in English, will operate under a licensing agreement between Condé Nast and Mega Global Licensing Inc., a Manila-based firm that publishes the Filipino edition of Vogue and numerous local titles. Archie Carrasco, CEO of Mega Global Licensing Inc., described Allure Philippines as “a pivotal development in promoting inclusive beauty and wellness solutions that cater to the unique needs of the Filipino market.” [BoF Inbox]
🇦🇺 Australia’s Samsara Eco secures investment from Singapore’s Temasek. The company that uses enzymes to recycle plastics like polyester and nylon into new materials has secured $65 million in a funding round led by Singapore’s state-owned investment firm Temasek and Australian venture capital firm Main Sequence, with participation from existing investors including Lululemon. The capital will be used to help scale its operations across Southeast Asia. [BoF]
🇿🇦 Takealot says Shein and Temu hurt South Africa’s apparel sector. The Cape Town-based e-commerce giant has warned in its latest annual report that the growing popularity of the two China-founded e-tailers is a threat to “the nation’s reindustrialisation and localisation efforts.” The multi-category e-tailer owns Superbalist, an online fashion retailer that competes directly with Shein and Temu, which benefitted from the local de minimis tax regime until July 1 when the import ‘loophole’ was closed. [Business Day]
🇮🇳 Indian jeweller Tanishq expands to Bangladesh. The Titan Company-owned brand has partnered with Bangladeshi travel and aviation firm Rhythm Group, agreeing to open a production facility in Narayanganj in the Greater Dhaka area. Tanishq currently operates 17 stores across international markets including the UAE, US, Qatar, Singapore and Oman in addition to more than 400 stores across Indian cities. [Economic Times, BoF]
🇨🇳 Chinese employees leave Adidas amid fraud probe against them. As a result of an ongoing investigation prompted by fellow employee whistleblowers, “evidence has been found that in the interaction with local vendors, one employee violated the company’s code of conduct [and] a second employee failed to meet the company’s leadership expectations of demonstrating mutual respect and trust,” said Claudia Lange, head of media relations, in a statement. [CNN]
🇰🇭 Cambodia investigates workers’ rights group for being critical. The government has launched an investigation into The Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights (CENTRAL), after it criticised an assessment by the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) programme, which monitors apparel factories’ compliance. The former entity claims the latter portrays a rosier picture of freedom of association than is the reality. [Sourcing Journal]
🇨🇳 Hongkong Land to invest $1 billion in its luxury retail properties. The developer has said it will upgrade its Landmark high-end shopping centres in Hong Kong’s Central district over the next three years, with 40 percent of the investment coming from the developer and 60 percent from luxury brand tenants. [South China Morning Post]
🇮🇳 Over half of India’s jewellery revenues are led by bridal jewellery. According to a new report by US investment bank Jefferies, 10 percent of all apparel spending in India is driven by wedding and celebration wear in a country where the wedding industry has reached a value of approximately 10 lakh crore rupees ($130 billion) annually, second only to the food and beverage industry. [Economic Times]
🇨🇳 EU sets tech rules compliance deadline for China-founded Temu, Shein. Both e-tailers, which are subject to tougher requirements under the Digital Services Act, such as doing more to tackle illegal and harmful content on their platforms, were ordered by EU tech regulators to provide details on how they comply with online content rules by July 12, following complaints by consumer bodies. [BoF]
🇦🇺 Australian designer Christopher Esber wins the Andam Grand Prize. The Sydney-based designer known for his eveningwear will receive a grant of €300,000 ($320,000) to develop his brand as well as a year of mentoring as part of the prize, which is backed by major fashion groups like LVMH and Kering as well as France’s culture and economy ministries. [BoF]
🇷🇺 EU postpones harsher import ban on Russian diamonds by six months. Sanctions regulations for stones weighing 0.5 carats and above (a higher threshold than an earlier regime of 1.0 carats and above), which were supposed to commence on September 1, will now only come into force on March 1, 2024, after lobbying by companies in third countries like India, which plays a major role polishing and processing diamonds in the global trade. [Economic Times, TASS]
🇦🇷 Argentina’s clothing exports grow 4.6% in Jan-May period. The total value of apparel exports reached $8.3 million, up over the same period in the previous year, according to the Argentine Industrial Chamber of Clothing (CIAI) and Indec. [FashionNetwork]
🇨🇳 Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy is approved in China for weight loss. The much-anticipated approval means the firm will provide a product for weight loss in the world’s second-largest economy and market where patients had been relying on off-label use of diabetes drug Ozempic. [BoF]
🇦🇺 Australian apparel company Mosaic Brands appoints new CFO. The group behind brands including Millers, Rockmans, Noni B, Rivers, Katies, Autograph, W. Lane, Crossroads and Beme has tapped David Clarke to be its chief financial officer following the resignation of Luke (Luka) Softa. [Ragtrader]
🇨🇳 Anta unveils Chinese team uniforms for the Paris Olympic Games. The Fujian-based sportswear giant has released the sports delegation award uniforms, which feature Chinese motifs, under the creative direction of award-winning film maker Zhang Yimou. [Jing Daily]
