IHT Luxury Conference postponed

Due to the horrible terrorist attacks in Mumbai last week, the IHT Luxury Conference (scheduled to take place on December 2-4, 2008 at The Imperial Hotel, New Delhi) has now been postponed to next year.

An article in Reuters confirmed:

"We had already put in place security measures but we are, of course, sensitive to the safety concerns of all our conference participants following the terrorist attacks on Mumbai," said Stephen Dunbar Johnson, Publisher of the IHT.

"We felt it was inappropriate to hold this conference at such a difficult time for India - but we plan to be back as soon as the situation is stabilised," he added in statement issued on Thursday.

The IHT said it was "fully committed to bringing its conference to New Delhi early next year."

The Conference is expected to be back on track in New Delhi by March 2009, however, the dates are yet to be confirmed. Stay tuned for more on this.

IHT to host '08 Luxury Conference in Delhi

After Paris, Moscow, Istanbul, Dubai and Hong Kong, the International Herald Tribune will hold the eighth edition of its annual Luxury Conference in New Delhi, India. The topic for this year's conference is 'Sustainable Luxury' and will take place at the Imperial Hotel from December 2nd to 4th.

The focus will be on three key areas: how to sustain brands in an increasingly crowded market, how to sustain profitability in a challenging economic environment and how to sustain environmental performance throughout the supply chain.

IHT's fashion editor Suzy Menkes has said in a statement:

"India is a unique marketplace for luxury and its heritage and culture of exceptional objects goes back in an unbroken line to the Mughal era. Yet at the same time, modern India brings a feisty, entrepreneurial spirit both in creating and selling fine goods. India also relies on its own exceptional craftsmanship, which, in turn, is used by international designers as an important resource."

The confirmed list of speakers include Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, Francois-Henri Pinault (Chairman & CEO, PPR), Christian Blanckaert (Executive VP, Hèrmes International), designers Manish Arora, Dries Van Noten, Roberto Cavalli, Viktor & Rolf, Nicolas Ghesquiére (Balenciaga), Tomas Maier (Bottega Veneta), Elizabeth Hurley, Mohan Murjani (Chairman, Murjani Group), Charu Sachdev (CEO, TSG International Marketing), Patrick Chalhoub (Joint Chief Executive, Chalhoub Group), among several others!