{"id":160487,"date":"2018-09-28T13:46:19","date_gmt":"2018-09-28T13:46:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/whisper-it-but-there-may-be-some-upsides-to-brexit-as-far-as-fashion-is-concerned\/"},"modified":"2021-08-12T13:53:59","modified_gmt":"2021-08-12T13:53:59","slug":"whisper-it-but-there-may-be-some-upsides-to-brexit-as-far-as-fashion-is-concerned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/whisper-it-but-there-may-be-some-upsides-to-brexit-as-far-as-fashion-is-concerned\/","title":{"rendered":"Whisper it, but there may be some upsides to Brexit as far as fashion is concerned..."},"content":{"rendered":"
Remainers cover your ears. One of the world\u2019s strongest fashion brands is moving its headquarters to London despite Brexit. Yes, Brexit hasn\u2019t put them off.\u00a0Chanel has decided to close its global headquarters in New York and move it to London.<\/strong><\/p>\n Until now, Chanel did not have a single holding company for its operations and functions were located in a number of cities. In a statement from the French company, they said, \u201cWe wanted to simplify the structure of the business and London is the appropriate place to do that for an international company. London is the most central location to our markets, uses the English language<\/strong> and has strong corporate governance standards with its regulatory and legal requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Chanel Limited\u2019 became the holding company of most Chanel entities in the summer of 2017 and this is why the majority of the global functions are now located in London.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cBrexit's economic and geopolitical impacts remains a challenge for the London economy. London is still dealing with a hangover from Brexit.\u201d says Brandon Rael, Operations Strategy & Innovations Leader & Retail Digital Strategist.\u00a0\u201cWe should expect that London will experience an upswing when the economy stabilises.<\/strong> Moving the Chanel HQ to London is very much a long-term strategy.\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Chanel could have chosen Paris, but instead chose London, and this goes against the anti-Brexit rhetoric of companies leaving in their droves. In July, Chanel revealed its financials for the first time in its 108 history. It generated nearly $10 billion in global sales in 2017, making it one of the world\u2019s biggest luxury fashion brands.<\/strong> This new openness is Chanel positioning itself and facing up to the dominance of the likes of Kering and LVMH. This is for the next, digital chapter in Chanel\u2019s history.<\/p>\n Brexit is so close, now, it is time to start looking beyond it and, Chanel\u2019s decision would have been a long term decision from this globally revered company. While one company moving its headquarters to London doesn\u2019t prove anything.<\/strong> In the same vein, one company moving out, doesn\u2019t either. The major reasons companies move or stay in London won\u2019t change post Brexit. They move to London because of geography, language, law and talent pool. This is about London competing with New York or Hong Kong and it is the only truly world city within Europe.<\/p>\n \u201cLondon remains the world\u2018s most promising city for luxury retail growth,<\/strong> despite troubles faced by the Brexit vote,\u201d says Rael. \u201cA new report conducted by CBRE and Walpole has found that compared to other major luxury destinations across the globe, London still holds the greatest long-term potential,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n The newly christened Capri Holdings \u2013 formerly Michael Kors Holdings \u2013 has its principal executive office in London<\/strong> and Cond\u00e9 Nast International recently choose London to cope with the new demands of its digital future. Everything catwalk related: photography, video, social media and features will be lead by Vogue International, an editorial hub established last year to lead content for the 25 editions of the magazine.<\/p>\n In an interview in the New York Times<\/em> with Wolfgang Blau, Chief Digital Officer of Cond\u00e9 Nast International, he said 200 editorial and engineering staff members had been hired, and next year, he wants to have a Vogue<\/em> presence at about 900 runway shows all feeding back to London.<\/strong> This is Cond\u00e9 Nast cutting costs and becoming more efficient while focussing its global fashion content in London. This will only get bigger. Its travel magazine, Cond\u00e9 Nast Traveler<\/em> has moved onto a new single platform, and it too would be overseen not from its birthplace of New York, but from London.<\/p>\n