This year, the Jing Daily Fashion Week Score, which, through a range of parameters, evaluates how a designer’s collection resonates with the Chinese audience, kicks off with another packed digital schedule at London Fashion Week.

Designers and fashion fans in the UK are still cooped-up and locked down, struggling with COVID-19. However, they now face the sharp aftershocks of Brexit too. Even the BFC itself faced criticism following the appointment of Clearpay, a popular flexible payment option company, as a principal sponsor, a move which faced backlash from cross-party MPs fearful of pressure on young shoppers to defer debt.

This…

Last year, the luxury goods market was deeply affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with sales registering a sharp decline reminiscent of the one initiated by the 2009 financial crisis. Bain & Company reports that the core personal luxury goods market fell by 23 percent year-on-year to hit $263 billion. This drop is the largest recorded since Bain began monitoring the industry.

Key Takeaways:

• International travel was brought to a standstill by COVID-19, so Chinese consumers stayed home and looked for alternative leisure activities like buying luxury items.
• Around 70 to 80 million Chinese lost their jobs or could not work…

After a pandemic-served beatdown last year, Puma has clawed its way to recovery.

On February 24, the German sportswear giant reported that sales jumped 9 percent to 1.52 billion euros in the last three months of 2020 — a promising upswing from the 55-percent plummet in its second quarter. Overall, sales were down 1.4 percent to 5.23 billion euros for the financial year.

This rebound was led by strong performance in the Asia Pacific, which surged 11.8 percent in the fourth quarter to 480.5 million euros, driven by mainland China. But the country alone was not enough to stop the…

The growth rate of China’s sharing economy sector is expected to be between 10 and 15 percent this year, and maintain an average annual growth rate of over 10 percent in the coming five years, thanks to an expected strong recovery in the macroeconomy, a recent report said.

The State Information Center said that in 2020, amid challenges brought by COVID-19, new business modes featuring the sharing economy demonstrated tremendous resilience and development potential. The trade volume of the sharing economy for the year surged 2.9 percent year-on-year to 3.38 trillion yuan ($523.6 billion).

The pandemic’s influence on different areas…

JLL sees Hong Kong will rebound quicker than other markets.

There has been a decline in office rental by 0.6% in January on net effective rents, Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (JLL) reported in its latest Hong Kong Property Market Monitor.

But Hong Kong is set to rebound faster than other markets despite the recorded numbers of occupiers opting to downsize, according to Alex Barnes, JLL’s head of office leasing advisory in Hong Kong.

“The Grade-A office market recorded an overall net withdrawal of 366,200 sq. ft. in January as downsizing among occupiers remained in view. …

HÀ NỘI — January started on a positive note, with city hotels seeing increased MICE and event bookings, while in some resorts corporate bookings started to return, according to Savills Việt Nam.

“The market in 2021 is expected to be broadly similar with most of 2020, at least until borders reopen to leisure and business trade. Hotels have adapted by considerably reducing operating costs to establish lower breakeven points. The good news is that several destinations are still performing at acceptable levels,” Mauro Gasparotti, Director of Savills Hotels APAC, said.

“Performance in December and January was positive for destinations like…

Huawei Technologies Co on Tuesday highlighted the role technology plays in combating the COVID-19 pandemic and disclosed it posted growth in both revenue and profit last year, despite headwinds caused by US government restrictions.

Hu Houkun, deputy chairman of Huawei, said at the opening ceremony of the 2021 Mobile World Congress Shanghai the past year was tough but Huawei managed to persevere.

Hu did not disclose details, but said the company would unveil its 2020 financial report at the end of March.

During his keynote speech at MWC Shanghai, Hu also spoke about the huge impact COVID-19 has had on…

Sun Juanjuan, a white-collar worker in Shanghai, had been using an iPhone X for more than three years before buying an iPhone 12 immediately after Apple Inc unveiled its first smartphones with 5G connectivity in October.

“I have been waiting for Apple’s 5G smartphone for a long time. When the iPhone 12 was unveiled, I decided to buy one immediately. I love the green color so much,” Sun said.

Consumers like Sun are pushing sales of Apple to new highs in China. …