2024 APRIL
iApparel Journal Quarterly Issue
FROM ANDREW SIA & IAJ TEAM
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From what we are experiencing now the world’s situation is more dangerous that the last Cold War (1985-1991). Not only we have to deal with the geopolitical tensions among nations, we have to feel the pressures between the super powers for their internal threats, namely, the U.S. presidential election, Russia’s meddle in the battle with Ukraine, and the uncertainties of China. All these could create a domino effect if one of them can’t hold on to their challenges. We haven’t seen the world that has been under such turmoil and it made me to decide to write with the hope that we can adopt the lessons that we have learn historically. I chose the title as “A Time for Everything.”
The Byrds’ Turn! Turn! Turn! (to everything there is a season) was composed in 1959. It was actually a song which was concocted by the leaders of American folk music’s old guard using lyrics that dated back more than 2,000 years from Chapter 3 of the Songs of Ecclesiastes.
The song “Turn! Turn! Turn!” was released on October 1, 1965. During that time anti-war sentiment was at an all-time high. A chorus of young people pushed the nation to “turn, turn, turn,” as a plea for world peace to accept that change is inevitable, history is a cycle, strife is temporary, and to everything there is a season.
TURN! TURN! TURN! (Lyrics) | THE BYRDS | Oct 1,1965
Courtesy of : Youtube | TsDSeason2BJolly | Sep 18, 2012 |3:56
Very quickly the song reached number one in the US in December 1965 at the height of the Vietnam War (November 1, 1955 to April 30, 1975), and that year American ground troops arrived in Vietnam. We saw men on campuses burning their draft cards, black civil and rights activists resisted fire hoses and police dogs. During that time there were 100,000 draftees illegally resisted and 30,000 deserted to Canada. It was until 1977 after President Jimmy Carter sworn into the White House and he granted full pardon to draft dodgers.
During that time anti-war sentiment was at an all-time high. A chorus of young people pushed the nation to “turn, turn, turn,” to accept that change is inevitable, history is a cycle, strife is temporary, and to everything there is a season.
The song was used in films and TV shows. It appeared in movies such as More American Graffiti, Heart Like a Wheel, and Forrest Gump, and also in TV shows and documentary series, The Vietnam War.
As aforementioned, the basic lyrics were originated from the Songs of Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8 and is commonly known as the “To everything there is a season” passage:
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under Heaven:
– a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
– a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
– a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
– a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
– a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
– a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
– a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”
We can read about at least fourteen contrasts in this scripture that are described as “purposes under Heaven” orchestrated by God.
With the contrast in life we are dealing with today, whether it is celebrating a newborn life, or grieving a loss, they are not in our control, we can know that somewhere God is in the universe.
It also reminds us to look at life where different events and emotions come and go in their appointed times and there is a purpose for each season. It is the human reflection on the transient and cyclical nature of human existence, as well as the need to accept and embrace the various seasons of life as they come.
Now we bring you into our April issue.
Preview all articles of this
Quarterly Issue !
About this April 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 - April to September 2024
| By Andrew Sia
Together with the report, lately I have been trying to mention about fashion exhibitions in the museums from the major cities. This time I have found three, Fashion and Sports: From One Podium to Another” in the Musée des Art Décoratifs of Paris, “Fashion and Movement” at Palais Galliera, both are for commemorate of 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris from July 26 to August 11.
And the third one I have found is the “Cultural of Creativity” organized by Tiffany & Co. in their landmark building at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street.
I want to mention about the picture I have chosen for this writing is taken from the exhibition space in Musée des Art Décoratifs, where a running track has been turned into a fashion runway showing some sport stars wearing attires inspired by fashion designers.
All the other shows are related to lingerie, swimwear, sportswear, shoes, and they can be very useful for our industry.
While I was preparing the report, I have found out that the fashion shows as organized by CFDA, Première Vision, and Curve, which is now owned by WSN, are spread out in different world cities and at different times of the year. Rather than separate them by month, I decided to put them under their own group.
Likewise, we have given a fuller report for the shoes industry for their global shows. We have made the report from April to December in order that the visitors can plan their trips better.
The last thing I would like to mention is the Curve Paris, its predecessor was Salon Internationale de la Lingerie that everyone knows. This time the organizes have moved it to September, along with Interfilière Paris to avoid conflict with the aforementioned 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. We are told that they will move back to July next year.
Navigating Through The Time Of Challenges
| By Andrew Sia
This piece was written to commemorate the 10th anniversary of our publication as the first sentence we used. We talked about the early history as well as the recent history. Most important that we pointed out the challenges we have out there.
I hope that the reader wouldn’t take the write up as too subjective. It is meant for sharing and I hope that it can help. Like I meant to use this as the compass to help us to navigate through the stormy weather. The year of 2024 hopefully will not be too severe for many of us.
If the industry can be more closed together and help each other, I hope to think together will help us to be stronger and more resilient.
Library of Mistakes | By Andrew Sia
I came across this purely by chance. Then I went on the website and discovered more. After entering into deep thoughts, I came up with the following conclusions that I have made.
– Even if we know how the mistakes were made, we would still unable to avoid them.
– There won’t be a total solution for everything because it will never be a perfect world.
– We are human unfortunately. It is part of our natures.
I also came up with an idea that in every library, a special section can be dedicated for those so called “mistakes”, and we should welcome reports and papers to be dedicated from the professionals and specialists. It will be an area where people can sit down and flip over the papers and learn from the contents.
I can point out to several areas, such as the industrial disasters, rescue work for any calamity, airplane crashes, and like I said this can continue on and on.
The library should sit together with the institutions and put those documents that they have done the research, and even can take out those thesis, and if we don’t put them to practice they would remain in the archives collecting dust. We have to put knowledge to work.
Everything You Want To Know About Electric Vehicle
& Autonomous Driving | By Andrew Sia
In this writeup, we led you through the industry of automobile and we came to know that actually the technology for the electrical vehicle was conceived more than fifty years earlier than the automobile invented using gasoline. Kudos to Thomas Edison, the American renowned inventor for various technology that benefited all mankind.
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.
Political Elections Around the World 2024
| By Andrew Sia
We have reported earlier that 2024 is a year where 70 countries with the total of some 4 billion people will go on elections. We have shown our concerns as the rightists and populists are posing threats to the democracy that have been the rule for many decades.
We have divided the elections into three camps, free-and-fair; fiasco-and-farces and indeterminate.
The elections are critical for democracy and we mentioned that entering into 2025 could be an even greater ordeal.
The Rise and Fall of American Department Stores - Part 1
| By Terri Fisher
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.
We have noticed that the scene of the department stores have changed and experienced challenges during the pandemic. It was very hard for every bricks-and-mortar operator. But now it doesn’t mean that the e-commerce operators are having it easy. Retail has changed a lot and shoppers are looking for fun activities and services, and then shop so casually which Terri has pointed out. Not to mention that profit margins are compared with those pre-pandemic days
We have read from the report that Dillard’s customers are buying on the sport versus going home and buying on-line. They have offered more flexible services.
We have noticed that Kohl’s has becoming the largest department store chain in the U.S. Its adding of makeup retailer Sephora has been a smart move. We can find the Sephora’s signage being added to the Kohl’s main signage. Also, its private brands generate nearly 50% of its annual sales.
But when one is successful, it will draw competitions from everywhere, such as mail order operator Amazon, big-box chains like Walmart and Target, and discount clothing stores like TJMaxx.
Now, we will wait for the second part of the report and we will read more from Terri’s observation of the retail industry.
Market Intelligence | By Andrew Sia
Market Intelligence Short Read - Part 1
Retail business has been very challenge in recent years. I feel very sad for those who are still struggling in the industry. When you read that it could lead the loss of $142 billion due to what is known as inventory shrink in 2023.
The fraudulent returns of merchandise were more than $100 billion, or 13.7% of the overall retail sales. This again is a very big loophole that should have to close.
This also shows us that there are many dishonest activities out there and it is sad to see how human behavior can become so low and lack of moral.
When I was looking for the insert for “Apparel Rental Business”, I came across a diagram showing the two parts—customer side and company side—and I must admit that it is really a very complicate process. I can also feel that there is so less the business operators can make with those meager fees that they are collecting. I can’t see the future of it.
I hope that the next writeup would have more encouraging news. Please stay tune.
Market Intelligence Short Read - Part 2
Here we made a lot of reports about the players of those e-commerce from China, namely, Shein, Temu and Pinduoduo, and also the social media app, TikTok, as a very important vehicle for pushing the business to a hype that has never seen and experienced before. I believed that all these have given us the chance for some serious thinking and if things could have gone out of control.
In this free world, we have learned to take competitions, but with this kind of business practices that have all taken a very short time. Take for instance, Pinduoduo was only launched in 2015 and it is already doing $19.19 billion in 2023. We can move on to Temu who was doing $1.7 billion in 2023 and entered into the U.S. market only a year ago. It is already the second most popular shopping app in the U.S. Shein was founded in 2008 and today it is a $60 billion company and has become the second largest fast fashion company in the world.
Their sales revenues are all very impressive, but their profits has remained very moderate and it is obvious that they are trying to “buy” the market and in the meantime “burn” their competitors. They are all waiting for their “killing.”
Fashion & Design
Fashion Quote by Jil Sanders
| By Andrew Sia
The “Queen of Clean” is famous for her minimalism handwriting. We know about Jil Sander’s handwriting from her +J collections and through the shops in Uniqlo, they have become quite well received.
We have featured her before with our collaboration with InDigest previously. We can refer you to our issue of 2021 April and we wrote about Jil Sander’s Minimalist Fashion.
This time we have used one her quotes as, “If I had the power, I would ban leggings.” We almost can feel her disappointment with this item which has no flare and attraction.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Women Dressing Women
| By Andrew Sia
This exhibition was mentioned in our January issue, together there are eleven shows of the same level across cities like Shanghai, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Chicago, London, Morocco, Brussels, Florence and Milan.
“Women Dressing Women” covering 70 different female designers from the early part of 20th century until now in 83 pieces of the collections.
We visited once already and took some pictures and have used them with the article. We are going again later during the month when someone out of town will be visiting New York. Being someone who was a New Yorker before, the support of the Metropolitan Museum is very important. We are still a member there.
I hope that you will stop by and let’s visit the museum together.
The Jewish Museum - Gaby Aghion and the House of Chloè
| By Andrew Sia
This is the follow up of the piece we reported about the fashion exhibitions from the various museums around the big cities across the world. For the brand Chloé we also wrote an article in our January issue titled “Introducing Fashion Brand Chloé.“
Knowing that Gaby came from a prominent Egyptian Jewish banking family, she would never have to work. And yet she turned the House of Chloé into a fashion powerhouse. During the period she worked with many of the world’s renowned designers.
Today it is in the Richemont Group.
Discover La Galerie Dior | By Andrew Sia
It was not so long ago that we wrote about the fashion guru, Christine Dior, in our October issue. His stay of 53 on earth but he had left a very giant footprint in our fashion world.
The exhibition is showing Dior objects, robe miniatures from the Dior’s official couturiers: Christine Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, Raf Simons and Maria Grazia Chiuri. There are also numerous objects, photos and videos on show.
Trend Report: Spring/Summer 2025 | By Genevieve Redding
In this issue, Genevieve made the trend report for Spring/Summer 2025 in the four themes—girl core, white noise, showing it off and mob wife aesthetic.
The four themes are showing fashion brands like Moschino, Chanel, Prada, Simone Rocha, Dolce & Gabbana, Valentino, Roisin Pierce, Jean Paul Gautier, and Blumarine.
For the lingerie brands, Genevieve has selected brands like Kiki de Montparnasse, Fleur du Mal, Agent Provocateur, Maison Margiela, La Perla, Stella McCartney, Free People, Natalia Scallo, Else, Patrizia Pepe, Maison Close, Seen Users, The Andamane, Versace, Dion Lee, and Zimmermann. I have found some brands are unfamiliar to me and it is such an opportunity and blessing to have some ideas now.
The color charts are all relating with the fashion pieces and lingerie pieces have made the trend report more relevant. We have to say that Genevieve has made the perfect selections to show the crossovers.
Very exciting to see that Genevieve has maintained her sharp eyes and has great talents in her appreciation.
Market Report | By Andrew Sia
Market Report Short Read - Part 1
The twelve pieces of writeup have covered different areas. We only mention s few pieces as the following:
– Challenge of the Suez Canal and Panama Canal have shown our vulnerabilities for geopolitical situation and climate change.
– New shipping alliance between Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd and staring in 2025 and we can see some major changes.
– We continue with the microchips and the difficulty for the countries to come together.
– China’s ambition in leading the world with electric vehicle, battery and solar panel.
– The situation with Germany and the party, AfD, is getting popular. We are afraid that its Social Democratic Party, the oldest political party, will lost its grip. The next federal government election will be held not later than October 26, 2025.
Market Report Short Read - Part 2
In this writeup we have covered many areas. We mentioned IMF as its predecessors, Bretton Woods Agreement, will mark its 80th anniversary this year. It led to the formation of International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. These organizations have help to bail out of those developing countries from different averse situations especially those debt crises. We noticed that there are rooms for improvements and we hope that the leaders would have enough wisdom to help us to go through those unpleasant situations.
We continue to report about the electric vehicle and its potentials. We come to know about the car-carrying vessels that are in demand because of this niche market. We get to know about the parts supply for the EVs and took a glimpse of BYD’s factory in Hungary which is something that can be interesting.
We are happy to see that Japan has returned to the chip industry, something that they were so strong in the 1980s and 1990s. Their supply chain in the equipment and materials is still intact. It is so heartening to hear that their Nikkei 225 has returned to its highest point since 1989.
We read about Tamil Nadu in India, a province of 72 million is becoming the hub for iPhone production. Its young population can have a very bright future.
We continue to read about China going into conflicts with the Western countries. We hope that it can come into terms and work under the same value principles as the world has already very big troubles in two areas—the war of Ukraine started by Russia which is entering into its third year, and the war between the Hamas and Israelis have also been in its third months. We hope that with the Year of the Dragon can bring more meaningful policy for the country although we know that to bring them closer to the world would still have to take time and effort.
China the Giant Juggernaut - Part 18 | By Andrew Sia
As the world’s second largest economy, anything that happens to China can bring enormous effect on the free world. Its “new three” industry—electric vehicles, solar energy production and lithium is going to become its turbo engine for economy.
The scary part is that, not only China wants to lead the “green exports”, but also those low-priced products. Very soon many jobs will be disappearing.
When the West slapped the imported import tariffs, China would be screaming protectionism. I hope that something must have to work out here to make for co-existence of the two extreme worlds.
We brought up autonomous driving and it is an important arena for future development. Would there be the chance for developing the technology together? I read a while ago that if this is going to take place, many of the truckdrivers would be out of job. We need to strike a balance there.
Last and not the least, those numbers released by the National Bureau of Statistics of China ought to be more accurate and credible. It will help to understand the world’s economic situation.
ENVIRONMENTAL & SUSTAINABILITY
Progress Report on the Paris Climate Agreement - Part 23
| By Andrew Sia
At this writing the South American countries are still being affected by the El Niño which will last until April. Hopefully the rainy season will start and the wildfires would be stopped.
This issue we have concentrated on Amazon, which is the world’s largest tropical rainforest. It is suffered by droughts and the waterflow of its largest river Rio Negro, and its tributaries are at their lowest water level.
We came to know that California has been trying to set for the standard of the U.S. climate policies and they are standing against the oil companies and its industrial groups. They have taken an important stances and want to set the right direction for going forward.
In recent months we read so much about the water level of the Panama Canal that has reduce the numbers of vessels to pass through. Again, we are waiting for the rainy season to start.
The piece of report about Canada can be quite interesting to read. Its forestry industry is very important to the country and it seemed to have plans to improve this sector.
It is a kind of relief to read that although we have the hottest year on record for 2024, we were only 1.2 or 1.3° Celsius warmer since the Industrial Revolution.
Food Justice & Food Sovereignty -
The Movements to Take Back Power in the Food System
| By Caroline Kopas
This is a very serious piece, and like all pieces as written by Caroline, they are calling for our attention and bringing us into deep thoughts. This piece is no exception.
I haven’t heard about food injustice previously. Or perhaps I have never paid any attention, although I have noticed inequalities in many aspects. But to make the food accessible, Caroline told us that we have to consider food justice and food sovereignty most seriously. Health food is more for developed economies and inaccessible to those labor workers who are growing the food. This is already so unfair if we look at it closely.
Food sovereignty is definitely helping the people in allocating the supply and the efforts that are required to make this function. We heard for the first time that the Food Sovereignty Movement is tied with the movement against Climate Change. It is applying new system to deal with sustainability and equality. Checking for the Fairtrade Certified labels from the food we buy and addressing insecurity in our own community by donating to food banks are the rights things for us to do.
SUPPLY CHAIN
Globalization Needs Reinvigorate - Part 12 | By Andrew Sia
World Trade Organization is used for mitigating any disputes and unfair practices among member nations. But the challenges in these days are far too many, areas like politics, economics. cultures, climate issues, and they are overwhelmed with the global situation.
Since China joined the WTO in 2001, in the matter of 23 years, it wanted to topple the U.S. and created a lot of conflicts. We have seen tensions built on geopolitical and geo-economical areas. On the other hand, China has created its Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013 with the investment of $1 trillion that covers 140 countries in Asia, Africa, Latin American and some Eastern European countries. It is part of the China-centric of bilateral and regional free trade agreements that promotes direct investments. We also come to know that China has free trade agreements with countries accounted for almost 40% of its export. It is by far the world’s biggest exporter shipping some $3.43 trillion around the world, and its free trade agreement tool $1.3 trillion of the total.
In the forth coming 2004 Group of 20 (G20) summit in Rio de Janeiro in November, the host country Brazil is already calling for a pre-meeting in São Paulo in February to discuss about the “new globalization” to pave the way for the meeting in the later part of the year.
This time we have seen the world is full of crises and challenges and it is almost confirmed the U.S. election would be between Biden and Trump is adding more uncertainties. We have to keep our fingers crossed for the outcome.
Entrepreneurship & Business
Handicraft Shows in the US and Canada | By Andrew Sia
This is the piece under the “entrepreneurship and business” and this time we have listed the shows in the U.S. and Canada. As we all know that this kind of fair will be the most popular during the holiday season. Many business activities can happen during the gift season as well.
The creative pieces can involve artists, artisans, jewelers and hobbyists. They are all showing their talents in the different fields.
During the fair, it would draw a lot of tourist’s interest also.
Case Study: The Story of Kering | By Andrew Sia
The luxury industry has benefitted from global wealth for decades and has remained resilient through various economic cycles. While the world went through financial contractions: dot-com crash in 2001, global financial crisis in 2008 and COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the luxury industry has always bounced back. It is always driven by demand and it is even resilient to political situation, whereas at this moment Chinese shoppers may have stopped their overseas trips that may slowing down their shopping spree for the luxury items, but the Japan market has been catching up, as well as the Middle East.
The desires for luxury items, especially the jewelry will remain unchanged. This has driven the luxury business and have also created the three conglomerates, namely, LVMH, Richemont and Kering, and between them they must have more than 100 brands.
This is including the watches, fashion, accessories and perfumery.
There are luxury hospitality and personal services which are available to individuals. This is pampering the rich and the famous.
Like what the title said, this is the story of Kering about its founder who started it from scratch.
BOOK REPORT
The Ultimate Sneaker Book
| Reported By Andrew Sia
It is the third book we came across what are related to sneakers. The sneaker market is already a market over $90 billion and it has a compound growth of 7% annually. We have also realized that the clothing that we are wearing in these days have become more casual, and likewise for the shoes which we are looking for comfort and functionality.
From the book we have seen thousands of pictures about the sneakers from the different brands. We have to admit that their designs and construction work have taken a very big step forward. These are reasons for the well receive of the sneakers.
We hope that this book can inspire our readers to expand their business opportunities.
2024 Coronavirus Regional Report
Coronavirus First Quarterly Regional Report - March 2024
| Reported By Andrew Sia
This will be our last very systematic and thorough report about Covid-19. From now on we will only make new clips about COVID-19, although we will still be collecting data for our reference purpose only.
We feel that it is our obligation to keep our readers posted for the threat that is still out there. We still don’t know if this pandemic will go away and we will still be protecting ourselves by avoiding to go to any crowded environment.
This is a very full report and we hope that you will read it and keep it for your future reference.
We think that the head of the WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, is not doing a qualified job. It is his second appointment on May 24, 2022 and it will last another five years.