A few thoughts that I shared at the Sustainable Fashion Forum (Hong Kong, October 7, 2009): Most people want to fit in rather than stand apart from their peers, so pushing sustainable or responsible fashion will need time – just like the typical fashion cycle, the first thrust needs to be on the innovators and early adopters (both consumers and companies), before the majority of the market picks up the trend. We typically talk about the “triple-bottom line” – referring to the benefit to the business (profit), benefit to the environment and benefit to the community. However, I think most…
By Vishal Krishna BusinessWorld September 21, 2009 Normally, the performance of the market leader is a fair indicator of which way the wind is blowing in a sector. But there are always exceptions, and this is one such. According to data from JP Morgan, Pantaloon’s store sales have been on a steady rise since March this year (see ‘Scaling Heights’). Another big player in retail, Shoppers Stop, has also declared a profit of Rs 3 crore for the April-June 2009 quarter, after making a Rs 40-crore loss in 2008-09 fiscal. These signs of hope, however, stand starkly against overall consumption…
The dark clouds of recession and rain seem to be lifting just a little bit. Governments have been energetically throwing seeds of stimulus and economists are eagerly spotting “green shoots”. The festive season is around the corner, with anticipation of higher sales. So perhaps it is time to cheer. Or perhaps not. In the recessionary environment during the last year or so, ‘cutting back’ rather than ‘building’ has been the philosophy for most businesses. The implications of these cut-backs are not always visible in the place you have originally made the cuts. But, unfortunately, they inevitably impact the area which…
Geopolitical friction has again sparked renewed concerns over inflation and rising input costs for FMCG companies as @itmeansjustice @whysnavi write. @devangshu commented.
