The man behind the expansion of Marks and Spencer into India has teamed up with a local competitor.

Mark Ashman, who oversaw the establishment of the joint venture in India between M&S and Reliance Retail, will become the chief executive at Hypercity in the autumn.

Hypercity is a rapidly growing local chain that has since 2006 sold Waitrose products to millions of Indians under an exclusive supply agreement. Waitrose and M&S are already renowned for their UK rivalry, and now the battle has spilled over onto the subcontinent the focus is firmly on India as a producer.  Last year, Mark Price, Waitrose’s chief executive and Sir Stuart Rose, the chairman of M&S, became embroiled in a public slanging match over which company’s products were cheaper.

Mr Ashman held the role of chief executive of Marks & Spencer Reliance Retail, which, in collaboration operated 18 stores across India, with 15 more set to open over the next two years. The partnership said that there will be an estimated 50 M&S stores in the country by 2015. Ashram had left his position in April to return to Britain to lead M&S’s European and Middle Eastern operations. He was wished all the best for his new role by his former employers.

Meanwhile, rival Hypercity operates seven hypermarkets across India, with the group being part owned by another of India’s leading retail organisations Shoppers Stop. The country has had its fashion production industry come increasingly under the media spotlight in recent months, as allegations of poor working conditions have led high street retailers such as Next and Gap to launch independent investigations.

Several of the leading British fashion retailers are launching inquiries into allegations of substandard working conditions in India.

The move comes at a time when the same high street stores, including Marks and Spencer, are embroiled in a wage dispute crisis in Bangladesh that has seen garment workers stage violent protests.

Marks and Spencer has been joined by other well-known stores Next and Gap in launching investigations into their Indian suppliers, after allegations have emerged that young children have been left unattended as parents work in factories on the outskirts of the capital Delhi. According to a report by the London Observer, the fashion houses are responding to claims that these factories have been using middlemen to hire workers for just 25p per hour for Next and Gap, and 26p per hour at for Marks and Spencer. Some workers have also alleged that they have been paid under half of the legal overtime rate.

The trio of retailers have each pledged to end the practice of reportedly excessive overtime which Indian labour laws states is a clear breach of the ethical trading initiative (ETI). The three have apparently advised the Observer that abuses in their supply chains would not be tolerated and that they are 100 per cent committed to ethical trading.

While Marks and Spencer has stated it has not as yet been presented with the appropriate evidence to support the allegations, Gap has advised that it had discovered irregularities with wage violations and ordered its supplier to pay the appropriate compensation to those affected immediately.

Samantha Cameron, Carla Bruni and Michelle Obama have all been voted onto the style elite of Vanity Fair’s 2010 International Best Dressed List.

The eight-month pregnant UK prime minister’s wife joins regulars Bruni and Obama along with other notable UK style icons David Beckham and Lady Gaga. According to Vanity Fair, Mrs Cameron is the ‘UK First Lady’, and wears the ‘realpolitik’ look. The magazine also lists Mrs Cameron as employed by upmarket stationers Smythson as a creative director.

In a comprehensive detail of the PM’s wife, Vanity Fair says Mrs Cameron, 39, is often seen in numbers from Erdem and Phillip Lam, accompanied by bib necklaces, brooches and chain pendants. When it comes to dressing down, Mrs Cameron can be seen sporting a pair of sneakers and more often than not, a pram. Tickets for Troops, the returned services organisation set up by the Tories last year, is listed as her favourite cause. Mrs Cameron is known to have close ties in the fashion industry, with her sister being deputy editor at British Vogue.

Aside from her fabled dolphin ankle-tattoo, Mrs Cameron is best known for sporting a £65 grey polka dot dress from high street retailers Marks and Spencer to augment the austerity theme of last year’s Conservative Party conference.

The Vanity Fair list, which has been one of the key indexes for fashion heavyweights for the past 71 years, also featured Princess Mary of Denmark, Helena Bonham Carter, John Galliano, Martin Scorcese, Alec Baldwin and Javier Badem.

Overweight children are being tailored to, literally, by leading retailer Marks & Spencer.

Marks and Spencer has launched a new range of over-sized school uniforms for children that are aged as young as four. The decision comes after studies reveal that one out of every five British schoolchildren is clinically overweight when they begin their schooling.

In the new M&S Plus school wear range, items include clothing designed for pre-school children who have waistlines of anywhere up to 23 inches – which is the size more usually found on the average eight year old. Marks and Spencer has said that the trial range of clothing followed demand for bigger sizes from parents, while industry experts said that the decision simply reflected the growing rate of obesity among younger children.

According to the National Obesity Forum’s Tam Fry, the move was commercial recognition of what the public and parents had been aware of for years, namely, that obesity levels in pre-schoolers is on the rise. Fry added that of all new entrants to primary schools across Britain, 27 per cent were obese or overweight.

The Plus school wear collection hit the shelves last week, and targets the 3 – 16 age bracket, with waistlines in both boys pants and girls skirts ranging up to 41 inches. A spokesperson for M&S said that they wanted to ensure that their school wear range was accessible to all shapes and sizes of pupil.

The England football team were today seen checking out their new off-the-pitch strip as the official World Cup suit was launched at Marks & Spencer. A far cry in price from the previous togs designed by Armani, the national side has opted for more modest attire for this summer’s trip to South Africa.

That said, our boys are still looking pretty sharp as the line up in the latest M&S ad campaign. Joining today’s team are 1966 heroes Roger Hunt, Gordon Banks, Martin Peters and Sir Geoff Hirst, who can all still certainly hold their own in front of the camera.

The grey three-piece, wool suit is designed by Savile Row’s Timothy Everest in collaboration with the high street brand. The team are pictured in jackets adorned with the England crest, although an in-store version without the crest will be available for purchase from today.

The M&S ad sees team members standing in groups of four above the tag-line ‘Four Lions, One Tailor’, while the suits of their older 1966 counterparts receive the branding ‘Four legends, One Label.’

England manager Fabio Capello also reportedly gave his specifications for the new tight-fitting players’ suit. In previous years, the England World Cup wears have been designed by British brands Paul Smith and Burton as well as Italian legend Giorgio Armani. The latter is close friends with former England Captain David Beckham and his label-loving wife Victoria.