Page 36 - March #170

MARK FAITHFULL

Following the

Money

Mark Faithfull crunches the numbers as he looks at
analysis and expansion that re ects changing markets.

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London Fast-fashion retailer PrettyLittleThing is to launch a Depop-type
Swedish furniture and homewares retail giant IKEA has opened its marketplace later this year for consumers to resell their pre-worn
vision of urban retailing after the Livat concept – meaning a ‘lively clothing in an attempt to shed its reputation for disposable fashion.
gathering’ in Swedish – made its European debut in Hammersmith The company, which has faced fierce criticism in the past for
and is soon to be followed by downtown outlets in San Francisco, US its part in encouraging a throwaway fashion culture, will allow
and Toronto, Canada. customers to sell products from PLT and any other brand
In unveiling its new concept, IKEA has revealed its view of the according to PrettyLittleThing UK and European Creative Director
future of not just stores but also of malls. And that, it seems, is full Molly-Mae Hague.
of community, meeting spaces, products for rent, pop-ups, food, Hague, a former ITV Love Island contestant, joined the retailer in
recycling and an auto-free environment. a year-long partnership, working alongside the in-house creative and
Hammersmith is the first European location to carry the Livat brand teams.
brand and has been developed by Ingka Centres, the real estate arm Hague said that she hopes the move into resale will help drive
of Ingka Group (which includes IKEA Retail and Ingka Investments). sustainability up the agenda with its Gen Z shoppers: “It’s not going
Its launch comes two years after Ingka Centres confirmed a £170M to be just PLT pieces – you can sell pretty much anything on there,
investment to acquire and redevelop the existing Kings Mall, which which is obviously encouraging sustainability hugely. It’s encouraging
had a quarter of its space vacant, and it has brought it up to date girls to think ‘this is actually in really great condition I don’t need to
with a contemporary, Scandinavian-inspired design and an atrium chuck it away why not encourage someone else to buy it’,” she said.
that provides a space for visitors to hang out.
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traditional tenants including Lidl, Sainsbury’s, H&M and Primark. But Chinese fast-fashion giant Shein is expanding its Singapore o ce
there are lots of new things too, including pop-up platform Sook – after making a Singapore firm its de facto holding company, according
which has two, soon to be three, locations in the West End - food to Reuters. Citing “people with knowledge of the matter” and a
outlets (including a yet-to-be revealed new food concept) and an Reuters analysis of filings by the online fast-fashion retailer, the agency’s
interactive ‘Library of Things’ opening later in April. This community- report said that Shein’s Founder and CEO, Chris Xu, has also become
powered enterprise will let visitors rent useful household items. a permanent resident of the city-state.
Ingka Centres’ Managing Director, Cindy Andersen, was in Shein last year de-registered its main business, Nanjing Top Plus
London for the launch en route to San Francisco to check on her Information Technology Co Ltd, according to Chinese corporate filings.
next project, and she told me: “Our urban meeting places have been The developments bolster previous rumours suggesting that Shein
designed to reflect modern inner-city lifestyles, with more regular is busying itself reviving plans to list in New York this year, with Xu
visits and fewer journeys by car.” considering a change in citizenship in order to bypass tough new
She said that Ingka Centres will be seeking out further sites across Chinese rules for o shore IPOs.
major cities in Europe and North America. Singapore-registered Roadget Business Pte, which lists Xu and
three others as its representatives, was established in 2019 and since
late 2021 has been the legal entity operating Shein’s global website,
Singapore filings show.

34 5(7$,/ /(,685( ,17(51$7,21$/ MARCH 2022
50 RETAIL & LEISURE INTERNATIONAL NOVEMBER 2018