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Birkenstock opens concept store in Shanghai

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German footwear brand Birkenstock has unveiled its pop-up in Shanghai as a permanent Zhangyuan Concept Store. 

Birkenstock London. – Birkenstock

Dating back to 1882, Zhangyuan is a cultural landmark known for its beautifully preserved shikumen lane houses and its unique blend of Eastern and Western influences. The newly restored district seamlessly integrates its rich legacy with contemporary urban life. The concept store is designed to honor the city’s architectural heritage while embracing Birkenstock’s minimalist aesthetic. 

The space is characterized by a palette of muted tones and natural materials. Locally crafted furniture, including benches, floor lamps, and armchairs, reflects Shanghainese influences, while Art Deco elements are woven into the display fixtures. Traditional roof tiles are integrated into the 1774 display rack, and a striking art installation—crafted from layered transparent silk with hand-embroidered Chinese motifs—pays tribute to the brand’s iconic footbed.

The store houses Birkenstock’s timeless classics and its premium 1774 product line. To mark the opening, the store will debut the Boro Collection, a collaboration with designer Jesse Leyva inspired by the Japanese art of textile mending. 

Likewise, to celebrate the opening, Birkenstock has partnered with Pure Yoga to offer an exclusive foot health experience, emphasizing the connection between movement and well-being.

Most recently, in November, Birkenstock opened its latest U.S. retail store in the heart of Boston’s historic Newbury Street, joining the brand’s growing retail footprint.
 

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Built around “excitement and innovation”, Antler aims to become £100m brand

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Antler has enjoyed success over the past three years and hit annual sales of £45 million, but now the British travel brand has set its sights on further growth to become a £100 million brand by fiscal 2029.

Antler

That will involve continued investment in “brand, product, and people” with further expansion into new categories beyond luggage, Antler said as it announced its latest trading figures.

The ambitious outlook is underpinned by a third consecutive year of double-digit growth across FY22 to FY25, as the business ended its FY25 trading year (1 March 2024 to 29 February 2025) with those global sales of £45 million.

The UK remains the brand’s highest-performing market, which has seen 120% growth across key strategic wholesale partners including John Lewis, Selfridges and Fenwick. They now represent over 50% of total sales, up 16% on last year.

But also key to targeting £100 million sales is the physical expansion into the US and Australia that began in 2024 with the opening of two retail locations in New York and Sydney. 

US ops were up 43% in FY25, supported by launches with department stores Bloomingdales and Nordstrom, while Australia, which continues to be Antler’s second-largest market at 40% of the sales mix, also saw year-on-year growth of 7%.

It said FY25 “marked the convergence of Antler’s brand reimagination and a renewed product strategy, brought to life for the first time with the launch of the Icon Stripe collection in April 2024”. It has become the brand’s best-selling collection and was the first to be designed under the leadership of managing director Kirsty Glenne.

For the FY26 trading year, a strategic focus on travel bags and accessories is forecast to grow the brand’s portfolio by 310% by the end of 2025. This month also sees the launch of the brand’s most premium collection. Two years in the making, the new Heritage Collection becomes “an ode to the brand’s 110-year travel and design legacy”, it said.

According to Glenne: “Antler had a transformative year in 2024 following the launch of our Icon collection, cementing our position as the cult British travel brand. 

“In 2025, we’re dedicated to continuing our expansion into lifestyle, by diversifying our product offering with a strong focus on bags. As part of our global expansion strategy, we will also be investing heavily in new markets as we continue to grow across the US, Australia and RoW.”

And it plans to “redefine consumer expectations and continue expansion into new categories… FY26 is set to be the brand’s most exciting and innovative year yet,” she added.

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John Smedley promotes McGuire Dudley to MD, Maclean steps into chairman role

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British luxury heritage brand John Smedley is breaking tradition with its choice of a new managing director. With her background in the creative camp, Jess McGuire Dudley takes up the promotion to MD this month.

Previously deputy MD and global brand director, McGuire Dudley takes over from Smedley family member Ian Maclean. Having worked within the business for 25 years, he will now step into the executive chairman’s role.

McGuire Dudley, who joined the business in 2014 as head of marketing, has made “invaluable contributions to the business… giving John Smedley new relevance and increased presence within the luxury knitwear sphere”, it said on announcing her new post. 

That included recently overseeing product projects and manufacturing overhauls while being “pivotal in transforming the marketing and sales side of the business in recent years” and refreshing the brand’s image and “the many ways it is visible in markets around the world”.

That has helped the business enjoy double-digit increases in global sales across e-commerce (80%) and its retail stores (6%), as well as growing its physical retail footprint with two standalone stores in London, it said.

Looking ahead, Dudley’s appointment also coincides with a “renewed focus on strategically future-proofing John Smedley, both in manufacturing and in product design”, it added. 

“There is a real love between me and this business, and I am determined to ensure it thrives for decades to come,” she said. 

She added: “The commercial landscape is a challenge for a UK based manufacturing brand; traditional wholesale and retail continue to be tough, and the future has a lot of uncertain challenges, from US tariffs to tax increases. But it is a challenge we are up for facing, and we have plenty of new ideas to maintain John Smedley as ‘The World’s Finest Knitwear’.”

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Trussardi relaunches in ‘democratic luxury’ segment

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Translated by

Nicola Mira

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April 2, 2025

Trussardi has unveiled its new face. The Italian label, acquired by Italian textile group Miroglio in March 2024, is turning over a new leaf with a first collection of evergreen clothes and accessories characterised by a sleek, elegant and functional style, inspired by the label’s archives and designed by a collective of diverse creative talents. Trussardi’s goal is to reposition itself in the more accessible progressive luxury segment, featuring contemporary luxury collections at “more democratic prices.”

A Trussardi womenswear look for Fall/Winter 2025-26 – Trussardi

Trussardi’s vast Fall/Winter 2025-26 men’s and women’s collection was recently presented at the label’s Milanese showroom. They consist of some 700 items, including 250 accessories, with pride of place going to leather clothes and accessories, historically the core of the Bergamo-based label’s output — Trussardi was founded in 1911 as a glove shop — but also including denim and sportswear.

Jeans are priced between €140 and €240, leather jackets at around €500, and leather goods and handbags from €250 to €500. The first sales campaign, which was recently completed, focused on Italy and Europe. The collection was marketed by about 15 agents, and has been bought by department stores like La Rinascente, and several multibrand retailers in the premium segment, notably in Eastern and Southern Europe. Trussardi, which is set to launch its e-shop in June, is also negotiating the opening of a number of stores internationally.

Soft leather is used to fashion tops, skirts, bomber jackets and handbags, while Trussardi’s iconic safari jackets feature in contemporary suede versions. The collection also includes a striking top-and-trousers set in denim-look suede.

“We have developed various models of leather gloves, to emphasise the connection with the label’s roots, and found inspiration for many other items in our archives. It’s an everyday wardrobe that we have created by also looking carefully at the way people dress in the street,” said Cosimo Dorato, Trussardi’s head of design and products, talking to FashionNetwork.com. Dorato oversees the collective efforts of 30 talented professionals, between designers, garment-makers, photographers and more, both in-house staff and external consultants.

The denim-effect ensemble in suede
The denim-effect ensemble in suede – Trussardi

To write Trussardi’s new chapter, the Miroglio group, which owns, among others, the Elena Mirò, Oltre, Motivi and Fiorella Rubino labels, decided to move away from the runway show format, and from the ritual of naming a creative director. The idea was to create a community around the label’s design collective, which has styled itself as ‘Gentle Society’. This slogan-manifesto is printed on a series of knitwear and sweaters alongside the label’s signature greyhound, which no longer features alone on the logo but is playfully entwined with another greyhound.

“We’re working on the concept of subtraction in a ‘less is more’ spirit, focusing on clean, timeless looks and lines, paying great attention to functionality, while at the same time infusing a delicately playful touch by means of little messages and hidden elements,” said Dorato, who has worked for seven years as a design executive for the Oakley eyewear label, after previous stints as head of Yoox’s own brand, and in product development at Alexander McQueen.

The collection’s tongue-in-cheek approach is evident in the key holder integrated into a jacket’s pocket, while some handbags’ shoulder straps have a dual use, the backpack, ergonomic and made in breathable material, is equipped with all kinds of pockets, and a top has straps so that it can be worn on the shoulders without actually putting it on.

Among the discreet details cropping up unexpectedly, inscriptions that are legible only when illuminated, and micro-patterns in the shape of a pair of gloves or a walking stick, surreptitiously printed between the stripes of a very classic shirt.

These are some of the graphic elements drawn from Trussardi’s vast archives, which have been transferred from Bergamo to Alba in Piedmont, where Miroglio is based. They include over 60,000 items, all the ready-to-wear and accessories developed in recent decades, from experimental items designed by Nicola Trussardi, who relaunched the label in the 1970s transforming it into a global brand, to items created, among others, by Milan Vukmirovic and Trussardi’s latest designers, Serhat Işık and Benjamin A Huseby. Plus of course all the lifestyle accessories.

The new collection at Trussardi’s Milanese showroom
The new collection at Trussardi’s Milanese showroom – ph DM

The strategy is for Trussardi to relaunch softly, introducing easy-to-wear products that are very much of their time, made in Europe and Asia in order to maintain an affordable price positioning. The relaunch will go hand in hand with a rather unusual communication strategy, chiefly focusing on events and activations in ad hoc venues and occasions.

For example, the spate of initiatives that will enliven the Trussardi furniture line’s showroom during Milan Design Week on April 7-13, which will morph for the occasion into ‘Casa Trussardi Gentle Society’, opening to the public and hosting workshops, shows, brunches and even a bike race during the week.

Trussardi, whose business has been growing mostly through licenses (childrenswear, beachwear, furniture, wallpaper, eyewear, perfumes, jewellery and watches), is above all keen to tell its story through its lifestyle range, the signature world that Trussardi built over the years, peaking in the 1970s and 80s. As demonstrated by the collection’s presentation, where countless accessories from the archives, such as bicycles, trunks, suitcases and a variety of handbags, including one with a racket pocket, blended elegantly with the showroom’s décor, sitting nicely alongside the clothes.

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