2024 JANUARY
iApparel Journal Quarterly Issue
FROM ANDREW SIA & IAJ TEAM
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In the coming 2024, and for the first time in the human history, more than 2 billion people living on this planet in more than 70 countries will go to the polls. In many of these elections we will find unhinged and illiberal rulers, some corrupted and incompetent dictators. Election can be poisonous and polarizing. Social medias would be taken by fake accounts from Russia, China and Iran with their infiltration to influence the voters. Democracy will be on the line and instead the rightists will take over.
We begin with Russia, Vladimir Putin illegally changed the constitution to remove term limit in 2020, he will be doubtlessly winning a third consecutive term as Russia’s president.
In Asia we have the biggest democracy—India, Indonesia and Bangladesh, with the total 1.855 billion people will go to the poll. But Bangladesh has already taken the authoritarian approach by putting opposition leaders to jail.
Africa will be the continent with the most elections. Unfortunately, its voters are disappointed by democracy as coups are becoming more common and nine regimes have seized power by force since 2020. As the whole, there is the growing numbers of African going for a military government.
In Mexico, the two leading contenders are all women.
The British voters will have a choice between two competent candidates—one from the Conservative Party and one from the Labor Party.
Taiwan is located in a very political situation between China and the Western world, and with its 24 million people they have to choose between the ruling Democratic Progressive Party and the Kuomintang who is more leaned to China. Then there is a new party, Taiwan People’s Party, which is a minority.
In the U.S., both Joe Biden, from the Democrats, and Donald Trump, from the Republicans, are looking for reelection. The American voters will have to wait until the end of March to know the presidential candidates from both parties. The election campaign will last for eight months until the election will take place on November 5, 2024.
We sum up the European presidential and parliamentary elections as the following:
January – Finland presidential
February – Belarus parliamentary
March – Portugal parliamentary, Russia presidential and Ukraine presidential
April – Slovakia presidential
May – Lithuania presidential
June – Iceland presidential, Belgium parliamentary and European Union parliament
July – Croatia parliamentary
September – Austria parliamentary
October – Georgia parliamentary and Lithuania parliamentary
Undecided – UK parliamentary, Moldova presidential and Romania parliamentary and presidential
We want to highlight the importance of the European Union’s election and they have 22 member-countries.
We have to say that 2024 will be a nerve-racking and dangerous year. It will be full of shams unfortunately.
If we look back in 2023, we have already embedded some troubles.
Italy – In fact it was in October 2022, we have seen Italy, headed by a right-wing political party. Finally the Meloni government is Italy’s 68th government of the Italian Republic. It is headed by Georgia Meloni, who is also the leader of Brothers of Italy. She is the first woman to hold the office of Prime Minister in Italy. It was sworn in on October 22, 2022.
Brothers of Italy is a national-conservative and right-wing populist political party in Italy.
Argentina – The Argentinians elected right-wing populist Javier Milei as the country’s new president. Four weeks ago the general elections had taken place to elect the president, vice-president, members of the national congress and governors of most provinces. Anti-establishment candidate Javier Milei, leader and founder of the La Libertad Avanza Party entered the presidential race and became the favorite. At first he was unable to maintain his leading position and was overtaken by economy minister Sergio Massa who was running for Union por la Patria, a center-left coalition of Peronist political parties who have dominated the country’s politics for decades. But at this time, in the run-off election, Javier Milei won 55.7% of the votes, while Massa won the balance of 44.3%.
Again Milei’s self-proclaimed “anarcho-capitalist” was compared to Donald Trump, the former U.S. president and the ex-president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro.
The Netherlands – Geert Wilders, known as an anti-Islam populist leader won in the Dutch general election in November 23, 2023. His party is known for Party for Freedom (PVV) had won 37 seats. In order to rule the 150-seat parliament, he will need to persuade other parties to join him to form the coalition government. He needs 76 seats in total.
Geert Wilders has spent 25 years in Parliament and he is known as a political provocateur for his anti-Islam and anti-Europe. He campaigned and won for the widespread frustration about migration by promising to have the borders closed and to ban Koran. His party is a far-right party.
The left-wing alliance under Frans Timmermans, an ex-EU commissioner, from PvdA/GL party, who has won a distant second with 25 seats. He made his point by distancing from a Wilders-led government, and promised to defend Dutch democracy and rule of law.
That leaves third-placed center-right liberal party, VVD, under new leader Dilan Yeslgöz, who has won 24 votes, and a new party, NSC, form by MP Pieter Omtzigt in fourth-place with 20 votes. Both party leaders have sent their congratulations to Geert Wilders for his victory.
Geert Wilders victory has sent the shockwave around Europe. But Nationalist and far-right leaders around Europe praised his achievement. In France, Marine Le Pen, was the first to send her congratulation.
His victory may trigger a “Nexit” referendum to leave the EU. although there is no national mood to do so. I think that he is only interest to create controversy and has been named as the “Trump” copy from the Netherlands.
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Quarterly Issue !
About this January 2024 Issue
This general introduction for this quarterly issue has been prepared for you. We have tried to be more concise and condense in our contents. We need your response in order we can be more avant-garde and more inspiring to the fashion industry. Anyway, please enjoy reading the contents of this issue, and we welcome your thoughts and suggestions.
Special Report
Global Fashion and Exhibition Calendar - January to June 2024
| By Andrew Sia
We started to list some of the shows in the museums around the world for those renowned fashion designers and artists and we hope that they can add to your highlights if you happened to have travel to one of those countries.
We reported global fashion exhibitions covered countries like, the US, China, Vietnam, UK, Italy, Brazil, Colombia, Germany and Copenhagen.
For the first six months of the year, we have listed 37 fashion exhibitions covering areas of fashion in womenswear and menswear, children’s wear, sportswear, footwear, swimwear, outdoor sports, textile fabrics, laces, embroidery, appliqués, trims and elastics, shoe materials and leather.
Important shows like the Fashion Week in the fashion capitals, such as Paris, New York, London and Milan, Première Vision, Magic shows, InterTextile and ISPO. Many of these shows have accompanied us throughout our career. One thing that is worth mentioning is the International Lingerie Exhibition & Interfillière Paris, better known as the Salon Internationale de la Lingerie, Paris, is celebrating its 60th anniversary. This is the best show for our industry and it was in the beginning of the 1990s it took over the legendary Igedo in Dusseldorf.
Reform of the Fast Fashion
| By Andrew Sia
Fast fashion has given the garment industry a bad reputation especially when we saw the piling of used clothing in the third world country that are causing a lot of problems that are yet to be solved in the future. We talked about recycle, but knowing only a very small percentage has been recycled and reused. Fast fashion is connected with the “short-lived” fashion. This “wear-and-discard” culture should have to be changed, otherwise the goals we set would never be achieved.
I always use the saying, “garbage-in garbage-out” and it is so true. Unless it is something well designed, better made, market to suit the wearer’s purpose, and most important that it can be worn repeatedly and never out of fashion. Would you be precious with something that you bought less than $10 for the sake of any further argument?
The using of the influencers and the key opinion leaders (KOL) is such a mistake. They are so empty and have no vision whatsoever. Business people just put words in their mouths and they would go out there to do the singing and dancing. It is really sad.
How can we put our acts together to combat the climate change issues? I am afraid that it is still a question waiting to be answered.
Together with this, we want to tell you that the Remade’s 2024 Circular Economy Conference will take place on April 10-11, 2024, in Washington, D.C., at the National Academy for Science Building. Please visit their website for more information.
A Roadmap of Singapore | By Andrew Sia
This was written after my trip in Singapore in September. Singapore was not a country I frequented. I have no business activities there for all my career life. It is a very well located city in the Southeast Asia and I wasn’t able to find any synergy with my business activities, knowing that Hong Kong was the solution for running a business and was the base of my operation.
It is only until now I have found that the importance of finding the outpost for our business as not only the supply chain has been going through some modifications, but also the geopolitical situation changes. We need to make the move and Singapore seems to be the most robust in the region. It is an ideal place to set up the company’s headquarters.
I feel that we have to be dare to move or we will be crushed by the gigantic tsunami. This is my advice.
Shein the Fast Fashion Disruptor
| By Andrew Sia
Shein was found in 2008 in Nanjing and very quickly it gained popularity in its trendy and affordable clothing and accessories. It is today’s one of the most downloaded mobile apps, right after Amazon and Nike.
It overtook H&M for the total sales revenue and is chasing closely after Zara, and in the meantime it is looking for its IPO in the New York Stock Exchange in the early 2024.
With its acquisition of Forever 21, it is also moving into bricks-and-mortar. It will also expand its platform for other products, such as products from kitchenware to other gadgets. It will put itself right in the competitors like Amazon, Temu and Pinduoduo.
It is known for its fast-to-market and offers direct shipment to customers. It is known for its 150 million customers in 150 countries. I can see that it will continue to win the market in a tremendous way.
This piece of write-up can be used as a case study for business.
Market Intelligence | By Andrew Sia
Market Intelligence Short Read - Part 1
In this piece of writeup, our main focus was on retail. Especially during this time of the year, many retailers are counting on their sales of their line of products. They have already discovered that the customers are looking for those less expensive items. It is even showing from the food and groceries where people are moving for value-oriented and larger packs.
Retailers have learned from the past years during the COVID pandemic, where the supply chain was disrupted and goods were hard to find their way to the store shelves. They applied the “just-in-case” and stock up products whichever they could. They even chartered ships to pick up the products from Asia to beat the congestion at the seaport on the West Coast. What we learned in the earlier years, the “just-in-time” practice had become obsolete during the time.
Now everything is settling down and the market has found its way to serve the market’s need. Going forward, with the combination of the AI application, we may perform better.
Market Intelligence Short Read - Part 2
In this piece of article, we would like to highlight those fashion retailers are trying to turn their stores to become more spacious and to create an ambiance that can be more enticed to the customers. Finally they have started to learn the Apple store concept, which Apple had adopted more than twenty years ago. Perhaps it is time to train the sales staff in the stores to be more problem-solving.
I have already the strong feeling that if they don’t improve the store layout and increase the activities that customers can do inside the store area, it would be hard for them to increase the foot traffic and try to keep them stay inside the store can assure more business.
The services like repair station, printing and even adding the embroidery-head for the initials or the cute emojis for instance, can enhance the fun of the products.
More and more of the retailers are using AI to help them to understand the behavior of their customers. There are a lot to learn here and they can certainly help the business.
We also read about the dilemma of the big department stores. Due to the competitions, merging of different stores can maximize the business opportunity. Once they are merged, training program for the retail staff will become very important. A well-documented staff handbook can assure them promotions for those who want to stay and grow in the business. We have heard also that many of them are still receiving minimum wage and this is definitely not going to be our future.
We also read about the value of the real estate of those department stores plays an important value to the total business. Take for instance, the flagship store of Macy’s on the Herald Square according to the analysts is worth 20% of Macy’s total value of $5.8 billion. To me, this can be worth anywhere not less than $1.5 billion because of the location.
There are so many things concerning the stores. Nowadays, they are still full of challenges, but if we can overcome them, what would follow are the opportunities.
Fashion & Design
Gucci Cosmos Exhibition in Shanghai
| By IN-Digest Team & Andrew Sia
We received the material for this piece of exhibition from InDigest and we felt that we should bring this to the attention of our readers. Gucci can be considered as the most recognized brands when we were brought up. Its horsebit, the buckle used for its loafers and the two-color webbing across the top of the shoes were its iconic design. Gucci handbags were most received by the women since then.
We started the writeup by telling the story of the Gucci family, especially after I have seen the movie “House of Gucci” which was stunning. Regret to say that there is no more family members remaining in the business. The company has been taken up by the French fashion group Kering and it is their house brand now among many other world renowned brands.
Gucci Cosmos started its debut in Shanghai, and it is currently showing in London. The show will continue in Paris and at the moment, the next stop would be Kyoto. It created a total of eight “world” to show the history of Gucci. I hope that you won’t miss it.
Introducing Fashion Brand Chloé | By Andrew Sia
Chloé is a brand more popular among the youngsters. Its founder, Gaby Aghion, an Egyptian-born Parisian whose vision for the brand was a “luxury prêt-à-porter.”
Chloé is now in the stable of Richemont and has 218 stores across the world. It is known for its ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, fragrances, eyewear, children’s wear and jewelry.
We hope that you will be able to see the show: “Mood of the Moment: Gaby Aghion and the house of Chloé”. It is showing at the Jewish Museum at 1109 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10128 until February 28, 2024.
Fashion Quota - Donna Karan | By Andrew Sia
Donna Karan, a household name in American fashion and entrepreneurship, was born into a fashion-oriented family. She started in her young age and was admitted by Parsons School of Design but she didn’t graduate at the first instance. Instead, she worked herself up through her position as an assistance at Anne Klein. Later she became its head designer.
Throughout her life, she worked herself up and received numerous acknowledgements from the Council of Fashion Designers of America, an honorary doctorate from Parsons, the New School. She has been recognized as one of Parson’s most committed graduates by offering her time, talents, knowledge and resources. She serves on committees, hiring graduates and advising the fashion community.
Her Urban Zen, a luxury lifestyle store and foundation dedicated for preserving the culture and the Urban Zen Foundation collaborated with students from Parsons and artisans at design and training centers in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
She can be so proud of herself as being the Queen of Seventh Avenue, and her famous Seven Easy Pieces—a bodysuit, a tailored jacket, a cashmere sweater, a dress, a leather piece, a white shirt and a skirt—can be worn throughout the day which makes her so well received in the fashion industry. I want you to take note that this capsule wardrobe was introduced by Donna Karan already in the 1980s.
Runway Report 2024-2025 Pantone Colors | By Genevieve Redding
Genevieve quoted, “The Autumn/Winter 2024/25 color palette blends dynamic shades with subtle and refined tones in unconventional pairings. This season’s spontaneous color expressions celebrate individuality, modernity and creativity.”
We are not going to repeat what Genevieve was saying but have to point out that the 16 different color-shades that Genevieve had wisely used across all those brands she carefully picked in their different pieces. We have seen them presented in the mix-and-matching combinations.
The way they were presented were so refreshing and I am sure that the designers would find them very inspiring when they have to do the color variations. Kudos to Genevieve for her good work.
Market Report | By Andrew Sia
Market Report Short Read - Part 1
With this report we reported the woes of China; the struggling of the Bangladesh workers for earning a wage that can allow them to live; the shipping lines struggling for the freight cost; and the drought has affecting the water level of Panama Canal.
All these have sounded very gloomy and with the holiday season ahead of us, this will affect our festive mood.
I hope that we can carry more positive news that can encourage us to move ahead into the new year.
Market Report Short Read - Part 2
In this report we spent a lot of pages talking about China’s situation. Without question, it is a very challenging year for China because of the geopolitical struggling. It tells us the importance of maintain a more moderate approach for international affairs where respects can become mutual.
We can read from the report from the London-based Capital Economics about the global geopolitical segregation. This is definitely unhealthy for our world today for any harmonizing development.
We have also featured about India, the country who has just overtook China to become the number one country for the population. Personally I can see that the country has a long way to catch up for what China has accomplished in the last forty years. It has a lot of social and cultural issues to solve before the country can become industrious. One of its biggest challenge is its sexual discrimination against females.
China the Giant Juggernaut - Part 17 | By Andrew Sia
As mentioned in the opening of this write up we pointed out that the Belt Road Initiative backfired. Since 2000, China lent to the developing world for the total of $1.3 trillion. When Xi Jinping started the BRI in 2013, the big chunk of $1.3 billion was spent. On top of many non-functioning projects, China has now to spend rescue loan packages to bail out those countries in hot water. With China itself also in the middle of financial crisis, we are waiting to see something happening.
Unfortunately that we don’t have any good news except challenges from different directions. One and one, those countries who borrowed from China will enter into default. We need to watch closely Pakistan who is the biggest debtor to China.
The situation in South China Sea is also uncomfortable for the free world. Actually it is in the hot seat, more than Taiwan in my opinion.
ENVIRONMENTAL & SUSTAINABILITY
Progress Report on the Paris Climate Agreement - Part 22
| By Andrew Sia
The hot topic of this write up is the COP28 held in Dubai of the United Arab Emirates and the controversy was the host, Sultan Al Jaber, who is the head of the Abu Dhabi National Company, who also presided over the conference. The last we read was the developing countries will need $387 billion a year to fight global warming. But this is very unlikely to be achieved as the richer nations have been under a lot of pressure to deliver on previous funding pledged to help developing countries. Global warming has already imposed rising cost on economies around the world. The worsening of the climate change has already those brought climate-vulnerable economies the losses and damages of more than $500 billion in the past two decades.
The earth has seen the warmest year on record in 2023. Temperature in October was 0.85° C higher than average. A series of extreme weather events around the world has made the temperature higher than normal. We have sea temperature rising because of the El Niño weather phenomenon which will continue to warm the Pacific Ocean into the beginning of 2024.
The future of our effort against the global warming is not promising.
SUPPLY CHAIN
Globalization Needs Reinvigorate - Part 11 | By Andrew Sia
Without question that our globalization has been under the threats of different crises. We have seen our waterways, the major passages of our transportation of goods have been affected by climate change and wars. This is very unfortunate and this hasn’t been considered before.
There can only be one solution if the world can come together and work hand-in-hand again. We have to understand that we can solve any challenge if the world can think as one.
Only if we can put globalization in its right perspective, it can prosper all mankind. We have to solve the poverty, hunger, inequality and human right. After all, we have to ask ourselves what do we want to accomplish that can maximize all the resources and the opportunities we have?
Entrepreneurship & Business
EXPLORING FOR SETTING UP A SEWING ROOM PART 2 | By Andrew Sia
This time our report covered 12 regions in UK and 19 other cities. They are waiting for your exploration.
If you can combine this piece with our earlier piece, UK Craft Shows in November 2023 to October 2024. With those activities as mentioned, for instance the quilting, knitting, dressmaking, there you can complete most of your material sourcing.
This can bring you one step closer to what you would want to achieve and perhaps help you to turn your hobby and your skill into something that can be useful. Why not give it a try?
UK Craft Shows in November 2023 to October 2024 | By Andrew Sia
This piece is under the sector of Entrepreneurship & Business. In the beginning of the piece it introduced the handicraft shows in the UK. This piece will extend to the US, Canada and Australia in our future reports.
We hope that the readers will use this to inspire the visits to these shows. Remember that these shows would inspire us to bring out our creativities in the various fields. Hopefully that this can also lead us to something bigger eventually.
Case Study the Story of Estée Lauder | By Andrew Sia
Estée Lauder, an American woman, who cofounded Estée Lauder, Inc., a globally famous fragrance and cosmetic companies. As a child, she learned business lessons from her father’s hardware store for assertive selling, perfectionism, promotion of quality products and most important, the attention to a woman’s outward appearance.
Estée Lauder is using fashion influencers as the brand’s spokesperson. With names like Fei Fei, Kendall Jenner, Joan Smalls, Yang Mi, Hilary Rhoda and Misty Copeland are appearing in social media.
Estée Lauder is a story that you can trace back to the beginning of last century and the brand has been in existence for almost 80 years. It is a very admirable piece of business and if there can be more innovations, the brand can be taken to its next level very easily.
This writeup is to inspire the entrepreneurs and for those who are in the business to think outside the box. There are a lot of opportunities out there.
BOOK REPORT
1,000 DEADSTOCK SNEAKERS THE DREAM COLLECTION BY LARRY DEADSTOCK
| Reported By Andrew Sia
It is another piece about sneakers and at this time I start with a passion and a new pairs of eyes looking at sneakers. It is an important piece of our accessories aside of the clothing.
With the journal, we have also started to feature the sneakers in the past two years. Not only we pointed out the importance of the tradeshows, but also the sports—marathon running.
This book tells us the collectible sneakers, its resale and even the vintage sneakers. Also, it is definitely a business of its own. I am quite surprised to find out the writer is from Europe and he has an international flare.
I have two more books to report—Sneaker Freaker: The Ultimate Sneaker Book, and Sneaker Freaker: World’s Greatest Sneaker Collector. I would probably feature them in 2024.
The fact is that the books are all very bulky and heavy, and they can be good for the coffee table. They can also be easily used as a conversation piece when friends are dropping by. It is also good to compare those prizes and share our experiences.
2024 Coronavirus Regional Report
Coronavirus Fourth Quarterly Regional Report - December 2023
| Reported By Andrew Sia
With this report, we brought out a new variant, JN1, a sub-lineage of BA.2.86 which started in the U.S. since September. It stands for nearly half of the U.S. COVID cases. There is an increase of RSV which is the respiratory syncytial virus and we have seen a lot of cases around us. It is also time of the year that this cold weather is the flu season. It has almost all the symptoms as the COVID but it is less contagious.
This COVID pandemic started in January 2, 2020 and it is entering into its fourth year. We have seen that it is subsided and the WHO has described as one of the COVID-19 epidemiological.
