Daily LInks
1. Prada Posts Higher Revenue With Growth in All Products, Most Regions. Prada is well-positioned to deliver above-market growth this year, Chief Executive Andrea Guerra said, although the uncertain geopolitical and economic backdrop requires the company to stay vigilant. – Read More on Reuters
2. The UK is gearing up for a pivotal summit on AI. Here’s what you need to know. The two-day summit, which takes place on Nov. 1-2, will host government officials and companies from around the world, including the U.S. and China, two superpowers in the race to develop cutting-edge AI tech. – Read More on CNBC
3. Why clothing makers are finding it hard to break with China’s supply chain. “That mature ecosystem, established over decades in China, not only ensures competitive price points, but also delivers stable quality at mass production that’s hard to copy.” – Read More on SCMP
4. RELATED READ: Why – Exactly – Are So Many of the World’s Goods Manufactured in China? Much of the world’s manufacturing base has migrated to China, attracted by low-cost labor and favorable policies from the Chinese government. These policies include massive investments in infrastructure and trade capacity. – Read More on TFL
5. Former MoMA Employee Files Lawsuit Against Museum, Alleging Discriminatory Practices. The complaint, filed last week, alleges that several of the museum’s employees failed to accommodate a coworker’s medical condition after the museum instated a pandemic-related policy that barred the employee from working onsite. – Read More on ArtNews
6. How can sustainable agriculture make the fashion industry greener? Brands and designers are turning to regenerative cotton farming as they look for ways to reduce their carbon footprint. – Read More on Eco-Business
1. Louis Vuitton juggles volume and value as luxury boom ebbs. The LVMH-owned fashion house has been one of the biggest winners of the luxury boom that is drawing to a close. Now the sector’s first brand to top €20bn annual sales must continue to grow while maintaining its cachet. – Read More on the FT
2. Three things to know about the White House’s executive order on AI. The White House’s executive order requires the Department of Commerce to develop guidance for labeling AI-generated content. AI companies will use this guidance to develop labeling and watermarking tools that the White House hopes federal agencies will adopt. – Read More on MIT Tech Review
3. Must federal government permit “Trump too small” trademark? Wednesday’s argument in Vidal v. Elster is the third in a series of First Amendment challenges to provisions of the Lanham Act that bar registration of various kinds of scurrilous marks. – Read More on Scotus Blog
4. RETRO READ: The Supreme Court Sides with Fuct, Says Bar Against “Scandalous” Trademarks is Invalid. Brunetti’s counsel argued that in determining what marks are subject to registration, the USPTO decides what is offensive to the general public, and in the process, necessarily prefers some viewpoints over others. – Read More on TFL
5. How the shine came off the luxury goods market. Analysts are reporting a large consumer-behavior shift in luxury goods and it’s being reflected in the stock market performances of the sector’s largest companies. – Read More on the Nation
6. Alo Yoga parent seeks investment at $10 billion valuation. The deal deliberations come as the privately held company makes strides in winning young consumers away from bigger brands such as Lululemon Athletica and Nike, often thanks to savvy marketing using internet influencers. – Read More on Reuters
1. Africa’s fashion industry is growing to meet global demands but needs more investment, UNESCO says. Currently valued at $15.5 billion worth of exports annually, the earnings from the continent’s fashion industry could triple over a decade with the right investment and infrastructure. – Read More on ABC
2. Firms with Diverse Boards Achieve Higher ESG Ratings. The experiences and perspectives brought by diverse board members drive stronger ESG priorities, making a compelling case for stakeholders to emphasize Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) for a sustainable corporate future. – Read More on HBR
3. Shein deepens its relationship with Forever 21, will begin selling co-branded clothes online. Shein and Forever 21 are slated to unveil a co-branded clothing line that will be primarily sold on Shein’s website. – Read More on CNBC
4. Can the fashion industry close its looming sustainable raw materials gap? Fashion brands should prepare themselves for a wave of stricter sustainability rules and requirements on their way over the next two-to-four years, which looks set to spur a scramble for lower-climate materials. – Read More on Business Green
5. Sweeping new Biden order aims to alter the AI landscape. The White House is poised to make an all-hands effort to impose national rules on a fast-moving technology, according to a draft executive order. – Read More on Politico
1. Gucci Just Can’t Keep Up With Brunello Cucinelli and Hermes. Hermes beat estimates and said it saw no signs of demand waning among its well-heeled clientele in any of its markets. In the same vein, last week Brunello Cucinelli SpA upgraded its revenue forecast for the third time this year. – Read More on the Washington Post
2. U.S. Trade Loophole Fuels Rise of China’s New E-Commerce Firms. A record of more than one billion packages entered the U.S. in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30 under the de minimis exemption—twice the 2019 level, according to an estimate by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. – Read More on the WSJ
3. AI, machine learning, and robotics are making the retail supply chain more efficient and resilient. Retail-technology experts say that without these innovations, supply chains would struggle to function in the face of fast-changing customer expectations and turbulent economic times. – Read More on Business Insider
4. To Sell an Unconventional Product, Tell a Compelling Story. The key to unlocking their success lies within the art of storytelling: stories cloaked in abstract language, capable of weaving cohesive mental tapestries, and sprinkled with familiar elements can make quirk work. – Read More on HBR
5. Governments must not rush into policing AI. The EU is finalizing an expansive AI act; the White House is expected soon to issue an executive order aimed at LLMs; and next month, the British government will convene world leaders and tech bosses for an “AI Safety Summit” to discuss the extreme risks that AI models may pose. – Read More on the Economist
1. Lawmaker Seeks Investigation That Could Ban Shein in the US. A member of Congress who co-sponsored the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act is asking a Department of Homeland Security task force to investigate fast-fashion retailer Shein and potentially ban it from the US. – Read More on Bloomberg
2. AI researchers uncover ethical, legal risks to using popular data sets. An audit of 1,800 data sets on sites such as Hugging Face, GitHub, etc. found that about 70% didn’t specify what license should be used or had been mislabeled with more-permissive guidelines than their creators intended. – Read More on the Washington Post
3. If Amazon, why not Walmart? Both companies sell fresh food, in addition to T-shirts and coffee tables. Walmart, which bought Jet.com in 2016 for $3 billion, is also just as discerning when it comes to online pricing. – Read More on Reuters
4. Tech Over Luxury: Consumers Flock to Devices Over Fashion. A swing towards tech further cements an increasingly evident trend—a craving for digital experiences and technological advancements. Reliance on tech and the overwhelming value offered by the digital realm suggests that luxury fashion is now relegated to the background. – Read More on Newsweek
5. Kering’s Picky Shoppers Shun Gucci. Kering is trying to revive its top label, Gucci, just as the environment gets tough. Last month, the brand’s new designer showed his first collection, but it’s still too early to say whether it has been a success. – Read More on the WSJ
1. The Problem with Counterfeit People. Computer scientists have the capacity to create almost indelible patterns that will scream FAKE! under almost all conditions—so long as the manufacturers of cellphones, computers, digital TVs, and other devices cooperate by installing the software that will interrupt any fake messages with a warning. – Read More on the Atlantic
2. AI developers are failing on transparency, new index shows. Unless AI companies are more forthcoming about the inner workings, training data and impacts of their most advanced tools, users will never be able to fully understand the risks associated with AI, and experts will never be able to mitigate them. – Read More on Axios
3. How Nike Fell Behind in the Innovation Race. From design concept to store shelves, footwear development at Nike can take about 18 months. The pandemic, and subsequent supply-chain snarls, messed with Nike’s production pipeline. It is also working through inventory problems. – Read More on the WSJ
4. Taco Bell’s battle to free the “Taco Tuesday” trademark is officially over. Gregory’s surrender marks the final hurdle of Taco Bell’s legal battle of eliminating the trademark from its two holders. – Read More on CNN
5. Brunello Cucinelli’s billion-dollar growth formula. for the first time in history, Brunello Cucinelli has purchased part of the supply chain: as you mentioned, we partnered with Chanel to buy part of Cariaggi. Chanel and Cucinelli own 24.5 percent each. – Read More on McKinsey
6. Hermès records industry-beating growth as sales rise 16%. Luxury goods seller Hermès International on Tuesday said its sales continued to grow in the third quarter, on the back of “sustained momentum in Asia and in the Americas,” despite fears around a slowdown in the wider luxury sector. – Read More on MarketWatch
1. Will the watch industry profit from going green? The luxury watch industry is in a unique position to grow its business by reducing its production while charging more for its products, but the momentum is clearly toward more production. – Read More on WatchPro
2. This new data poisoning tool lets artists fight back against generative AI. The tool, called Nightshade, could damage future iterations of image-generating AI models, such as DALL-E, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion, by rendering some of their outputs useless—dogs become cats, cars become cows, and so forth. – Read More on MIT Tech Review
3. Why actors are fighting for AI protections. Advancements in AI that can replicate performers’ voices, appearances and movements raise critical concerns about individuals’ control over their own likenesses — and how lifelike replicas are used to generate profit or spread disinformation. – Read More on the Hill
4. Luxury slowdown further challenges Gucci revival. Shoppers in Europe and the United States are cutting down on high-end purchases, while the sector’s performance in China – a key growth engine – is complicated by record high youth unemployment and a property crisis. – Read More on Reuters
5. How a $100 Sweatshirt Is Taking on European Fashion Houses. Lorenzo has pulled this off by building not one collection, but three. There is his high-end main line; Essentials, the economical label built on $100 hoodies and $95 sweats; and the third and latest brand, Athletics, is a sportswear-focused line produced in partnership with Adidas. – Read More on the WSJ
1. Niche luxury: less bling can mean ka-ching for top brands. Quiet luxury eschews bling. This is something that the confident, wealthy buyer increasingly prefers, especially in China. Almost half of Chinese high-end fashion buyers prefer minimal logos and timeless clothing pieces. – Read More on the FT
2. RELATED READ: What Does Quiet Luxury Mean from a Trademark Perspective? Fashion/luxury’s biggest brands may be most synonymous with their well-known word marks, logos, and famous monogram prints, but research suggests that trade dress and other types of trademarks can play just as a big a role when it comes to consumers’ purchasing decisions. – Read More on TFL
3. These Companies Have All Sued Their Workers’ Unions Claiming Trademark Infringement. In addition to Starbucks, Medieval Times and Trader Joe’s have made trademark claims against their respective workers’ unions. – Read More on HuffPost
4. How the Fashion Industry Uses Generative AI. Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has numerous applications in the world of fashion, including the creation of new designs, as a way of tailoring marketing campaigns, and as a tool to help personalize a customer’s shopping experience, among others. – Read More on Decrypt
5. Three Things I Learned About What’s Next in AI. Meta’s chief product officer, Chris Cox, said there’s room for neutral bots and more playful options. This sort of AI messaging capability will soon help businesses more efficiently answer customer questions on Meta’s platforms. – Read More on the WSJ
6. AI is causing panic for authors. Now the courts are involved. OpenAI, for its part, has contended that training an AI system falls under fair use protections, especially given the extent to which AI transforms the underlying training data into something new. – Read More on the LA Times
1. After US IPO stumbles, companies under pressure to offer bargains. Companies pursuing U.S. IPOs after a string of lackluster stock market debuts are receiving advice from investment bankers to lower their valuation expectations. – Read More on Reuters
2. Shein opens up about forced labor, data privacy as it looks to clear key hurdles before possible U.S. IPO. Shein says that data on American consumers is stored in the U.S. and it’s taking steps to expand its supply chain outside of China. – Read More on CNBC
3. Sanctions Fail to Stop Kim Jong Un Snapping Up Luxury Watches, Bags. The volume of the products imported to North Korea from areas near its borders with Russia and China has been recovered from the second half of last year following a slump during the pandemic. – Read More on Bloomberg
4. As North Korea Continues to Boost its Imports, a Look at the Role of Luxury in the Hermit Kingdom. The Seoul-based Korea Herald asserts that “since the young dictator Kim Jong-un took over the regime in 2012, luxury item imports have continued to rise.” – Read More on TFL
5. As Google pushes deeper into AI, publishers see fresh challenges. Since May, Google has begun rolling out a new form of search powered by GenAI, after industry observers questioned the tech giant’s future prominence in providing consumers with information following the rise of OpenAI’s query-answering chatbot, ChatGPT. – Read More on Reuters
6. How Meta and AI companies recruited striking actors to train AI. Hollywood actors are on strike over concerns about the use of AI, but for as little as $300, Meta and a company called Realeyes hired them to make avatars appear more human. – Read More on MIT Tech Review
1. Sustainability: Lawmakers begin to catch up with fast fashion industry. Part of the machine operating the fast fashion business model is the constant dumping and destruction of goods, exacerbated by online sales and mail order returns. – Read More on IBA
2. Chanel tops second-hand luxury market as shoppers embrace resale trends. Based on data from Jan. to Sept. 2023, covering purchases, consignments, and completed sales in Korea, Chanel topped the list of the most popular luxury brand for resale this year, followed by Hermès, Rolex, Louis Vuitton, and Cartier. – Read More on Inside Retail
3. Sick of It All Sue Mobb Deep and Supreme for Trademark Infringement. The hardcore band accuses the streetwear brand and the rap group of copying its dragon logo for a capsule collection. – Read More on Pitchfork (and find the complaint here)
4. As Snap Seals Its AR Fate, Brands Dive Deeper Into Augmented Retail. Retailers are turning to augmented reality to craft consumer experiences that not only resonate and leave a lasting impression but also instill greater confidence in the brand, ultimately motivating consumers to make a purchase. – Read More on PYMNTS
5. Entrupy Becomes an Official TikTok Shop Authenticator. Entrupy is bringing its luxury authentication to social media, announcing its official partnership with TikTok as an official TikTok Shop authenticator in the U.S. – Read More on Yahoo
6. RELATED READ: As TikTok Prepares for U.S. E-Commerce, Could it Be Looking to Luxury Resale? A number of signs suggest that TikTok might make a fully-fledged luxury resale play as part of its impending stateside e-commerce push. – Read More on TFL