L’Oréal Groupe has officially opened its North America Research & Innovation (R&I) Center in Clark, New Jersey.
L’Oreal opens new North America Research & Innovation Center. – L’Oreal
Representing a $160 million investment, the nearly 250,000-square-foot facility is L’Oréal’s largest R&I center outside of France and underscores its long-term commitment to the U.S. market, economy, and workforce. Construction of the center began in 2022, while full-scale operations commenced in February.
The R&I Center will play a key role in developing L’Oréal’s American brands, including Maybelline, CeraVe, Redken, and Kiehl’s. Notable features of the facility include a 26,000-square-foot modular laboratory, a consumer co-creation center that accommodates up to 400 daily participants for product testing, and an on-site mini factory for scaling final formulations before full production.
“The U.S. plays a defining role in shaping the future of beauty. With its diverse and demanding consumers and world-leading innovation ecosystem, it is the ideal environment to drive our vision forward,” said Barbara Lavernos, deputy CEO of L’Oréal Groupe, in charge of research, innovation, and technology.
“This center embodies L’Oréal’s uniquely end-to-end innovation model, from upstream Advanced Research on new breakthrough ingredients to the downstream development of formulas ready for scale-up to deliver high-performance, safe, and responsible beauty solutions.”
The facility joins L’Oréal’s global R&I hubs in France, Brazil, South Africa, India, China, and Japan. It will employ more than 600 scientists, engineers, and researchers. The center will also collaborate with leading academic institutions, biotech firms, and startups to drive advancements in sustainability, inclusivity, and personalization across skin tones, hair types, and beauty preferences.
“The grand opening of our research center in New Jersey represents a transformative new chapter in L’Oréal’s storied history in the United States,” added David Greenberg, CEO of L’Oréal USA and president of the North America zones.
“This investment will enable us to pioneer groundbreaking product innovations for American consumers that anticipate global market needs. And we’re not simply creating products; we’re building a prosperous future of economic growth, powered by American talent.”
Despite the region’s generalised consumption slump, Italian luxury footwear brand René Caovilla, which generates 79% of its revenue outside its home country, still firmly believes in the Asian market.
René Caovilla, Fall/Winter 2025-26
René Caovilla recently opened a flagship store in Hong Kong, inside the prestigious Harbour City Mall, and on February 20 opened a pop-up store in Bangkok at the Central Embassy, Thailand’s premier luxury shopping destination, adding to the store already active in the city’s Central Chidlom district. The brand also has set its sights on other South-East Asian countries which have shown an interest in its products, like Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.
In 2024, René Caovilla performed very positively in the e-tail channel, which posted a 33% revenue growth over 2023 and accounted for 12% of total revenue.
At the recently concluded Milan Fashion Week Women, the brand presented its new collection, ‘The Golden Era’, with golden details centre-stage. The label’s iconic Cleo model features in a version enhanced by a golden pattern inspired by couture ateliers, as do the two new ballet flats, and the mule and slingback models, enriched with a motif made with hand-set crystals, in a nod to exotic destinations.
René Caovilla, Fall/Winter 2025-26
The collection also includes the Full Crystals series, consisting of slingbacks, Mary Janes with a Parisian vibe, boots, ballet flats and kitten-heels models, characterised by cascades of small crystals and featuring mini and split buckles, pointed toes, serpent decorations and directional sparkling details.
The Wave series is inspired by sinuous wave-like elements enveloping the foot and ankle. Slingbacks and stiletto-heeled booties are presented in soft pastel colours and decorated with a row of black crystals, and are available also in dark-brown suede or in black with tone-on-tone crystals.
A novelty for Fall/Winter 2025-26 is Spark, a new serpent element wrapped around the ankle in a spiral of glittering crystals. It is used to embellish sandals in purple, orange and grey metallic fabrics, or in blue, purple and raspberry-coloured velvet, as well as bold knee-high and ankle boots in black stretch Nappa leather.
Two signature René Caovilla models are back in the collection, the Chandelier and Margot sandals, featured in bright hues like raspberry, purple, orange, teal and amber, as well as in classic dark grey. Braid, a model launched in Spring 2025 and characterised by a double braid element, is also included in the collection, in seasonal hues and new silhouettes: two mule versions, pointed-toe models, models with ankle serpents, and flip flops with chunky heels. Finally, the bridal collection introduces the new Dalilah model, featuring a T-shaped cross-over on the front of the foot, an ankle strap and white crystals.
René Caovilla, Fall/Winter 2025-26
For the season, the label is also introducing a capsule collection of mini handbags: The little Bucket Bag with all-over rhinestones in orange and gold, also available in black velvet; the Wave clutch-bag, in light pink satin, or in black with all-over rhinestones, and in a velvet version trimmed with black rhinestones, featuring a Serpent bracelet for attaching it to the wrist; and a black mini-trunk with allover rhinestones and a serpent-shaped handle.
Alpargatas, the Brazilian company behind the iconic flip-flop brand Havaianas, bounced back into the black in 2024, posting a net profit of 107.4 million Brazilian reals (€17.7 million), according to a statement released last Monday.
Havaianas’ parent company returns to profit with €17.7 million in earnings for 2024. – Havaianas
This result sharply contrasts the 1.87 billion Brazilian reals (€309 million) loss recorded by the group in 2023, according to financial statements submitted to the São Paulo Stock Exchange. In the fourth quarter of last year, Alpargatas posted a net profit of 2.1 million Brazilian reals (€350,000).
The company’s annual net revenue reached 4.11 billion Brazilian reals (€679.71 million), a 10% increase from 2023. This double-digit growth was largely driven by the strong commercial performance of Havaianas and the “normalization process of sales volume,” according to the financial report. The group recorded 3.1 billion reals in sales within Brazil. In 2024, Alpargatas sold 226.6 million pairs of Havaianas, a 9.5% increase from 2023. Of these, 204.4 million pairs were sold in Brazil, while 22.2 million were sold internationally, though overseas sales declined by 3.1%.
In the fourth quarter, Havaianas sales rose by 4% compared to the same period in 2023. Alpargatas’ EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) also returned to positive territory, reaching 280 million Brazilian reals (€46 million) in 2024. However, in the final three months of the year (October to December), the company’s EBITDA slipped into the red, posting a 1.8 million reals (€300,000) loss, representing a 99.8% decrease in losses compared to the fourth quarter of 2023.
Alpargatas owns Havaianas and Ioasys, an innovation and technology company, and holds a 49% stake in Rothy’s, a North American sustainable footwear brand. According to company data, its products are sold in over 130 countries, and the group operates directly in more than 20 markets.
The consolidation of Italy’s fashion supply chain, the sector’s evolving challenges amid global shifts, changing consumer habits, and trade tensions—these were key topics discussed last week when Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, met with François-Henri Pinault, chairman and CEO of Kering, on February 26 at the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy (MIMIT) in Rome. The conversation went beyond a simple exchange of views, highlighting the critical role of Italy’s luxury and fashion supply chain—an essential pillar for Kering, the powerhouse behind Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Boucheron, and Pomellato.
Pinault and Adolfo Urso
According to an official statement, during the meeting, Adolfo Urso emphasized the government’s commitment to the fashion industry and outlined upcoming initiatives aimed at strengthening this strategic sector for Made in Italy.
The minister reiterated that for 2025, the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy (Mimit) has allocated €250 million for the industry, distributed between development contracts and mini-contracts. These funds are intended to support the green and digital transition while promoting sustainability in fashion. Urso also reaffirmed the government’s commitment to various European policy discussions affecting the sector.
Several Kering fashion houses and key industry leaders will attend the minister-led meeting in Milan in the coming weeks. The discussion will evaluate the sector’s overall health and introduce new measures to support its growth.