🇮🇳 Lakme Fashion Week features foreign brand collaborations amidst growing interest in Indian market. US footwear and apparel brand Skechers debuted a streetwear capsule collection designed by Indian designer Kanika Goyal at the latest edition of the biannual Lakme Fashion week, held between March 13-17 at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai. The collection will be available at Skechers stores in India. Meanwhile, Argentinian fashion brand La Martina presented a polo-inspired capsule collection in collaboration with Indian designer Rajesh Pratap Singh at Mumbai’s iconic Mahalaxmi Racecourse as part of the event. The biannual event, organised by Hindustan Unilever-owned cosmetics brand and title sponsor Lakme, Reliance Brands, a unit of Mukesh Ambani’s telecoms-to-energy conglomerate Reliance Industries, and the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), featured leading Indian designers, including Anamika Khanna, Shantanu and Nikhil, Gauri & Nainika, and Rahul Mishra. Multiple Bollywood stars, including Kriti Sanon, Ananya Pandey, Taapsee Pannu, Madhuri Dixit, and Aditi Rao Hydari marked their presence at the five-day event too. [Arnika Thakur for BoF]

🇨🇳 Supreme to open long-awaited Shanghai flagship. Supreme will launch its first standalone store in China, as well as a WeChat Mini Program, on March 23. The news marks a key milestone in the streetwear juggernaut’s global expansion plan following an early foray into the country via a shop-in-shop at Dover Street Market’s Beijing outpost in 2022. [BoF]

🇨🇳 Anta Sports launches in US with Kyrie Irving Kai 1s. The Chinese sports conglomerate and American basketball player Kyrie Irvin launched their first pair of sneakers, which retail for around RMB 899 ($125) across Chinese e-commerce sites. At the start of 2024, Anta announced its plans to officially enter the US market on the same day as the Kai 1 launch. [Jing Daily]

🇨🇳 Li Ning considers taking company private, sources say. Li is considering leading a consortium to buy out Li Ning Co Ltd, which had a market capitalisation of HK$52.85 billion ($6.8 billion) as of Monday, people have knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The discussions to take Li Ning Co private are in the early stages and details have not been finalised, said the sources, who declined to be identified as the information was confidential. Li Ning made its Hong Kong debut in 2004. [BoF]

🇹🇷 A fight for union choice at Turkish supplier puts Levi’s in hot seat. For 80 days, around 500 employees from Özak Tekstil, a major clothing manufacturer in Turkey, protested in Urfa, Şanlıurfa Province, initially demanding the right to choose their union, and subsequently, their employment rights. Protestors reported facing verbal and physical threats, assaults from law enforcement and arrests. A preliminary report by the Worker Rights Consortium accuses Özak Tekstil of infringing upon the legal rights of its workers in Urfa, thereby breaching Levi’s supplier code of conduct. [Sourcing Journal]

🇨🇳 Diamonds lose sparkle in China amid property woes and marriage drought. Diamond sales recovery has stalled in China after a property sector crisis sapped consumer confidence and Covid-19 restrictions led to a drought of engagements in the world’s second-largest consumer market for the gemstones. Sales of diamond jewellery dropped 3 percent last year to $12.8 billion in the Greater China region, which also includes Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan but is dominated by mainland Chinese demand, according to data from Paul Zimnisky, an independent diamond analyst. [Financial Times]

🇮🇳 India imposes MIP on undervalued imports of synthetic knitted fabric. The Indian government has set a minimum import price (MIP) of $3.50 per kilogram for five specific HS codes related to synthetic knitted fabric, effective immediately. This move comes in response to the domestic industry’s persistent calls for the implementation of an MIP to curb the entry of lower-priced synthetic fabric. [Fibre2Fashion]

🇨🇳 Tiffany expands in Zhengzhou. Tiffany & Co. opened a boutique in Zhengzhou’s David Mall. Maxence Kinget, president of Tiffany Greater China, Bao Tao, general manager of Denis Department Store Division, along with actress Ma Yili and actor Feng Shaofeng, attended the opening ceremony. [Jing Daily]

🇨🇳 Moschino opens Shanghai flagship. Moschino opened a new flagship store in Shanghai’s Jing’an Kerry Center selling womenswear, menswear, childrenswear and accessory collections, all displayed within architect Andrea Tognon’s new interior design concept. [Jing Daily]

🇱🇰 Striking Sri Lankan workers continue to protest as negotiations break down. One month after protests began at the Sumithra Group factory at Hasalaka, support has been amplified by over 200 workers from different factories joining the protest. The Sumithra Group, which has a total of four factories in the country, manufacturers for brands including Superdry. [Sourcing Journal]

🇯🇵 Gentle Monster opens new store in Tokyo at Aoyama. The luxury eyewear brand has opened a new store in Tokyo at Aoyama. Sitting across two-level space on the premises of The Jewels of Aoyama, which is right next to Prada’s futuristic glass tower, the Gentle Monster flagship store is infused with the brand’s signature retail aesthetic. [CPP Luxury]

Actress and singer Selena Gomez has hired advisers to weigh offers for her cosmetics company, Rare Beauty, according to people familiar with the matter.

Rare Beauty brought on the bankers to field interest from firms looking to invest in or acquire the company, said the people, who asked to not be identified talking about private discussions. Bankers have met with potential suitors, but Gomez has not. Either way, Gomez, 31, expects to remain involved with the business.

Representatives for Rare Beauty and the actress, who stars in the Hulu hit Only Murders in the Building, declined to comment.

Gomez and her team launched Rare Beauty in 2020, with a focus on liquid cosmetics that could be applied with minimal tools. The company’s blush became a viral hit on TikTok the following year. Other popular products include a highlighter compact. Rare Beauty’s packaging is designed to be easy to use.

The beauty arena has been hit or miss for celebrities. While Gomez, Rihanna and Hailey Bieber are among the A-listers who struck gold in the industry, others stumbled. Ariana Grande’s R.E.M. Beauty and Lady Gaga’s Haus Labs have both undergone revamps.

Gomez starred in the Disney Channel hit Wizards of Waverly Place before embarking on a singing career. She has 430 million followers on Instagram, which ranks her among the 10 most-followed accounts on the social-media site. She has used that audience to promote her projects, speak out about mental health and benefit other business ventures.

She co-founded Wondermind, a startup focused on improving mental health that was valued at $100 million in 2022. She has served as executive producer on shows for Netflix Inc. and Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. and formed partnerships with brands such as Puma SE.

By Lucas Shaw, Ella Ceron and Crystal Tse

Learn more:

Beauty’s Most Sought-After M&A Targets in 2024

Now that the market has stabilised, beauty brands of all shapes and sizes are eager to get their dues. The Business of Beauty identifies the top targets of the year including Kosas, Summer Fridays and Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty.

PARIS – Some might call Neuraé, a new seven-piece skincare line that leans on neuroscientific research, a mix of beauty and brains.

The brand is produced by Sisley, the family-owned beauty company known for luxury skincare, makeup and fragrance products like its Black Rose Cream Mask, $200, and the ultra-premium, anti-ageing Supremÿa line, which includes a $940 night cream.

Neuraé, which debuts on April 2 in France, Italy, the UK and US, is a more moderately priced line, retailing from $65 to $195. Distribution of the line will be through e-commerce, alongside Sisley’s existing core partners like Bergdorf Goodman, Sephora and Neiman Marcus.

Some parts of the brand’s attempt at the mind-skin connection can be easily observed – blushing or flushing of the cheeks when embarrassed or angry, or the feeling of prickling heat when panicked. Research to further understand how emotions such as calmness (and conversely, stress) show up on the skin have become of particular interest to beauty companies and consumers alike.

Despite the movement’s burgeoning popularity, Philippe d’Ornano, Sisley’s president and second-generation leader, said, “We didn’t look too much at the market … we look at how we can do better.”

The line has been in the works for 10 years, per d’Ornano, with the Sisley in-house development team carefully formulating – and re-formulating – as their research advanced.

The range is divided into four sub-lines, Harmonie, Énergie, Joie and Sérénité, and claims to use both scent and texture to deliver mood-boosting, and thus, skin-boosting results. Core products include roll-on scented oils, a serum and refillable face cream.

The Family Jewels

Neuraé does not share the renowned Sisley brand name, nor will it be marketed with any parent company connection. d’Ornano said that while launching the brand without the halo effect of the Sisley name will create some challenges, he didn’t want to cause confusion; either for customers who already shop with Sisley, or the sales staff who are tasked with selling either line.

”We try to keep the simplicity in each of our brands, so they’re easy to explain,” he said. “[It will be] complicated for us to launch a new brand and create new alliances … but it will maybe let us touch new customers, too.”

Neuraé is the first time the company has launched a standalone offshoot. In 2018, it added a hair care line, Hair Rituel by Sisley – featuring a $110 hairspray – which d’Ornano said was a gamble, given that by their estimates, hair care made up only two percent of sales in specialty retail stores. “Now, it’s developing very fast,” he said.

France is home to several family-owned beauty brands, including Clarins, still owned by the Courtin-Clarins family, and Caudalie, owned by founders Mathilde and Bertrand Thomas. All three have made beauty investments, and d’Ornano said it is in a position to buy companies should they choose. Its family office has a mix of investments in energy and real estate as well.

Launching the brand separately also prevents any dilution of the valuable Sisley name. The brand took sales of €930 million ($1 billion) last year, with skincare accounting for around 70 percent of revenue. It has upheld its reputation for being expensive but worth it in beauty circles: on Reddit’s dedicated luxury skincare forum, /r/SkincareAddictionLux, one user said of Sisley, “I have been trying for months to find an alternate that works just as well but for cheaper.....and none have even compared.”

Sisley was launched by Franco-Polish nobles Isabelle and Hubert d’Ornano in 1976 – Hubert’s father previously co-founded Lancôme before its sale to L’Oréal. Since then, the family has run the business as a private enterprise, with Philippe and his sister Christine, who serves as global vice president, leading operations. Philippe d’Ornano said 95 percent of skincare and 60 percent of makeup is produced with in-house facilities; all of Sisley’s formulas are developed at its laboratory near Paris.

A Quieter Luxury

Despite Sisley’s high price points and swanky packaging, “luxury” is a term d’Ornano says he is not very comfortable with. “To me, you can do a luxury handbag,” he said. “My customer can perceive [Sisley] as a luxury … but if I can make a product that is less expensive, I’m happy to do it,” he said. Triple-digit price tags for products as quotidian as make-up remover in Sisley’s core line may raise eyebrows, but d’Ornano explains this by saying their formulators take a different approach.

Instead of starting out with a product concept that includes the price, the R&D team works backwards when it comes to development, essentially having carte blanche.

Their elastic approach to budget and price is unusual – least of all because very few beauty companies have enough cash, cache and vertical integration to operate in such a manner. Having an established prestige brand also grants it freedom to price things as high as they need – there’s no need to try and premiumise when you already have a customer base comfortable with paying almost $1,000 for night cream.

d’Ornano said he has no sales target for Neuraé; instead, he hopes “people will like it and buy it more than once.” He plans to take the launch slowly, and notes that while Sisley is active on social platforms like Instagram and TikTok, most of their referrals still come from word of mouth or store associates.

Ultimately, the family will call the shots. “For example, with Neuraé, we have [a marketing plan],” said d’Ornano. “But I can break it whenever I want.”

Regulation can often move at a glacial pace, but a French push to impose steep penalties on fast-fashion products has passed through the initial stages of the legislative process as swiftly as a Shein drop.

The bill, which would impose hefty surcharges on fashion products based on their environmental impact, unanimously passed its first reading in the National Assembly last week and will now move to the Senate before it can become law.

France’s move is the latest in a barrage of new regulations taking aim at the fashion industry, as climate-minded policymakers look to crack down on waste, pollution and labour abuses in the sector’s supply chain.

Though fashion has been chronically under-regulated, growing awareness of the industry’s environmental impact has attracted mounting scrutiny in recent years. The rapid growth of disruptive ultra-fast-fashion brands led by China’s Shein has also helped push the topic up the political agenda.

But the French proposal drastically ratchets up the stakes for the industry compared to other efforts, with penalties that could mount as high as €10 ($10.90) per item by 2030.

If passed, it would put fast fashion in a bracket alongside products like tobacco — subject to a “sin tax” intended to be so steep that it discourages consumption. That added cost could threaten the entire economic model for brands whose market relies on selling through high volumes at bargain basement prices.

“This makes many other regulations look like a kindergarten sandbox,” said Baptiste Carriere-Pradal, co-founder and director of public-affairs consultancy 2B Policy. “Some companies could see their entire business model go to waste. It’s not a few points of EBITDA, but an entire business model that is irrelevant in France.”

What would France’s crack down on fast fashion look like?

In its current form, the French bill would introduce a raft of penalties and restrictions targeting producers of low-cost, fast-moving garments.

From next year, products would be subject to a hefty fee of up to €5 each linked to their environmental impact. This could rise as high as €10 per product by 2030, though it would be limited to no more than 50 percent of an item’s price tag.

Fashion companies that flood the market with rapidly shifting product assortments would also be banned from advertising in France. And companies would be required to provide information about the impact of their products at the point of sale and encourage re-use and repair.

Meanwhile, funds generated by the new system would be used to subsidise businesses working to improve the industry’s environmental footprint.

Though the bill is framed as a green initiative, designed to reduce excessive consumption and penalise products that damage the environment, it’s also aimed at curbing the influence of disruptive foreign ultra-fashion-fashion businesses like Shein and protecting French brands and manufacturing. That’s helped it draw wide-ranging support across the National Assembly at a time when broader climate measures are facing growing pushback for threatening domestic industry.

“What is unprecedented is that, from far right to far left, they all said ‘yay,’” said Carriere-Pradal of last week’s vote.

What counts as fast fashion?

The bill still has some way to go before becoming law and the fine print of how it would apply has yet to be ironed out.

The big question it raises is what counts as fast fashion?

Shein argues that while it has an expansive and fast-moving range of products, it only produces in small batches according to demand. The result, it says, is that very little that the company makes goes unsold, making it much less wasteful than more traditional retailers.

France is in the process of finalising its own criteria to assess the environmental performance of a product.

Companies’ scores — and the likelihood their products could be subject to hefty penalties — could change dramatically depending on how many products they place on the market each year, the length of their sales cycles, the types of material used and pricing. Whether materials and products are sourced locally will also factor into the equation.

It’s a topic that has been the subject of fierce debate for years and remains contentious.

Under the French system as it currently stands, many of the world’s biggest apparel brands, including H&M, Zara and synthetic-heavy sportswear makers, would likely come off poorly.

The companies did not provide comment.

Who pays?

The politically pointy end of all this: clothes in France will get more expensive.

The proposed law’s only impact would be to “worsen the purchasing power of French consumers, at a time when they are already feeling the impact of the cost-of-living crisis,” Shein said in an emailed statement.

But changing spending habits is exactly the point, said Cécile Désaunay, director of studies at consultancy firm Futuribles. It’s not France’s poorest consumers fueling growth at the world’s biggest fashion brands, but largely middle-class shoppers stuffing their wardrobes with products they may never even end up wearing.

“The problem isn’t a lack of affordable clothes for the most vulnerable, but rather the overproduction of poor-quality clothes that end up in wardrobes or even in bins,” said Désaunay.

Whatever happens next, the bill’s initial rapid passage puts the industry on notice. Regulators are gunning for fast fashion and they’re willing to push for legislation that could change the shape of the industry. If France keeps pressing ahead, where it leads, others could follow.

“This is definitely a game changer,” said Carriere-Pradal.

Last week, in a move that blindsided investors, analysts and industry observers alike, Under Armour announced the return of its controversial founder, Kevin Plank, as chief executive.

Current CEO Stephanie Linnartz was only one year into a three-year turnaround strategy that she announced when she stepped into the role in February 2023 — a plan that promised a return to growth in 2025 by emphasising more fashion-driven products, including an expanded sneaker offering.

Plank’s return was all the more puzzling because the final years of his prior tenure were mired in scandal. In 2018, the company faced scrutiny into its toxic workplace culture after a report surfaced alleging a longstanding company tradition of visiting strip clubs on the corporate card, a practice that Plank himself had taken part in. The following year, Under Armour faced an SEC investigation over charges that the company misled investors in financial reports (the company later paid $9 million to settle the action). Plank, who had led the brand since its founding in 1996, stepped aside in 2019.

In other ways, the move was less surprising. Plank has remained heavily involved at Under Armour as executive chairman. He likely contributed to Linnartz’ strategy for boosting sales and profitability, analysts say, meaning there likely won’t be a significant departure from the current plan despite the C-suite dramatics.

Rather, Plank had grown impatient as the company’s sales and profit continued to fall, observers said. For years, the sportswear chain struggled to woo consumers in an increasingly competitive market. The brand missed the boat on streetwear, which helped turbocharge growth at rivals Nike and Adidas. More recently, it has been late to catch on to the sportstyle trend, in which technical brands like Hoka, Salomon and Merrell have become coveted fashion collaborators, offering trendy adaptations of trail running and hiking footwear.

Under Armour reported revenue of $1.5 billion in its most recent quarter ending December 31, a 6 percent decline from the same period the year before. Revenue in North America was down 12 percent year-on-year, while profits fell to $114 million, down from $122 million.

Investors did not welcome the news of Plank’s return. Shares fell 12 percent following the announcement and have not recovered.

Despite its current struggles, Under Armour remains one of the world’s largest sportswear businesses, with projected revenue of around $5.7 billion for the year ending May 2024. If Plank can execute on product and merchandising, and finally reconnect with younger, fashion-forward consumers, then the retailer can feasibly hit its long-term growth targets.

“The sheer fact that Under Armour generates so much revenue shows that customers do want the product,” said BMO analyst Simeon Siegel.

Why did Plank take back the CEO role?

Under Armour declined to comment on Plank’s appointment, but analysts speculate that he never truly left in the first place. Plank simply grew frustrated with the slow pace of the brand’s recovery and took control once again. This was relatively easy, given that he owns 65 percent of Under Armour’s voting shares.

He also has a track record when it comes to losing patience with CEOs: Patrick Frisk, who succeeded him in 2020, lasted just two years before he appointed Linnartz to the role.

“It’s not the first time this has happened,” said sportswear analyst Matt Powell. “It’s very hard for a founder who has created great product and is still involved with the brand to fully step back.”

What’s Plank’s Plan?

It’s probably pretty similar to Linnartz’s, whose turnaround strategy hinges on three pillars: driving “global brand heat” through performance-inspired clothing; improving products with a focus on sneakers and womenswear; and improving US sales. She assembled a team with new key executives in design, supply chain and regional management.

While Linnartz may have run out of time, the infrastructure she set up remains in place. A core strand of her vision was for the brand to finally branch out from performance and lean into the sportstyle trend. She tapped designer Yassine Saidi, who previously led Puma’s sportstyle sneakers and collaborations division, as chief product officer. Menswear designer John Varvatos was named chief design officer.

One important tactic to upping its fashion game is to diminish the Under Armour brand itself. In a recent earnings call, Linnartz said the company has been reducing the size and prominence of its logo on the Forge sneaker and other styles.

The brand is also betting big on a line of sneakers that can be worn for both competitive sport and casual use, called Futr X, according to Kyle Blakley, Under Armour’s head of innovation. Later this year, Under Armour will relaunch its retro “Apparation” sneaker, one of its original running sneakers from the aughts, as a lifestyle shoe, updating it with the brand’s lightweight “HOVR” cushioning technology.

“Our main priority now is footwear,” Blakley told BoF in an interview last month. “The consumer today wants to see and feel the performance technology in their sneakers.”

Why has Under Armour struggled for so long?

The brand’s current position in the market is a far cry from its heyday just a decade ago, when it seemed to have the potential to become the next Nike. Its stock reached an all-time high of $51 in 2015. Today, its shares trade around $7.

Its biggest misstep, according to Powell, was ignoring the streetwear boom that transformed the entire fashion industry and fueled the growth of Nike and Adidas’ lifestyle businesses over the last decade.

Instead, Under Armour steadfastly remained a sports apparel maker, focusing on performance-driven pieces and missing market share in athleisure.

The brand still has a large footwear business — sales accounted for $1.5 billion in its 2023 fiscal year, or around 25 percent of overall revenue — though the bulk is made up of sport-specific options like American football cleats, baseball footwear and golf shoes. Its basketball sneaker-focussed Curry Brand, run jointly with NBA All-Star Stephen Curry, is estimated to account for as much as $250 million in annual sales, according to Cowen.

But repeat demand for such footwear is far lower than for items such as running sneakers, which consumers wear for multiple purposes in their daily lives, from going to the gym or office to various social occasions. It’s this category that any sportswear brand should prioritise to accelerate growth, experts say.

What are other opportunities for growth?

One consequence of Under Armour’s absence in streetwear and athleisure was losing the young adult consumer, analysts said. Under Armour remains a popular brand for young children and shoppers aged 35 and over, but needs to focus on capturing shoppers in between those two age brackets, according to Powell.

One way to reach this audience is through athlete ambassadors. Throughout the 2010s, Under Armour signed an elite roster of sporting talent, including football star Tom Brady and Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps. But this collective, now in their late 30s and 40s, did little to help the brand connect with younger millennial or Gen-Z consumers, nor did it help to dispel the notion of Under Armour as a male-focused business, another pain point in its customer mix.

But the company has made recent progress in broadening its reach. The Curry Brand, for instance, has helped Under Armour court younger and more diverse audiences by recruiting new talent — diversifying its appeal beyond Curry himself, who is reaching the latter years of his career. In October, 26-year-old rising NBA talent De’Aaron Fox was named Curry Brand’s first athlete ambassador, while last week WNBA prospect MiLaysia Fulwiley became the brand’s first college athlete, signed to help grow the brand across women’s basketball.

Under Armour also sees opportunity in in niche but fast-growing sports where its rivals have little to no presence. In August, the brand tapped Mexican flag football athlete and social media sensation Diana Flores as a brand ambassador, ahead of the sport’s introduction as an Olympic competition in Los Angeles in 2028.

This is exactly the blend of sports-culture marketing that can convince shoppers to buy products, experts say. It’s also proof that Under Armour isn’t completely lost.

“This combination of talent, new product and marketing messaging is exactly the recipe we are chasing for reaching our target consumer,” said Sean Eggert, Under Armour’s senior vice president of global sports marketing.