Worldview: New Shopping District Opens in Tokyo’s Azabudai Hills

🇯🇵 Tokyo’s Azabudai Hills could become a new luxury shopping hub. Japanese property developer, the Mori Constructing Firm, has opened an unlimited blended use complicated that includes places of work, residences, retail area, resorts, cultural amenities and universities within the metropolis’s Minato ward, centred round three newly constructed skyscrapers, one in all which now ranks as Japan’s tallest constructing. Located between Mori Constructing’s sister tasks, Roppongi Hills and Toranomon Hills, the complicated will home dozens of worldwide luxurious manufacturers in spring 2024, in accordance with an inventory of shops on the district’s web site. [Japan Times]

🇨🇳 Chow Tai Fook revenues are up in the Hong Kong and Macau markets. The Hong Kong-based jewelry large has reported a 6.4 % yr over yr enhance of general income within the H1 FY24 interval reaching HK$49.5 billion (US$6.3 billion). Mainland China market revenues fell 0.6 per cent to HK$40.7 billion however income in Hong Kong, Macau and different markets was up 57.7 per cent to HK$8.8 billion on the again of the partial return of mainland Chinese language vacationers to the particular administrative areas. [Inside Retail Asia]

🇧🇷 Brazilian fashion retail giant Lojas Renner sees profits fall 32.9% in Q3. The Porto Alegre-based group working a sequence of 600 shops promoting reasonably priced vogue manufacturers Renner, Youcom and Repassa throughout Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay has recorded internet revenue of 172.9 million reais ($35.2 million) within the interval. In an announcement, the corporate cited “a nonetheless difficult consumption situation, particularly in August…Nevertheless in September gross sales improved, a pattern that continued in October.” [Fashion Network Brazil, Bloomberg]

🇬🇭 Ghana hosts Middle East & Africa Duty Free Association conference. Investor Roberta Annan, founding father of African Vogue Basis and Annan Capital Companions, opened the convention hosted by Avolta, the mum or dad firm of journey retailer Dufry. The occasion, which noticed duty-free and different retailers promoting vogue, magnificence and different merchandise collect within the Ghanaian capital Accra, was the primary version held in West Africa. [Global Retail Travel Magazine]

🇨🇳 Harvey Nichols will vacate Hong Kong’s Landmark mall in March. The London-based luxurious division retailer owned by Hong Kong-based Dickson Ideas will surrender its lease on the 60,000 sq ft area amid weaker spending in Hong Kong by locals and Chinese language vacationers. [South China Morning Post]

🇦🇺 Profits down at Australian billionaire Naomi Milgrom’s fashion group. ARJ Group, the personal car that holds ladies’s vogue manufacturers Sportsgirl, Sussan and Suzanne Grae, has posted a fall in annual revenue, from AUS$34.8 million (US$22.9) to AUS $13.7 million (US$9 million) within the 12 months to July final yr, in accordance with accounts lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Fee. [Australian Financial Review]

🇳🇵 Social media influencers in Nepal are angry about an abrupt TikTok ban. Citing lack of earnings and freedom of speech, individuals held protests within the capital Kathmandu with content material creators demanding the federal government revoke its current ban on the app. Nepal’s neighbour India banned it and different Chinese language apps in 2020 over issues about information utilization and TikTok proprietor Bytedance’s proximity to the Chinese language authorities, whereas the Nepal authorities’s acknowledged rationale is that the app disturbs “social concord and goodwill.” [Reuters]

🇨🇳 Alibaba reassures staff over layoff rumours and Jack Ma share sale. Jiang Fang, chief expertise officer on the Chinese language e-commerce main, mentioned rumours that it plans to put off 25,000 individuals have been unfaithful and that the timing of reports that firm founder Jack Ma is promoting some shares was coincidental to an announcement that the agency is scrapping its plans to record its cloud unit. [Reuters]

🇦🇺 Australian luxury brand Oroton doubles FY23 operating profit. The 85-year-old leather-based items and equipment retailer acquired by billionaire Will Vicars in 2017 has recorded annual working revenue of AUS$7.4 million (US$4.8) in 2023. In the course of the interval, the model opened two new shops in Sydney and one in Perth, with CEO Jennifer Baby stating, “we continued to refine our retail footprint with a ‘proper retailer, optimum catchment’ method.” [Ragtrader]

🇨🇳 Chinese social media’s end of anonymity impacts fashion influencers. A brand new authorities rule requiring customers with giant followings to point out their actual names has drawn criticism from influencers who say it eliminates their privateness and exposes them to harassment. WeChat, Douyin, Xiaohongshu and Bilibili printed separate statements with Weibo saying it can first apply to customers with over 1 million followers, then to these with over 500,000. Some vogue and sweetness content material creators who go by aliases have lowered their follower counts or left platforms. [Rest of World]

🇮🇷 Iran signs MOU with China to expand textile industry trade. The chairman of the board of administrators of the Iran Textile Industries Affiliation and the pinnacle of China Worldwide Textile Commerce Promotion Council in Shanghai have signed a memorandum of understanding on the sidelines of ITMA Asia, a biannual textile and garment know-how exhibition. The 2 sides acknowledged ambitions to broaden funding and share technical know-how. [Kohan Textile Journal]

🇨🇳 BASF defends its textile joint ventures in China’s Xinjiang province. The German multi-national chemical producer, whose improvements embrace supplies for stretch textiles utilized in sportswear, is going through scrutiny over alleged hyperlinks to firms within the province. Inputs from Xinjiang are largely barred from getting into the US due to concern for Uyghurs and different minorities who’ve confronted compelled labour in world provide chains for industries akin to cotton. BASF mentioned, “none of [our recent audit] evaluations have discovered any proof of compelled labour or different human rights violations.” [Sourcing Journal]

🇹🇩 Better Cotton looks to expand in Africa by launching programme in Chad. The London-based non-profit is reportedly in discussions with Cotontchad, the nation’s solely identified aggregator and exporter of cotton. Its initiatives usually purpose to enhance farmers’ profitability, enhance the sustainable cotton yield and monitor local weather resilience enchancment actions. Higher Cotton is already grown in 22 nations, together with 4 different African nations, and it has lately launched a programme in Côte d’Ivoire. [Ecotextile News]

🇨🇳 Hong Kong to host US streetwear festival Complexcon next year. The occasion in style with sneakerheads and youth tradition aficionados because it was based in Los Angeles in 2016 has partnered with AsiaWorld-Expo. It expects to draw 30,000 visitors from throughout the Asia area when it bows in March 2024. Advanced, the US journal affiliated with the occasion, entered China in 2021 with a neighborhood language version. [South China Morning Post]

🇮🇳 Indian footwear retailer Khadim to raise funds of 15 crore rupees. By means of a preferential difficulty of absolutely convertible fairness share warrants, the corporate plans to make use of the funds value round $1.8 million for a nationwide retail growth plan. “[It] permits the stakeholders to take part within the development trajectory of Khadim,” mentioned Indrajit Chaudhuri, CFO of the corporate which sells manufacturers together with its namesake Khadim, British Walkers, Lazard, Turk, Professional, Sharon, Cleo and Waves throughout greater than 840 shops. [Economic Times]

🇦🇪 Van Cleef & Arpels opens L’École School of Jewelry Arts in Dubai. The French jeweller has opened a everlasting campus within the Dubai Design District (D3), making the Center East department the fourth worldwide location after Paris, Hong Kong and Shanghai. It should provide a programme of programs on gem stones and jewelry know-how and historical past, talks, exhibitions, publications and analysis tasks. [Gulf Today]

🇯🇵 Puma appoints Ryokusai Inoue as general manager of its Japan business. The German sportswear large has tapped Inoue, an govt who had a stint at Tesla, to succeed Kohei Hagio, Puma Japan’s head since 2021. Inoue will report on to the Puma CEO Arne Freundt. [Inside Retail Asia]

🇨🇳 Valentino taps Chinese actress Yang Zi as brand ambassador. Yang, often known as Andy Yang, is known for her roles in tv dramas. The Italian luxurious model has featured her in a marketing campaign for its Spring 2024 assortment. [Jing Daily]

🇰🇷 Dolce & Gabbana taps Korean actress Mun Kayoung as brand ambassador. The German-born, South Korean-raised actress, often known as Moon Ga-young, is known for her roles in in style tv sequence. [BoF Inbox]