All Writers

Dr Lorinda Cramer is a social and cultural historian whose work explores the gendered dimensions of dress and textiles. She is currently Redmond Barry Fellow for the State Library of Victoria's 2022 Fellowships Program, searching for new insights into the worn experiences of Australian wool. 

She is also a research fellow in the Gender and Women’s History Research Centre in the Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences at the Australian Catholic University. Between 2019-2022, Lorinda was a postdoctoral researcher in the National School of Arts at the Australian Catholic University, working on a project that examined the social and cultural history of men's clothing in twentieth-century Australia.
 

Abhay Gupta is the Founder & CEO of Luxury Connect & Luxury Connect Business School (LCBS).

Author of the book The Incredible Indian Luxury Bazaar, Gupta, recognised as the 'Luxury retail icon of the year 2012' by Asia Retail Congress, has won several awards across India, SEA and GCC regions. Featured in 'India's top 100 most influential men of luxury for seven consecutive years 2012 to 2019 in a row, he has also been on the panel of jury members for Luxury Lifestyle Awards, Asia. Additionally, Gupta has been acknowledged as the 'Most Influential Retail professional & Retail leader across Asia - GCC and Africa: 2016, 2017 & 2018' by Asia Retail Congress.

Having being featured in Forbes Luxury Trend Report 2012 as one of the industry leaders, he has also been widely recognised as a luxury expert by CNBC, CNN, NDTV Profit, Business India, Economic Times, to name a few. He helped not only bring but also establish luxury brands like Versace, Versace Home, Versace Collection, Corneliani, John Smedley, Tween Damat ADV, Arredo Classic, etc, in India. He has now been mandated by a plethora of luxury brands across fashion, lifestyle, home, interior and residences, etc, for their India entry strategy.

A regular speaker at most luxury forums, Fondazione Altagama has also recognised his contribution to the growth of Italian luxury industry by his pioneering efforts in India.

Achilleas Boukis is an Associate Professor in Marketing at the University of Birmingham. Achilleas received his PhD from Strathclyde University (2014). His interests include branding, blockchain and service interactions in physical and technology-mediated contexts. Achilleas has published ‎his research in academic journals such as Journal of Business Research, Tourism Management, Psychology & Marketing and European Journal of Marketing.

Agbaje Lateef is Professor of Microbiology with teaching and research experience in the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso since 1998, and vast interests in Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology, especially fermentation processes and enzyme technology. His work also involves the green synthesis and applications of nanoparticles in the field of Nanotechnology. He is the Head of Nanotechnology Research Group (NANO+) (www.lautechnanotech.com) at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Nigeria, and the lead author of Microbial Nanobiotechnology: Principles and Applications (Springer: 2021)

Alice Payne is an Associate Professor in Fashion in the School of Design, Queensland University of Technology. Her research centres on environmental and social sustainability concerns throughout textile and apparel industry supply chains. Alice has examined perspectives on sustainability along the cotton value chain, the cultural and material flows of post-consumer textile waste, and design processes of mass-market product developers, independent fashion designers, and social entrepreneurs. She is co-editor of the book Global Perspectives on Sustainable Fashion (Bloomsbury 2019).

Alice Payne is a Professor and Dean of the School of Fashion and Textiles, RMIT. Her research centres on environmental and social sustainability concerns throughout textile and apparel industry supply chains. Alice has examined perspectives on sustainability along the cotton value chain, the cultural and material flows of post-consumer textile waste, and design processes of mass-market product developers, independent fashion designers, and social entrepreneurs. She is author of the book Designing Fashion's Future (Bloomsbury 2021) and co-editor of the book Global Perspectives on Sustainable Fashion (Bloomsbury 2019).

Amy Corrine Richards leads creative communications and marketing efforts as the Innovation Storyteller for Conservation X Labs, including for the Microfiber Innovation Challenge. She is passionate about developing and producing stories that advance solutions to environmental challenges. Amy has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Film from the University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh and a Master's degree in Public Policy with emphasis on energy, environmental, & climate policy from Georgetown University.

Dr Arpita Mukherjee is a Professor at ICRIER. She has over 25 years of experience in policy-oriented research, working closely with the government in India and policymakers in the European Commission and its member states, United States (US), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and in East Asian countries. She has conducted studies for international organizations, Indian industry associations, non-government organisations and companies.

Her areas of expertise include trade and investment; trade agreements; services; special economic zones; economic corridors; retail and food supply chain; start-ups, entrepreneurs; e-commerce and cross-border labour mobility.  She specialises in sector and product-specific market trends, go-to market strategy, and government policies.

Dr Mukherjee has a PhD in Economics from the University of Portsmouth, UK, and prior to joining ICRIER she worked with the UK-based think tank - Policy Studies Institute and taught at the University of Portsmouth. She has over 80 publications including national and international referred journals, books and book chapters and government reports. Dr. Mukherjee is a member of various government committees and policy panels and is in the editorial board of 10 journals. She has presented her work in various conferences and seminar and is in the advisory board of industry associations and non-government organisations. She is a regular contributor to newspapers and magazines.

She can be reached at arpita@icrier.res.in.

Bill D'Arienzo, Founder of WDA Brand Strategies, is also Strategic Advisor, US Market Entry to the European House: Ambrosetti, Italy's #1 thinktank for luxury brands. He is also Founder, Brand Management Certificate Program; FIT/NYC and author of  Brand Management Strategies: Luxury & Mass Markets.

Cem Altan studied Textile Engineering at Nottingham Trent University between 1977 and 1983. After getting a Graduate degree from university, he started working for retail groups of Benetton in the UK and Beymen in Istanbul. After all those years gaining experiences, Altan started his own business as foreign trading company selling Turkish garments to the UK's market and marketing Turkish garment internationally. He has been the founder and chairman of Aycem Textile since 1991. He is a board member of Istanbul Apparel Exporters' Association, Turkish Clothing Manufacturer's Association, President of the International Apparel Federation (IAF) and President of Istanbul Fashion Week Committee.