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Trump’s reciprocal tariff plan amplifies risk of ocean shipping chaos, executives say

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Reuters

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April 2, 2025

U.S. President Donald Trump‘s new tariff plan has the ocean shipping industry on edge as he stokes a trade war destined to stanch transport demand and send companies scrambling to manage the fallout.

Reuters

The Trump administration on Wednesday is set to announce “reciprocal tariffs” targeting nations that have duties on U.S. goods. That move would come after it slapped new import levies on products from Mexico, China and Canada – the top U.S. trading partners – as well as on goods including steel and autos.

Major global container shipping firms like MSC, Maersk, CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd transport towering piles of colorful boxes stuffed with goods for U.S. customers like Walmart, Target and Home Depot.

They are giants in the roughly $14 trillion a year ocean shipping industry that handles about 80% of global trade. They are also reliant on companies that are getting whipsawed by Trump’s escalating, on-and-off tariffs.

“The implementation of stacked tariffs has led to mounting confusion,” said Blake Harden, the Retail Industry Leaders Association’s vice president of international trade. “Companies have not had adequate time, certainty, and guidance they need to incorporate these changes and comply.”

Trump has invoked emergency powers to swiftly add, and occasionally retract and reinstate, tariffs during his second term in office.

“Importers don’t know from one week to the next what their duty cost is going to be,” said Kit Johnson, director of import compliance at John S. James Co., a U.S. customs broker and freight forwarder whose customers include automakers and producers of chemicals, machinery, medical devices and textiles.

Johnson has seen an uptick in customers opting for high-cost air shipping for autos and other goods that normally would travel by sea, in a bid to front-run new tariffs.

U.S. container imports have also surged to record levels in recent months as companies rushed in toys, furniture, bedding, machinery and parts from China, the world’s No. 1 exporter, to avoid Trump’s tariffs.

As that threat expanded, other vessel types and airplanes have been called to help U.S. firms stockpile cars from Europe and the Far East, cheese and wine from Italy, and prescription drugs from Ireland.

The average on-demand spot rate to ship a 40-foot container on the key Far East to U.S. West Coast route was $2,844 on Tuesday, a one-day gain of almost 16%, according to data from freight pricing platform Xeneta. That rate is still lower than a year ago, when the risk of Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping lanes was a new phenomenon and trading was not distorted by importers seeking to avoid tariffs.

But companies’ knee-jerk, front-loading strategy is just a temporary fix – especially as retaliatory tariffs stoke trade wars that could suffocate demand.

The tariff tiffs come as ocean shipping faces greater potential peril from a separate Trump plan to impose hefty U.S. port call fees on ships with links to China.

Foes of that proposal say it could decimate domestic agriculture and energy exporters that Trump promised to support. They also warn it could reignite pandemic-level chaos at ports by prompting vessel operators to avoid fees by swamping some ports with cargo while starving others.

Layering that on top of tariffs has paralyzed decision-making around how to source, sell and move goods.

“You cannot make important decisions on your supply chain when the rules of the game keep changing,” said Peter Sand, Xeneta’s chief analyst.

One Greek container shipping executive, who requested anonymity due to fear that public comments could negatively affect business, said customers were not loading cargo for fear that a large levy might be imposed at the end of a lengthy ocean voyage.

“We are in a wait-and-see mode.”

Experts have begun counting the harm from Trump’s tariffs.

Anxiety over the levies already has helped derail a turnaround in the U.S. manufacturing sector that relies on imports and exports and drives significant demand for transportation, according to responses to the Institute for Supply Management survey.

S&P Global Market Intelligence expects the volume of U.S. ocean container freight imports to drop 0.7% in 2025.

“While there is still strong growth in the first quarter, this is expected to reverse in the second quarter of 2025 as tariffs bite,” S&P said.

Meanwhile, U.S. Customs and Border Protection is scrambling to reprogram and test systems needed to calculate and collect new tariffs. The Trump administration in February delayed a plan to begin collecting duties on direct sales of low-value goods from retailers like Temu and Shein after packages piled up at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

“The more of these tariffs we have, the harder it’s going to be for everyone to keep up,” customs broker Johnson said.

© Thomson Reuters 2025 All rights reserved.



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St. Regis Hotels & Resorts and Staud launch resort capsule collection

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St. Regis Hotels & Resorts and fashion brand Staud have teamed up to create an exclusive resort accessories collection.

St. Regis Hotels & Resorts and Staud launch resort capsule collection. – St. Regis x Staud

The capsule blends the modern, effortless novelty of Staud’s West Coast aesthetic with the legendary glamour of the St. Regis brand. The result is a four-piece collection including accessories crafted in raffia and embossed Italian calfskin, designed to transition seamlessly from sun-drenched mornings to champagne-filled evenings. 

The collection includes The Raffia Squillo Tote offering a spacious, effortless option for days spent by the water, while the Raffia Bucket Hat adds a playful yet polished touch to breezy afternoons.

Compelting the collection is the Raffia Moon Bag bringing refined elegance to moments like the signature St. Regis Afternoon Tea, and the Tommy Bag reimagined as a collector’s item featuring bespoke artwork inspired by St. Regis’ signature rituals.

“The idea of travel has always been a source of inspiration for me,” said Sarah ‘Staud’ Staudinger, CEO and founder of Staud. “St. Regis represents some of the most iconic destinations in the world, and together we’ve designed a collection that embodies that sense of adventure, indulgence, and style.”

The collection will make its debut through exclusive retail activations at The St. Regis Punta Mita Resort and The St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort, where select pieces will be presented in-suite for guests to explore in the privacy of their own wardrobes.

The collection will also be available online, at The St. Regis Boutique, and for a limited time at the Staud Soho store.

“Our guests seek pieces that are both effortless and elegant, designed for every moment of their journey,” said George Fleck, senior vice president and global brand leader, St. Regis Hotels & Resorts. 

“Fashion has long been an essential element of travel, and this collaboration allows us to elevate the guest experience in a new way. With our guests at the heart of our vision, Staud for St. Regis has created something truly unique, an exclusive collection that reflects the essence of resort living, complementing the art of travel and embodying both brands’ distinctive approach to modern luxury.”

Copyright © 2025 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.



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Dior creates fashion odyssey in French Pavilion at World Expo, opening Sunday in Osaka

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The House of Dior has created a fashion odyssey that will be the key installation inside the French Pavilion at the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, which opens this Sunday.

Dior Fall 2025 campaign – Yuriko Takagi

Dior’s display is a blend of fine art, haute couture, sporting excellence, architecture, fragrances, original sketches, 3D printing and hundreds of toiles.

The Paris-based couture maison is very much on a full-court press in Japan. On Tuesday, it stages its fall women’s ready-to-wear collection in the historic city of Kyoto. Today, it released its latest campaign, where the house’s couturier, Maria Grazia Chiuri, is inspired by the Land of the Rising Sun. Seen in a series of graceful, poetic shots by Yuriko Takagi, a faithful collaborator of the house, the campaign features a fusion of Japanese savoir-faire and French couture through designs that revisit the traditional kimono jacket, with its ample and enveloping lines adorned by an enchanting garden sketched on silk.

Embroidered silhouettes from Dior’s Fall 2025 campaign
Embroidered silhouettes from Dior’s Fall 2025 campaign – Yuriko Takagi

In Osaka, Dior’s installation is organized around the theme of “Hymne à l’amour,” in a tribute to the fervor for craftsmanship and handmade work, reflecting the excellence of Parisian haute couture.

A plural homage to the beauty produced by gestures, embodied alternately by a Rodin sculpture, the timeless Bar suit – a symbol of Dior elegance presented in three variations: blue, white and red – and by the legendary “Amphores Tricolores” designed by Christian Dior in 1949 and reissued for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Echoing the first vocation of Christian Dior, who aspired to become an architect before turning to couture, is the Lady Dior bag reinterpreted by Japanese architect Kazuyo Sejima for the “Lady Dior – As Seen By” project in 2024.

Back in Paris, Sejima’s best-known building is the futurist glass structure that ripples along the Rue de Rivoli, acting as the entrance to the Art Nouveau La Samaritaine department store, which is controlled by luxury conglomerate LVMH, the owner of Dior.

Signature looks with floral embroidery from Dior’s Fall 2025 campaign
Signature looks with floral embroidery from Dior’s Fall 2025 campaign – Yuriko Takagi

Turning to fashion, precious three-dimensional expressions of original sketches and more than 400 emblematic white toiles—presented on different scales—are spotlighted at the heart of a monumental installation. All are placed alongside bottles of iconic Dior fragrances, reinterpreted through 3D printing. In the center, Dior models come to life in poetic images created by Japanese artist Yuriko Takagi.

The installation features a dreamlike choreography punctuated by the works of Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka, who revisited the iconic Medallion chair in 2021.

Copyright © 2025 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.



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MyTheresa unveils its new leadership team after YNAP acquisition

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Mytheresa has been pretty quiet about its plans for Yoox Net-A-Porter since announcing it was acquiring the business from Richemont and changing the wider group name to LuxExperience BV, but that all changed on Friday when it unveiled a raft of key management developments.

Michael Kliger – Mytheresa

The new senior leadership team for the combined group will be effective on closing of the YNAP acquisition and “has been nominated to drive and create the leading, luxury multi-brand digital group for true luxury enthusiasts around the globe,” we’re told.

The company said that “to further strengthen the unique and differentiated identities of each store brand, separate dedicated management teams are put in charge to deliver the best curated brand offerings, to create highly engaging inspiration and develop lasting customer relationships”. 

That said, at the group level, functions will be consolidated into a shared group infrastructure “that will deliver best- in-class and efficient services for the multi-brand luxury business across technology, operations, customer data analytics and corporate functions”. 

A newly transformation function at group level will also steer the group-wide transformation. 

The completion of the deal is imminent — planned for 23 April — and the new name and leadership team will hit the ground running at that point.

Who’s who

So who’s in the new team? At the most senior level, existing execs retain their roles although with an expanded remit for the larger group. Current Mytheresa CEO Michael Kliger will be CEO and MD, continuing to lead the group’s overall strategy.

Current CFO Martin Beer, who led the 2021 IPO and was crucial to the YNAP deal, will continue as CFO but will also be an MD.

Existing CTO Philipp Barthold will be group CTO, driving the continued enhancement of Mytheresa’s technology platform and overseeing the migration of Net-A-Porter and Mr Porter onto Mytheresa’s advanced tech stack. He’ll also lead the group’s fraud prevention initiatives.

COO of 10 years’ standing Sebastian Dietzmann will be group COO responsible for customer care, studio production, and all warehouse operations. But when the deal completes, he’ll step down from the Management Board.

Gareth Locke, Mytheresa’s current chief growth officer, will be chief data & analytics officer (CDO), a new role in which he’ll be responsible for the development of group-wide customer insights and customer analytics tools, “thus leveraging the power of the combined data pool to support the store brands in serving all customers”. He’ll also step down from the Management Board.

The firm’s current commercial chief Richard Johnson, will become chief business officer for the group, another brand new role. He’ll manage vendor partnerships including budget, planning, category expansion, operations of the Curated Platform Model as well as the group’s sustainability initiatives. Since joining in 2017 he’s been key in “cultivating outstanding and enduring brand relationships and spearheading various category expansions including menswear, fine jewelry & watches, kidswear and home”.

Current chief people officer Björn Kastl will take that role at a group level.

DR

YNAP’s existing president of the Online Flagship Store, Francesca Tranquilli, will become chief transformation officer and will orchestrate the transformation of YNAP’s four brands, as well as the combination of the businesses into the new LuxExperience Group. She’ll also continue in her YNAP president role.

Mytheresa’s North America president Heather Kaminetsky will become Net-A-Porter CEO and “will be responsible for defining and driving a re-energised customer proposition across the globe as well as simplifying the organisational structures”. She previously worked for that business as VP global marketing until 2016.

At Mr Porter, Toby Bateman will return at its CEO having earlier in his career been responsible for many of its key developments.

Meanwhile YNAP’s COO Mirko Nobili will “transition” from that role and becomes CEO of Yoox. 

The Outnet’s MD Sabah Naqushbandi will continue in that role, again “spearheading the brand’s ongoing transformation by sharpening its value proposition and reinforcing its unique portfolio of previous-season luxury fashion”.

Net-A-Porter

Michael Kliger said of all this: “We have selected our future management team at store brand and group level to bring together the most experienced and capable leaders for each role. All these outstanding leaders share a passion for customers, the willingness to drive change and a deep understanding of their business areas. This thoughtfully selected team draws on Mytheresa’s established management strengths, the experience of strong leaders from the YNAP organisation, and is further enhanced by highly accomplished external hires.

“The strong store brand management teams for Mytheresa, Net-A-Porter, Mr Porter, Yoox and The Outnet will create individual brand identities and a differentiated, yet complementary, multi-brand luxury offering for customers. At the group level, the new established leadership team will strategically focus on efficiency and thus boost the profitability of the store brands. 

“The team’s shared goal is to deliver an exceptional luxury experience for our customers and to increase the profitability of the group. I am excited and confident that, with our passion and expertise, we will rapidly improve all businesses and achieve our financial goals in the expected timeframe.”

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