Bossini International Holdings Limited and its subsidiaries is an apparel brand owner, retailer and franchiser, headquartered in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
, with main markets in Hong Kong, mainland China, Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore.
Bossini was founded by
Law Ting-pong and launched its first retail store in 1987. It has grown to 938 locations worldwide, a mix of directly managed and franchised stores. The group operates 257 directly managed stores in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
,
mainland China
"Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
,
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
and
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
, with a further 81 franchised stores in mainland China. In around 40 other countries, the group supports a total of 600 franchised stores, including in
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
, the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
,
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
and
Central America
Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...
.
History
Law Ting-pong was born in
Guangdong, China
Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
in 1912.
He had originally arrived in
New Territories, Hong Kong from mainland China, eventually opening a garment factory. In 1987, Bossini opened its first retail outlet in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
and a store in
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
. Since 1988 the company has developed into a network of franchised operations and retail outlets throughout Southeast Asia. In 1992, Bossini opened the first store in Taiwan. In 2006, Emirati conglomerate
Landmark Group
Landmark Group is an UAE multinational conglomerate based in Dubai, UAE headed by Micky Jagtiani, who is the founder and chairman of the company. The group is involved in retailing of apparel, footwear, consumer electronics, cosmetics & beauty ...
, who received exclusive rights to sell Bossini products in India, announced that they would be helping to introduce Bossini products to India by mid-2006. In 2007, franchised business was launched in Europe and North Africa, one year later in Central America.
Law Ting-pong died in August 1996.
Product range
Bossini markets casual wear apparel products including men’s, ladies’, youth and children's wear.
2015 kidnapping of Bossini heiress
On April 25, 2015, a group of six men broke into the
Clear Water Bay
Clear Water Bay () is a bay on the eastern shore of Clear Water Bay Peninsula of Hong Kong, located within Clear Water Bay Country Park. There are two beaches at Clear Water Bay: "Clear Water Bay First Beach" and "Clear Water Bay Second Beach". ...
home of Queenie Rosita Law, the granddaughter of Law Ting-pong and Bossini heiress. The intruders managed to get past the security system without activating the alarm.
They tied up Law and her boyfriend, taped their mouths shut, and forced Law to give the combination to unlock two safes containing HK$3 million worth of money and jewellery.
While her boyfriend was instructed to tell her father that she was being held for ransom, Law was carried to a cave on
Kowloon Peak
Kowloon Peak, also known as Fei Ngo Shan (literally: "Soaring Goose Mountain"), is a tall mountain in the northeast corner of New Kowloon, Hong Kong, situated in Ma On Shan Country Park. It is the tallest mountain in Kowloon, and is crossed by ...
. She was held hostage in a tent for three days, eating rice boxes, bread and food from
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...
the ransomers had given her.
After initially demanding up to HK$50 million in ransom money, the kidnappers agreed to receiving HK$28 million from Law's father, Raymond Law Ka-kui.
They collected the money from Raymond Law on a Kowloon Peak hillside, then drove away in what was described to police as a white, seven-seater
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...
with a fake license plate.
Investigators issued a dragnet on Kowloon Peak and searched for clues, issuing photos of two suspects on April 28. They also discovered two suitcases, presumably used in the ransom, nearby in Pak Fa Lam that same day.
On the 29th, Queenie Law issued a short press conference in the
Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong
Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong () is a five-star hotel located in the International Finance Centre (Hong Kong), International Finance Centre complex in Central, Hong Kong, Central, Hong Kong near Hong Kong station. It was completed and opened in ...
, assuring that she was physically and mentally well. At this time, local police suspected that the six men were mainland Chinese who left for
Tai Po
Tai Po is an area in the New Territories of Hong Kong. It refers to the vicinity of the traditional market towns in the area presently known as Tai Po Old Market or Tai Po Kau Hui () (the original "Tai Po Market") on the north of Lam Tsue ...
after receiving the ransom money.
Initially believing the kidnapping to be happenstance, the police revised their opinion, stating that the kidnapping seemed to be well-planned and premeditated. This was partially based on evidence that the suspects used elaborate escape routes to leave Kowloon Peak.
On May 3, 2015, one of the suspects was apprehended at the
Lo Wu Control Point
Lo Wu Control Point () is a Hong Kong immigration control point in Lo Wu, New Territories. It sits within the Frontier Closed Area that runs along the border with mainland China. Its counterpart across the border is the Luohu Port in Shenzhen, ...
while attempting to leave for
Shenzhen
Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...
. He was arrested and taken back to police in
Tsz Wan Shan
Tsz Wan Shan () is a residential area in Kowloon, Hong Kong. Located below Temple Hill, it is administratively part of Wong Tai Sin District. (Note that Temple Hill is also called ''Tsz Wan Shan'' , but Tsz Wan Shan usually refers to the are ...
for questioning. The suspect took part in a four-hour
crime reconstruction
Crime reconstruction or crime scene reconstruction is the forensic science discipline in which one gains "explicit knowledge of the series of events that surround the commission of a crime using deductive and inductive reasoning, physical evidenc ...
to help investigators with the case.
On May 5, in collaboration with the
Hong Kong Police Force
The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) is the primary law enforcement, investigative agency, and largest Hong Kong Disciplined Services, disciplined service under the Security Bureau (Hong Kong), Security Bureau of Hong Kong. The Royal Hong Kong Po ...
, Guangdong police arrested five suspects in various parts of Guangdong, later updated to six.
The same day, the initial suspect arrested, Zheng Xingwang, appeared in court. A further two suspects were arrested on May 9 in
Huidong Country, Guangdong,
with the police able to recover HK$2.8 million of the original HK$28 million from one of the suspects. It was revealed that the kidnappers were initially able to escape the police dragnet because the description of the getaway vehicle given by eyewitnesses was inaccurate.
The vast majority of the money was recovered, and all of the nine men police believe to have been involved were captured and tried.
Police say all kidnap suspects caught, but bulk of ransom for Hong Kong heiress still missing
SCMP 24 March 2016
References
External links
*{{Official website, http://www.bossini.com/
Companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange
Retail companies established in 1987
Clothing companies of Hong Kong
Clothing brands of Hong Kong