The explosion killed 178, injured 6000 and damaged whole neighbourhoods of the Lebanese capital.

Saab said his main office and headquarters were badly damaged. His home, a few hundred metres from the port, was gutted.

The blast destroyed the shops and ateliers of at least two other designers, Zuhair Murad and Rabih Keyrouz, himself badly injured.

Saab’s team was planning to go back to their offices from August 20 to meet a deadline for the September Paris couture show.

Body Shop goes even greener

UK-based cosmetics and skincare retailer The Body Shop has decided to “roll up its sleeves and reignite its activist spirit”, starting with its new “activist workshop” store in Singapore.

Located at the Ion Orchard shopping centre, the store encourages visitors to explore products and to recycle.

It features sustainable fixtures of reclaimed wood and recycled plastics as well as low-energy-footprint zinc cladding and worktop surfaces made from material otherwise destined for landfill. Features exclusive to the outlet include a DIY gifting station, a cruelty-free fragrance collection and a water station, as well as an “activist bay” where visitors can take inspiration from the brand’s campaigns.

Robots deliver food in Korea

South Korean food-delivery app Baemin has launched outdoor delivery robots at the multipurpose housing complex Gwanggyo Alleyway, in Gyeonggi, South Korea.

The robots, called Dilly Drive, deliver food from nearby restaurants to the ground floor of customers’ residences. Orders can be made via Baemin apps by scanning QR codes placed in apartments or on outdoor tables.

According to the company, Dilly Drive can move at a speed of a person walking and carry about six lunch boxes or 12 cups of beverages per delivery. The robot was tested on different road surfaces and travel routes in the complex.

“Outdoor delivery robot service includes a lot more obstacles that interrupt the robot’s drive, such as the road surface, obstacles, the weather, unexpected events, and so on,” said Joseph Kim, head of robot business development at Woowa Brothers. “It can be commercialised when sophisticated technology and service know-how come together.”

The robots are expected to be able to deliver all the way to customers’ apartment doors in the first half of next year.

Target posts blowout quarter

Despite a disappointing first quarter, Target in the US has recovered mightily, posting its best-ever comparable sales growth of 24.3 per cent, Retail Dive reports.

Target’s Q2 operating income rose 73.8 per cent to $2.3 billion, boosted by digital comp growth of 195 per cent.

Target CEO Brian Cornell, however, refused to get carried away by the numbers, saying that everything in the market is uncertain and volatile because of Covid-19. As much as Q1, with its disappointing bottom-line results, failed to predict what Q2 would look like, he cautioned that Q2 shouldn’t be used to predict what the rest of the year will look like for the business.

Allbirds opens in South Korea

New Zealand sustainable footwear label Allbirds is expanding its retail network into South Korea, which it sees as a strategic move to strengthen its presence in greater Asia.

South Korea was always likely to be an early destination for Allbirds’ expansion plans as the brand’s first shoe design, the Wool Runner, is made in Busan.

The company was founded in 2016 by New Zealand footballer

Tim Brown, who later teamed up with American biotech engineer Joey Zwillinger.

Allbirds now sells in 35 countries with more than 20 of its own bricks-and-mortar stores worldwide. Company headquarters is in San Francisco.

Last April, Allbirds became the first apparel brand to label all of its products with a carbon footprint score, designed to inform customers of the carbon impact of its products.

This story appears in the August 26, 2020, issue of Inside Retail Weekly.