Brands
Manforce and Ashley Rebello turn fashion into HIV awareness spotlight
MUMBAI: Fashion took on a fresh purpose at the Jio World Convention Centre as Manforce Condoms joined hands with designer Ashley Rebello for a World Aids Day showcase that blended style, culture and social good. The idea was simple yet striking: use fashion to spark candid conversations on HIV prevention and safe sex.
Rebello sent bold, latex-inspired creations down the runway, playing with symbolism around protection, empowerment and ownership of one’s choices. The unconventional materials stood in for a larger message, encouraging audiences to rethink stigma and approach sexual wellness with comfort rather than caution.
Star appeal added extra shine. Malaika Arora and Sunny Leone attended the event, amplifying the call to normalise discussions around safer intimacy and to keep HIV awareness in the national spotlight.
Strengthening the effort beyond the catwalk, Manforce announced a contribution of Rs 11 lakh to Saathii, a national non-profit working across 36 states and union territories to support marginalised communities with stigma-free healthcare and social services. The brand said the donation reflects its commitment to India’s goal of ending Aids by 2030.
Mankind Pharma chairman and managing director Rajeev Juneja said the initiative grew from an understanding that young consumers respond better to messages that balance safety with appeal. He noted that flavoured condoms and the launch of Epic, the brand’s thinnest non-flavoured variant, were earlier steps in that direction. Taking the message through fashion, he said, makes responsible choices feel relevant rather than remote.
Designer Ashley Rebello added that fashion has long been a universal language and this collaboration allowed creativity to champion a cause. Turning latex into couture was his way of transforming protection into a conversation starter.
Sunny Leone, who has been associated with the brand for years, said she was proud to support an initiative that encourages people to feel confident discussing safe sex and HIV prevention. She added that fashion makes the message modern, relatable and far more likely to travel.
With the showcase, Manforce reinforced its continuing efforts to promote safe sex and support wider HIV prevention initiatives, keeping public health at the heart of its advocacy.
Brands
Estée Lauder to shed 10,000 jobs as new boss bets on digital shift
The cosmetics giant raises its profit outlook but stays silent on a possible merger with Spain’s Puig, as job cuts deepen and a three-year sales slump weighs on the turnaround
NEW YORK: Stéphane de La Faverie is not done cutting. Estée Lauder announced on Friday that it plans to eliminate as many as 3,000 additional jobs, taking its total redundancy programme to as many as 10,000 roles, up from a previous target of 7,000 announced a year ago. The company, which owns La Mer, The Ordinary, Tom Ford, and Aveda, employs roughly 57,000 people worldwide. The mathematics of what is now being contemplated is stark.
The fresh round of cuts is expected to generate a further $200 million in savings, bringing the total annual savings from the programme to as much as $1.2 billion before taxes. That money, De La Faverie has made clear, will be ploughed back into the turnaround.
A CEO in a hurry
De La Faverie, who took the helm in January 2025, inherited a company that had endured three consecutive years of annual sales declines. His response has been to move fast and cut deep. A significant portion of the latest redundancies reflects his push to reduce headcount at US department stores, long a cornerstone of Estée Lauder’s distribution model but now a channel in structural decline. In their place, he is accelerating the shift toward faster-growing online platforms, including Amazon.com and TikTok Shop, a pivot that is reshaping not just where Estée Lauder sells but how it thinks about its customers.
The numbers are moving in the right direction
Despite the pain, there are signs the medicine is working. Estée Lauder raised its profit outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year, guiding for adjusted earnings per share in the range of $2.35 to $2.45, above analyst estimates and a notable step up from the $2.05 to $2.25 range it had guided for in February. Organic net sales growth is expected to come in at 3 per cent, the company said, at the high end of the range it set out in February.
The share price tells a mixed story. After De La Faverie took charge, the stock surged nearly 60 per cent, buoyed by investor optimism that a longtime company insider could finally arrest the decline. But 2026 has been rougher: the shares have fallen 27 per cent this year, weighed down by disappointing February results and the overhang of unresolved merger talks with Spanish beauty giant Puig Brands SA. The company gave no additional details about those discussions on Friday, leaving the market to guess.
Silence on Puig
The proposed tie-up with Puig remains the most consequential unknown hanging over Estée Lauder. A deal with the Barcelona-based group, which owns brands including Carolina Herrera and Rabanne, would reshape the global luxury beauty landscape. But with nothing new to say and a turnaround still very much in progress, De La Faverie is asking investors to trust the process.
Three years of sales declines, 10,000 job cuts, and a merger that may or may not happen. At Estée Lauder, the overhaul has barely started.
