Apparel Sourcing Intelligence - Worldwide

20th November 2018

Primark establishes new record for UK clothes retailing profit

With an opening programme in its last quarter that included its second New York City store, Primark set a new record of £843 millon ($1.14 billion) in profit for a...

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6th November 2018

What’s really made Primark the most profitable British clothing retailer ever?

With an opening programme in its last quarter that included its second New York City store, Primark today announced a new record of £843 millon ($1.14 billion) in profit for...

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19th September 2018

Are we really facing total retail collapse? Or have too many retailers just been misguided?

An awful lot of people are telling us retail's collapsing - or at least fleeing to the internet. Among recent front-page horrors have been Sears in the US hinting it’s...

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5th September 2018

Credit Suisse confirm: for clothes retailers “not being online is an advantage”

Credit Suisse confirmed (download CS analysis 5 Sep) on September 5 that for clothes retailers thinking of online selling "not being online is an advantage". Their argument is that it...

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17th May 2018

UK Prime Minister uses Royal Wedding to disguise Single Market confirmation

Theresa May confirmed on May 16 that Britain would remain in Europe's Single Market - using the news chaos around the Royal Wedding to ensure media would overlook it. The...

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17th April 2018

Primark becomes first British retailer to make over $1bn from selling clothes

Primark's H1 results, announced on April 17, make it the first British retailer to achieve over a billion dollars' annual profit from selling clothes. A disappointing performance from its parent...

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9th November 2016

Post Trump and Brexit: there’s more than one way to skin the international retailing cat

While American voters were confounding practically all observers on November 8, on the other side of the Atlantic Britain’s Marks & Spencer unveiled a strategy that may be designed for...

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26th February 2016

Is Primark pioneering a new wave of retail efficiency?

Has Primark identified the direction apparel retailers should be looking – or are US commentators right to claim the business is fundamentally flawed? Earlier this month, I stressed the importance of...

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15th January 2015

2014’s Next Big Things that weren’t.1. Internet dominance

We're now twenty years from the launch of internet retailing. But it's had nothing like the effect on apparel buying the big 20th century revolutions did. Accident, problem - or...

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29th October 2014

“Modern slavery”: Activists want tougher UK duty of disclosure on slavery-free supply chains

The UK government announced on October 13 that larger businesses will have to state publicly each year what action they have taken to ensure their supply chains are slavery free. The...

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26th September 2014

Cambodian government gets subtly different pressures from foreign buyers and unions over minimum wages

In separate mid-September letters to the Cambodian government, a group of European buyers and the major international union federations pushed for surprisingly similar, but still different, approaches to setting Cambodia's...

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15th January 2014

Greenpeace childrenswear focus tries to shame more brands into Detox campaign

Greenpeace launched a "Little Monsters" fairy tale, detailing hazardous chemicals in children's clothes, as its latest weapon to shame more brands into signing the Detox Challenge. A survey, describing 82...

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