Worldview: Inside Japan’s World Cosplay Summit

🇯🇵 Global cosplay industry gathers in Japan for summit. The global cosplay community gathered at the World Cosplay Summit in Nagoya, Japan from August 2-4. The value of the global cosplay costumes, clothing and wigs sector in 2022 was $35.2 billion, according to a Research & Markets report. At last week’s event celebrating the subculture, a ‘championship’ competition saw teams from 36 countries take to the stage, dressed as their favourite anime, cartoon, manga and video game characters. In addition to a red carpet and runway, there were exhibition booths from wig brands and performances near cosplay clothing retailers along the city’s Osu Shopping Street. [Japan Times, Japan Today, Yahoo Finance]

🇮🇳 Designers partner with big jewellers at India Couture Week. The annual event, which is organised by the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) and supported by Hyundai as the title sponsor and Reliance Brands as partner, took place in New Delhi from July 24-31. Featuring more than a dozen shows of mostly made-to-measure luxury formal wear, traditional evening wear and wedding wear, the event saw designers such as Rahul Mishra, Tarun Tahiliani, Gaurav Gupta and Falguni Shane Peacock partner with fine jewellers Mora, Shree Jee and Hazoorilal, Anmol and Tanishq, respectively, for their runway looks. [BoF Inbox]

🇯🇵 Department store shares hit by Tokyo stock market volatility. Japanese department store chain Isetan Mitsukoshi, which has seen foreign tourists clambering to buy luxury goods at favourable exchange rates, saw its shares fall by more than 10 percent last Thursday following an interest rate rise and a surge in the yen against the dollar, with equities in non-fashion companies like Toyota, Panasonic and Mitsui Fudosan also declining. On Monday, after a disappointing US job report scared investors, the Nikkei 225 fell by more than 12 percent, in what was the worst day of trading for Japanese stocks since 1987. But by Tuesday, the index had rebounded, soaring by more than 10 percent, and Isetan shares had recovered. [Financial Times, BBC, Business Insider]

🇨🇳 Richard Liu is ‘still running’ Chinese e-tailer JD.com from abroad. Despite officially stepping down as CEO two years ago, the company founder and chairman has been leading it from overseas, mostly in London though he also spends time in Dubai, Tokyo and Hong Kong, according to several people familiar with the matter. The billionaire quit in 2022 amid Beijing’s efforts to rein in big tech leaders, a campaign that took place four years after Liu was arrested in the US on allegations of sexual assault, which he denied and which did not result in any charges being brought against him by prosecutors. [Financial Times]

🇦🇺 Australia’s Country Road Group sees annual sales fall 6.8%. The Melbourne-based fashion retail group, which holds brands Mimco, Politix, Trenery, Witchery and its namesake label, saw sales decline in the year ended June 2024, according to a trading update by its South African parent company Woolworths Holdings Limited (WHL). Cape Town-based WHL, which also owns the Woolworths fashion and food retail chain across Africa, said it also expects a decline of up to 32 percent in total headline earnings for the period. [CNBC]

🇨🇳 China’s share of supply to Nike and Adidas fell 20-25% over 5 years. Although the country still led the world in textile and clothing exports in 2022 it lost ground to other Asian countries and its share of overall supply to the two western sportswear brands fell from 20-27 percent in 2017 to 16-20 percent in 2022, according to a Bank of America Global Research report. China’s share of global footwear exports has fallen by more than 10 percent over the past decade, according to figures from the 2023 World Footwear Yearbook. [Financial Times]

🇵🇦 Panama Canal capacity is almost back to normal following drought. The number of vessels able to use the crucial trade artery, which accounts for about 5 percent of shipping connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, will increase over the coming months thanks to the early arrival of rain. “Now (the waterway) is practically back to normal,” said deputy administrator Ilya Espino, following a year of capacity reductions that delayed and disrupted global supply chains. [Reuters]

🇨🇳 Temu faces backlash from suppliers as it pivots to warehouse model. The PDD Holdings-owned online marketplace has started to hire suppliers with overseas warehouses in the US and Europe, in a move toward a “semi-managed” model whereby Chinese merchants take on shipping, warehousing and last-mile delivery costs that were previously covered by Temu in a “fully managed” model. The move would help protect the company if governments close a de minimis tax loophole and reduce delivery times. [Financial Times]

🌏 Canada Goose boosts sales on Asia strength, lightweight apparel. The Toronto-based outerwear company booked revenue of 88.1 million Canadian dollars (US$63.7 million) for the fiscal first quarter ended June 30, as Asia revenues increased 25 percent, bucking the slowdown in the Chinese luxury sector. The Asia region is home to over 40 percent of its stores. [BoF]

🇨🇳 London Stock Exchange denies lowering standards to win Shein IPO. Exchange CEO David Schwimmer has affirmed its commitment to governance and denied lowering standards in order to lure the China-founded, Singapore-headquartered fast-fashion retailer’s £50 billion ($63 billion) IPO to London, despite campaigners’ concerns about a lack of transparency regarding its supply chain and allegations its suppliers have used forced labour in China’s Xinjiang region. [BoF]

🇮🇳 India’s Moxie Beauty raises around $2 million in seed funding round. The Guruguram-based DTC haircare brand has secured 17.3 crore rupees in a funding round led by Fireside Ventures with participation from angel investors from the beauty, wellness and personal care industries including Samir Singh, Arjun Purkayastha, Suhasini Sampath, Navin Parwal and Sangeet Agrawal. Founders Nikita Khanna and Anmol Ahlawat launched the startup in 2023. [Economic Times]

🇨🇳 L’Oréal refines its strategy as China demand drags, US falters. The French group’s CEO Nicolas Hieronimus and CFO Christophe Babule said the company’s broad brand assortment will carry it through the downturn. It’s recent Q2 results showed the North Asia division, which is 60 percent mainland China, declined 2.5 percent, while North America grew 3.4 percent. [BoF]

🇮🇳 Indian fashion retailer Arvind sees profit plummet 40% in Q1. The Bengaluru-based firm, which has a portfolio of owned and licensed international brands including Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger and a denim fabric manufacturing business, said consolidated net profit fell to 393.1 million rupees ($4.7 million), down from 658.7 million in the corresponding period a year earlier. [Economic Times]

🇨🇳 Average luxury spend by Chinese in Italy is up on pre-pandemic levels. Chinese travellers who went specifically to Italy to shop for luxury goods spent €2,669 ($2,920) in Q2 2024 compared to €1,883 in Q2 2019, an increase of 42 percent. Spending for premium brand products rose 15 percent, according to data provided by Global Blue and Retex. [DFNI]

🇮🇳 India’s Titan reports 5.4% decline in quarterly profit. The country’s largest watch and jewellery group, whose portfolio includes its namesake brand alongside Tanishq, Zoya, Mia and CaratLane, said consolidated net profit reached 715 crore rupees ($85 million) for the quarter ended June 2024, down from 756 crore rupees in the corresponding period a year earlier. [Economic Times]

🇹🇷 Turkey blocks Instagram over censoring posts about Hamas leader. Explaining the reason for the country’s blocking of the platform, a government spokesman accused the US-based social media giant of “preventing people from posting messages of condolences for the passing of Hamas leader (Ismael) Haniyeh.” Turkish president Erdogan has become more vocal in his support of the militant group in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, condemning the killing of Haniyeh in Tehran, which Iran has blamed on Israel. [Financial Times]

🇪🇬 Egypt devises plan to accelerate modernisation of its cotton industry. Government ministers recently met to discuss how to speed up the modernisation of the country’s spinning and weaving industry by introducing advanced technologies, upgrading equipment and improving both productivity and product quality in a bid to expand production capacity and boost finished products exports. [Fibre2Fashion]

🇮🇳 Myntra CEO Nandita Sinha to take over as Flipkart’s head of fashion. The leader of Indian fashion e-commerce giant Myntra, whose parent Flipkart Group was acquired by Walmart in 2018, will replace Arief Mohamad who is readying to exit e-tailer Flipkart, which sells everything from groceries and electronics to fashion and furniture. The two businesses will continue to operate separately under Sinha, who led Myntra to EBITA level profitability earlier this year. [Economic Times]

🇧🇷 Brazilian fashion group Azzas 2154 confirms its management team. The company, a new entity formed from the recent merger of Brazilian footwear and fashion companies Arezzo & Co and Grupo Soma that recently listed on the São Paulo-based B3 stock exchange, has appointed Alexandre Birman as CEO and COO, Roberto Jatahy as women’s clothing business unit officer and Rafael Sachete da Silva, as CFO and investor relations officer. [BoF Inbox]

🇨🇳 Shiseido Company appoints Kentaro Fujiwara as CEO. The Japanese beauty conglomerate has promoted Fujiwara, its current COO, to lead the firm, effective Jan. 1, 2025. The group, which owns international brands such as Drunk Elephant and Nars as well as its namesake line and holds a number of fragrances licences, said incumbent CEO Masahiko Uotani will retire at the end of this year but remain an advisor to the company. [BoF]

🇿🇼 UK jeweller sources fully traceable aquamarine stones from Zimbabwe. Monica Vinader has partnered with Zimbaqua, the first gemstone mine in Africa known to be exclusively managed and mined by women. Until now the company’s ‘Mine to Market’ traceability initiative has been limited to laboratory-grown diamonds and precious metals. [Retail Jeweller]

🇨🇳 Guerlain taps actress Karen Mok as brand ambassador. The LVMH-owned beauty company has partnered with the Hong Kong actress and singer to be its new makeup ambassador, creating exclusive makeup looks for her concerts. Mok is a veteran of the entertainment industry with a career spanning three decades. [Jing Daily]