🇷🇺 Moscow Fashion Week Pivots to Asia, Africa and Latin America. The biannual showcase founded in 2022 by local firm Fashion Foundation to replace Mercedes-Benz Russian Fashion Week took place from Mar 1 to 8 in the Russian capital. The latter event ceased operations shortly after US-led sanctions were imposed on Russia by G7 and other western countries over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. With the Russian fashion industry increasingly isolated from its counterparts in Western Europe and North America, trade events like Moscow Fashion Week no longer host many brands from those regions. Instead, organisers have doubled down on the domestic market and changed tack with their international strategy. This season, they provided Russian designers with opportunities to gain exposure from press invited from countries across Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and the Eurasian Economic Union zone — and they invited designers from those regions to show in Moscow and do business with Russian buyers. Last year’s inaugural edition of the Fashion Foundation-led BRICS+ Fashion Summit took a similar approach. [BoF Inbox]
🇬🇭 Northshore Apparel Ghana is building an $11 million garment factory. The Ghanaian firm has started construction of an expansive cut-and-sew manufacturing facility the Northern Region of the West African country, targeting both domestic and overseas markets. NAG is led by chief executive Nurideen Mohammed, who also serves as the head of ECOWAS markets at US-based Do The Right Thing (DTRT) Apparel, a manufacturing venture operating in Accra and Tema, Ghana. [Fibre2Fashion]
🇨🇳 Chinese beauty group Yatsen Holding posts 6.7% Q4 revenue rise. The Guangzhou-based parent company of makeup and skincare brands including Perfect Diary and Eve Lom has recorded net revenues for the fourth quarter of 2023 of 1.07 billion yuan ($151.1 million), up from 1.01 billion yuan for the prior year period. Huang Jinfeng, founder and CEO of Yatsen attributed the growth to “solid performances from Galenic, Dr. Wu and Eve Lom brands.” [BoF Inbox]
🇮🇳 India’s Alok Industries raises $845 million to expand and repay debt. The Mumbai-based textile manufacturing giant and supplier to major western fashion brands has raised 7,000 crore rupees from parent company Reliance Industries, Axis Bank and State Bank of India, according to company disclosures and people with knowledge of the matter, to fund expansion plans and repay high-cost debt. [Economic Times]
🇨🇳 US Congressional Hearing reveals safety concerns for Chinese imports. Testifying at the hearing, James Joholske, director of the Office of Import Surveillance at the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), said that the rise in direct e-commerce shipments from small suppliers in China “presents significant challenges to… our ability to stop dangerous products before they enter the stream of commerce [because the CPSC] receives limited data.” Faulty goods could include apparel made with toxic chemicals. [Sourcing Journal]
🇱🇰 Sri Lankan fashion exporters introduce digital product passports. The country’s apparel manufacturers have united to partner with international organisations to offer universal QR code tags that will help stakeholders track the origins of all apparel items by showing supply chain traceability information and the materials used for the product, in anticipation of regulatory legislation enacted in destination markets in the years ahead. [Sourcing Journal]
🇮🇳 Indian underwear brand Bummer raises $1.1 million in funding. The DTC brand founded by Sulay Lavsi in 2020 has secured an investment of 9.25 crore rupees in a Pre-series A1 round from Gruhas Collective Consumer Fund through the Gruhas venture capital firm backed by Abhijeet Pai and Nikhil Kamath. The company had previously raised 5.5 crore rupees in seed funding from Aman Gupta, the entrepreneur behind electronics brand Boat, and Singapore-based venture firm Beenext Asia. [Economic Times]
🇨🇳 Chinese live commerce experts train US streamers to sell on TikTok. Chinese livestreaming studios branching out in the US and local digital marketing agencies, such as New York-based CHC Fashion Group, have been recruiting American livestream sellers and training them with support staff from China using a Chinese language playbook for TikTok sister site Douyin and other social commerce platforms that has been translated into English. [Rest of World]
🇿🇦 South Africa’s Shoprite Holdings reports a 7.6% rise in half-year profit. The Cape Town-based mass market retailer, which has more than 3,500 stores across the African continent, said group sales rose by 13.9 percent to 121.1 billion rand ($6.35 billion). The company, Africa’s largest grocer, sells apparel online through its namesake Shoprite chain and opened a specialist clothing chain last year called Uniq. [Reuters]
🇦🇺 Australian Fashion Council appoints Jaana Quaintance-James as CEO. The organisation has named the former chief sustainability and sourcing officer at Global Fashion Group, parent company of local e-commerce major The Iconic and two marketplaces in Latin America and Southeast Asia, as its new leader. Quaintance-James, previously an ethical sourcing manager at luxury department store chain David Jones, replaces Leila Naja Hibri who exited after four years in the role. [BoF Inbox, Ragtrader]
🇨🇳 China’s Alibaba Group to invest $640 million in Hong Kong film industry. The e-commerce giant has earmarked HK$5 billion (US$ 640 million) in funding for Hong Kong’s film and TV industry projects through its video hosting service Youku, film company Alibaba Pictures and other businesses in its digital media and entertainment group division. [BoF Inbox, Variety]
🇮🇳 Indian prime minister Narendra Modi hails Bharat Tex trade event. Organisers of the colossal textile trade show, which concluded in New Delhi earlier this month, secured Modi to inaugurate proceedings. “Today, India is one of the largest producers of cotton, jute and silk in the world,” he said, characterising the event as a “significant milestone in promoting India’s rich textile heritage.” [Times of India, Sourcing Journal]
🇨🇳 Christian Dior taps Chinese actress Lin Yun as brand ambassador. The French luxury house has reportedly partnered with the film and television star, also known by her English name Jelly Lin, and invited her to appear at an event for its new high-end jewellery and watch collection. [Jing Daily]
🇧🇷 L’Oréal Professionnel names Bruno Oliver as its new Brazil ambassador. The professional hair products division of the French beauty conglomerate has tapped the hairdresser and owner of Oliver Beauty Center in the South American country. [FashionNetwork Brasil]
🇨🇳 Lacoste taps Chinese entertainer Wang Yibo as global brand ambassador. The French fashion brand has partnered with the actor and member of the K-pop boy band Uniq. [Global Travel Retail Magazine]
