Premium beauty retailer Space NK is to open at Birmingham’s Bullring, with the brand committing to its largest store outside of London at the Hammerson-operated destination.
To be located on the mall’s Upper Level East, adjacent to AllSaints, Coach, and Dr Martens, the 5,500 sq ft store is set to open this summer as its regional flagship.
There will be a dedicated consultation area for make-up and skincare, with ‘play tables’ for customers to sit independently or with a member of the team to explore the store’s wide selection of beauty brands.
Andy Lightfoot, CEO of Space NK, said: “Our Birmingham community has been very vocal in its wish for us to return, [opening] our biggest store outside of London [it will] be our first standalone store in the city centre.”
Last year, beauty sales at Bullring & Grand Central “grew significantly, making it the best-performing category at the destination”, Hammerson said.
It added that the strength of consumer demand was reflected in the opening of Sephora’s West Midlands’ flagship, complete with the brand’s biggest window façade in Europe, and the regional debut of the K-beauty retailer PureSeoul. They added to Bullring’s “existing critical mass of beauty and wellness”, which includes Boots, Kiko Milano, and Selfridges’ beauty and cosmetics hall, alongside Grand Central’s line-up including Kiehl’s, L’Occitane and MAC.
Paul O’Brien, director of Leasing & Commercialisation at Hammerson, said: “Bullring and Grand Central continues to be the place to go for health and beauty in Birmingham. [Our] strategy of creating best-in-class spaces for international brands seeking a flagship presence in destinations that out-perform is evidenced by Space NK’s decision to open their largest store outside the capital”.
Hammerson added that Space NK’s signing “continues a strong run of key new additions to Bullring”, with Zara opening its significantly upsized flagship last autumn and SDMN Clothing opening its first store outside London.
The bill on the textile industry’s environmental impact is making progress in France, over a year after being tabled in the Senate following a unanimous vote in the National Assembly, France’s Parliament.
Government questions session at the National Assembly in Paris on November 12, 2024 – Ian LANGSDON / AFP
The date for the bill’s Senate debate was postponed sine die at the start of the year, prompting widespread discontent within environmental organisations and parts of the fashion industry. News of a fresh timetable emerged on March 19, and the bill is now expected to be discussed by the Senate in the week of May 19.
The announcement was made in the National Assembly by Véronique Louwagie, the Minister in charge of trade, crafts, SMEs, and the social and community economy, answering questions by Olivia Grégoire, MP and former minister with the same remit, about the government’s initiatives to protect companies and employees in the fashion and crafts sectors.
“There are product flows increasingly coming [into France] from foreign platforms. A new model has been created, fast fashion, which has a significant environmental, social and economic impact,” said Louwagie. “Yes, we need to act in various domains. The first is Europe. France strongly supports the revision of the threshold for exemption from customs duties on low-value parcels. It’s an issue that has to do with fighting fraud. Discussions are also ongoing at EU level on the introduction of non-discriminatory management fees to finance customs services. We must act at the national level too, this is the purpose of the bill that was examined this morning in a Senate committee and which, I’m telling you know, will probably be debated by the Senate during the week of May 19. The government is pushing in this direction,” added Louwagie.
Environmental associations put pressure on the French Senate at the end of last week, depositing textile waste near the upper chamber. On the morning of March 19, the Senate’s Regional Planning and Sustainable Development committee worked on the bill that was first drafted by MPs over a year ago. Led by Sylvie Valente-Le Hir, the bill’s rapporteur in the Senate, the committee made a series of changes that were unanimously approved.
“The bill now comprises several other elements, including a more precise definition of fast fashion, which focuses on the breadth of range but also the fact that the prices charged do not encourage [garment] repairs,” said Louwagie, speaking to the National Assembly. Crucially, she also indicated that fast-fashion products are set to be penalised not simply on the basis of their environmental impact, but also because of the specific commercial practices of fast-fashion e-tailers. The minister’s announcement of a possible date for the bill’s discussion was met with a sustained round of applause, confirming the interest in the issue.
Eleven amendments
The Senate committee in charge of the bill has now completed its work on the text approved by the National Assembly. Eleven amendments have been adopted, out of the 25 tabled before the committee. Some amendments were jettisoned because they were considered irrelevant or simply legislative riders. Three were rejected. One concerned raising the penalty threshold for fast-fashion products. A second aimed to incorporate, in the bill’s Article 2, the notion of “social criteria based on respect for human rights,” in addition to environmental aspects. The third, still within Article 2, was an amendment that proposed inserting a paragraph aimed at awarding a bonus based on social criteria, in addition to those attributed for improved environmental performance.
So what were the 11 amendments adopted by the Senate committee? They did not call into question the original spirit of the law, specifying in particular the type of practices and entities that will be targeted, notably those that “facilitate, through the use of a digital interface such as a marketplace, a website, a portal or similar device, distance selling and the delivery of products” and whose strategy is based on rapid collection turnover. It was also specified that the thresholds [applied to fast fashion] will take into account the “number of new items per unit of time, the number of different items, and the short duration of their commercialisation period.” Consumers should be informed by means of warnings placed close to product prices on the platforms in questions, regarding “[consumption] restraint, reusing, repairing, and recycling products, and raising awareness about their environmental impact.”
The bill will stipulate that a contact person for fast-fashion players must be identified in France. They must be “a natural or legal person based in France, acting as a representative responsible for ensuring compliance with the obligations relating to the extended producer responsibility scheme.” The bill provides for a system of penalties and bonuses. The Senate committee notably indicated that “financial contributions will vary … based in particular on the results obtained by applying the environmental score methodology … The eco-organisation’s specifications stipulate that the additional contributions collected will chiefly be reallocated in the form of bonuses to manufacturers of those products that meet eco-design criteria for improved environmental performance.” The bill is suggesting that penalties per product could be valued at €5 in 2025, €6 in 2026, €7 in 2027, €8 in 2028, €9 in 2029, and €10 in 2030. Such increasingly higher penalties are designed to put pressure on the sector to change. A paragraph also stipulates that part of the monies collected will be used by “eco-organisations to finance collection and recycling infrastructure in non-EU countries.”
Another area covered by the Senate committee is advertising: there is to be a ban on advertising and influencer marketing for certain players. Finally, two new articles were added to the bill (articles 6 and 7), requiring the government to produce ad hoc reports. Article 6 states that “within six months of the promulgation of this law, the Government shall submit to Parliament a report examining the opportunity of extending the carbon border adjustment mechanism to textile products manufactured outside the European Union’s territory.” This means subjecting products imported into the customs territory of the European Union to a carbon emission tariff equivalent to that applied to European manufacturers producing the same items. Finally, in the same spirit, Article 7 calls for a report to take stock after one year “of mirror measures at the borders of the European internal market to impose European health, social and environmental standards on imports of textile products with fast and very fast turnover.”
Above all, the Senate committee is keen to work towards a change in approach, and has analysed “the opportunity of reversing the burden of proof at the time of the products’ entry into the European Union; it would then be the exporter’s responsibility to prove that their products have been produced in accordance with European standards.”
Given the tense global geopolitical context, especially in the field of trade relations, the debates in the French Senate, planned for May, are likely to be both intense and delicate.
Gold prices eased on Thursday after hitting a record high earlier in the session, but retained a bullish outlook driven by potential rate cuts signalled by the Federal Reserve and ongoing geopolitical and economic uncertainties.
Reuters
Spot gold was down 0.4% at $3,036.13 an ounce by 09:47 a.m. ET (1347 GMT) due to profit-taking, after hitting a record high of $3,057.21.
U.S. gold futures gained 0.1% to $3,044.10.
“Speculators are trying to take advantage of the market and take some profit off the table… I think anytime gold sets a high, we see a little bit of resistance,” said Alex Ebkarian, chief operating officer at Allegiance Gold.
“Gold is not even acting as a safe-haven asset yet to retail investors because technically we’re not in a recession, we are seeing the slowdown in the economy and that could very well create a further uncertainty and more desire for safe-haven assets.”
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that Trump’s initial policies, including extensive import tariffs, may have slowed U.S. economic growth and increased inflation.
Trump, meanwhile, criticized the Fed’s decision to hold rates, despite projections for two quarter-percentage-point rate cuts by year-end due to weakening economic growth and higher inflation. Traders are pricing in 69 basis points of easing this year from the Fed, at least two rate reductions of 25 bps each, with a cut in July fully priced in, LSEG data showed.
“In our bull case, we see gold prices reaching $3,500 per ounce by year-end, underpinned by much higher hedging/investment demand on fears of US hard landing/stagflation,” analysts at Citi said in a note.
Elsewhere, at least 70 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded in Israeli airstrikes across Gaza on Thursday after Israel resumed its bombing campaign and ground operations in the enclave, a Gaza health official said.
Gold acts as a hedge against uncertainty and tends to do well in a low-interest rate environment. Spot silver fell 1.2% to $33.38 an ounce, platinum fell 0.8% to $985.05. Palladium slipped 1.4% to $946.74.
A slump in luxury fashion is prompting designer reshuffles at top houses Gucci, Chanel and Dior to reignite heat around their brands – while avoiding too radical a reset that could confuse affluent shoppers.
Reuters
The stakes are high, as the 363 billion euro ($395.09 billion) global luxury goods market grapples with its lowest sales rates in years with after an economic slowdown in China and rising inflation elsewhere make high-end consumers more reluctant to splash out.
“Brands are under more pressure than ever to balance creativity with commercial viability, while also maintaining relevance in a constantly shifting market,” said Lydia King, group buying and merchandising director at upscale British department store Liberty.
Kering-owned Gucci and Chanel are placing their bets on rising stars from much smaller labels, with LVMH‘s Dior likely soon to follow suit. But new designers face the tricky task of bringing the right dose of renewal, with investors giving them little time to establish themselves.
Last week’s announcement that Gucci had appointed Balenciaga designer Demna to head its design teams sent Kering shares down over 10%, wiping around 3 billion euros off the group’s market value.
In an era of “superstar” creative directors, designers shape the identity of brands, even overshadowing a brand’s heritage, said Jacques Roizen, of consultancy DLG.
Many analysts had lobbied for bolder fashion at Gucci following a two-year push upmarket with more classic designs, but investors worry Demna, 43, who brought buzz to Kering’s smaller label with high-end streetwear styles, might not be the right fit.
Creative directors are redefining “not only the aesthetic direction but also the positioning and clientele of the houses,” said Roizen.
As China remains subdued, luxury brands are pinning their hopes on the U.S. market this year, although signs of economic uncertainty are creeping in.
Chanel, which is privately owned, is bringing in Matthieu Blazy, 40, after his successful run at Kering’s Bottega Veneta. He faces the daunting task of ushering in a fresh design approach, overseen for decades by Karl Lagerfeld, and then by longtime collaborator Virginie Viard following Lagerfeld’s death in 2019.
The importance of the creative director can vary by brand, said Flavio Cereda, who manages GAM’s Luxury Brands investment strategy.
Since Viard’s abrupt departure last year, Chanel has emphasized trademarks, sending models down a runway shaped in its interlocking-C logo or wearing clothes adorned with signature black bows – at Lagerfeld’s preferred venue, the Grand Palais in Paris.
LVMH has yet to officially announce new creative leadership at Dior after menswear designer Kim Jones left in January, but is likely to soon hire a new designer, expected to be Jonathan Anderson. His departure from Loewe was announced on Monday, but LVMH declined to comment on Anderson’s future role.
There are also new faces at a host of smaller brands, including LVMH’s Celine and Givenchy, and Donatella Versace, 69, is stepping aside at Versace after nearly three decades, replaced by Miu Miu‘s Dario Vitale.
“Clients don’t know where to go anymore with all these musical chairs,” said Yannis Ouzene, a sales assistant for a major European brand on the Avenue Montaigne in Paris, home to some of the most exclusive fashion houses.
“I don’t recall seeing such a significant shift in creative leadership across the luxury industry,” said Achim Berg, fashion and luxury industry advisor.
Change will sweep through studios, merchandising teams, marketing departments and design teams — but takes time, with no visible impact likely until next year, he added.
Brands need to be wary of bewildering clients with “too drastic changes in the aesthetic language of a brand,” said Federica Levato, senior partner at consultancy Bain.
For Chinese shoppers, the “here and now” of a brand’s design is more important than its historical context, while Western shoppers place “significant value on the continuity of a brand’s identity”, said Roizen.
For some, the designer is not a deal clincher.
“I don’t care who the designer is,” said Stephanie Gold, an American tourist in Paris who recently purchased a pair of prominent Dior glasses. “I don’t like to buy what everybody has.”
The luxury sector overall – which averaged annual growth of 10% over 2019-2023 – is expected to grow around 4% in 2025, with sales to Americans accounting for over a third of the global growth, up 7%, compared with a 1% decline from the Chinese, based on UBS estimates.
Olivier Abtan, consultant with Alix Partners, says brands have to be careful not to wait too long before shaking things up.
As the market awaits word on Dior’s new design chief, and LVMH grapples with shopper fatigue buffeting the industry, some wonder whether design change at Dior, which lags group heavyweight Louis Vuitton, should have come sooner.
Change needs to be made “as soon as a brand senses growth is slowing,” Abtan said.
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