February’s Spring Fair has announced the full content programme for its February edition with a big focus on licensing via its Licensing Lab sessions.
Spring Fair
Licensing Lab, the event’s dedicated stage and experiential hub will be “championing the commercial power of licensing, storytelling and brand collaboration”.
Contained within the Home, Gift and Fashion event taking place (1-4 February) at NEC Birmingham, Licensing Lab will bring together leading licensors, agencies, retail buyers, and brand innovators for “insight-rich sessions designed to inspire, inform and ignite new opportunities”.
Positioned within Spring Fair’s new creative direction ‘Retail Alchemists – Masters of the Mix’, the programme highlights include Bagpuss Family Fandom (11am, 1 February) describing how ‘Comfort Brands Are Winning in ‘Unusual’ Times’. Delivered by Michael Ford, CEO & Creative Director, Threewise Entertainment, the agency behind the Bapguss character, it “explores how nostalgia IP continues to dominate in moments of cultural uncertainty”.
‘Beyond the Brand Slap: What Do Authentic Collaborations Look Like?’ (2pm 1 February), is presented by Jeremy Orriss & Anne Bradford, Difuzed, unveiling “what real partnership looks like – rooted in shared values, storytelling and long-term consumer relevance”.
‘Inside the Design: How Liberty’s Studio Turns Heritage into New Opportunities’ (11am 2 February) sees Alice Molyneaux, head of Licensing and Brand Partnerships, Liberty, “take a rare look inside the department store’s design studio”.
‘Wallace & Gromit Cross Borders: How Aardman Adapts to Audiences Worldwide’ (12 noon, 2 February) features Susan Bolsover, senior licensing manager, Aardman, showing how “timeless characters, strong identity and cross-cultural charm are helping Wallace & Gromit reach new generations around the world”.
‘Stand Out with Ease: How Working with Designers Drives Retail Success’ (2pm, 2 February) features Emma Lawrence, Emma Lawrence Designs, delivering a practical session revealing how “illustrator-led licensing offers originality without requiring blockbuster characters”.
‘The Licensing Link: Connecting Data, Design and Doing Better’ (11am 3 February) allows Andrew Xeni (Fabacus; Nobody’s Child; Soreto) and Helena Mansell-Stopher (Products of Change) to deep-dive into how “structured data, sustainable design and digital visibility transform the licensing value chain”.
‘The Power of Quiet Licensing: The Joules Blueprint for Sustainable Growth’ (2pm, 2 February) features Victoria Downes, Licensing manager, and Josie Will, Business Development manager of Joules, sharing how “values-led, subtly integrated licensing (including its celebrated Peter Rabbit collection) strengthens relevance, trust and cross-generational appeal, while also expanding its own IP into lifestyle categories”.
Finally, ‘Licensing Law Made Simple: What Every Brand and Retailer Should Know’ (3pm, 3 February) by John Burns, JMW Solicitors, “navigates IP, contracts, approvals and risk when sourcing or selling licensed products”.
Also, Spring Fair introduces its three-day ‘Merchant’s Corner’ feature, “bringing retail’s future into sharp focus”, offering independent retailers, brands, and buyers “practical insights, data-backed strategies and future-facing inspiration. It aims to demonstrate how “physical retail, digital innovation, community connection and commercial creativity come together to empower modern retail success”.
Designed as an indie-shopfront-inspired space at the heart of Hall 3, The Merchant’s Corner brings together “leading independents, retail strategists and high-street champions to share what’s really working in today’s market”.
Sessions include, ‘eCommerce Best Practices for 2026’ (10:20, 1 February, noon 3 February) featuring CDA’s Stuart Alldis sharing the “mistakes to avoid, the metrics that matter and why discovery stages save money and maximise ROI”.
‘Hard Times, Smart Retail’ (11:10 , 1 February) brings together Anna Donoghue (Piglet in Bed), Shirley Maciver (Orange Blossom), Graham Soult (CannyInsights), and Catherine Erdly (Resilient Retail Club) to reveal tactics for “keeping independent retailers profitable, blending digital tools, alternative revenue streams and smarter margin management”.
Other sessions include the ‘Faire Forecast 2026’ with Charlotte Broadbent from Faire sharing the “data-backed trends shaping next year’s buying landscape”; ‘Invisible Influence: Social Commerce 2026’ on “how shoppable content and algorithm-led discovery now drive purchasing decisions”; and ‘The High Street Comeback’ on how “independents are driving local revival and attracting younger shoppers’ with Renes Fashion.
Prada will make a limited-edition collection of sandals in India inspired by the country’s traditional footwear, selling each pair at around 800 euros ($930), Prada senior executive Lorenzo Bertelli told Reuters, turning a backlash over cultural appropriation into a collaboration with Indian artisans.
The Italian luxury group plans to make 2,000 pairs of the sandals in the regions of Maharashtra and Karnataka under a deal with two state-backed bodies, blending local Indian craftsmanship with Italian technology and know-how.
“We’ll mix the original manufacturer’s standard capabilities with our manufacturing techniques,” Bertelli, who is chief marketing officer and head of corporate social responsibility, told Reuters in an interview. The collection will go on sale in February 2026 across 40 Prada stores worldwide and online, the company said. Prada faced criticism six months ago after showing sandals resembling 12th-century Indian footwear, known as Kolhapuri chappals, at a Milan show. Photos went viral, prompting outrage from Indian artisans and politicians. Prada later admitted its design drew from ancient Indian styles and began talks with artisan groups for collaboration.
It has now signed an agreement with Sant Rohidas Leather Industries and Charmakar Development Corporation (LIDCOM) and Dr Babu Jagjivan Ram Leather Industries Development Corporation (LIDKAR), which promote India’s leather heritage. “We want to be a multiplier of awareness for these chappals,” said Bertelli, who is the eldest son of Prada founders Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli.
A three-year partnership, whose details are still being finalised, will be set up to train local artisans. The initiative will include training programmes in India and opportunities to spend short periods at Prada’s Academy in Italy.
Chappals originated in Maharashtra and Karnataka and are handcrafted by people from marginalised communities. Artisans hope the collaboration will raise incomes, attract younger generations to the trade and preserve heritage threatened by cheap imitations and declining demand.
“Once Prada endorses this craft as a luxury product, definitely the domino effect will work and result in increasing demand for the craft,” said Prerna Deshbhratar, LIDCOM managing director. Bertelli said the project and training programme would cost “several million euros”, adding that artisans would be fairly remunerated.
Bertelli said Prada, which opened its first beauty store in Delhi this year, has no plans for new retail clothing shops next year or factories in India. “We have not planned yet any store openings in India, but it’s something that we are strongly taking into consideration,” he said, adding that this could come in three to five years.
The luxury goods market in India was valued at around $7 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach about $30 billion by 2030, according to Deloitte, as economic growth accelerates to 7% this year and disposable income among the middle and upper classes rises. The market, however, is dwarfed by China, which generated about 350 billion yuan ($49.56 billion) in value in 2024, according to Bain.
Most global brands have entered India through partnerships with large conglomerates like Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance group and Kumar Mangalam Birla’s Aditya Birla Group. Bertelli said that Prada would prefer to enter the country on its own, even if it took longer, describing India as “the real potential new market.”
London-based Save Your Wardrobe (SYW) and France’s Fairly Made are joining forces to deliver what they say will be “Europe’s most advanced end-to-end circularity infrastructure”.
Save Your Wardrobe
SYW operates an AI-powered wardrobe management app while Fairly Made has developed a solution for measuring the environmental impact of products. Now they’ve announced a “strategic partnership designed to help brands meet Europe’s next generation of sustainability expectations”.
They said that “as new regulations reshape how products are designed, managed, and cared for- from eco-design and digital product passports to France’s Bonus Réparation and evolving EPR requirements, brands need a connected view of impact across the full lifecycle. This partnership brings together two complementary strengths that enable exactly that”.
As part of the link-up, SYW “plans to deliver the infrastructure powering aftersales excellence, including diagnostics, repairability scoring, automation, and nationwide repair operations”. Meanwhile, Fairly Made will support this with “upstream capabilities across supply-chain traceability, multi-criteria impact measurement, and digital product passport readiness”.
The plan is that they will offer enterprise brands a “360° circularity solution that supports eco-design, compliance, and measurable lifecycle extension”.
They said their goal is to help brands “move toward a future where circularity is not an ambition, but a connected, measurable, and scalable reality”.
Private equity firm TPG Inc. is considering options for APM Monaco, including a possible stake sale or an initial public offering of the jeweler, according to people familiar with the matter.
APM Monaco
TPG is working with an adviser and may start a dual-track process early next year, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information. The US investment firm is aiming to fetch a valuation of at least $2 billion for the company in a deal, one of the people said.
Deliberations are preliminary and TPG might decide to keep the asset for longer, the people added.
A representative for TPG declined to comment.
A TPG-led consortium acquired a 30% stake in APM Monaco in 2019, and in 2021 documents were submitted for a Hong Kong IPO that never materialized. The following year, the group started sounding out potential interest in its stake, Bloomberg News reported, though TPG said at the time it didn’t plan to sell.
European private equity firm Trail and China Synergy, an investment firm backed by TPG and China international Capital Corp., were also part of the investor group that bought the stake in APM Monaco six years ago.
TPG had $286 billion in assets under management as of the end of September. The US buyout firm invested in APM Monaco through its Asia-focused private equity platform.
APM operates about 500 jewelry stores globally, according to its website.
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