Worldview | Lagos Fashion Week’s Take on the Value Chain

🇳🇬 Lagos Fashion Week initiatives aim to strengthen the industry value chain. Designer brands from Nigeria and the wider West Africa region presented their collections at the latest edition of the B2B event from Oct. 23-27, including Orange Culture, Imad Eduso, Lagos Space Programme, Emmy Kasbit, Maliko, Iremitide, Babayo, Kente Gentlemen, Ajabeng, Awa Meité, Boyedoe, Oshobor, Ugo Monye and Loza Maléombho. Event founder and CEO Omoyemi Akerele demonstrated her commitment to helping designers broker deals that strengthen their value chains by partnering with the likes of Prosper Africa, an American government initiative catalysing two-way trade and investment flows between the US and countries on the continent. The biannual event, which this season featured initiatives with mentorship programme Q Rising (formerly Qasimi Rising), The Bicester Collection and the Heineken 45 CL collection, also highlighted the power of collaboration in fostering innovation, craftsmanship and responsible business objectives. [BoF Inbox]

🇧🇩 Adsum Capital Management eyes Bangladesh’s troubled giant Beximco. The Dubai-based firm is leading a consortium of investors who filed an expression of interest in buying some of the subsidiaries of Bangladesh’s largest private sector conglomerate, including its textiles and garment manufacturing division Bextex which lists Target, PVH and Zara among its clients. The troubled banking-to-pharmaceuticals multinational founded in 1972 is contesting a court order demanding that its assets be placed under receivership after it became heavily indebted and embroiled in a corruption scandal surrounding its co-founder Salman F Rahman, the firm’s vice-chairman who was a former advisor to the country’s ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina. [Sourcing Journal]

🇮🇳 Indian gold demand expected to surge during Diwali despite high prices. According to Sachin Jain, the World Gold Council’s regional India CEO, “despite gold prices touching record highs…anecdotal feedback from industry indicates a resurgence in gold buying due to various ongoing festivals with demand largely driven by investment sentiment and wedding-related purchases. [Jewellery retailers factoring in high gold prices] have also invested in new designs and innovative usage of technology to make daily wear [and] lighter jewellery.” Dhanteras, which kicks off the festive period, falls on Oct. 29 this year and Diwali on Oct. 31 during the Hindu calendar month of Kartika which is a busy time in India’s retail calendar. [Economic Times]

🇨🇳 China’s Li Ning inks joint-venture with HongShan for overseas expansion. The Beijing-based company founded in 1989 by the Olympic gymnast of the same name will hold 55 percent interest in the new British Virgin Islands-based venture through two subsidiaries, LN Co and Founder Co, while the venture capital fund formerly known as Sequoia Capital China will hold the remaining 45 percent interest through its units HongShan Venture and HongShan Motivation. The deal amounts to a total capital contribution of $20 million. [Deal Street Asia]

🇦🇺 Australia’s Mosaic Brands enters voluntary administration. The listed apparel group operating more than 760 stores and employing around 3000 staff across Australia and New Zealand said: “the board wishes to reiterate its belief to those who supported the restructure…that the business has a long-term future,” asserting that the company would continue to trade throughout Christmas. In a bid to turn around the business last month, it discontinued the Rockmans, Autograph, Crossroads, W.Lane and BeMe brands, focusing instead on core brands Millers, Noni B, Rivers and Katies and Mosaic. [Ragtrader]

🇧🇩 Post-Hasina protests cost Bangladesh garment industry $400 million. The labour unrest that followed the August 5 resignation and ousting of prime minister Sheikh Hasina have led to the production loss in the country’s ready-made garment sector. But earlier this month Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) president Khandoker Rafiqul Islam said: “we expect that work orders that shifted to other countries will return as normalcy is restored in the sector.” The BGMEA’s board of directors has since been dissolved by the new interim government, according to local reports. [Financial Express Bangladesh]

🇨🇳 Swiss beauty group Galderma posts sales increase amid China gains. The parent of Cetaphil said it had logged sales of $3.26 billion during the first nine months of the year, up 9.2 percent from the same period a year earlier in constant currency terms. Noting double-digit growth in the injectable aesthetics and dermatological skincare categories and robust Europe market performance, CEO Flemming Ornskov said that China was one of the fastest growing markets, also highlighting Latin America and the broader Asia Pacific region. [BoF]

🌍 Afreximbank doubles African creative sector financing including fashion. The Egypt-based financial institution officially called the African Export–Import Bank has said it will increase funding to the Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX) programme from $1 billion to $2 billion for the next three years. Bank president Benedict Oramah said: “This will enable us to support significant infrastructure investments for film production, stadia, arenas, manufacturing facilities for fashion, and training centres.” [BoF Inbox]

🇨🇳 L’Oréal Group Q3 sales miss expectations as China buys less. The group, which owns Maybelline and Lancôme among others, reported sales of €10.28 billion ($11.11 billion), a 3.4 year over year percent rise. The North Asia region, dominated by China, accounts for a quarter of group sales, but persistently weak demand in the world’s second largest economy has curbed consumer spending, with sales in North Asia declining 6.5 percent in the period, worsening from a decline of 2.4 percent in the prior three months. [BoF]

🇨🇮 Abidjan Fashion Week debuts in Côte d’Ivoire’s commercial capital. The inaugural edition of the event took place from Oct. 10-13 in Abidjan. Founded and produced by Ivorian fashion designer Elie Kuame with financial support from the culture ministry, the showcase featured an opening night at Aby Concept store followed by around 30 runway shows of predominantly local designers and brands such as Kuame and La Maison Kanty’s as well as brands from the Republic of Congo, Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Senegal and Cameroon. [Le Monde, Semafor]

🇦🇺 Conservation experts sound the alarm over Australian sandalwood. Used in luxury fragrances, sandalwood is a coveted ingredient for beauty companies, but Richard McLellan, a researcher at Charles Sturt University, worries the native Santalum spicatum tree population in Australia is overharvested and at risk of extinction. However, this claim is contested by the likes of local producer Dutjahn Sandalwood Oils, a 50 percent Aboriginal-owned business that sells the oil to companies such as Aesop and Givaudan, the multinational that supplies the Estée Lauder group, among others. [BoF]

🇨🇳 German beauty group Beiersdorf sees sales rise despite China slump. Nivea maker Beiersdorf reported a 6.5 percent rise in group sales for the first nine months of 2024 to €7.55 billion ($8.15 billion), helped by a rebound in North America and growth in its skincare segment. The company said it expected a strong fourth quarter, despite persisting challenges in the Chinese luxury market. Sales in luxury brand La Prairie dropped by 7.3 percent in organic terms in the first three quarters, driven by the continued weakness of the Greater China region. [BoF]

🇮🇳 Indian textile giant Siyaram’s invests $4.7 million in its Zecode brand. “We are targeting Gen-Z customers,” said Jayakar Shettigar, CEO of Zecode, and Gaurav Poddar, executive director of fabric manufacturer Siyaram’s in statement, adding that by the end of this fiscal year, the brand will use the 40 crore rupee injection to open 25 mono-brand stores around Karnataka state. The company also owns Siyaram’s Shirtings and Suitings, J. Hampstead, Oxemberg and apparel brands Mozzo, Inspiro, Tessio and Cadini. [Economic Times]

🇲🇽 Shein launches credit card with fintech Stori to aid Mexico expansion. The China-founded ultra-fast fashion giant is launching its first branded credit card worldwide to help it expand further in Latin America’s second-largest economy (where it is reportedly exploring building a factory) by making e-commerce more accessible to more Mexicans, many of whom lag in access to bank accounts and credit [Reuters]

🇮🇳 India’s Hindustan Unilever’s Q2 profit falls 4%, revenue rises 2%. The beauty, personal care and household goods major also known as HUL, whose portfolio includes brands like Lakmé, Glow & Lovely, Dove and Pond’s, recorded 2612 crore rupees ($310.5 million) in net profit and 15,319 crore rupees ($1.8 billion) in revenue from operations in the quarter ended Sep. 2024. [Economic Times]

🇦🇪 Elie Saab and Octa Properties to launch UAE branded residential project. The Lebanese couturier has partnered with the Dubai real estate developer to build 355 beachfront homes called La Mer by Elie Saab on Al Marjan Island in the United Arab Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah. The move follows Etoile by Elie Saab, the couturier’s Saudi Arabia-based branded residence project built with local property developer Dar Al Arkan. [Construction Week]

🇮🇳 India’s Zouk raises $10 million in round led by Aavishkaar Capital. The bag and luggage brand founded in 2016 by Pradeep Krishnakumar and Disha Singh has secured the funding in a Series B round led by the Mumbai-based venture capital firm with participation from existing investors Stellaris Venture Partners, Titan Capital and Winners Fund Sharrp Ventures among others. [Economic Times]

🇯🇴 Jordan’s leather and textile industry creates 1,500 new jobs. The sector that now employs more than 29,000 Jordanian workers saw the 4 percent year over year rise in jobs in the January to September 2024 period, according to Ihab Qadri, representative of the sector in the Jordan Chamber of Industry. [Fibre2Fashion]

🇮🇳 H&M India appoints Helena Kuylenstierna as director. The Swedish fast fashion giant veteran with 24 years at the firm was previously global managing director for childrenswear. H&M’s local unit, which operates 64 stores across 29 cities and partners with Myntra and Ajio online, is based in Bengaluru. [Economic Times]

🇮🇳 Indian menswear brand Rare Rabbit parent sees annual profit double. Parent company Bengaluru-based Radhamani Textiles, which also owns womenswear brand Rareism and Articale, reported net profit of 75 crore rupees ($8.9 million) during the year ended March 2024, up from 32 crore rupees the previous year. [Economic Times]