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Burberry Axes CEO and Dividend, Warns on Profit

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 Axes CEO and Dividend, Warns on Profit

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

British luxury group Burberry named former Michael Kors boss Joshua Schulman as its new chief executive on Monday, axing Jonathan Akeroyd after two years as it warned on profit and scrapped its dividend.
A slow down in the luxury sector has hit Burberry harder than rival brands, derailing the 168 year-old British name at a time when it had been trying to move upmarket, and triggering the latest change at the top of the company, Reuters said.
For the 13 weeks to June 29, underlying sales slumped 21% as the company said weakness in its market deepened. It warned that on current trends it would miss forecasts for annual profit and it would scrap this year's dividend to invest in growth.
Burberry has been in turnaround mode for sometime, and under a number of different bosses. Designer Riccardo Tisci exited in 2022 after less than five years. Akeroyd's predecessor left after four years.
"This is a kitchen sink exercise par excellence, and underscores the enormity of the challenge facing Burberry in a world where Chinese sales can no longer be taken for granted," Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading platform IG said.
Schulman was CEO of US brand Michael Kors from 2021-2022 and before that brand president at Coach.
While some higher end luxury brands like Hermes and Prada have proved to be more resilient, Burberry has struggled.
Shoppers in the United States and Europe have grown more cautious as the cost of living has risen, while appetite in China has been deflated by a property crisis and record youth unemployment.
Burberry said on Monday it would switch its offer back to be "more familiar" to its "core customers", with a marketing campaign for outerwear to launch in October. Its last collection departed from its classic camel, red and black check print in favor of bold colors.
It said it expected to see an improvement in its second half, and would also find cost savings.
Shares in Burberry have lost 57% of their value over the last 12 months, underpeforming Britain's bluechip index which is up 13%.

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Fashion

Romania Faces Down Vuitton for 'Stealing' its Beloved Blouse

Examples of traditional Romanian blouses at a show in Vaideeni. Daniel MIHAILESCU / AFP
Examples of traditional Romanian blouses at a show in Vaideeni. Daniel MIHAILESCU / AFP
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Romania Faces Down Vuitton for 'Stealing' its Beloved Blouse

Examples of traditional Romanian blouses at a show in Vaideeni. Daniel MIHAILESCU / AFP
Examples of traditional Romanian blouses at a show in Vaideeni. Daniel MIHAILESCU / AFP

Villagers in Vaideeni at the foot of Romania's Carpathian mountains are fuming at French luxury brand Louis Vuitton for "stealing" the design of their traditional blouse.
Maria Gioanca, 69, one of two dozen women who still hand sew the black-and-white garment in the village, told AFP she "won't let the costume be stolen" for fancy beach wear.
Calls for luxury brands to acknowledge the inspirations of their designs have grown in recent years, as the fashion industry has been faced with accusations of cultural appropriation and exploiting the heritage of minority groups.
In Romania, activist group La Blouse Roumaine (The Romanian Blouse) has been asking brands since 2017 to come clean and "credit" the places of origin when their clothes are similar or inspired by Romanian folk costumes.
Dedicated to promoting the traditional "ie" blouse -- known to have inspired fashion designers like Yves Saint-Laurent, Jean Paul Gaultier and Kenzo -- their complaints have yielded mixed results.
'Violating cultural rights'
In Vaideeni, many of the seamstresses had not heard of Louis Vuitton, but noticed the similarity to their traditional "ie" blouses right away when they saw a photo of the French brand's white linen blouse embroidered with black motifs for their new "LV by the Pool" collection.
"Why mock our stuff?" said Ioana Staniloiu, 76, scoffing at the blouse created by star designer Nicolas Ghesquiere and advertised on the Louis Vuitton website as "airy" and having "a fresh, bohemian look".
"Next to our blouse, it's ugly," she said.
Accusing the French company of "violating the cultural rights of the communities", La Blouse Roumaine founder Andreea Tanasescu said people felt offended that a blouse traditionally worn on special occasions is used as beach wear.
"You have to be very careful... It's better you go and talk to the community, spend time there," the former casting director, 49, told AFP, adding fashion could help "protect and promote cultural heritage" if there was an exchange.
Romania's culture minister asked the company last month to acknowledge the heritage.
Louis Vuitton declined to comment when contacted by AFP, but confirmed media reports that it apologized to Romania and stopped selling the blouse.
It no longer appears on the brand's website, and 20 as yet unsold blouses have been put aside, according to reports.
'Scared' for future
In the past, La Blouse Roumaine convinced US designer Tory Burch to change the description of a coat crediting its Romanian inspiration. They didn't get any reply from Dior in a similar case.
"There is a beauty that we cannot ignore," said Zaharia, who opened the first textiles museum in Romania in 2018 after almost 30 years working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
But critics say these controversies don't end up helping communities to save their dying crafts.
It's like "airing dirty laundry in public", Romanian Peasant Museum curator Horatiu Ilea said, adding "the only thing" that could help is for young people to learn the crafts.
While the making of the Romanian blouse has been added to UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage in 2022, there is no patent on it, and there are different styles even among the same group of seamstresses.
In Vaideeni, some women have recently taken up the craft they learned from their elders, but it is far from easy.
It takes at least a month to sew a blouse selling for around 300 to 400 euros ($320-$430), and they don't exactly sell like hot cakes.
"I'm a bit scared (about the future), but we won't give up here," said Staniloiu, whose daughter and four granddaughters have all left the village to look for work elsewhere.