Burberry Presents Star-studded Moody Autumnal Collection

A person walks past a Burberry store undergoing refurbishment on New Bond Street in London, Britain, March 11, 2023. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
A person walks past a Burberry store undergoing refurbishment on New Bond Street in London, Britain, March 11, 2023. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
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Burberry Presents Star-studded Moody Autumnal Collection

A person walks past a Burberry store undergoing refurbishment on New Bond Street in London, Britain, March 11, 2023. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
A person walks past a Burberry store undergoing refurbishment on New Bond Street in London, Britain, March 11, 2023. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

Burberry's creative director, Daniel Lee, on Monday showed his third brief at London Fashion Week, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary, with an ode to the brand's outdoor heritage for the luxury house's autumn-winter 2024 collection.
Set in a dark marquee in London's Victoria Park where guests sat on big fluffy brown cushions, songs from late British singer Amy Winehouse set the mood for the night.
The star-studded show was attended by actress Olivia Coleman, US Vogue Editor in Chief Anna Wintour, model Jourdan Dunn, and Irish actor Barry Keoghan among others, Reuters.
Monday's show heavily featured outerwear and sporty silhouettes with bomber jackets and Burberry's iconic trench coat that sat alongside flowy beaded and velvet dresses.
It noticeably lacked the brand's new signature 'Knight Blue', the same color featured in its "takeover" of British department store Harrods this month.
Models walked down a grass runway on chunky-soled leather boots, parading leather and faux-fur coats in shades of muted green and brown, oversized stripy suit jackets and trousers with sipper detailing.
British models Naomi Campbell, Agyness Deyn and Lily Cole were among those sashaying on the catwalk.
Burberry's famous beige, black and red check was reimagined into the moody Autumnal color palette and featured on the inside of floor-sweeping skirts with long slits down the side.
Accessories included checked umbrellas, large canvas, leather and faux-fur bags in cream, brown and green - often adorned with gold detailing - and paired with scarves worn over the head.
Lee, who was behind the revamp of Italian fashion brand Bottega Veneta, is facing pressure to produce a winning collection for Burberry which is battling a slowdown in demand for luxury goods.
The 168-year-old company issued a warning on its profits in January, a setback for Chief Executive Jonathan Akeroyd who is seeking to reposition the brand as "modern British luxury".



Bangladesh Garment Industry Short on Cotton as Floods Worsen Protest Backlog

FILE PHOTO: Women work in a garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, May 3, 2020. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Women work in a garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, May 3, 2020. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain/File Photo
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Bangladesh Garment Industry Short on Cotton as Floods Worsen Protest Backlog

FILE PHOTO: Women work in a garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, May 3, 2020. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Women work in a garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, May 3, 2020. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain/File Photo

Garment factories in Bangladesh, one of the world's biggest clothing production hubs, are struggling to complete orders on time as flooding disrupts their cotton supplies - exacerbating a backlog caused by recent political turmoil.
Bangladesh is a leading global cotton importer due to the size of its textile and garment industry, but the devastating floods mean few trucks and trains have been able to bring supplies to factories from Chittagong port over the last week, industry officials and analysts said.
The disruption, on top of the unrest and protests that led to factory closures earlier this month, have caused garment production to fall by 50%, said Mohammad Hatem, president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
"The industry is now under immense pressure to meet deadlines, and without a swift resolution, the supply chain could deteriorate even further," Reuters quoted Hatem as saying.
Bangladesh was ranked as the third-largest exporter of clothing in the world last year, after China and the European Union, according to the World Trade Organization, exporting $38.4 billion worth of clothes in 2023.
At the clothing factory she runs in the capital, Dhaka, Rubana Huq is counting the cost of lost production.
"Even for a moderate-sized company like ours, which makes 50,000 shirts a day and if the price of one single shirt is $5, there was $250,000 of production loss," said Huq, a former president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).
She said some garment plants were slowing resuming production, but estimated that complete recovery "would be at least six months away", warning that Bangladeshi manufacturers could lose 10%-15% of business to other countries.
Bangladesh's readymade garments industry, which supplies many of the world's best-known fashion brands, accounts for more than 80% of the country's total export earnings.
Buyers are adopting a cautious approach and could potentially delay new orders, said Shahidullah Azim, a director of the BGMEA industry group.
"The longer this uncertainty persists, the more challenging it becomes for us to maintain the momentum we have built," he told Reuters.
The Bangladesh Meteorological Department said flood conditions could persist if the monsoon rains continued, as water levels were receding very slowly.
Some cotton shipments could get diverted to India, Pakistan and Vietnam, commodity analysts said.
"We are already hearing and seeing some cotton for prompt delivery wanted by Pakistan and Vietnam," said Louis Barbera, partner and analyst at VLM Commodities based in New Jersey.
New orders shifted from Bangladesh could also be accommodated in southern India, said Atul Ganatra, president of the Cotton Association of India.
Even before the floods and political unrest, the Bangladeshi garment industry was grappling with power shortages that remain a problem, said Fazlee Shamim Ehsan, vice president at the country's knitwear manufacturers and exporters association.
"Energy shortages continue to hamper our operations," he said.