Abstract
Abercrombie & Fitch and Gildan have reported poor financial results for the
early months of 2009. But results at Marks & Spencer (M&S) are relatively
upbeat, and UK-based Asos has continued to grow apace. One of the biggest
casualties of the global economic slowdown has been the Germanybased luxury
fashion group Escada, which filed for bankruptcy protection in August 2009.
However, before doing so, it managed to sell four women' s fashion brands -
apriori, BiBA, cavita and Laurel, which belonged to its wholly-owned
subsidiary The Primera Group - to two German firms.
In the area of anti-counterfeiting, authorities have seized thousands of
counterfeit clothing items in Sri Lanka, Thailand and Italy. In an attempt to
combat counterfeiting activities, the EU launched an official observatory.
Other intellectual property matters included the filing of two trademark
infringement cases - one by Gucci against Guess and another by Kay Celine
against Stein Mart and Sienna Rose.
Many companies have been taking steps to deal with the consequences of the
global economic slowdown. Triumph International, for example, has reduced its
workforce by about 8%, or 3,600 jobs. Meanwhile, UPM Raflatac has continued to
transfer production of its radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and
inlays to China and the USA. Other strategic activities have included: the
signing of a global licensing agreement between Calvin Klein and Premium Golf
Brands (PGB); collaboration between Fast Retailing and Jil Sander to develop a
new clothing collection for Uniqlo; Iconix China' s development of the Rocawear
brand in China and its acquisition of a 50% stake in Hardy Way; a licensing
agreement between Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) and Target
Entertainment relating to the development of PlayStation-branded apparel; and
two agreements relating to the distribution of Tory Burch products in Japan
and South Korea.
Market data show that global sales of apparel and home textiles made from
organic cotton rose by 63% to reach US$3.2 bn in 2008, while sales of ethical
clothing in the UK are expected to be worth £175 mn in 2009. In the
Americas, the management consulting firm AT Kearney has named Brazil as the
most attractive emerging market for apparel retailers in 2008, for the second
year in a row. Several major brands have opened new clothing stores in various
countries or are planning to do so - including Adidas in Saudi Arabia, Gap in
Thailand, H&M in China, Top Shop in the USA, and Zara in Egypt. Japan-based
Uniqlo and China-based Taobao have launched two virtual stores dedicated to
selling Uniqlo products online to consumers across China. Meanwhile, Guess has
invested in product life cycle management (PLM) software to manage its global
sourcing and product development.
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