Luxury cashmere fashion brand Wyse London has quickly appointed a new CEO, with Kara Groves taking up the key post. She replaces Suzy Slavid who has just returned to fashion retailer River Island as its trading managing director.
Kara Groves
However Slavid, who had been CEO of Wyse London for two years, will remain a non-executive director there.
Her replacement Groves will be responsible for driving the brand’s direct-to-consumer business in the UK while also spearheading further expansion in the US.
She brings over 15 years’ executive level experience having held senior roles with several premium/lifestyle brands.
Most recently, Groves was chief executive at chidrenswear brand Bambino Mio where she focused on the brand’s repositioning to reinvigorate growth.
Previous to that she was chief operating officer at womenswear brand Mint Velvet where she was charged with reshaping the brand’s store portfolio and heading international expansion.
Meanwhile, Groves also spent seven years at Joules, latterly as chief commercial officer until 2018, spearheading a threefold increase in turnover through an expansion of the lifestyle brand’s product offer across many routes to market, including the US.
Groves said: “What I find most rewarding is working with founder-led businesses – Marielle [Wyse] is a real inspiration and brings energy and life to so many creative aspects of the brand as well as a laser-focused attention to detail.”
She added: “Our mindset will remain customer centric – we deeply understand our loyal customer base and will continue to cultivate grow and evolve with her needs. We like to push boundaries and elevate wherever we can. We are looking forward to expanding our presence both here in the UK and in the US market.”
Washington’s push to swiftly end the conflict in Ukraine has sparked speculation that Western brands may want to return to Russia, but from fashion to cars, the markets they vacated now look more competitive than three years ago.
Reuters
As Ukraine marked the anniversary of Russian troops flooding across its border, U.S. President Donald Trump suggested that the conflict could end within weeks, though it is not yet clear how.
Western sanctions that complicate cross-border payments and trade flows would probably need softening for companies to return in large numbers. Those that do take the plunge will find markets now dominated by domestic – or in the case of cars, Chinese – brands.
Henderson, a men’s clothing chain that listed on Moscow Exchange in late 2023, said the departure of foreign retailers had given it a development boost, mainly by making better locations within shopping centres available.
That has helped the company grow its sales three times faster than the overall 8% annual growth of the menswear market, even though Western brands are still available in some places.
“The market itself has not changed significantly, as the majority of foreign brands (60-80% of global manufacturers, according to our estimates) did not leave,” Henderson’s press office said in response to Reuters questions.
“(They) just transformed sales channels, using the services of local, multi-brand stores to sell products, or by changing the signage on their stores and introducing new trademarks.”
Consumer goods are not under sanctions, but as many companies refused to do business with Russia, Moscow legalised grey imports through third countries that allow retailers to sell foreign goods without the trademark owner’s permission.
The difference is that shopping malls’ prime locations, in the past reserved for Western flagship stores, are now taken by Russian rivals. “The best spots, where Western brands used to be stationed, are already filled,” said Pavel Lyulin, vice president of the Shopping Centres Association of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
“These are long-term contracts, so every such venue will be battled for.”
Moscow is unlikely to greet returning brands with open arms. President Vladimir Putin on Friday said Russian manufacturers must be treated preferentially if foreign firms return.
Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s special envoy on international economic and investment cooperation, last week said he expected a number of U.S. companies to return as early as the second quarter of this year, without giving further details.
More than a thousand Western companies have exited Russia since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine. Some left because of costs and disruptions brought by sanctions and payment issues while others, particularly retailers, in protest against Russia’s actions.
The retail sector has yet to fully recover, with shopping centres still welcoming 20% fewer visitors than in 2019, according to Lyulin. But Russian shoppers have taken to local brands.
“In the very beginning, it was really hard because the Russian retail market for clothing and footwear was underdeveloped,” Moscow resident Anna, 29, told Reuters on one of the Russian capital’s main shopping streets.
“But now, absolutely not. Our local brands produce things that are absolutely no worse (than Western ones).”
Stockmann, a retailer which sells foreign and domestic clothes and acquired Hugo Boss‘ Russian business last year, has noted an increase in domestic brands’ sales, Darya, a salesperson in one of the company’s Moscow stores, said.
Moscow resident Anastasia Efremova told Reuters that Russian brands had raised prices, but otherwise the impact had been minimal. “I am talking not only about clothing or cosmetics but also about spare car parts, for instance,” Efremova, 38, said. “There were fears we would not be able to buy something for cars, but everything is in stock.”
Foreign carmakers helped grow Russia’s car market when they began building factories in Russia in the early 2000s.
The sudden departure of automakers like Renault, Volkswagen and Nissan left a gap that was filled primarily by Chinese competitors, which now account for more than 50% of new car sales compared with less than 10% before the start of the conflict.
Domestic carmakers account for about 30% of sales, up from closer to 20% before February 2022.
For now, Western companies are ruling out imminent returns. Executives from Arla Foods, maker of Lurpak Butter, and InterContinental Hotels last week said there were no plans to re-enter the Russian market for now. France’s Renault said returning under the terms agreed when exiting in 2022 was “very unlikely”.
Russian brands will want to defend the market share they gained and feel confident they are strong enough to compete should international players come back, said Valeria, a salesperson in a central Moscow fashion store.
Ultimately, consumers want to be free to decide for themselves, said Moscow resident Laysen Faskhutdinova. “I’d rather they return. Russians should have a choice.”
Quiksilver to relaunch womenswear in U.S. and Canada. – Quiksilver
Under the agreement, Velocity will oversee the design, manufacturing, and distribution of the collection, set to debut in spring 2025.
The upcoming line will feature high-quality, timeless, versatile pieces inspired by nature, adventure and the free spirit. The line is expected to include boardshorts, dresses, swimwear, t-shirts, outerwear, woven tops, denim, knitwear, fleece and sweaters.
“We are thrilled to expand our partnership with Authentic to bring the Quiksilver women’s line back to life,” said Chris Laurita, co-CEO of Velocity Global Brands.
“Through this launch, we will honor Quiksilver’s rich legacy while looking ahead. We will blend surf culture with refined sophistication, bringing the best of the past and future together.”
In 2023, Authentic inked a partnership with Centric Brands to design, manufacture and distribute kids apparel for Quiksilver, as well as established an agreement with Liberated Brands to be the retail and e-commerce operator for the brand, across North America.
“Velocity has proven time and again its talent for translating brand vision into standout products,” added David Brooks, EVP, action & outdoor sports, lifestyle, Authentic. “We’re eager to work together to drive growth and meet our increasing consumer demand for the Quiksilver brand.”
Fast-fashion retailer Shein found two cases of child labour at its suppliers last year, the same number as in 2023, following more audits of its mostly China-based third-party manufacturers, the company told British lawmakers in a letter.
Reuters
The disclosure by Shein, which is planning an initial public offering in London, was in a February 7 response to questions from a British parliamentary committee. It was written by Yinan Zhu, Shein’s general counsel for Europe, Middle East and Africa, and published late Tuesday.
Shein has faced allegations of worker abuses in its supply chain, and the cross-party Business and Trade Committee questioned Zhu in person in January, following up with letters asking for additional information.
In the letter, Zhu said one of the incidents involved a child aged 11 years and 8 months, whom the audit found spent time during the summer holiday at a factory where her father was the general manager and her mother worked, and “helped with tasks”.
“Nonetheless, and irrespective of these details, we took the issue extremely seriously, including designating the incident as child labour and immediately terminating our relationship with the supplier,” Zhu said in the letter.
The second case was 15 years and 3 months. Zhu also gave the ages of the children Shein previously said it found working at suppliers in 2023 as 15 years and 11 months, and 15 years and 9 months.
Shein conducted around 4,300 audits in 2024, covering about 317,000 workers, up from 4,000 audits in 2023 covering 285,000 workers, according to the letter.
“We take a strict zero tolerance approach to child labour,” Zhu wrote. “We will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that these isolated cases are removed from our supply chain entirely in future, bringing our network of third-party suppliers globally, including in China, Brazil and Turkey, along with us.”
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