Gucci shoppers, £3,000 handbags and 'snakeskin fashion' protests
Gucci shoppers, £3,000 handbags and 'snakeskin fashion' protests
Plus: 90 fines a day in LEZ and Fringe boss hits out at Glasgow Commonwealth Games plan
Gucci’s low-key city store opening hit by animal rights protests
You would be forgiven for wondering where the cost of living crisis has gone when Gucci opens a store in Edinburgh selling handbags for more than £3,000.
The global fashion powerhouse has welcomed the first shoppers to its only UK standalone store outside of London ahead of its official opening in Edinburgh’s Multrees Walk.
There was no fanfare of publicity in the understated style of the Italian design house but its first day of trading was disrupted by animal rights protesters.
Why the protests? The charity Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) wants Gucci to stop using snake and other reptile skins to make handbags, shoes and belts. Protesters carrying banners reading ‘Gucci: Ban Wild-Animal Skins’ entered the store on its first day of opening. A growing number of high-end fashion brands, including Burberry, Chanel, Mulberry, Victoria Beckham and Vivienne Westwood, have committed to not use such ‘exotic’ animal skins.
Why Edinburgh? The city’s appeal to wealthy visitors, and in particular brand-conscious young Chinese tourists and students, was central to Gucci’s decision to choose the city for its new store.
What’s in store? Gucci designer Sabato de Sarno’s new womenswear collection, which was presented at last week’s Milan Fashion Week, in front of VIP guests including Daisy Edgar-Jones, Dakota Johnson and Kirsten Dunst. He describes the collection as “casual grandeur”. Handbags, typically costing £600 up to £3,000-plus, and accessories account for the majority of Gucci sales. The Jackie 1961 shoulder bag, inspired by Jackie Kennedy Onassis, will set you back £2,800.
The Gucci effect: The fashion house’s arrival is credited with attracting more high-end brand’s to Edinburgh’s thriving ‘fashion village’, Multrees Walk, which links St Andrew Square with the St James Quarter, alongside the Harvey Nichols department store. Since the Inquirer exclusively revealed Gucci’s plans last year, high-end fashion brand Michael Kors and luxury jewellery boutiques TAG Heuer and Mappin and Webb have moved in, joining existing tenants such as Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Mulberry and luxury car dealer Genesis.
In the red: De Sarno has swapped last year’s ‘Gucci pink’ for plenty of red in his latest designs. The company itself is hardly in the red, with global revenues of around £8bn annually, but it has been hit by a 20% drop in sales amid a slow down in luxury fashion buying, mainly in its key Asian market.
YOUR EDINBURGH BRIEFING
LEZ FINES RUSH: A total of 17,343 fines have been issued in the first three months of Edinburgh’s city centre Low Emission Zone (LEZ). That’s roughly 90 a day, and around 15% more than in the first three months of Glasgow’s LEZ (which has just reported a drop in nitrogen dioxide pollution after a year in operation). Fines for cars start at £60 (halved for prompt payment) and operate on a sliding scale up to £480 for fourth and subsequent breaches, with higher penalties for larger vehicles. The Edinburgh fines to date will be worth at least £520,000 for the local authority.
TREES FACE AXE: Trees and electric vehicle charging points could be dropped from plans for a major revamp of George Street in an effort to save on soaring costs. The cost of the scheme aimed at making the street more cycle and pedestrian friendly has risen to £40m amid soaring construction industry inflation. Other proposals to bring down the cost include using asphalt instead of granite setts on the central cycling zone.
FRINGE GAMES ANGER: Fringe Society deputy chief executive Lyndsey Jackson, one of the organisers of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, has hit out at the impact on the Fringe of the Games returning to Glasgow. “Staging a major fully-funded event in Scotland in summer 2026 will push costs for unsubsidised events like the Fringe to untenable levels as we are forced to compete for suppliers, accommodation, audiences and transportation. We are disappointed that these impacts have not been considered.”
‘HIDEOUS’ SCULPTURE: Plans to mark this year’s centenary of the birth of Leith-born pop artist Sir Eduardo Paolozzi by placing one of his sculpture’s in a public park near his former London studio are proving controversial. The conceptual portrait of Oscar Wilde has been described as “hideous” by the playwright’s grandson, Merlin Holland, in The Observer.
EYE HOSPITAL CLOSURE: City MSPs are seeking reassurances the Princess Alexandra Eye Pavillion will reopen after announcing a six-month closure for repairs. Labour’s Daniel Johnson, Sarah Boyack and Foysol Choudhury and Conservatives Miles Briggs, Jeremy Balfour and Sue Webber have written to NHS Lothian chief executive Professor Caroline Hiscox asking for assurances about the longer term future of the hospital in Lauriston Place and the potential impact on patient care.
STAR SONGBIRD: Rare sightings of a songbird native to central Asia and northern China have brought birders flocking to East Lothian from across Scotland and northern England. The Steppe Grey Shrike has taken up temporary residence at Winterfield Golf Club in Dunbar.
HOMES CUT ‘DUE TO RENT CONTROLS’: The developer behind the £250m regeneration of former RBS offices in the New Town has blamed rent control legislation for its decision to drop more than 200 homes from the scheme in favour of 550 student flats. Ediston Real Estate, which is leading the work on behalf of Orion Capital Managers, said it is "having to make changes as a result of the significant economic shift brought about by the new Scottish Housing Bill". Supporters including the tenants’ union Living Rent and acclaimed architect Malcolm Fraser say the controls are an important protection during the city’s housing emergency, but the housebuilding industry say more than £3.5 billion worth of housing investment has been diverted from Scotland to England due to uncertainty around rent caps and other controls.
SAOIRSE’S ‘SECOND HOME’: The Outrun and Mary Queen of Scots star Saoirse Ronan has been talking about her love of Edinburgh, where she married Jack Lowden in a low-key ceremony this summer. “When I was a kid, I had a couple of days in Edinburgh on a film called Death Defying Acts, and I remember turning to my mam - we were doing a night shoot, everyone was knackered - and I thought ‘I’m going to live here one day. It’s just so nice now to call it a second home,” she told the Irish Independent.
HEARTS SACKING: Hearts have sacked manager Steven Naismith, the former Hearts and Scotland striker, after their eight consecutive defeat left them bottom of the Premiership. The Jambos started the season with high hopes after qualifying for this year’s Europa Conference League. Alex Neil, the former Hamilton Accies and Norwich City head coach, is the bookies early favourite to succeed him.
OUR PIC OF THE WEEK: Talking of Edinburgh being gorgeous, thanks to Inquirer subscriber Sarah Bryan for sharing her beautiful pictures of the late summer sun rising over Arthur’s Seat. They were too good not to share one of them.
WRONG TILLS: We mistook an interior shot of the beautiful branch of Tills bookshop in Hope Park Crescent, Newington, for the equally lovely branch in Portobello last week. The filmmaker Guillermo del Toro visited the Newington one. Thanks to eagle-eyed reader Marina for spotting our mistake.
THE BUSINESS
Lothian firm seeks tougher carbon measures for construction
Scotland is missing “low hanging fruit” in its drive to a lower carbon economy according to a Lothian based firm which specialises in sustainable resource management.
The company today maintained that greater focus on “embodied carbons” in the construction industry could be transformational in reducing the carbon footprint of our built environment.
Scott Brewster, Managing Director of Brewster Brothers, believes the Scottish Government needs to formalise the current optional arrangements which seek to encourage recycling excavation waste and aggregates “where possible.”
Instead, he believes that measuring and minimising embodied carbons as well as operational carbons caused by development should become part of regulation.
Currently there is no mandatory regulation in place in Scotland for the 70% of emissions that come from embodied carbon, which come from extraction, manufacture, production, transport, construction, repair and then end-of-life processes.
Only 30% comes from the operational processes like heating and lighting. The Scottish Government's upcoming Heat in Buildings Bill will do much to reduce operational emissions, but the company believes the government needs to focus on embodied carbon.
A similar view came from the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in March this year: The company added that if the construction industry reduced its carbon emissions it would be transformational for Scotland’s net zero targets and circular economy ambitions, as the sector generates 50% of Scotland’s waste, 40% of Scotland’s carbon emissions and is responsible for 50% of Scotland’s natural resource consumption.
Scott Brewster said: “Given that parts of the development and construction industry have already created standards (such as the Environmental Product Declarations that Brewster Brothers’ recycled sands and aggregates have), it should be a relatively simple job to pick this low hanging fruit and translate those standards into enforceable regulations across the construction and demolition sector.”
The company employs more than 40 people across two state-of-the-art wash plants to turn construction, demolition and excavation (CDE) waste into quality recycled aggregates. In the last financial year, the company recorded a £6 million turnover and is forecast to exceed that this year. Brewster Brothers recently won the VIBES Scotland “Circular Scotland” award.
AXE FALLS: Edinburgh’s Harris Butchers have announced the closure of their shop in Kingsknowe Road North, citing the cost of living crisis and rising supplier and utility costs which meant it was no longer viable for them to carry on running the business.
BEER NECESSITY: The Women in Beer festival runs this week in Edinburgh to celebrate women in the brewing industry. A recent survey found women make up only 30% of the sector’s workforce, and just 1% of its brewers.
CHAMBER BUDGET WISH: Lower inflation, falling interest rates, and subsequent increased business confidence has led to British Chambers of Commerce calling on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to use her first Budget at the end of October to “seize the moment to boost business and grow the economy.” The chambers want to see measures including enhanced and regionalised skills planning, the reform of business rates, and investment in infrastructure.
CONFERENCE FOCUS: Growth is also on the agenda at the annual business conference organised by corporate law firm CMS Scotland at the EICC on October 3.
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT
DOORS OPENING: It’s one of our favourite weekends of the year as Doors Open Day returns to Edinburgh. In case you missed it, we picked some of our highlights in our weekend long read, The Most Incredible City Museum You’ve Never Visited.
WHAT SUP: Beer, cider and good vibes are promised at the Gravity Beer Festival at Summerhall on Friday and Saturday. You can support local by supping brews from Barney’s Beers and the Moonwake Beer Company.
45 YEARS OF TEENAGE KICKS: Punk legends The Undertones bring their tour celebrating 45 years since the release of their seminal single Teenage Kicks. Fellow Derry punk Paul McLoone fills Feargal Sharkey’s shoes alongside the rest of the original line-up when they visit the 02 Academy on Friday.
QUICK BITES
MOTHER OF AWARDS: Mother India Café on the Old Town’s Infirmary Street has been named as Scotland’s “Street Food Restaurant of the Year” at the 2024 Asian Restaurant Awards.
CAPITAL DEBUT: Fried Chicken restaurant Popeyes is to open in Edinburgh for the first time. The new venue will be in a former bank building at 133 Princes Street.
VENUE IS SMOKIN’: Edinburgh Cider House in St Stephen Street, Stockbridge, is to make the Smoke and Soul BBQ pop-up restaurant it has hosted for several months a permanent fixture. The restaurant provides wood-fired comfort food.