Daily LInks
1. The world is paying a high price for cheap clothes: “We consumers have a lot of power. I think we all know we don’t need 20 t-shirts. That maybe it’s better to pay a little bit more and have two t-shirts.” – Read More on CNN
2. Will brands need to reposition post-pandemic? brands need to adjust their narratives. Brand focus is not on the end customer, but on the communities to which they belong. Pre-crisis consumer-centric brand strategy is now society-centric strategy. – Read More on American Marketer
3. Your Company Needs a Proprietary Data Strategy: Most companies focus only on their internal data, which is proprietary in a sense, but may not be a valuable asset unless further developed. Proprietary data will help brands create new products and business models, and make customer relationship enhancements. – Read More on HBR
4. Sustainability Was Corporate America’s Buzzword. This Crisis Changes That: “If the worst predictions for economic seizure prove true, many businesses will be worse off than in either 2001 or 2008. Those companies who retrench to starvation fundamentals almost certainly will freeze continued investment in impact and purpose for some period.” – Read More on WSJ
5. See the Costume Institute’s New (Though Postponed) Show About Time: The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s latest major Costume Institute exhibition, which was supposed to open to the public this week, shows how fashion has changed in the last 150 years, how it’s stayed the same—and where it’s headed next. – See More on Vogue
1. The Next Frontier of Shopping Will Be Livestreamed: As we all grow more accustomed to watching, working, talking and buying online, livestream shopping may prove to be the best way to reach consumers in a post-Covid-19 world. – Read More on Bloomberg
2. Global Brands Need China’s Consumers to Spend. They Might Have to Wait: Caution hasn’t been a trait associated with the modern Chinese consumer, and it is unclear whether their reluctance to spend will be a lasting or temporary response to the pandemic. – Read More on WSJ
3. Luxury Brands, Get Ready: Changing consumer priorities will result in a trend toward the new luxury of wellbeing after coronavirus. Luxury brands can count on their rich customers to come back, maybe not with the same enthusiasm short term, but return they will. That will not be the case for the mass-affluent, however, who I call the HENRYs (high-earners-not-rich-yet). – Read More on Forbes
4. How The Pandemic Is Shaping Beauty Packaging: Airless packaging isn’t new. Many brands, especially luxury skincare brands, have relied on airless bottles and jars to preserve the efficacy of sensitive formulations. However, because of its ability to keep product contaminant-free, it’s finding favor now. – Read More on Beauty Independent
5. Fashion Education and Startup Accelerators: How COVID-19 is Changing the Fashion Industry. The industry is hurtling towards digital transformation, and students are learning how to use digital tools that allow for garment design and 2D garment pattern making to happen concurrently. – Read More on Forbes
1. Valentino’s Pierpaolo Piccioli Talks Couture, Campaigns, and What’s Next: “In the past two decades, many things have been evolving in a way which I didn’t really like: having the product at the center of fashion, and the designer more marketing-oriented rather than fashion-oriented.” – Read More on Vogue
2. The Victoria’s Secret Contract That Anticipated a Pandemic: In the acquisition agreement, the lawyers carved out specific exceptions in connection with the act-of-God clause, including a pandemic. That meant that even if a pandemic struck, Sycamore would be legally obligated to complete the deal. “I’ve never seen a reference to a pandemic in that context.” – Read More on the New York Times
3. Luxury market will take years to recover from COVID-19: Affluents’ feelings of financial anxiety persisted long after the recession’s recovery. Since the global financial ramifications of coronavirus have yet to be realized, it is expected to be worse than that experienced in the 2008-09 financial meltdown, “anxiety and a healthy paranoia are likely to linger – possibly for a long time.” – Read More on American Marketer
4. This Is How The Gap Dies: Late last week, Gap Inc. warned that it had blown through about half that cash, thanks to its largely idle store fleet, and had thus raised $2.25 billion in secured (junk-rated) debt and other financial maneuvers. Nobody is predicting that The Gap, let alone Gap Inc., will disappear tomorrow. But suddenly that eventual outcome seems more plausible than ever. – Read More on Makerer (via Redef)
5. The Devil’s in the Detail for Junk Debt Investors Facing Coronavirus Defaults: While bankers selling these deals often say the terms are unlikely to actually be used, there is precedent.Take U.S. retailer J Crew. In 2017, it moved the intellectual property of its brand into a new company, stripping investors who had lent against the asset of their collateral. It was so infamous that terms added to subsequent financing deals to avoid a repeat are now known as the “J Crew Blocker.” – Read More on Reuters
6. Fashion industry anticipates return to work in May: Fashion retailers in the West are desperate to reopen for business, but anticipate a step-by-step process, with restrictions varying from country to country. – Read More on Vogue Biz
1. How luxury transformed from opulence to populace, and what it means for brands: In light of the Great Recession, the thirst for luxury remained, but rather than turning to designer bags, to satisfy the allure of luxurious distinction, consumers sought out goods and services that came with quiet powers. Meditation retreats, superfood-packed juices, and uber-intrinsic features such as silence embodied this new wave. – Read More on American Marketer (via 2pm)
2. Livestreaming is taking off in China, but it’s not driving much sales in a market still reeling from coronavirus: One of the hottest trends in marketing is livestreaming. Yet, livestreaming-driven e-commerce sales likely only account for between 2 to 10 percent, analysts estimate. – Read More on CNBC
3. Marie Kondo cleaned house. Now she wants to fix your whole life: Thanks to her 2019 Netflix series, Kondo was vaulted into a new constellation of stardom, alongside other goddesses of wellness and domesticity such as Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, and Gwyneth Paltrow. By the end of 2019, she had established an e-commerce site, a blog, and a newsletter. – Read More on Fast Co.
4. What Will The Post-Pandemic Future of Fashion Retail Look Like? Many retailers hope to quickly bounce back. Some are even expecting a boost because of pent-up demand from many customers being stuck in their homes for weeks while stores were closed. But that’s probably not realistic. – Read More on Forbes
5. In NYC it’s “survival of fittest for fashion brands.” There will be new startups, similar to 2008 when flash sites launched during the financial collapse, experts predict. – Read More on AP
1. Undeterred By Virus, Chinese Buyers Want Luxury Liquor and Bags: The current bounce – or rebound – in the Chinese consumer demand will help global luxury-goods makers mitigate the sales hit in the U.S. and European markets as these nations continue to battle the virus. – Read More on Bloomberg
2. Fashion production’s more flexible future: manufacturers appear to be more willing to cut back collections and consider factory innovations that allow them to more easily meet consumers’ demands. That is likely to reduce revenues this year and into the next — a fact that is largely unavoidable for most brands — but could better preserve profit margins and reduce the unsustainable overflow of fashion goods that no one wants or needs. – Read More on Vogue Biz
3. Allbirds debuts its first running shoe. To succeed, it must face rivals like Nike and the challenges of a pandemic: Allbirds, known for its comfy wool sneakers made out of sustainable materials, has been working on perfecting the running silhouette for years, said Allbirds co-founder Tim Brown. Allbirds expects to release additional athletic shoes in the future. – Read More on CNBC
4. How the face mask became the world’s most coveted commodity: In the age of Covid-19, the equivalent of sensible shoes may be the simple surgical mask or the home-hemmed cloth. The gaps in their weave are big enough for the virus to pass through, but they do at least protect others from the wearer’s sneezes and coughs. – Read More on the Guardian
5. Online Fashion Sales in the U.S. Recovered in April After Tanking in March: The fashion and apparel industry took a punch from Covid-19 in March when online retail sales plummeted by 30 percent. But now, new data shows that revenue has resurrected globally this month, rising 21% higher than the same time last year. – Read More on AdWeek
6. Not fashion but telling none-the-less: Harry & David Decides Its Stores Won’t Reopen After Coronavirus. The parent company of Harry & David, the gourmet fruit seller known for its gift baskets, has decided to permanently close most of the brand’s bricks-and-mortar locations in the U.S. and focus on an e-commerce future. – Read More on WSJ
1. The new golden rule in marketing (spoiler: it’s not about you). Brands need to be asking one simple question: who is my audience, and what do they need? The new golden rule is putting consumers absolutely first. Business, and profits, will follow. – Read More on AdAge
2. How Luxury Is Reaching Consumers During Lockdown: From YSL Beauty tutorials on Instagram and Gucci’s AR-powered app to Prada’s conversation series and Loewe’s online events and workshops, here is how luxury brands are engaging with consumers while their stores are closed. – Read More on Jing Daily
3. Adidas says first-quarter profits fell more than 90 percent due to coronavirus store closures: Its first-quarter net income was $28.14 million, down 96 percent from the same three months in 2019. The company reported a 19 percent decline in net sales for the first quarter from the previous year to $5.16 billion, as 70 percent of its stores worldwide closed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.– Read More on CNBC
4. The Pandemic Will Change American Retail Forever: We are entering a new evolutionary stage of retail, in which big companies will get bigger, many mom-and-pop dreams will burst, chains will proliferate and flatten the idiosyncrasies of many neighborhoods, more economic activity will flow into e-commerce, and restaurants will undergo a transformation unlike anything the industry has experienced since Prohibition. – Read More on The Atlantic
5. RETRO READ: “Brands Can Do Better With a Conglomerate” Behind Them – A Look at the Consolidation of the Luxury Industry. The upper-most echelon of the fashion industry is firmly dominated by an increasingly small handful of mighty entities that have amassed collections of brands, which they have turned into house-hold names by way of eye-poppingly expensive traditional marketing efforts (complete with strong luxury-centric messaging) and the help of no small number of globally-recognized celebrities. – Read More on TFL
6. Plastic Waste Is a C-Suite Issue: From basic chemicals to high tech, from heavy industry to fast fashion, and from agricultural commodities to lifestyle brands — virtually every industry has plastic as an integral part of its products, supply chain, distribution, and customer interactions. For virtually every business leader, reducing plastic waste represents a strategic business opportunity. – Read More on HBR
1. If the First-Quarter GDP Report Looks Bad, the Second Quarter Will Be Worse: Retail sales, which make up about 25 percent of household spending, dropped 8.7 percent in March, compared with February. Stockpiling at grocery stores and online wasn’t enough to compensate for a collapse in spending at bars and restaurants and falling sales of new vehicles and gasoline. – Read More on WSJ
2. Retail in the US won’t be bouncing back like in China: While masked shoppers are lining up to return to stores in China — hoarding cosmetics and fashion — offering retailers a glimmer of hope that the same patterns will play out across America, but they rebounds will be different, in part because of high end enduring unemployment in the U.S. – Read More on CNBC
3. RETRO READ: As North Korea Continues to Boost its Imports, a Look at the Role of Luxury in the Hermit Kingdom. Despite sanctions, luxury goods continue to make their way across the border into North Korea, with China serving as the nation’s most well-established and largest trading partner. Singapore-based traders have also been linked to a “substantial amount of” imports into North Korea in recent years. – Read More on TFL
4. How Eileen Fisher became a model of sustainability in the fashion industry: “I’m much more interested in growing in what we call a circular way, like how do we grow this company in a way that it’s taking full responsibility for its impact on the environment, on the people working?” – Read More on Fortune
5. “Cool’s Over. Chic’s Over.” Balmain’s Olivier Rousteing Says, “ We have to be more spontaneous, not follow rules—we need to be more inclusive as an industry. I want to do fashion shows for different people; to open my doors to people who are not part of the system.”– Read More on Vogue
1. Experiential retail is figuring out new footing in virtual world: Shopping behavior will most likely change, but the pandemic won’t change why experiential retail is important. “The goal is community first and foremost.” – Read More on WSJ
2. With 100,000 stores set to close by 2025, mall owners face this legal hurdle next: Co-tenancy clauses. The common mall retailer clauses typically say that “if less than 80% of space is occupied at this property at any given time, or if a major, anchor tenant like a department store or a grocery store goes dark here,” the tenant is allowed a break in rent. – Read More on CNBC
3. Italy’s Fashion, Auto Sectors Set to Exit Lockdown First: Italy’s auto and fashion industries will be the first to exit the lockdown, says the country’s deputy health minister Pierpaolo Sileri. Containment measures in Europe’s original epicenter have crippled the country, especially its wealthy northern regions where the virus hit hardest. – See More on Bloomberg
4. Gap Inc. says some stores will never reopen: “Consumers are preparing for a long economic slowdown,” with 46% of consumers believing that it could take at least a year for the economy to recover, and a great majority expressing disinterest in discretionary consumption like apparel. – Read More on Retail Dive
5. Nike is poised to weather coronavirus far better than Adidas and Under Armour: “I think every company should be running two concurrent war rooms: one should be focused on how do we make sure we survive, the other should be trying to decide how we can grab share, because there will be lingering dislocation among consumer brands.” – Read More on Yahoo
1. Luxury Can Only Dream of a 2010-Style Comeback: Luxury brands have a well-earned reputation for resilience. Major labels bounced back from the 2008 financial crisis within 18 months and shrugged off political protests in Hong Kong last year. But the Covid-19 pandemic looks different and could lay them much lower. – Read More on the WSJ
2. Boohoo eyes struggling fashion brands after trading beats forecasts: The online retailer – which owns PrettyLittleThing, Nasty Gal, Coast, Karen Millen, Boohoo, and MissPap– reports 54% profit rise, as sales increased 44% to £1.2 billion for the 2019 fiscal year. – Read More on the Guardian
3. RELATED READ: How Much of Fashion’s Emphasis on Sustainability is Actually Impacting Consumer Spending? Consumer interest in sustainability is growing, and traditional fast fashion retailers are struggling, but neither of those things necessarily signals that cheap, trendy fashion is falling out of favor (yet). – Read More on TFL
4. Farfetch: High exposure to the declining luxury goods market will hurt its stock. It’s unlikely that Farfetch will become and remain profitable in the upcoming quarters and thereby it will not be able to create shareholder value in the foreseeable future. – Read More on Seeking Alpha
5. How fashion and beauty retailers can overcome the lack of touch and feel in the time of social distancing: A big increase in visitors to retailers websites could seem like a silver lining during these troubled times, but for many shops those visitors don’t actually turn into customers. – Read More on Forbes
1. The pandemic is a calamity for many American retailers: The pandemic will change shoppers’ habits in ways that are likely to be lasting. By the time America is open for business again, more consumers will be comfortable shopping online, for clothes as well as for food. – Read More on the Economist
2. What is the future of fast fashion? Even before the pandemic, fast fashion was undergoing major upheaval, namely, the old guard of fast fashion had ceded ground to nimbler pure-play upstarts like Boohoo, Fashion Nova, and Missguided, which, unyoked by decades of debt, expensive real estate, and clunky supply chains, had conspired to make fast fashion cheaper and more shoppable through newfangled channels like Instagram. – Read More on R29
3. Top fashion brands found making little progress in transparency index: Max Mara, Pepe Jeans and Tom Ford are among the least transparent fashion brands when it comes to providing information about their supply chains, according to an index published on Tuesday that found little progress in the industry. – Read More on Reuters
4. RETRO READ: Here’s the thing about fashion’s “transparency” and “sustainability” indexes, they often only take into account info that brands choose to make public, leaving a lot of room for brands to skew the narrative in their favor, and game the system. – Read More on TFL
5. Social sustainability, overstock and ‘greenwashing’: How COVID-19 is changing the fashion industry. “Sustainability has dropped off the agenda for the past few weeks at the top executive level in the industry as even strong companies have had to fight for sheer existence.” – Read More on Forbes