PARIS — While leading public relations agencies have slashed their staffing levels in response to a sharp drop in business from fashion and red-carpet clients, a host of smaller agencies have bloomed as former employees launch their own operations in fields spanning from PR to influencer marketing and talent management. Not a week goes by, […]

With the Senate’s unopposed confirmation on Wednesday of U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, the retail industry has put forth a trade policy wishlist aimed at cutting tariffs on apparel imports. The issue of raised tariffs on finished goods imports from China has particularly vexed the clothing and apparel retail industry, which has argued that such […]

BT Mark To Market Ep 5: How to invest in an overvalued market 8:34 min Listen to Ben Paul’s analysis and insight on market trends and corporate issues in Singapore in this new podcast series based on his weekly column in The Business Times. In this fifth episode of the Mark To Market podcast, BT’s […]

National Grid is buying the UK’s largest electricity distribution business for £7.8bn and plans to sell its gas transmission arm in a switch it says will enhance its role in delivering “net zero”. The group has agreed to acquire Western Power Distribution (WPD) from America’s PPL corporation in the latest transformation of the utility business […]

LONDON – Burberry said Thursday it is donating to UNICEF’s COVID-19 Vaccines Appeal, helping the organization’s efforts to ensure millions of people from vulnerable communities around the world have equal access to vaccines. Burberry said that donations from the brand and from the Burberry Foundation COVID-19 Community Fund will go towards “the transportation, storage and […]

TOKYO/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Asian shares and U.S. stock futures rose on Thursday after the Federal Reserve committed to maintaining accommodative monetary policy and projected a rapid jump in U.S. economic growth this year as the COVID-19 crisis eases.FILE PHOTO: A man walks past a stock quotation board at a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan February […]

Amazon has become the top-selling apparel retailer in the U.S., with more than $41 billion in sales for clothing and footwear in 2020, Wells Fargo estimated Wednesday. According to its latest “Amazon & The Retail Rainforest” report, Wells Fargo explained that pandemic-fueled changes in shopping behavior drove 15 percent growth in the e-tailer’s online clothing […]

LONDON — Ralph & Russo, the U.K.-based couture and ready-to-wear brand, has been placed into administration, or bankruptcy protection, blaming the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns for the collapse of the business. The company has appointed Paul Appleton of Begbies Traynor Group and Andrew Andronikou of Quantuma Advisory as joint administrators. The administrators said they will […]

Fonterra enjoyed a 17 per cent lift in its operating earnings over the first half but chief executive Miles Hurrell says high milk prices will make for a challenging second half. The co-op has forecast a $7.60/kg milk price for the season, which will represent a higher input cost for the co-op. “This is not […]

By Tara Siegel Bernard and Ron Lieber The stimulus money promised under the American Rescue Plan will hit the bank accounts of many Americans on Wednesday — the first official payment date — though some financial institutions chose to make the cash available to people even before it arrived from the government. Not everyone eligible […]