Newsletter No.06     24 February 2017

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Woolies sees green shoots in Australia

Woolworths says it is beginning to see some “green shoots” in its Australian operations, with significant changes in store for David Jones and Country Road Group.

But the retailer warned that despite this encouraging trend, trading conditions in that market would remain difficult for the rest of the year.

CEO Ian Moir said Country Road Group had gone through “a really tough three years”.

“We’ve spent a lot of time in the business. It’s really beginning to make a difference.

“We are starting to see green shoots and that’s not in just Country Road itself, but also within Witchery. Those two businesses are the biggest and were also the problem children and they are beginning to behave,” said Moir.

The Country Road Group houses Country Road, Trenery, Witchery and Mimco.

In the 26 weeks ended December 25, David Jones’ sales grew 4% and comparable sales 0.5% in Australian dollars. Country Road Group sales were 0.9% lower than the prior period due to high levels of promotional activity, Woolworths said.

Anchor Capital investment analyst Liam Hechter said Country Road’s results were largely expected and were likely to have been more seasonal than structural.

“Management made the point that the performance in the second quarter was stronger than the first, so the disappointing operational performance could possibly be short-lived, although we would have to give the numbers and prospects a thorough interrogation over the coming months before forming a strong conviction on that view,” Hechter said.

Management had executed well on some of the guided changes at David Jones, while the big source of synergies – the cross-selling of private label products in David Jones stores – seemed to have disappointed.

“Not enough has passed to make a definitive call on whether the cross-sell of private label will deliver the expected synergies. When Woolworths bought David Jones, investors expected the guided synergies to be delivered in a linear fashion. While this was always unlikely to be the case, we remain cautiously optimistic that management is on the right track in delivering on the guided synergies although it is likely going to take longer than initially anticipated,” he said.

Moir said the second half of the year would be similar to the first. “In Australia, consumer confidence is a bit muted. Australians are by nature a bit of a miserable bunch, but their confidence has been dampened by economic events.”

GDP in Australia “is expected to grow, but at a rate slower than the long-term average”, the CEO said.

Colleen Goko

Intertextile Shanghai to reveal S/S 2018 trends

Both, international as well as domestic trend forums will reveal Spring/Summer 2018 trends, at the upcoming Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics – Spring Edition being held in Shanghai, in March 2017. The international trends will be presented in the Intertextile Directions Trend Forum, which this year is being curated by Elementi Moda Srl.

The overall mood of next season’s trends is Feel Good, which is encapsulated in three themes, namely, Merge with Nature, Care for the Future and Meet with Culture.

The Merge with Nature theme gives rise to a deep feeling of wellness through a meditative walk on the seaside, in total harmony with the natural elements.

The Care for Future theme is inspired by the pop sixties era, for a new generation aiming to mix modernity with wellness and comfort in order to boost their style.

The last theme, Meet with Culture is an initiatory journey from Asia to the north of the Mediterranean, where the young generations mash up influences, wardrobes and references to reinvent aesthetic codes.

The latest domestic trends will be seen in three Chinese trend forums curated by Fabrics China. These include the Fashion Focus Trend Forum in hall 7.2 which focuses on colour, and trend forums for suiting in hall 6.1 and womenswear in hall 8.2.

Each of these will also reveal the Spring/Summer 2018 trends in four themes, namely, Fantastic Dimensions, Roaming Mindfulness, Emulative Heritage and Naturalistic Poet.

F2F

Messe Frankfurt to partner Africa Sourcing & Fashion Week

Tradeshow organiser Messe Frankfurt is partnering Africa Sourcing & Fashion Week to be held in Ethiopia, from October 3-6, 2017 by debuting its three trade show brands, Texprocess, Apparel Sourcing and Texworld alongside Africa Sourcing & Fashion Week. The African trade show is the main show for the textile, apparel and home industry in the continent.

Put together, all the trade shows will host over 250 international exhibitors from 25 countries, with the largest number of participants coming from Turkey, the United Arabic Emirates, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, Italy and Germany.

A few of the exhibitors who have confirmed their participation include Almeda Textile, Atraco, Baykar Tekstil, Else Textile, Indochina Textile, Maa Garment, MNS, Özkan Textile, Tür Ip Tekstil, Velocity and YKK.

Other companies who too are participating include Brother Industries, FK Group, Groz-Beckert, Has Group, IMA Spa, Jack, Juki Corporation, Maya, Pegasus Sewing Machines, Silver Star, V.B. Mac and Veit.

To be held concurrent to the trade fairs, will be a comprehensive programme, including a fashion show, lecture series, a trend area and a matchmaking platform.

Did you know….

Napoleon had brass buttons sewn on the sleeves of his soldiers’ uniforms to discourage them from wiping their noses on their uniforms.

Edward Jones might have been the first celeb stalker: He got caught trying to steal Queen Victoria’s underwear four times, and was sent to live in a penal colony in Australia.