Khan will be the face for Puma’s soon-to-be launched collection of low-intensity training apparel collection targeted at workouts such as yoga, barre, and pilates. The new line will be launched in April and retailed both online and offline.

China accounted for 20% of Adidas sales in 2018. It sells its products from about 12,000 stores in China, most franchises plus fewer than 500 of its own stores. Almost a fifth of its shoes and apparel are produced in the country.

With this campaign, the brand aims to highlight the inspirational stories of real women, influencers and athletes from different age groups and fields through the medium of a film, said the company.

"We would like to wholeheartedly apologise. We have paid our landlords the rent for April." Adidas, which made a net profit of nearly two billion euros ($2.2 billion) in 2019, has been hard hit by a slump in Chinese sales and store closures around the world.

Adidas said 60% of its business was currently at a standstill, with more than 70% of its stores closed worldwide and all big sporting events - including the Tokyo Olympics and Euro soccer tournament - postponed or cancelled.

Puma said it expected all markets to recover by the end of the year and for growth to return in 2021, noting that the crisis has made many people do more sports than before and has strengthened the trend towards more casual dressing.

No large-cap company in the FMCG/ retail space is offering growth visibility as high as Titan.

​​​​Voganow Fashion owned Brune & Bareskin sells leather jackets, footwear, bags and accessories for men on online platforms such as Myntra, Jabong and Snapdeal.

​​The Bluetooth-enabled smart sunglasses by Titan’s eyewear division will allow users to listen to music with 8-hour playtime. An in-built mic will give access to Siri and Google assistant and allow hands-free calling.

Analysts have largely cut their FY20 earnings forecast for the Tata Group firm by 4-10 per cent.

Our revenues were flat in a quarter where the industry consumption on gold was minus 32% in tonnes.

“We have bagged a multi-million dollar order from the Ministry of Defence to make rucksacks for the Indian army. It is an unchartered territory but creating an ideal rucksack for an Indian jawaan who spends maximum time outdoors in challenging terrain will be good learning. The order will be executed next year,” said Siddharth Sood, cofounder of Wildcraft India.

While early movers like Rolex, Omega and Tag Heuer entered India in early noughties, a clutch of global luxury watches like Panerai are now placing bets on the Indian market, keeping in mind a longer investment horizon. In a bid to create a deeper connect with the Indian consumers, Panerai launched two MS Dhoni special edition watches on Wednesday.

The growth of healthy lifestyle has added impetus to the athleisure trend.

“We certainly expect FY21 to better than FY20, because we are going to work smarter and harder on many things that we need to do. But at the same time, we are prepared for a situation which is going to be very-very tough.”

Retail in India has not developed at the same pace as the products. Getting good quality retail is a challenge. The country has limited number of malls. There is no high street.

The watchmaker will form a development centre in Hyderabad with HUG in hardware, firmware, software and cloud technology and has appointed the company's founder Raj Neravati to head technology for wearables at Titan Company.

According to the company, each piece will have features such as front quick-access pockets, anti-theft zippers, mesh back padding and multiple spacious compartments found throughout the collection.

“Titan phased out its older models and launched Fastrack’s Reflex 2.0 in the 2018Q3. It helped the brand to get a healthy 70% sequential growth in its overall shipments in the overall wearable segment,” IDC said.

Exports to Hong Kong, the sector's biggest market, plummeted 41.3 percent, while exports to France fell 48 percent, and those to South Korea were down 46.2 percent.

The unpredictable resurgence of vinyl has rekindled an interest in physical sonic structures. Gilles Azzaro’s “Macrogroove” realises the idea of a three-dimensional sonogram. It is a 3D printed ‘audio coding’, which is played by a laser beam, scanning the form →

The MIT Press, ISBN-13: 978-0262039802, English, 464 pages, 2019, USA

Nam June Paik is back in the limelight, thanks to an important historical exhibition at Tate Modern (see the report in this issue). There has →

CD – 4AD

In her previous two albums – Movement and Platform – Holly Herndon has already demonstrated her vocal control in a very original and structured way, despite the use of distortions, effects and extreme edits. She was perfectly →

The elderly Viv notices our presence and invites us to sit in her kitchen, right there in front of her, where she can see us. Thus began the interactive video experience “The Visit“, born from the collaboration of the artist →

Duke University Press, ISBN-13: 978-0822368687, English, 288 pages, 2019, USA

Eidsheim starts this book by introducing ‘the acousmatic question’ (“who’s this, who’s speaking?”) to discuss the dichotomy between a sound and its source before and →

Italian artist and teacher Giacomo Verde passed away today. Video artist and activist he has explored the use of electronic and digital video image in theatre and performances. Among the highlights in his career he collaborated with Van Gogh TV →

Bloomsbury Academic, ISBN-13: 978-1501333774, English, 208 pages, 2019, UK

This is the second (revisited edition) of one of the first books addressing sound art as such, attempting through a diversified research a consistent and universal →

One of the roles of sound art is to transform spaces by changing how we perceive them. Miguel Carvalhais and Pedro Tudela have mastered this approach in recent years, constructing installations made in classic or adventurous places whose sound, in →

For Andrew Marlin, the genesis of Mandolin Orange’s 3 rd CD “This Side of Jordan” evolved from a near-tragic incident in his own life back in 2011 that occurred around the release of the duo’s 2 nd CD. (AM) “What happened was I was on this dam just down the road from where we live. It’s a popular swimming spot. It was a little early in the morning and I just got a little too close and fell over the dam. Luckily I just broke my pelvis, but it was an eye-opening experience. It could’ve gone so many ways. I think it had a huge impact on this record, opening up my eyes to mortality and how crazy just little instances like that go. I can go one way or the other so fast.” But while Andrew says that accident definitely affected the production of “This Side of Jordan,” the spiritual aspect that runs throughout the disc may have come out anyway, given the style of music that he and partner Emily Frantz partake in. “I grew up in the church. My mom, she always played for the church when I was

INTRO – It’s not quite a comeback for the Cleveland County-based band the Acoustic Syndicate. They hadn’t been in a studio since 2004, they haven’t regularly toured in that time either… but they never quite got all the way out with occasional shows here and there over the last several years. Now they’re back in a big way… new tour, new CD… and again willing to consider the bright lights with the knowledge they can always contentedly return to the farm. George Olsen has this. The roots of the band the Acoustic Syndicate are certainly deep. The three McMurry’s who front the band… two brothers, one cousin… are fifth generation Cleveland Countiers. ”Cleveland County is the home of Earl Scruggs. He actually worked in the same cotton mill as my grandmother. They worked in the same mill when they were children.” Those five generations have farmed the same piece of land since the 1700s. In more modern times immigrant labor came in to help work the farm. “I guess the biggest eye opening

INTRO -- An Asheville Americana trio is starting to get some national attention with airplay of their second CD taking it into the Top 20 of some radio charts. The national attention comes courtesy of some humble origins that embarrassed teenagers across the country can probably identify with. George Olsen has more. Time in the car with parents can sometimes be irritating for the kids, sometimes beneficial, sometimes both. “I grew up listening to my mom singing harmony with Joni Mitchell and Bonnie Raitt and Barbara Streisand full tilt, full volume every time I was in the car for many years. At the time I was “oh, mom, stop.” Eleanor Underhill, one half of the namesakes of the Asheville trio Underhill Rose. It took a while for the Joni Mitchells and Bonnie Raitts to sink in though. Eleanor says there was a lot of Janet Jackson and Paula Abdul in her youthful listening, but it seems the more acoustic oriented choices of her parents won out, as evidenced by Underhill Rose’s new CD

INTRO – The typical view of the path to musical success sends the enterprising young musician into one of our country’s media centers… New York or L.A. For the members of Asheville’s The Broadcast, they’re taking a road less traveled in an effort to establish a musical career. George Olsen spoke with the band’s lead singer Caitlin Krisko and has this. I’ve long jokingly said that I’m still deciding what it is I want to be when I grow up. At 50+, the joke is getting old… as am I, for that matter. Still, there’s some truth behind the joke, which may be why I’ve always had a deep respect for anyone who determines what it is they want to be and pursue it doggedly with no doubt, no regrets. Among those now with my deep respect… Caitlin Krisko and her band mates in the band The Broadcast. “And being in NYC we realized financially speaking we couldn’t afford to do that. We couldn’t afford to pay our rent and be on the road 150 days a year without spraining our back trying to get people to

INTRO – If you like your country or acoustic music slick and highly produced, don’t buy the following CD by Raleigh’s Lynda Dawson and Greenville’s Pattie Hopkins. One guitar, one fiddle, two voices … that’s it … and the CD’s title tells you everything you need to know about the music inside. George Olsen talked with Lynda & Pattie and has this. When I receive music in the mail the first thing I might notice is the CDs title. In the case of Lynda Dawson & Pattie Hopkins CD “Traditional Duets” the first thing that popped into my head was “they certainly didn’t expend a lot of energy naming this disc.” After listening to the disc my review changed to “great music, boring name.” Boring or not, Lynda & Pattie somehow stumbled upon a perfectly descriptive title for their CD that somehow after centuries of traditional music is absolutely unique. (PH) “Traditional Duets was actually a place holder with our graphic design artist and toward the end of the project we fell in love

INTRO – The Triangle’s Red Clay Ramblers have been involved in a number of artistic collaborations … with Academy Award and Pulitzer Prize nominated playwright and actor Sam Shepard for two of his films and one off-Broadway play and with the late Doug Marlette on the musical based on his comic strip Kudzu, amongst others. Another collaboration took the band away from stage and screen into a different realm, and about nine years after its debut the music is now available on CD. George Olsen talked with Bland Simpson of the Red Clay Ramblers and has this. The latest CD from the Triangle’s Red Clay Ramblers “Carolina Jamboree” plays out as somewhat of a “greatest hits” CD … the bulk of the material spans the band’s 40+ career from the early 1970s to present day. And the band has performed the entirety of the “Carolina Jamboree” CD multiple times for multiple audiences. But the likelihood that the crowd was laser-focused on the band is doubtful … given all else that was going on. “And when

Industry watchers say wholesalers are holding back stocks of popular phone models in anticipation of a price rise by the month-end as production in China slows; brands as yet unaware of complaints.

“There are supply issues for several brands. There is no clarity when the situation will normalise,” said Nilesh Gupta, director at Vijay Sales, a leading electronics retailer in Mumbai and New Delhi. “If it doesn’t get corrected fast, we may move into a stock-out situation from next month.”

In an interview with Fox Business, Cook said: "I see India as a huge opportunity for us. For years, we could not enter there unless we entered there with a partner into retail and we did not want to do that. We wanted to maintain control of our brand and so forth".

Due to an 'abundance of caution' as the coronavirus threat loomed, Apple closed all retail stores, corporate offices and contact centres in Mainland China. Last week, Apple warned that coronavirus outbreak will affect its business in the January-March quarter as worldwide iPhone supply will be temporarily constrained

US phone-maker said to have leased 25k sq ft space at Maker Maxity mall in the Mumbai hub.

"We will be closing all of our retail stores outside of Greater China until March 27," Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote in a letter posted on the company's website.

The decision was taken in the 39th GST Council meeting chaired by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The move was made to correct the inverted duty structure. ​

The authority said it found that Apple acted to prevent independent retailers in France from competing on price and abused its economic power over them.

The industry body represents 1.50 lakh mobile retailers who may be unable to pay their monthly instalments and interest towards credit cards, vehicle loan, home loan and business loans taken by them. A similar letter highlighting the concerns of the mobile retailers was also sent to non-banking finance companies (NBFCs).

Industry bodies Manufacturers’ Association of Information Technology (MAIT) and India Cellular & Electronics Association (ICEA) have written to the government seeking concessions in the delivery of smartphones among other electronics devices and removal of restrictions on the movement of components for inland and export purposes.

“We would appreciate it if the Finance Ministry could approach the RBI or the respective authorities to direct NBFCs and Banks to waive off DBD (dealer by down) and MDR (merchant discount rate) charges to retailers on paper finance and on digital transactions for at least 6 months post lockdown,” All India Mobile Retailers Association said in a letter to finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Handset makers and offline traders have urged the commerce and home ministries to allow the sale and service of mobile devices and its accessories through offline stores in the country.

All India Mobile Retailer Association (AIMRA), which represents 1.5 lakh such retailers across the country, wrote to commerce minister Piyush Goyal to not consider mobile handsets as essential items.

"All standalone (single) shops, neighborhood (colony) shops and shops in residential complexes are permitted to remain open in urban areas, without any distinction of essential and non-essential," the ministry of home affairs said in a notification on Friday.

The state government has given permission to various companies, including Samsung, to start operations with a maximum of 3,000 employees in a manufacturing unit.

The high court, based on King's ownership of the intellectual property rights for the Candy Crush game and the evidence of its popularity.