Luxury clothing maker Moncler showcased its latest celebrity collaborations in pavilions built inside an old shipyard in downtown Shanghai, China, on Saturday as it looks to shrug off the sector's global malaise.
More than 8,000 guests were on hand for "The City of Genius" event which featured separate pavilions for each of this year's Moncler Genius collection collaborators, a list that includes high-profile names such as A$AP Rocky, Edward Enninful, Willow Smith and Rick Owens.
Moncler Genius has since 2018 invited creators from the fashion, music and artistic fields to co-create collections that put their own spin on Moncler's down jackets, and this year saw the collections showcased in runway shows and modelled in elaborate garden settings and on a go-kart racetrack.
The event arrived in Shanghai as the luxury world braced for a slowdown due in part to China's slowing economy and consumer pullback.
France's LVMH, a bellwether for the luxury sector, on Tuesday reported a 3% fall in third-quarter sales.
Moncler, however, has been outperforming luxury competitors this year, with revenue up 11% in the first half and double- digit growth among Chinese consumers shopping at home and abroad. The firm is yet to report third-quarter results.
"China is a very good market," Moncler CEO Remo Ruffini said at a press conference before Saturday's event. "[The luxury market] is volatile, but I'm sure in five years China will be much bigger than it is today."
Last month Ruffini tightened his control of the group after striking a deal with LVMH, which purchased a 10% stake in Double R, the investment vehicle controlled by the Moncler CEO, enabling Double R to up its stake in Moncler from 15.8% to 18.5% over the next 18 months.
Reuters
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