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Uniqlo Owner Expected to Post 30% Profit Rise, as Investors Eye China Results

A shopper looks on, inside a Fast Retailing's Uniqlo casual clothing store in Tokyo, Japan January 11, 2023. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo
A shopper looks on, inside a Fast Retailing's Uniqlo casual clothing store in Tokyo, Japan January 11, 2023. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo
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Uniqlo Owner Expected to Post 30% Profit Rise, as Investors Eye China Results

A shopper looks on, inside a Fast Retailing's Uniqlo casual clothing store in Tokyo, Japan January 11, 2023. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo
A shopper looks on, inside a Fast Retailing's Uniqlo casual clothing store in Tokyo, Japan January 11, 2023. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo

Second-quarter results from Japan's Fast Retailing Co (9983.T), owner of clothing brand Uniqlo, will on Thursday offer a window into how rapidly demand in China is recovering after the lifting of pandemic curbs.

The company, Japan's biggest retailer, reported a 2% dip in operating profit in the first quarter, partly due to lingering effects of COVID-19 restrictions in China, its biggest overseas market. China scrapped most of its COVID curbs at the end of last year and reopened to tourists last month, Reuters reported.

Investors will also be looking at how significant wage increases announced in January are impacting the company's bottom line.

Fast Retailing's operating profit for the three months ended in February is expected to rise 30% to 91 billion yen ($682 million), according to an average of seven analyst estimates from Refinitiv.

For the full year, analysts are expecting profit to reach 347 billion yen, 17% higher than the record earnings achieved last year.

The company, founded by Japan's richest man, Tadashi Yanai, has nearly 900 Uniqlo stores in China, making it a bellwether for global retailers in the world's second-biggest economy.

As COVID curbs dampened Chinese operations over the past few years, Fast Retailing put increased focus on its North American and European businesses.

"We see significant risks to the company's valuation, especially with the China rebound taking longer than expected," LightStream Research analyst Oshadhi Kumarasiri wrote in a report on the Smartkarma platform.

"In addition, Uniqlo's revenue growth seems to have plateaued in North America and Europe and there is also margin pressure from wage hikes and inventory growth."

Fast Retailing said it would raise wages by as much as 40%, sending shockwaves throughout corporate Japan. The company estimated at the time that overall personnel costs in Japan would rise about 15% from the previous year.

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Fashion

Beyoncé, Venus Williams, Nicole Kidman and Anna Wintour will co-chair next Met Gala

This combination of photos shows Nicole Kidman, left, and Venus Williams. (AP)
This combination of photos shows Nicole Kidman, left, and Venus Williams. (AP)
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Beyoncé, Venus Williams, Nicole Kidman and Anna Wintour will co-chair next Met Gala

This combination of photos shows Nicole Kidman, left, and Venus Williams. (AP)
This combination of photos shows Nicole Kidman, left, and Venus Williams. (AP)

The new Met Gala co-chairs have been announced, and it's a high-powered quartet: Beyoncé, Venus Williams and Nicole Kidman will join Vogue's Anna Wintour in hosting the star-packed event next May.

Williams, who has never hosted before, takes the role seven years after her younger sister and fellow tennis champion, Serena, was co-chair. Beyoncé was honorary chair in 2013, and Kidman co-chaired in 2003 and 2005. Wintour, of course, oversees the annual event, a fundraiser that last year brought a record $31 million to the coffers of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute.

The museum on Wednesday also announced a gala host committee, chaired by designer Anthony Vaccarello and filmmaker Zoë Kravitz. It includes musicians Sabrina Carpenter, Doja Cat, LISA, Sam Smith and Yseult; dancer Misty Copeland; actors Teyana Taylor, Elizabeth Debicki, Gwendoline Christie and Lena Dunham; basketball player A'ja Wilson; models Alex Consani, Paloma Elsesser and Lauren Wasser; Vogue editor Chloe Malle; and artist Anna Weyant.

For years, Beyoncé, a seven-time gala guest, has been one of the most-watched celebrities on the carpet, keeping everyone in eager anticipation of her (fashionably) late arrival. In 2015, she made it worth the wait with a daring custom Givenchy gown that, with its strategically placed beading. A year later, the superstar again wore Givenchy, this time in a gleaming, skintight latex gown.

No word on what she will wear next; the dress code for the May 4 gala has yet to be announced. But it will dovetail with the theme of “Costume Art,” announced last month as the institute's next spring exhibit.

The exhibit aims to celebrate “the dressed body” as it appears in art through the centuries. It will do that by pairing garments with objects from across the museum to show how fashion has long been intertwined with different art forms.

“It’s a show that can really live in fascinating ways at the museum and can pull from all different areas of our collection — paintings, sculpture, drawings,” the museum’s CEO and director, Max Hollein, said in an interview last month.

The show, overseen as always by the Costume Institute’s curator in charge, Andrew Bolton, will be organized thematically by different body types. It will include the the “Classical Body,” for example, but also less traditional themes like the “Pregnant Body” and the “Aging Body.”

The new exhibit will also have a splashy new home. “Costume Art” will inaugurate new gallery space occupying some 12,000 square feet (1,115 square meters), right off the museum’s Great Hall — giving fashion a prominent space in the museum and also helping to control congestion at the heavily attended exhibits. The new Conde M. Nast galleries — created from what was formerly the museum’s retail store — will house not only all spring Costume Institute exhibits, but other shows from different parts of the museum.

Bolton has said the gallery space “will mark a pivotal moment for the department, one that acknowledges the critical role fashion plays not only within art history but also within contemporary culture.”

Venus Williams returned to competition in July at age 45 after nearly 1 1/2 years away from the tour, though she had never retired. She became the oldest player to play singles at the US Open since 1981. Serena Williams, meanwhile, recently threw cold water on the idea that she might be preparing to return to tennis.

“Costume Art” opens to the public May 10, 2026, and runs until Jan. 10, 2027.

Fashion

Saudi Fashion Commission Concludes 'Building a Fashion Brand' Program in Partnership with Fondazione Sozzani

The program concluded with an official ceremony at the Future Creative Residence, where participants received certificates of completion - SPA
The program concluded with an official ceremony at the Future Creative Residence, where participants received certificates of completion - SPA
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Saudi Fashion Commission Concludes 'Building a Fashion Brand' Program in Partnership with Fondazione Sozzani

The program concluded with an official ceremony at the Future Creative Residence, where participants received certificates of completion - SPA
The program concluded with an official ceremony at the Future Creative Residence, where participants received certificates of completion - SPA

Saudi Arabia's Fashion Commission successfully concluded its five-day intensive program titled “Building a Fashion Brand,” held at the Future Creative Residence (FCR) in Riyadh.

According to a press release issued by the commission today, the program aimed to empower ambitious Saudi talents and equip beginner designers with essential knowledge, strategic tools, and practical guidance to support the development and launch of their own fashion brands. It was delivered in partnership with Fondazione Sozzani, an international institution dedicated to preserving culture and creativity and promoting sustainable fashion.

The program highlighted the intersection between fashion, visual culture, and sustainability. Participants engaged in a rich week of lectures, workshops, one-on-one sessions, and brand development activities led by international experts, SPA reported.

The program was supervised by Creative Director of Fondazione Sozzani Sara Sozzani Maino, one of the world's most prominent advocates of responsible fashion known for her work with Vogue Italia and Vogue Talents, alongside Riccardo Terzo, stylist, editor, and creative director of DUST China, who has extensive experience in talent scouting and the history of fashion imagery.

The two experts presented an integrated curriculum covering brand identity, storytelling, visual language, portfolio development, responsible fashion practices, and the evolving landscape of global fashion culture.

Participants were offered a continuous creative journey, exploring the foundations of defining personal and brand identity, developing integrated visual and written narratives, understanding contemporary fashion imagery and communication methods, and building a design approach rooted in sustainability, responsibility, and professional ethics.

They also enhanced their ability to develop strategies through research and moodboards, explore collaboration opportunities, and build integrated creative ecosystems, in addition to benefiting from individual mentoring sessions focused on refining vision, strategy, and identity.
The release added that their perspectives were further broadened through documentary screenings, open discussions, and analytical studies of global brands such as Jacquemus, Wales Bonner, and the Fashion Revolution movement, contributing to strengthened awareness of contemporary international trends.

On the final day, participants presented their developed brand concepts before a panel of experts, showcasing identity statements, visual visions, and strategic foundations for each brand. The program concluded with an official ceremony at the Future Creative Residence, where participants received certificates of completion.

The “Building a Fashion Brand” program reflects the Fashion Commission’s commitment to empowering the new generation of Saudi designers, enhancing global creative exchange, and building a sustainable fashion ecosystem that meets future needs within the Kingdom.

Through its strategic partnerships with leading international institutions such as Fondazione Sozzani, the commission continues to develop specialized programs that support emerging talents and elevate the fashion scene in Saudi Arabia.

In this context, the Sozzani Foundation is preparing to launch another program under the supervision of the Fashion Commission titled “Content Creation in Fashion,” scheduled for December 15, 2025, in Milan. A group of Saudi designers has been selected to participate, including one designer nominated from the previous program to ensure continuity of learning and deepening of acquired skills.

Fashion

China's HongShan Reportedly Eyes $2.9 Billion Golden Goose Deal by Christmas

People walk in a commercial street at the historical Shichahai district in Beijing, China, December 3, 2025. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier
People walk in a commercial street at the historical Shichahai district in Beijing, China, December 3, 2025. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier
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China's HongShan Reportedly Eyes $2.9 Billion Golden Goose Deal by Christmas

People walk in a commercial street at the historical Shichahai district in Beijing, China, December 3, 2025. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier
People walk in a commercial street at the historical Shichahai district in Beijing, China, December 3, 2025. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier

China's HongShan Capital Group (HSG) has sent a 2.5 billion euro ($2.91 billion) offer to private equity Permira to buy Italian luxury sneaker maker Golden Goose, with the aim of signing the deal by Christmas, daily la Repubblica reported on Friday.

Details still need to be defined but the offer gives the luxury group an enterprise value of 10 times the core profit expected by the end of the year, debt included, the newspaper said.

Golden Goose's revenues totaled 655 million euros in 2024, with an adjusted core profit of 227 million euros.

HSG has asked veteran fashion industry executive Marco Bizzarri to become Golden Goose's future chairman, la Repubblica said, adding that the Chinese private equity aims to expand Golden Goose's directly-managed stores, particularly in Asia, and plans to list the group in the medium-term.

Last year the Venice-based company, which sells sneakers for more than 500 euros a pair, shelved plans for an initial public offering on the Milan Bourse, citing market volatility caused by political uncertainty in Europe.