Skechers is collaborating with internationally renowned muralist James Goldcrown to launch an exclusive collection featuring the iconic Love Wall heart design. The collection will feature Goldcrown’s colorful and inspiring prints on a range of shoes for women and girls—with the initial launch including Skechers Uno fashion sneakers, 90s retro Skechers Roadies sneakers, etc.

Rahul Vira, CEO, Skechers South Asia says, the collection embodies the spirit of spreading love and joy which is needed right now. The brand started on the canvas originally and later digitized the art to move it around the shoe for the perfect look. The Skechers x JGoldcrown exclusive collection for women and girls is now available at Skechers.in, select Skechers retail stores and select accounts.

James Goldcrown is a self-taught muralist, artist and photographer now based in New York and Los Angeles. Goldcrown started fashion photography at the age of 17 and seven years later filmed the documentary To Die No More about the AIDS/HIV epidemic. His instagrammable murals have achieved cult status with 50K+ #Lovewall public hashtags. Goldcrown works with brands in the lifestyle, restaurant, beauty, and fashion industries with his iconic design appearing in cities around the world.

Spanish fashion brand, Mango, along with its franchise partner, Myntra, has roped in Bollywood actress Vaani Kapoor, as its first brand ambassador in the country. As per Orissa Diary reports, the actress’ first campaign with the brand for their spring-summer collection will help it strengthen its leadership position in this massive and rapidly evolving fashion market.

Myntra and Mango will launch their first campaign on March 19, across digital and social mediums, with the actress, highlighting the new season collection, centered on the theme- ‘Happy and I know it’.. The video campaign epitomizes the woman of today, who is confident and happy with herself. The spring-summer 21’ collection, available on Myntra, and Mango stores, is designed to exemplify this attitude and resonate with women, who believe that fashion can be powerful, yet comfortable.

Mango's first website was created in 1995 and in year 2000, it opened its first online store. HE by Mango is a men's line created in 2008, and renamed Mango Man in 2014.

Mango has over 16,000 employees, 1,850 of whom work at the Hangar Design Centre and at its headquarters in Palau Solità i Plegamans (Barcelona). Mango's biggest market is Spain but Istanbul, Turkey, has the largest number of Mango stores.

Womenswear designer Ritu Kumar presented her Spring/Summer collection of modernized bohemian style garments made from organic fabrics at the Fashion Design Council of India x Lakme Fashion Week event.

As per Fashion Network, Kumar's collection features numerous shirts dresses suitable for work-from-home to informal event. It also features bold printed sarees made from organic soya fabric and semi-formal shirt dresses and tunic-style dresses made from neutral toned textile.

The collection reflects modern minimalism with a boho vibe, and includes yarn dyes, a mix and match of floral prints, patchwork with different laces, and geometric design. It comprises of statement styles such as the contemporary suit line, organic sarees, and the geometric prints line, etc

The fashion show was conceptualized in partnership with haircare brand Tresemme. To match the bohemian spirit of Kumar’s designs, the Tresemme team gave models ethnic-inspired braids with up-dos or sleek tresses.

Future Group has challenged the single judge’s order upholding the Singapore's Emergency Arbitrator's (EA) order restraining Future Retail (FRL) from going ahead with its Rs 24,713 crore deal with Reliance Retail to sell its business. The Group filed the appeal through its advocate. Justice J R Midha had rejected all objections raised by Future Group and imposed a cost of Rs 20 lakh on the Future Group and its directors and directed them to deposit the amount in Prime Minister's Relief Fund within two weeks for being used for providing COVID-19 vaccination to senior citizens of Below Poverty Line (BPL) category of Delhi.

The High Court had also ordered attachment of their properties and asked them to file an affidavit detailing their assets as of today within one month. It had also asked them to show cause as to why they be not detained under civil prison for a term not exceeding three months for violating the emergency arbitrator's order and file reply within two weeks.

The single judge had held that the EA is an arbitrator for all intents and purposes and he had rightly invoked the 'Group of Companies' doctrine in relation to the Future Group companies.

For Gen Next designers Wajahat Rather and Rahul Dasgupta , virtual shows have opened doors to a new world.

As per Outlook India, the two up-and-coming designers presented their collections at the ongoing FDCI X Lakme Fashion Week ‘phygital' edition.

Rather wants his label to be known as a sustainable and ethical brand. At the fashion gala, he presented his collection ''Maazi'', which means "past" in Urdu.

He described the range as a recollection of the memories of the past and nostalgia, represented through the paisley motifs, which are changing and recreating the blurred parts and images.

Rather used muslin from West Bengal and Chanderi silk cotton for the clothing line.

Dasgupta, who launched his Label Rahul Dasgupta during the pandemic, presented his collection ''The Sea'', which is inspired by his love for vast water bodies. This collection is based on a feelings evoked by the sea. The designer, who hails from Kolkata, West Bengal, wants to be known for his ability to create innovative surface development techniques.

Oldworld grandeur and prints dominated the first phygital collection of womenswear brand Payal Pratap showcased during the Fashion Design Council of India x Lakme Fashion Week event on March 18.

Titled ‘View With a Room’, the collection featured models wandering about a modern, white room having minimal furniture and large pictures of landscapes. As per a Fashion Network report, the models were dressed in layered ensembles with variety of prints and textures. Their dresses had checks, large-print florals with beaded details, stripes in deep jewel tones, and more dainty floralsthat helped create an eclectic look.

Designed to herald ‘the coming of a new dawn,’ the collection promoted stepping out of one's confines, and attempted to offer a peep into what lies ahead. It boasted of a rich colour palette comprising shades of plum, deep purple, midnight navy, fuchsia, ruby, petrol and coffee, auburn autumn and ochre.

Accessories like checked scarves, opaque tights, loose blazers gave the collection a western look.

The FDCI x Lakme Fashion Week phygital joint edition runs from March 16 to 21 and features a range of fashion films and runway presentation. Sponsors include Rise Worldwide and Nexa.

The Textile Ministry is supporting the Free Trade Deal between India and the UK which would include tariff reduction for textile and clothing items, resulting in possible gains for the sector.

As per the Hindu Business Line, Piyush Goyal, Commerce & Industry Minister, proposed to the UK . Secretary of State for International Trade Elizabeth Truss that the two countries could initially work on an interim pact on a preferential basis based on which both sides would reduce or eliminate tariffs on select items.

The Textile Ministry wants more market access for textiles and clothing under the proposed trade pact with the UK as the Indian industry has been complaining about not being able to perform to its full potential in the country because of tariff disadvantages.

As per figures collated by the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), total import of apparels in the UK in 2019 was $24.9 billion, of which India’s share was just $1.4 billion while Bangladesh’s share was at $3.6 billion.

As per a Keanery report, Bengaluru’s brand penetration per capita is higher as compared to Mumbai, thus making it attractive for retailers.

Manoj Muthu Kumar, Principal, Kearney, says, despite a lower population, Bengaluru has a higher per capita income and much higher level of spending and consumption in key sectors like apparel, footwear, food and groceries, electronics etc. Level of awareness and affinity towards organized retail and e-commerce is also much higher in the city though it offers lower rentals.

More recently, Bengaluru was also named the most liveable city in the country, within a pool of cities with a million plus population. In a recently revealed Ease of Living Index 2020 by the ministry of housing and urban affairs, Bengaluru emerged as the most liveable city in the million plus population category in 2020.

The index tracked the potential and attractiveness of over 800 Indian cities for various organized retail categories such as apparel, jewellery, electronics, footwear, food and grocery etc. Kearney’s Index rates each city on a variety of parameters that contribute to the overall retail market attractiveness of a city including economic, demographic, consumption, infrastructure, and ease of operations parameters. In addition to retail attractiveness, the index also factors penetration of modern trade and consumer adoption to e-commerce adoption within these cities.

As per global management consulting firm Kearney, contribution of big cities to the growth of India’s retail industry is declining, as consumption patterns have changed over the last decade.

As per a report by Economic Times, smaller cities, including Surat, Jabalpur, Raipur, Mangalore and Faridabad are emerging as the growth centers with their own consumer preferences.

This is especially evident in the share of luxury retail spending, which grew from around 9 per cent in 2013 to 55 to 60 per cent in 2018 in non-metro cities, says Siddharth Jain, Partner, Kearney. Around 65 per cent of the leading apparel e-commerce platforms’ revenue, for instance, currently comes from Tier II and smaller cities.

Several Tier II and Tier III cities boast favorable conditions such as unaddressed demand for organized brands, lower rentals and manpower, increasingly dense populations and growing disposable incomes.

Between 2006 and 2017, Tier II and smaller cities received five times more investments, too, in retail infrastructure than tier 1 and metro cities, the report said.