2024 JULY
iApparel Journal Quarterly Issue
FROM ANDREW SIA & IAJ TEAM
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FROM THE DESK OF
THE PUBLISHER
The Industrial Revolutions
If we look back two hundred to two hundred fifty years ago, our world was dominated by agriculture and people were making their living from the toiling in the field. It was until 250 years ago when the industrial revolution started in England, and the term First Industrial Revolution was popularized for the first time by the English economic historian, Arnold Toynbee, who documented the British economic development from 1760 to 1840. During the First Industrial Revolution, it transformed agriculture and handicrafts into economies based on large-scale industry, mechanized manufacturing, and started the factory manufacturing system.
This was followed by the Second Industrial Revolution which was usually dated between 1870 and 1914. It was the period of speedy industrialization, technological growth, science discoveries, and introduction of mass production that led to the growth of cities. It further developed manufacturing, steam engine, man-made canals and railroads were developed for the further development of new industries. From then on, the development of advanced countries, together with the modern era of colonialism with Spain and Portugal established their trade outposts and military bases to protect their interest. This was followed by the English, French and Dutch, and the territories expanded from Africa to South America, South Asia and Southeast Asia. Access not only to the minerals, but also the abundant labors.
After the two world wars, decolonization took place, and many of those countries were granted for their independence.
In general, we referred to the Third Industrial Revolution which began in the 1970s and extended into the beginning of 20th century. We started the partial automation using programmable controls and computers, and since the introduction of these technologies, we developed into fully automation without any labor input.
From this moment onward, we heard about Industry 4.0 also known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which allowed smart manufacturing and the creation of intelligent factories. It helped us to enhance productivity, efficiency, and flexibility and allow more intelligent decision-making and customization manufacturing and supply chain operations. It was the first time we came across artificial intelligence, cloud computing, robotics, 3D printing, just to name a few. It didn’t stop here but extend to commercial activities, such as the e-commerce where data are taken for algorithm.
Industry 5.0 also known as the Fifth Industrial Revolution which is the latest and we have seen human beings working alongside advanced technology and application of Artificial Intelligence has become very common. We come across Internet of Things (IoT), and quantum computing. In fact, I feel that we can combine Industry 4.0 and 5.0 as the technology has evolved so quick in the recent years and revolution is actually evolution.
This has all meant for better efficiency and add benefits to our personal life although we can’t really get around with it as everything is happening so fast. We found that our civilization at this stage would probably be a bit overwhelmed. We need to harmonize ourselves with technologies and to lead a more meaningful and happier life.
Let’s come back to where we were when we began composing this piece of writeup, i.e., to help the majority of the people to stay out of poverty, build up their basic skills and improve their living standard.
We have seen since the 1960s onward, countries like Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, also known as the Four Asian Dragons, were providing the economic growth and began to benefit the developed countries. At the same time, they helped to lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, created employments and raised the standards of living. Especially after the joining of China in the late 1980s, the region became the powerhouse. The Four Asian Dragons together with China successfully combined the vast pools of cheap labor with access to international knowhow and financing. Governments were building infrastructure, opening schools for education and skill-training, offered business-friendly rules and incentives, and helped to build state-of-the-art industries.
But unfortunately at this time that the political tensions have increased, supply chains have to be remapped, offshoring has been going for nearshoring and even onshoring, and all these have changed our trading patterns. To certain extent, this was affected by the century-pandemic, and we have to think next for the right steps to take. For the developing world which accounted for 85% of the global population, about 6.8 billion people, the implications are profound.
Manufacturing is still playing a crucial role in today’s global economy, although its exact shares of total output and natures can vary depending on the region and the specific industries involved. We can refer to the following for our consideration:
Economic contribution – This can be measured by the gross domestic product (GDP) of various countries which involve manufacturing of automotive, aviation, electronics, pharmaceuticals, and each make signification to economic output.
Employment contribution – It is still contributing employment opportunities for hundreds of millions of people worldwide, from factory workers to engineers, technicians and management.
Innovation and technology contribution – With research and development, they drive manufacturing into higher-value-added products and advance our products across various sectors of the economy.
Supply chain contribution – This is initiated by international trade and involve the connectivity of various types of materials, manufacturing locations and its involvement in the complex networks of production and distribution.
We think that we will stop here for this issue and study for how to help those vast population from the developing countries which account for 85% of the global population. We have to find a way to bring them out of the hot water as our ancestors have used the poor and the less fortunate to build up our world today. We can’t leave them behind because of the morality.
There is so much to talk about and we will try to continue this subject in our coming issues. Meanwhile, we bring you our July issue.
Preview all articles of this
Quarterly Issue !
About this July 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 - JULY -
DECEMBER 2024
| By Andrew Sia
We started by telling you that there is a show in the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the Costume Institute’s Spring exhibition with the title of the “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.” We ask you not to miss it as it is not only those exhibit pieces, but the modern techniques that are coming together to make it a totally new experience for us.
This time we have found the Maredamare, a beachwear and swimwear exhibition that will be showing their 17th edition international beachwear fair in Florence. I hope that you will find the time to visit and to find some new ideas.
We have also reported the first time the INDX Intimate Apparel in West Midfields, United Kingdom, and since it is organized by the Associated Independent Stores (AIS), an independent buying group, which the show can be quite focused.
We have also noticed the yarn and fabric show in Dhaka, Bangladesh and it is the first time we have reported them. This can be interesting for those who are doing the material sourcing.
Last and not the least, we have found the Gran Canaria Swim Week who has long been organized by Moda Cálida and backed by the Spanish Association of Fashion Creators and many fashion organizations. The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) is one of those supporting organizations, as well as Maredamare from Florence. The show is held in Canary Islands, an autonomous community of Spain located off the coast of Africa in the Atlantic Ocean. It sounds very exotic already.
We hope that you will find it useful for your business planning whether you are a buyer, seller, designers and even manufacturer.
Footwear Tradeshows Calendar - July to December 2024
| By Andrew Sia
In recent years we have observed the surging of the sneakers and we googled and found that as of 2023, an estimated 1.2 billion pairs of sneakers were produced worldwide. This number is almost the double of the previous year. In terms of revenue, it was almost $76 billion and it accounted for 19% of the total footwear sales.
We have only been starting to report about this industry since 2022 and it is correct to say that this is the fastest growing industry in recent years.
We decided to make reports more regularly.
We have noticed shows that are holding in Saigon, Bangkok, Shanghai, Melbourne, Dusseldorf, Paris, Madrid, Milan, Guanajuato, Istanbul, and all those major cities in the United States.
We can foresee that this industry will continue to grow and we ask you to pay attention as there are so many things to develop.
The Rise and Fall of American Department Stores
| Part 2 by Terri Fish
In our part 2 of this series, Terri, our retail correspondent, is featuring Macy’s and Belk. We are beginning to see that the bricks and mortar retailers are crawling back and we have heard some encouraging news. It seemed that going forward they would work side-by-side with the e-commerce and people still would like to enjoy to come out and enjoy their shopping while meeting their friends in their social life. After all, no man is an island.
We are impressed with Terri’s sharp eyes and her experience from the retail industry. Guess what? She had her stint in Macy’s at one time. We look forward to her third report.
Olympics in Paris
| By Andrew Sia
The Olympic Games Paris 2024 will be held from July 26 to August 11, 2024. Officially it is known as the XXXIII Olympiad. The organizing country is not building any new showpieces for the games but to repurpose the city’s attractions by using Place de la Concorde and Grand Palais for instance.
This is all for the purpose of using less cements and steel for the purpose of controlling the carbon emissions. Its aim is to control more than half of the greenhouse emissions of the latest Olympics.
Many of the Parisians are leaving the city to let the visitors to use the public transportation and infrastructure. For those who stayed in the city are told to work from home and avoid using public transportation.
Paris is known for the strikes of its public service workers and at this time I hope that the organizers can come to the agreement with the labor unions.
Any international events in a big city like Paris is at its highest alert level for terrorist attacks. I am sure that Paris has taken all the necessary precautions and would keep an eye on those suspicious behavior.
Let’s hope that the Olympic Games Paris 2024 will be a successful one and a safe one for the athletes, the organizers, the visitors and the Parisians who would stay in the city. God bless.
Revolution of Automobile Industry
| By Andrew Sia
BYD, the world’s largest EV manufacturer, who just took over the position from Tesla in the last quarter of 2023. Soon afterwards it declared its Seagull EV, a small hatchback starting price is ultra-affordable at $9,700 which is cheaper than the previous model. Its battery has options of 190 miles or 252 miles. This has sent the shockwave to all EV manufacturers in the world.
Tesla is going to launch its Model 2 later this year with some details that they are going to announce. It is already promising that it will be very affordable.
The American Big Three automakers are caught by surprise, especially they have just enjoyed their best year for 2023, although they have all missed their goals for electric vehicle sales. In the beginning of the year they were all forecasting a great year in 2024.
We were told that there are 200 electric vehicle manufacturers in China and it has been predicted that after the price war there would only be a handful left.
There is no way to rationalize with China if they don’t join the world’s order and become driven by market economy instead of being a state-planned economy. This time it is going to be difficult for them to accept as their “old trio” of clothing, furniture and appliances are no longer doing well, they have to switch to “new trio” for solar panels, electric vehicles and lithium batteries and compete in the world market.
We can see that the automobile industry is going through the industrial revolution from combustion engine to battery-powered vehicle. But we have never expected to see its selling prices have erode so quickly even before it was being widely accepted by the customers. There is not much for us to do except to hold our breath.
We told the story of BYD, the largest electric vehicle producer in China and perhaps it is now the largest for the world. In China, it is already a killing field as there are so many manufacturers in the electric vehicles who are fighting for the market. They are undercutting each other with lower-prices.
We have also brought out subject about the autonomous driving and it is an area that we would have to pay attention. It can change our concept of travelling on the cities and on our highway. We ask you to read thoroughly about this piece.
Ten Points of Challenges for Our Industry
| By Andrew Sia
This has been the follow up of the piece we published in our April issue: “Navigating Through The Time Of Challenge.” I picked up all the areas that we have to closely monitor plus the opportunities that we can use to overcome the challenges. The PowerPoint was used in a meeting with our trade association—Hong Kong Intimate Apparel Industries’ Association—and I hope that the contents can be adopted in their daily operation.
Without question that this is a very challenging time, but we can put things in their positive perspectives. I think that we can turn the adverse situation into our benefits.
Retailing in United Kingdom
| By Andrew Sia
At this post-COVID period, people are coming out for shopping and their social life has been restored. We are no longer restricted to stay home to avoid the catching of the pandemic. But we have noticed that things have changed at this time as the strip malls are better received than the enclosure ones. Over the time of COVID, many of them have been converted into warehouses for the e-commerce as their pick-and-pack centers. Some of them have even been evolved into multi-purpose malls with indoor amusement parks, gyms, spas, training centers and even offices.
This is the first part of a series that our specialist from the retail industry has decided to contribute to the journal. The report relates to the retailers for their challenges and opportunities. In our opinion, her insight will be so valuable that we can learn from her analysis. In this report, she wrote about Dillard’s and Kohl’s.
A typical example is America Dream in East Rutherford, New Jersey, although it was designed originally with the indoor amusement park and the skating ring. We can see that they are gaining popularity with shoppers.
We have also observed the changes of the retailers, such as Zara and H&M, who are turning their stores into the lifestyle stores with more vacant space for seating. They have also provided cafe for their customers. Their strategy is to let the shoppers spent more time inside their stores to generate more business. It is a very good strategy.
In the UK, in their major cities they have the high street, and in the smaller towns they have the main street and all these are for providing commercial activities for their nationals. We find them same in the U.S. but we call them differently.
Shops are here to stay and will always remain, and online business will continue and will have the potential for further developments. Both of them will survive and will operate in a more harmonizing way and play compliment to each other.
Market Intelligence | By Andrew Sia
Market Intelligence Short Read - Part 1
With this piece of writeup, I have featured four times LVMH and they are all quite lengthy. Also at this time Forbes announced that the richest person in this world at this time is its founder Bernard Arnault. It was as early as 1997, LVMH bought Sephora, although it is not exactly a high-margin luxury beauty company, it is actually a multi-brand retailer with affordable price to serve a more main stream customers.
I found it interesting to know LVMH’s China strategy even when the luxury industry is more of a capitalist product. Sometimes you have to be really lucky and not to have crossed their line, unlike the high-tech industry who has been cracked down without knowing the exact reason behind.
Then I am most impressed with LVMH’s development in Design District, which turned wasted land into mecca for luxury goods. I am going to ask my contacts there to write about the place and tell us the successful story behind the development.
Other than all these, I also come across the UK fashion retailing and found many of the mid-tier retailers have went out of business. A few of them are lucky to have been rescued by Next, who is a strong player in the mid-market. It created a total platform and put in the products, and consolidate their IT and warehouse to share cost. By doing this, Next has found a successful business formula for them. It is no wonder that its earning has been outperforming with its rival like M&S.
Please enjoy this piece of writeup.
Market Intelligence Short Read - Part 2
In this article, we noticed that the brands are all experiencing differently from the market. It is the post-Covid time and the customers are still not in their usual mode of life. It is no surprise some of the brands and retailers are receiving different reactions from the market.
Something worth mentioning in our industry is to adopt the practice of sustainability. From what we read that we haven’t done enough. It is true that many of these conferences are meant for promotions and create awareness and commitments, but there is the lack of follow through every time after a lot of songs and bells. With the key fast fashion players, one was proclaiming the use of 30% recycled materials by 2025, and the other was saying that the next-generation materials have not reached the industrial scale yet and it is hard to make any sensible commitments.
Brands can create their own initiatives and eventually campaigns as their total commitment. The accomplishment of those measurable results are very important. I don’t mean that it is easy, but it is frustrating to know that less than 1% of all the fibers are coming from recycle textiles.
It was sad to see that Renewcell was waiting for investors to bail them out at their most crucial moment during last December. Unfortunately the white knight didn’t show up in time.
I found that these talks are quite discouraging, but if we look back we have to know if the recyclable and sustainable fibers are available on commercial basis. The development of any new fiber would involve a lot of capital investment, years of research and development before they can be available for the market. The experience tells us that the price won’t be less at their initial stage. In fact, this is a subject that is worth exploring and we can use the example of Renewcell, a Swedish company who was founded in 2012. It was producing textile-to-textile fiber made from recycled pulp which came from rayon fibers from cellulose found in the waste and production scraps.
We read that its competitor, Infinited Fiber from Finland has collected the funding of total €40 million for the bailout. New investors in the fashion industry and tech startup, Inditex, and existing investors including H&M and Adidas. Collectively they claimed to make the “circular fashion and textiles an everyday reality.” Hereby, I wish them success.
Market Intelligence Short Read - Part 3
This is our third report in our July issue. The reports are all surrounding the latest news about the brands and in this post-pandemic period the market is still full of challenges, but what is also opportunities behind.
I would like to emphasize the Retailing 2.0 which brings out the spirit and the stores and the e-commerce are now running back-to-back. Then the turnaround of M&S has been successful this time. They have their twelve consecutive quarterly growth. And I like to write about Uniqlo who started in Japan when the country’s economy was in doldrum due to the severe deflation.
It was in the early 1990s when I visited Osaka and saw for the first time their shop. The Japanese were queuing around the block to enter into the shop. Later I learned that the Japanese addressed this period as “Japan’s Lost Decade.”
I hope that the articles are inspiring and can help you to strategize your business.
I would like to give the words of intelligence as the takeaway for you, “The harder the journey, the bigger the lessons, and the greater the rewards.”
Fashion & Design
FASHION QUOTE GIANNI VERSACE
| By Andrew Sia
In this piece of writeup, we talked about an iconic fashion designer, one who was known for the use of bold colors and glamorous aesthetics. Gianni Versace led a very short life, only fifty years, but he left with the symbol of luxury high fashion.
In this article, we lead you through his whole life, and you can almost feel those celebrities he accompanied with—Madonna, Elton John, Princess Diane, and many others. Gianni could have led a very fast life.
I recalled those days at the South Beach in Miami, it was an area that was torn down after it was vacated as the farmland due to the dense mangroves and mosquitos in the late 1800s. Until the Beacon Council decided to redevelop it in 1990 and those Art Deco architectures were revived, and sidewalk cafes served every type of cuisine imaginable, and lively music played at every corner. That was the time when we frequented Miami City.
Gianni Versace used Casa Casuarina in South Beach as one of his residences and he ran across Andrew Cunanan, whose life was a tragical story. Both of their deaths could have avoided if it was handled in the right way and Gianni at the time was enjoying his career was gaining a lot of praises and recognitions.
Today we are happy to see that his sister, Donatella Versace, has been doing a good job and continue to bring the fashion brand to a higher level.
Met Gala 2024 - The Garden of Time
| By Genevieve Redding
In this issue, our fashion correspondent, Genevieve, made a report of the latest Met Gala. The Met Gala is formally known as the Costume Institute Gala, is an annual fundraising gala for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York City. It marks the opening of the Costume Institute’s annual fashion exhibition.
Each year, the Met Gala has a different theme related to the exhibit at the Costume Institute. This year’s new exhibition is, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.” in addition to the theme, the Met Gala has also a “dress code,” and this year’s dress code is “The Garden of Time.” This year’s gala was held in May 6, 2024.
Met Gala tickets which are by invitation-only, the cost is $75,000 per ticket.
The Met Gala remains a symbol of high fashion and cultural significance, it is reflecting the evolving landscape of fashion and celebrity culture.
Met Gala was founded in 1948 by the publicist Eleanor Lambert. In recent year, Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue, became chair of the event. We have seen under her tenure the Met Gala has grown into one of the most prominent and exclusive social event in the world.
We are pleased that Genevieve has alerted the journal to give Met Gala the awareness that it deserves.
Introducing On, the Swiss Sports Brand
| By Andrew Sia
With all the multiple sports brands out there and to distinguish the up and coming ones is not an easy task. The brand has to have what we call “unique-selling-point” or USP. This requires unique ideas and intelligent marketing strategy to gain the acceptance from both the runners and the everyday people.
We have found the brand, On, who just achieved its goal. I like the brand’s attitude as quoted by one of its founder, David Allemann, “It’s a marathon and not a sprint.”
I am equally impressed to find that they are the only brand who take their running shoe “from cradle to cradle” which addresses what the industry has been struggling—sustainability. I must say, “Kudos to you, On.”
Market Report | By Andrew Sia
Market Report Short Read - Part 1
This report covered a lot of areas and telling us the kind of challenges we are facing currently. We have to admit the world is getting more complicated. We noticed that electric vehicle is taking over from the cars using combustion engine. We have already read from several car makers that they will phase out cars using fossil oil very soon. We have also seen the auto-pilot and more about the self-driving cars. This has told us soon that we are going to depend more on the artificial intelligence.
With all these revolutionary changes, they triggered the security concerns that have driven the countries further away from one another because of the distrust. The world was never quite like this before and how to bring us together would need a lot of intelligence. Otherwise we would be driven further apart and even threaten the world peace.
It is something that we should serious consider before it is too late.
We ask you to enjoy all the other short-read pieces that can be useful for our everyday life.
Market Report Short Read - Part 2
With this writeup we came across artificial intelligence, chips, car batteries, microprocessors, electric vehicles, and hybrid vehicles, and all these are related to the hi-tech industry.
We found that TSMC is located in the seismic faults and also in the center of the conflict with China. Likewise, its partners from Japan, Sony, Denso and Toyota, are all located in the same location with seismic activity.
We learned that AI has an insatiable appetite for electricity and its power consumption is something that we would have to factor in the equitation when we are setting up any processing centers.
We have heard about de minimis for so long and we don’t know when will the U.S. Department of Homeland Security be taking action to enforce its corrective act. Knowing that everyday Shein and Temu are shipping one million low-value packages into the U.S. and these shipments are all coming through by airfreight.
Finally we read that hybrid vehicles are gaining their popularity and their models are flying out from the car dealers’ showroom.
China the Giant Juggernaut - Part 19 | By Andrew Sia
When I was preparing the writeup of this article, my heart turned very heavy. Lately the economy of China has not been performing very well due to various reasons that I am not going to repeat here. Xi Jinping is trying to reverse the downward situation but it has caused more trade frictions with the western world. With the predecessors as led by Deng Xiaoping and what they built in the last 35 years before Xi came in power are wiped out significantly by this authoritarian regime. He has forgotten what they taught him but tried to establish his paramount. This has led to distrust from the western world and cut back of investment in China.
In this article you can read China is all out in competition and this is not helping under any situation, especially when the country’s economy is in a downturn mode.
It is disheartening to read that the tech companies have barred the Chinese investors to enter, the state of Florida prohibits Chinese citizens from buying home properties, and there are more than 30 states that are considering to take the same action. This is no longer the China we know unfortunately.
What can we do except to hold our breathe and see what it would lead us.
ENVIRONMENTAL & SUSTAINABILITY
Progress Report on the Paris Climate Agreement - Part 24
| By Andrew Sia
We have learned from Natural Climate Change, it is telling is the earth is hotter than we think, and the scientists have been using the sea sponge in the Caribbean sea to study the global temperature. We also learned that the temperature of the Caribbean’s water can be used to track the average warmed of the oceans worldwide. Our global warming situation is becoming more desperate that we would have first thought.
By comparing the chemical changes of those sponges’ skeletons against measurements from the past six decades and the researchers have lined up the data very nicely. Then they proceeded to unspool a complete history of ocean warming going back to 1700. The history suggested that ocean temperatures stayed mostly flat through 1790. The volcanic eruptions cooled the seas and began to get warm across both the sea and land. This shows us that environmental changes also play an important factor for the global warming.
These researches were carried out at the depth of 300 feet, but to find these sponges were a complicate task.
We ask you to read the rest of the articles to know more about the situations out there.
Ecotourism: A Green Way to Travel
| By Caroline Kopas
Ecotourism in according to Merriam-Webster’s explanation is, “the practice of touring natural habitats in a manner meant to minimize ecological impact.”
Global tourism industry is a massive sector with significant economic impact worldwide. Before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, it contributed approximately $9.2 trillion to the global economy, about 10.4% global GDP. It was responsible for 330 million jobs, which is about 10% of total global employment. During that time, there we around 1.5 billion international tourists traveling globally, and their spending reached approximately $1.7 trillion.
The COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted the industry with a drastic drop in international tourism. The World Tourism Organization and other industry analysts project continuous growth in the coming years and it can only be supported by increasing incomes, the expansion of the middle class in emerging markets and other stimulation for the tourism industry.
This piece is telling us to be considerate and to pay attention to the environment as well as the local habitats. Ecotourism has been around since 1980s but many of us are still unaware. Caroline reminded us to have some thoughts by observing our behavior in order to make ourselves to become more welcome by the countries we visit.
Let’s build up our tourist industry with quality in order that this important industry can sustain and prosper.
SUPPLY CHAIN
Globalization Needs Reinvigorate - Part 13 | By Andrew Sia
When I look back, it was in our July 2021 issue I first wrote about the Globalization Needs Reinvigoration – Part 1 and it wasn’t that too long time ago.
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
Case Study: The Story of Richemont | By Andrew Sia
This is the second story we wrote after the first one we published in our April issue as the Story of Kering. We mentioned earlier on that the luxury industry sect is resilient even going through so many crises. Richemont owns iconic brands that went back to 1755, Vacheron Constantin, and other renowned brands like Cartier, Jaeger Le-Coultre, Piaget, Van Cleef & Arpels, and the like. All of these companies survived multiple revolutions, world wars, global pandemics, and recessions. For these brands to survive and to see them today growing from strength to strength is something not only we have to admire, but to learn and practice.
When I was preparing this writeup, I was most impressed when I came across Cartier, within the Richemont Group, established the Institut Superieur de Marketing du Luxe, also known as Sup de Luxe Paris. It provides luxury management programs from bachelor’s to MBAs. Sup de Luxe is part of the EDC Paris Business School. The institute is a “Chair Cartier” and was created by professionals working in the luxury goods sector. This institution is training students to become professionals to serve in the industry. What a dignified practice and so admirable that every industry should learn and to practice.
In this piece you will also find the initiative by Montblanc for instance. They all have shown their social responsibility. I found it very encouraging.
Please watch out for the third piece which I would be writing about LVMH and it is almost completed. I can assure you that I have learned equally as much from my research for the article. I’ll share it with you in our November issue.
By the way, Richemont is the luxury group that holds its No. 1 position in hard luxury category for jewelry and watches.
BOOK REPORT
World Greatest Sneaker Collector
| Reported By Andrew Sia
For the sneakers we have featured three books in our recent issues. Because the sneaker is so hot and it is already mentioned that it is a business of $76 billion. The amount almost doubled from 2022 and it is very impressive. Going forward, worldwide sneaker revenue is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.3% over the next five years and is expected to reach $98 billion in 2028.
U.S. is the top player in the global sneaker market, and it is about 30% market share. Europe on the whole had a 24% share. The Asia Pacific region had the share of 36.5%. As a single market, the U.S. is still ahead of all countries.
2024 Coronavirus Regional Report
COVID 19 Coronavirus Pandemic Final Report
| Reported By Andrew Sia
From April 2020 until April 2024, we have created 45 reports to show to our readers the cases of the coronavirus pandemic. It was a very painstaking work for us as every Saturday we would sit in front of the computer and click into the website of Worldometers to record their latest cases. We would also report other related reports and findings relating to this pandemic. It was all for the purpose to alert our readers for the awareness of this virus killer.
On April 21, It was to our surprise, and also to our relief, to read from Worldometers that they stopped the reporting on April 13. It was also due to the reason that many countries have stopped their submission of the data. The numbers would not be accurate anymore as less countries would submit their findings. To us, this makes sense, in fact we shouldn’t neglect but ought to watch our news closely for any adverse situation.
We have started to compile our reports and a book would be published under the title of “Chronical of a Century Pandemic (Eve of Destruction of Mankind)” and we would let you know when it is available.