Daily LInks
1. Amazon launches first U.S. challenge to EU content rules and says it would be “unfairly singled out.” The e-retailer on Tuesday filed a petition in Luxembourg’s General Court arguing it should not be designated as one of the 17 “very large online platforms,” or VLOPs, under the Digital Services Act, which imposes stricter rules around policing illegal material on their platforms. – Read More on CNBC
2. RELATED READ: Digital Services Act Could Prompt Penalties of 6% of Brands’ Annual Revenue. Broadly speaking, the Digital Services Act will counter the sale of illegal products and services on online marketplaces and aims to combat illegal and harmful content on online platforms. At the same time, the Digital Services Act also broadly aims to increase transparency and fairness in online services. – Read More on TFL
3. China’s Economy Is Struggling. That’s Not Stopping the Wealthy from Spending. While the cost of groceries has grabbed plenty of headlines recently, luxury brands were early drivers of inflation, swiftly pushing up prices just weeks after pandemic lockdowns hit the U.S. – Read More on Barron’s
4. It’s getting easier for plaintiffs to pick where to sue internet retailers. The delivery of a physical product, wrote 9th Circuit Judge Susan Graber for a panel that also included Judges Richard Clifton and Morgan Christen, is conduct “expressly aimed at the forum state,” and thus sufficient to establish the forum’s jurisdiction. – Read More on Reuters
5. Music & Tech Executives Testify on Artificial Intelligence & Copyright. Music industry and tech company executives testify on AI and its impact on copyright and intellectual property before a Senate judiciary subcommittee on Wednesday. – See More on C-SPAN
6. AI Junk Is Starting to Pollute the Internet. In early May, the news site rating company NewsGuard found 49 fake news websites that were using AI to generate content. By the end of June, the tally had hit 277, according to Gordon Crovitz, the company’s co-founder. – Read More on the WSJ
1. Is Apple really a trademark bully? All things considered, concerns that Apple will corner the market for apple logos seem overblown. To the contrary, Apple’s success seems to have inspired a bumper crop of apple logos so bountiful as to defy the efforts of even the tech behemoth’s army of lawyers. – Read More on Fast Co.
2. RETRO READ: Just About Everything in an Apple Store is Protected IP, Including its Shopping Bags.“Apple is very much a believer in using a coordinated, comprehensive intellectual property protection scheme.”– Read More on TFL
3. Canada probes Nike, Dynasty Gold over alleged use of forced labor in China. Canada’s corporate ethics watchdog on Tuesday launched separate investigations into Nike Canada and Dynasty Gold to probe allegations that they used or benefited from forced Uyghur labor in their supply chains and operations in China. – Read More on Reuters
4. Retail reset: A new playbook for retail leaders. Consumers aren’t browsing like they used to and are abandoning their once-preferred brands; they’re also demanding speed and sustainability. – Read More on McKinsey
5. AI revolution puts skilled jobs at highest risk, OECD says. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said the occupations at highest risk from AI-driven automation were highly skilled jobs and represented about 27% of employment across its 38 member countries, which include the UK, Japan, Germany, the US, Australia & Canada. Read – More on the Guardian
6. Amazon charts its own course on A.I., leaning on its strengths in cloud and e-commerce. The retail titan is opting to concentrate its early efforts on developers and companies using its cloud. – Read More on CNBC
1. Franchising industry holds its breath as FTC takes a closer look at regulations. The agency’s statement earlier this year on its request for information said it “would begin to unravel how the unequal bargaining power inherent in [franchise] contracts is impacting franchisees, workers, and consumers.” – Read More on CNBC
2. Knockoff luxury items no longer taboo as Gen Z shoppers embrace ‘superfake’ designer bags, shoes. Makers of ‘superfake’ luxury items are known to source leather from the same Italian suppliers as established fashion houses. – Read More on SCMP
3. Bernstein: China’s Offline Luxury Consumption Surpasses Growth Expectations. Apart from luxury retail, Bernstein noted that premium sportswear brands like Lululemon, Arc’teryx and Descente are also “doing well.” In comparison, mass-market players, such as Nike, Adidas, Anta and Fila, are seeing weak demand. – Read More on Yahoo
4. The 2023 Online Retail Report. Consistent with its pre-pandemic rate, e-commerce is estimated to capture 42% of total retail sales growth in 2023. E-commerce sales growth (year-over-year) is expected to moderate to 10% or less in the coming years, and annual online sales growth through 2025 is expected to double the rate of store-based sales growth. – Read More on FTI Consulting
5. How AI image-generators work. Today “generative AI” models put brush to virtual paper: publicly available apps, such as Midjourney and OpenAI’s dall-e, create images in seconds based on text prompts. The final products often dupe humans. – Read More on the Economist
6. Employees want ChatGPT at work. Bosses worry they’ll spill secrets. Corporate leaders are banning ChatGPT to prevent a worst-case scenario where an employee uploads proprietary computer code or sensitive board discussions into the chatbot while seeking help at work, inadvertently putting that information into a database that OpenAI could use to train its chatbot in the future. – Read More on the Washington Post
1. Stone rarities show scale of Tiffany’s newfound ambition, When LVMH bought Tiffany & Co two years ago for $15.8bn, the luxury conglomerate wasted no time digging into its deep pockets to elevate the brand’s high jewellery proposition. – Read More on the FT
2. Panera swimsuits and Rao’s purses: Fast-food fashion is in peak bloom. The internet has facilitated the kinds of communities that this food franchise merchandising thrives on. Social media encourage debates about the best french fry or the best pasta sauce, allowing online communities to coalesce around their interests as a marker of identity. – Read More on the Washington Post
3. RETRO READ: SKIMS, Hims, and the Evolving Potential for Confusion in an Uber-Branded Market. There are countless other examples, as companies continue to blur the lines between traditional offerings and those that can be expected from a modern company catering to brand-happy, community-leaning millennials. – Read More on TFL
4. Brands take their IP to Hollywood. “This level of immersion is possible due to the ownership of IP creates a big opportunity for other nostalgic brands to revitalize themselves for today’s media landscape and tell their stories in new ways, bringing new consumers into the brand’s world.” – Read More on Digiday
5. Shein Takes on Amazon in the Business of Selling Everything. Shein, now based in Singapore, is pivoting from selling just its own branded apparel to becoming a marketplace platform where other merchants can sell everything from $1,200 commercial ice makers to 50-cent safety pins directly to consumers. – Read More on the WSJ
6. Birkenstocks in the Office May Be a Step Too Far. Even though Birkenstock is an iconic brand, there are twin dangers facing it: 1) that we are past peak comfy shoe, and 2) that consumers, particularly in Asia, don’t increase spending as much as anticipated now that China has reopened post-pandemic. – Read More on Bloomberg
1. Chloé Bids Goodbye to Gabriela Hearst. Most exits have their own specific triggers. But collectively they underscore the quickening churn among creative directors at fashion brands, as impatient executives press for starry sales growth on highly ambitious design and production timelines and to an evermore fickle consumer. – Read More on the New York Times
2. Inside the freakout over AI music. The deeper concerns may lie in the subtle shifts of power and incentives that come from knowing how capable AI is at making music. The music industry has been upended by so many forces – from streaming replacing downloads to inflation hiking costs – that many artists and composers fear a body blow from AI could be fatal to their careers. – Read More on the LA Times
3. Coty CEO says Gucci license not under discussion for next five years. “There will be no discussion on the renewal of any of our licenses before at least 5 years,” Coty CEO Sue Naby told journalists in response to a question about whether Kering could take back a license for beauty products for its fashion label Gucci. – Read More on Reuters
4. RETRO READ: Estée Lauder, Tom Ford Deal is a Nod To Enduring Evolution of Luxury Licensing. The time-tested pattern of fashion/luxury brands outsourcing certain divisions has not stopped big-name groups from going against the grain and bringing previously-licensed categories in house – or at least, closer to home (via joint ventures). – Read More on TFL
5. How to Train Generative AI Using Your Company’s Data. Leveraging a company’s propriety knowledge is critical to its ability to compete and innovate, especially in today’s volatile environment. – Read More on HBR
1. LVMH boss Bernard Arnault’s visit highlights growing importance of huge mainland Chinese market for luxury brands. He was the second top executive of a French high-end fashion group to embark on an apparent charm offensive to tap the huge mainland Chinese luxury market after a visit in February by Kering chairman and CEO Francois Henri Pinault. – Read More on SCMP
2. Hospitality Drove M&A Deals in Luxury Sector in 2022, Deloitte Says. Assessing about 300 companies globally, the survey highlights how 2021 margins for personal luxury goods companies doubled those of other luxury sectors, with apparel and accessories’ average margins standing at 36%, followed by cosmetics and fragrances at 20.9%. – Read More on Yahoo
3. Google confirms it’s training Bard on scraped web data, too. The search giant has updated its privacy policy to include Bard and Cloud AI alongside Google Translate under services where collected data may be used. – Read More on the Verge
4. In NYC, companies will have to prove their AI hiring software isn’t sexist or racist. Under New York’s new rule, hiring software that relies on machine learning or artificial intelligence to help employers choose preferred candidates or weed out bad ones – called an automatic employment decision tool – must pass an audit by a third-party company to show it’s free of racist or sexist bias. – Read More on NBC
5. TikTok Emerges as Threat to Amazon With $20 Billion Shopping Pilot. Its success in the region is crucial for TikTok as it faces a possible ban in the US on national security concerns. It also provides the company a template to take on Amazon in a way that no social media company has attempted before. – Read More on Bloomberg
6. Footwear brands are racing to pioneer carbon-conscious shoes. “It’s becoming understood that sustainability is more than just one of those elements. It’s really a holistic strategy … [and] to help with this, companies are increasingly folding carbon into the conversation.” – Read More on Modern Retail
1. Fashion industry driving demand for green shipping, Maersk says. Fashion brands are a key driver of demand for green shipping fuels, according to shipping group Maersk, as the sector faces pressure from consumers and regulators to reduce their climate footprint. – Read More on Reuters
2. H&M, Shein Explore New Retail Model With Third-Party Brands. The strategy paves the way for customer acquisition and bolstering customer retention, particularly in the face of competition, inflation, and the impending resumption of student loan payments. – Read More on PYMNTS
3. The Shein influencer debacle exposed a very ugly truth about fast fashion. That store that just launched an “eco” line is probably lying to you. It’s likely using a limited number of products to greenwash or overstate the impact of it environmental measures. – Read More on MSNBC
4. RELATED READ: Fashion’s Buzzy Tech Initiatives, Alone, Won’t Solve its Sustainability Issues. Despite widespread marketing, complete with often-glossy imagery, most of these “sustainability”-centric initiatives represent a miniscule amount of a company’s total product offering. – Read More on TFL
5. Skittles maker Wrigley settles with cannabis company over trademark. Wrigley has settled a lawsuit accusing a seller of cannabis-related merchandise of trademark infringement for marketing products under the “ZKITTLEZ” name. – Read More on Reuters
6. FTC wants to ban fake product reviews, warns AI could exacerbate problem. Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, which can write human-sounding but bogus product reviews, threaten to compound the problem, according to the FTC, as the new technology could enable bad actors to generate significantly higher volumes of fake reviews in order to generate unearned interest in their products. – Read More on CBS
1. Hollywood actors are pushing back against studios using AI to clone them. Actors have been pushing for contract terms that now include bars against allowing past performances to be put into an AI to generate something new. Some actors are already compiling digital libraries of themselves to potentially license for the use in AI. – Read More on NPR
2. China tackling ‘bad faith’ trademark hoarding, squatting rules to protect IP, be more attractive to investment. Beijing hopes, analysts said, to protect domestic companies to boost the Chinese economy that has been affected by the China-US trade war and global supply chain decoupling. – Read More on SCMP
2. Principles for Using AI Responsibly. “Disclose all third parties used to provide and maintain AI assets, what the third party’s role is, and how the third party will ensure employee privacy.” – Read More on HBR
4. RETRO READ: A Year in Bad Faith – How Brands and Their Trademarks Are Faring in China. The CNIPA has, in fact, started to refuse trademark applications based on Article 4, which suggests that the amendments “have improved the CNIPA’s practice in examining bad faith applications.” – Read More on TFL
5. Why fashion may never be sustainable. At its core, fashion is a system “premised on growth.” Combine that “with accelerating product drops, long lead times, and global supply chains, and the result is inevitable overproduction.” – Read More on The Week
6. RELATED READ: What Fashion’s Foundational Shift to Address ESG Issues Really Looks Like. The 450-million-garments-per-year number gets to the heart of fashion’s production/consumption problem: the consistent quest for scale. – Read More on TFL
1. France to go after Chinese ‘fast fashion’ giant Shein. French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire asked the French fraud and consumer protection authority to open an investigation into “fast fashion” companies, specifically singling out Chinese giant Shein. – Read More on Politico
2. Amazon may face ‘far-reaching’ FTC antitrust lawsuit in coming weeks: report. The suit, which could hit in the coming weeks, is expected to emphasize allegations that Amazon rewards merchants that use its logistics services and punishes merchants that don’t. – Read More on MarketWatch
3. The impact of the metaverse on retail and apparel. As retailers deal with the impact of high inflation, some are turning to the metaverse to reach consumers. Despite the technology not achieving mainstream adoption, there are already users who are actively investing their time and money in it. – Read More on RIN
4. TikTok could soon bring its new e-commerce store to the US. TikTok’s new store will sell products like toys and kitchen gadgets, among other items within the platform via the new online store, as well as a dedicated e-commerce tab in TikTok Shop, an existing feature where businesses pay a commission to sell their products on the app. – Read More on TechCrunch
5. EssilorLuxottica Adds Jimmy Choo to Its Deep License Portfolio. EssilorLuxottica SA, the world’s biggest eyeglass maker, will produce Jimmy Choo Eyewear under a 10-year licensing deal starting in 2024, adding another luxury name to its vast brand portfolio. – Read More on Bloomberg
6. Stealth wealth, the aesthetic made viral by “Succession,” with its toxic billionaires in their Loro Piana baseball caps and Tom Ford hoodies locked in a C-suite cage match to the death, has been swept off screen. In its place: logomania. – Read More on the New York Times
1. Louis Vuitton Owner Emerges as ESG Magnet With $17 Billion Stake. More than 1,200 ESG funds now hold shares of LVMH, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Roughly 500 more are indirectly exposed to the luxury behemoth. – Read More on Bloomberg
2. How easy is it to fool AI-detection tools? A slew of companies’ tools analyze content using sophisticated algorithms, picking up on subtle signals to distinguish the images made with computers from the ones produced by human photographers and artists. But some tech leaders and misinformation experts have expressed concern that advances in A.I. will always stay a step ahead of the tools. – Read More on the New York Times
3. New Gen Z graduates are fluent in AI and ready to join the workforce. Zoomers have relied on the chatbot, ChatGPT from OpenAI, to help them write cover letters, edit essays, formulate or clarify ideas, check code and even help with their finances. – Read More on the Washington Post
4. TikTok could launch an online store next month. The company has been pushing its e-commerce business on its app, most recently with an in-app shopping feature for brands. – Read More on the Verge
5. The Barbie Phenomenon and Its Impact on Brands and Consumers: Following Mattel’s expansion in its IP business in the past year, the Barbie takeover is unsurprising. Mattel’s investment in IP licensing deals not only led to a profitable second quarter but also resulted in a 20% increase in sales. Among Mattel’s licensed franchises are Hot Wheels and Barbie. – Read More on PYMNTS
6. A lawsuit by TikTok users challenging Montana’s ban is being funded by the social media company itself. TikTok has been covering legal fees for the group of five TikTok creators, said Jodi Seth, a TikTok spokesperson, separately from the company’s own lawsuit to block the state’s new law targeting the app over national security concerns. – Read More on CNN