At Chopard, Caroline Scheufele has opened the first Caroline’s Couture pop-up boutique in Geneva. The opening marks a new chapter for Chopard’s couture line. Located in the heart of the city, on Rue Robert Céard II, the boutique showcases a selection of Caroline’s Couture creations alongside Chopard Haute Joaillerie pieces. This initiative brings 2025 to a close, shining a spotlight on the maison’s savoir-faire.
Caroline’s Couture pop-up on Rue Robert Céard II – DR
Founded in 1860, Chopard is a Swiss house renowned worldwide for its luxury jewellery and timepieces. The house has three boutiques in France and is available through around 30 retailers. Caroline Scheufele, the house’s co-president and artistic director, is behind many of its collections and oversees all artistic creation.
Caroline’s Couture is Chopard’s couture line, created in 2023 by Caroline Scheufele. The pieces are made to measure and are available by appointment only, or at private, invitation-only presentations around the world. No online sales are offered. The line follows the codes of haute couture. Each creation is crafted by specialised artisans: embroidery is carried out in India, guipure lace is made in Switzerland, and fabrics are produced in Italy.
The year 2025 was punctuated by several presentations for Caroline’s Couture. It began with the Insofu capsule collection, presented at the Hôtel Chopard Place Vendôme in Paris. Five silhouettes were then unveiled, inspired by the Insofu emerald, along with 18 Haute Joaillerie pieces.
The collection was then presented at the Cannes Film Festival, on the Chopard rooftop at the Hôtel Martinez. The silhouettes were inspired by the cosmos and the stars. In September, at New York Fashion Week, new creations inspired by the Ice Cube collection were unveiled. For the occasion, Swiss artisans from St. Gallen developed a bespoke guipure technique.
This 90-square-metre pop-up space offers an opportunity to discover Caroline’s Couture creations in a setting dedicated to Chopard’s savoir-faire.
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Sandro announces two new openings in Latin America, with the launch of a boutique in Los Cabos, Mexico, and its first store in Santiago, Chile. These openings form part of the Paris-based brand’s international growth strategy, strengthening its presence in high-potential markets through partnerships with local players.
Sandro boutique in Santiago, Chile – DR
Founded in 1984 in Paris by Evelyne Chetrite, Sandro has established itself as a premium ready-to-wear brand with a contemporary positioning. The brand is now owned by the SMCP Group, alongside Maje, Claudie Pierlot, and Fursac. SMCP is majority controlled by the Chinese group Shandong Ruyi and has an international presence structured around a network of directly operated stores and franchise partners.
The first opening is in Mexico, with a new boutique at Ánima Village in Los Cabos. This new commercial and cultural district is developing into one of the country’s leading luxury hubs, bringing together more than 80 international brands, dining destinations and galleries, with architecture that blends into the natural landscape. Opened in early December, the Sandro boutique spans 159 square metres and offers the full womenswear and menswear collections. The interior follows the brand concept, defined by contemporary lines, high-quality materials, and a pared-back ambience. Developed in partnership with Retail Fashion Group, this opening brings the number of Sandro points of sale in Mexico to 21.
The second opening marks Sandro’s entry into the Chilean market. The brand is unveiling its first boutique in Santiago, within the Parque Arauco shopping centre, in its dedicated luxury district, considered one of the most prestigious in the Chilean capital. Covering 142 square metres, the boutique also offers the womenswear and menswear collections and reflects the house’s elegant, modern world. This opening, delivered in partnership with Leuru Group, represents a key milestone in Sandro’s regional development.
With these two new locations, Sandro continues its expansion in Latin America, strengthening its proximity to local and international clientele. This momentum follows the opening, in October 2025, of the brand’s first boutique in Argentina, in Buenos Aires. Globally, Sandro relies on a network of more than 750 points of sale across the key markets of Europe, North America, Asia, and the Middle East, and plans further openings in Latin America, notably in Paraguay and Uruguay. In France, the brand has 143 points of sale, including 64 corners.
This development strategy aligns with the SMCP Group’s overall performance, which in 2024 recorded revenue of €1.21 billion, around half of which was generated by Sandro.
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Originally slated for 2025, the commissioning of Carbios’ first biorecycling plant in France’s Longlaville (Meurthe-et-Moselle) has been pushed back again. Amid a challenging economic climate that is complicating financing, the French biotech announced on December 18 a further delay to its timetable.
Carbios
While the company has reaffirmed its determination to see the project through, it has now given itself until the end of the first quarter of 2026 to secure the final tranche of private funding needed to start construction. As a result, the plant is not expected to be operational until the first half of 2028, three years later than initially planned.
The stakes are high for the French company: the future Longlaville plant is intended to scale up Carbios’s technology for the enzymatic depolymerisation of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastics to industrial level. Once operational, the site is designed to process the equivalent of 300 million T-shirts (at least 90% made from synthetic materials) or two billion coloured bottles into virgin-quality PET.
The project enjoys strong backing, with €42.5 million in public funding secured and pre-commercialisation contracts already covering nearly 50% of future production capacity. However, a ‘small portion’ of private funding is still needed to get the project off the ground, a step hampered by the current market’s caution towards ‘First-of-a-Kind’ industrial infrastructure.
L’Oréal, On, Patagonia, Puma, PVH Corp, and Salomon are among the companies in the consortium supporting the Carbios project, whether to use its recycled materials for bottles or for fibres. Following an initial postponement announced at the end of 2024, the company nevertheless announced spending reductions in spring 2025.
Three additional plants planned internationally
While its in-house project in France is stalling, Carbios is accelerating its ‘asset-light’ deployment model: selling licences abroad. The company is no longer relying solely on its Lorraine site to demonstrate its technology, but is counting on industrial partners capable of financing their own plants.
After signing a major agreement with Wankai Group in early December for a plant in China, Carbios is now aiming to establish its technology in three other strategic regions: Europe, North America, and South America.
In 2024, Carbios announced, in succession, an initial project replicating its industrial site model in China with the Chinese group Zhink, then in Turkey with partner Sasa, and finally in the UK with the British company FCC Environment UK.
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Valentino is returning home to present its autumn/ winter 2026–27 collection. The fashion house, founded in Rome in 1960 by Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti, announced on December 19 that the show for its next winter collection will take place in March in the Italian capital, at a venue to be announced in due course.
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“Rome is an integral part of the maison’s history, and this return represents creative director Alessandro Michele‘s homage to the origins and legacy of Maison Valentino,” read the brief press release.
For one season, the label will step away from the Paris catwalks, but has indicated that it will re-join the Paris Fashion Week calendar as early as its following show.
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