Oxfam Trailwalker

YCC Marketing team has applied for attending the 2009 Oxfam Trailwalker in November. Jacky Hong, Eric Hong, Alan Hong and Anson Xu on behalf of YCC are going to attend the competition for helping more people in difficulties. Oxfam Trailwalker is one of the largest fundraising sporting events in Hong Kong. Since 1986, more than 58,000 participants have raised over HK$270 million to support Oxfam's various poverty alleviation and emergency relief projects in Africa and Asia, including Hong Kong and mainland China.

Oxfam Trailwalker is a challenging team event to complete the 100km MacLehose Trail within a 48-hour time limit to encourage each other along the way, facing every difficulty together.

Shades of Blue: Top 10 Searched-For Denim Brands

Despite the troubled economy, certain areas of the apparel industry, including premium denim, have been faring better than others, WWD reported this month. Christine Chen, Needham & Co. retail analyst, said: "If you amortize the cost of jeans over the number of different times you wear it - people are wearing denim to fancy events now, so the purchase becomes justified. You can wear denim daytime and night. This is why [number one-ranked] True Religion is doing well. The brand is providing fashion denim that is different from last year." WWD has tallied the most-searched-for denim brands online in April from Stylophane.com, an apparel e-commerce and marketing firm. The majority of the top brands are premium labels. The Stylophane Apparel Index rates brands' popularity online, measuring more than 800 fashion labels monthly by tracking on Yahoo.com how many times brands are entered into a search engine. Site searches represent Yahoo.com only.

International Trade Shows: Bang for the Bucks

The worldwide recession is boosting the importance of trade shows in Japan. In the current climate, designers are spending less on flashy fashion shows and events, and buyers are becoming more focused on product development.

"Most of the merchandise at my store is not from runway show designers, but from individual exhibitors who sometimes have more interesting ideas," said Etsuko Yoneyama, director and buyer at Lamp Harajuku, a popular shop in Tokyo. Yoneyama attends the collections in Tokyo and Paris, but often buys merchandise from smaller suppliers.

Chiaki Takahashi, a buyer at boutique Adam et Rope, said, "At trade shows and individual exhibitions, I can talk more closely to designers and [brand reps.] They are flexible and work with us to develop more sellable merchandise."

 

Comme des Garcons, Vogue Celebrate Tokyo Store

Takashi Murakami and Adrian Joffe

Photo By Photo by Yukie Kasuga

Vogue Nippon and Comme des Garcons' feted their new temporary store "Magazine Alive" in Tokyo's Aoyama district Wednesday evening, attracting a large crown of fashion editors, Takashi Murakami and a camera-shy Rei Kawakubo and Junya Watanabe.

The space -- the same one the Japanese brand used for its one-off Louis Vuitton boutique -- sells an intriguing mix of fashion and accessories, from t-shirts bearing the manga likeness of Hedi Slimane, Marc Jacobs and Donatella Versace, to silk gowns from Undercover, knits from Martin Margiela and transparent plastic handbags from Loewe.

The content of the store will change from month to month to coincide with the contents of each new issue of Vogue until "Magazine Alive" finishes its run in November.

 

Polo Eyes Expansion in Asia

As Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. reported lower sales and restructuring charges drove down fourth-quarter profits by 57 percent, the company on Wednesday laid out plans for accelerated growth in Asia. Polo will assume direct control of its wholesale and retail distribution in Southeast Asia at the beginning of next year and is creating a Hong Kong-based hub to oversee operations in the region.

"Southeast Asia is projected to grow the most in the next 10 to 12 years, and we've been building our organizational teams so we can hit the ground running," Roger Farah, president and chief operating officer, told WWD.

Polo generates $150 million in retail sales across eight Southern Asian countries.