USPA Global is pleased to announce the acquisition of Aydinli Hazir Giyim San. Tic. A.S. (Aydinli Group) by HRK Holding A.S. (Saat & Saat). Both entities are licensing partners of U.S. Polo Assn., which is USPA Global’s multi-billion-dollar sports brand and the official brand of the United States Polo Association (USPA). As one of the brand’s largest partners, the acquisition of Aydinli provides access to more than 50 countries across Turkey, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and North Africa.

USPA Global has announced HRK Holding’s (Saat & Saat) acquisition of Aydinli Group, both key US Polo Assn partners.
The deal expands Saat & Saat into global apparel, giving access to 50+ countries.
With 450+ stores, the brand targets $1bn regional sales, strengthening growth across Turkiye, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and North Africa.

With this acquisition of Aydinli, Saat & Saat is expanding the company’s regional portfolio alongside its very successful watch business by entering the global apparel industry. With more than nearly 450 U.S. Polo Assn. stores and multiple branded digital sites, U.S. Polo Assn. will continue its record growth. Aydinli is currently one of the leading retail powerhouses in the region, with significant growth potential and a well-established sales network spanning monobrand stores, department stores, and e-commerce channels.

“We would like to congratulate Ramazan Kaya, as Founder and CEO of Saat & Saat, on the recent acquisition of Aydinli,” stated J. Michael Prince, President and CEO of USPA Global, who globally manages the U.S. Polo Assn. brand worldwide. “As a long-time partner of U.S. Polo Assn., we believe this strategic transition will provide our global sports brand the opportunity to elevate and expand our business, targeting $1 billion in retail sales across the region in the coming years.”

“I would also like to personally thank Mr. Seref Safa, Past Chairman of Aydinli, for his leadership and TMSF for their support over the years. Together, we built a strong foundation that will lead to a bright future,” Prince added.

Following the successful closing process, Ramazan Kaya, CEO of Saat & Saat, will serve as CEO of Aydinli Group.

“We’re proud to take this important step in our long-standing partnership with U.S. Polo Assn., expanding and strengthening our presence in one of the most dynamic retail markets in the world,” said Kaya. “This acquisition allows us to accelerate growth, enhance our capabilities, and position both our company and the brand for a powerful next phase in Turkey, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and North Africa.”

“This milestone reflects our shared vision with U.S. Polo Assn. — to elevate an iconic global brand while continuing to innovate and inspire through the lifestyle it represents. The Team at Saat & Saat is energized by the opportunity to shape the future together,” Kaya added.

The partnership with Aydinli and U.S. Polo Assn. began in 1997, with accelerated growth across the region for nearly 30 years. Among the partnerships, many successes in Istanbul’s flagship Istinye Park U.S. Polo Assn. store, completed by Aydinli in 2024. Further, U.S. Polo Assn. has launched nearly a dozen brand-specific websites in the region to enhance digital offerings for customers further and provide easier access to its product offerings, with early results exceeding expectations, reinforcing the authentic connection between the sport and the brand.

As one of Turkey and the Middle East’s leading casualwear power brands, U.S. Polo Assn. has a retail footprint of more than 1,500 points of sale across more than 50 countries in Turkey, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and North Africa. With Turkey and the Middle East being one of the global, multi-billion-dollar sports brand’s largest markets, the expectation is that U.S. Polo Assn. will be a billion-dollar brand in this region in the coming years. Globally, the U.S. Polo Assn. brand is in 190 countries and has global retail sales of more than $2.5 billion.

Note: The headline, insights, and image of this press release may have been refined by the Fibre2Fashion staff; the rest of the content remains unchanged.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (HU)

Southeast Asian economies are increasingly aligning with the global artificial intelligence investment cycle, moving beyond their traditional dependence on commodities and export-oriented manufacturing towards higher value-added segments such as supporting supply chains, according to JP Morgan.

Indonesia’s export mix is increasingly aligned with the requirements of an AI-driven digital economy, positioning it as more than just a raw material supplier, JP Morgan said in its 2026 Asia Outlook report.

Southeast Asian economies are aligning with the global artificial intelligence investment cycle, moving beyond commodities and low-value manufacturing, according to JP Morgan.
Indonesia is evolving into an AI-linked exporter, while Vietnam has emerged as a connector economy amid supply-chain shifts.
Pro-growth policies are supporting domestic demand.

Geopolitical fragmentation and supply-chain reconfiguration have further reshaped regional dynamics. Vietnam has emerged as a ‘connector economy’, facilitating trade flows between the US and China as companies diversify production away from China. Competitive manufacturing costs, rising industrial capacity and increasing foreign direct investment have reinforced Vietnam’s role as a regional manufacturing hub.

Meanwhile, inflation across Southeast Asia remains relatively subdued compared with developed markets, supported by stable energy prices. This has allowed several central banks to adopt a more accommodative, pro-growth stance. In Indonesia, the new administration has announced fiscal measures to boost liquidity, accelerate public spending and support other sectors.

Together, easing inflation pressures and supportive policy settings are underpinning domestic demand and anchoring near-term growth prospects, strengthening Southeast Asia’s position within an increasingly AI-centric global economy.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (SG)

Under pressure from fast fashion and the second-hand market, the French ready-to-wear sector is faltering, with bankruptcies, receiverships, and liquidations punctuating 2025. Even so, experts believe a rebound is possible, driven by a refocus on brand DNA, innovation, and an upmarket shift.

As the year draws to a close, the IKKS brand has just changed hands but will lose half its staff; JOTT (Just Over The Top) has been placed in receivership; and Anne Fontaine has had its safeguard plan approved. With Camaïeu, Kookaï, Jennyfer, André, San Marina, Minelli, Comptoir des Cotonniers, Princesse Tam Tam, and Kaporal, there are countless French companies in difficulty in this sector, or that have simply disappeared.

Brutal “impoverishment” and “downfall”

Nearly 1,500 clothing boutiques closed in France in 2024, according to a parliamentary report. The Union des Industries Textiles reports that the workforce has shrunk from 400,000 in the 1970s to 60,000 today. This figure does not, however, include in-store employees- 70,000 at the end of 2023, according to the Fédération nationale de l’habillement.

Having weathered the difficult shift to online sales, as well as Covid-19 and inflation, traditional players are now facing competition from second-hand and ultra-fast fashion- a “profound upheaval”, according to Gildas Minvielle, Director of the Economic Observatory at the French Fashion Institute (IFM). According to the IFM, these two channels now account for 13% of sales by value and nearly 30% of volumes purchased.

Historic players shaken up

Gildas Minvielle tells AFP: “The market share taken by these new entrants is very significant, and very damaging for the more established players. If the market had been buoyant, we could have hoped there would be room for everyone, but that’s not the case.” With an average price per item on Shein or Temu of €9- around one third of traditional mid-range prices- these Asian groups are causing a brutal “impoverishment,” “in a context where purchasing power is weak,” he says.

To get to the root of the “downfall,” we need to travel back to the 1990s with the “arrival of first-generation fast-fashion brands” such as Zara and H&M, offering “collections that change every week to force people to buy,” says Benoît Heilbrunn, a philosopher and marketing professor at ESCP Business School.

Clear positioning and an industrial model for survival

“French chains haven’t been able to keep up, because they didn’t have and still don’t have an industrial model,” points out the brand specialist, while 97% of textiles consumed in France are imported. The other problem is that “French textile brands have had nothing to say for years,” he laments. “No one talks about innovation, no one talks about product.”

Françoise Clément, a fashion and retail expert, agrees and points to brands that have remained in their “comfort zone,” seeking to “buy the consumer with promotions” but that ultimately “have not created value.” According to this consultant, a former textile director at Carrefour, brands must reconnect with their “core DNA” and offer “clear positioning” to survive.

A “death spiral” of prices at the low end

The ready-to-wear sector is like “an hourglass,” she says, using a metaphor: the top of the hourglass (luxury and “heritage” brands) remains solid thanks to prestige. At the lower end, it’s a race to the bottom on price, with a “death spiral” that nonetheless finds its audience. In between, the mid-range is the segment “most in difficulty.”

Mid-range brands must “diversify and premiumise” and above all avoid imitating fast fashion, says Françoise Clément. The future requires a balance between “quality, attractiveness, innovation, and desirability,” as seen at “Lacoste or Aigle,” or Le Slip Français, for made-in-France production, or at Decathlon, which combines “accessibility and innovation.” The clothing crisis is “not inevitable,” she insists. Far from the prevailing “gloom,” “opportunities” exist for “brands that get moving.”

The annual State of Fashion BoF-McKinsey report lists several strategic areas for development: the “necessary” use of artificial intelligence, diversification of production sites in the face of the “turbulence” of international tariffs, moving upmarket, and the integration of a second-hand offer. A vast programme.