Daily LInks
1. Can fashion go green if sales keep rising? Textiles have not been regulated in detail, said Mortensen from the European Environment Agency. “Most textiles are produced outside Europe, which means the majority of the impacts happen outside Europe.” – Read More on DW
2. TikTok wins US trademark trial over Stitch video feature: The jury rejected Stitch Editing’s argument that TikTok confuses consumers by using the Stitch name to brand the popular social-media platform’s technology for “stitching” videos together. – Read More on Reuters
3. The e-commerce industry braces for impact after Silicon Valley Bank’s demise: Given that e-commerce startups have historically raised lower amounts of venture capital funding than, say, SaaS startups, many of them are less reliant on SVB than other types of tech companies. – Read More on Modern Retail
4. Buy-now, pay-later platforms turn to interest-bearing lending via bank partners: Buy-now, pay-later platforms are growing their appetite to offer interest-bearing loans, a traditional consumer credit segment they had competed against. – Read More on S&P Global
5. Jewelry Fans Recognize Their Favorites: To a wide range of consumers, certain motifs are as emblematic of those large luxury brands as a blatant logo. Many lesser-known jewelry lines also have similarly recognizable details — a particular recurring shape or style of enameling — that are easy to spot, even if only by a considerably smaller group of fashion-aware cognoscenti. – Read More on the New York Times
6. Generative AI: Unlocking the future of fashion. Within product innovation, marketing, and sales and customer experience in particular, the technology can have significant outcomes and may be more feasible to implement in the short term compared with other areas in the fashion value chain. – Read More on McKinsey
1. Zalando Wants to Be the Amazon of Fashion: Clothes are a little trickier to sell online. People still like to buy them in person because the feel, the fit, and the small details matter so much. And returns from online purchases are more frequent, especially when you can’t try things on before you buy. – Read More on Barron’s
2. More specialty retailers are launching their own marketplaces: Specialty retailers in all sorts of industries are joining the marketplace bandwagon, and leaning into the dominance they have in their own individual categories. – Read More on Modern Retail
3. Waning Interest in the Metaverse Heralds a New Direction for Digital Fashion: “We’ve certainly noticed that speculation has dialed down, and that people are participating less,” said Adriana Hoppenbrouwer, co-founder and CMO of digital fashion house The Fabricant. – Read More on Jing
4. How AI Is Helping Companies Redesign Processes: AI enables better, faster and more automated decisions, allowing companies to improve efficiency and produce better outcomes. Companies — from banks to industrial firms — are already using AI to transform their processes. – Read More on HBR
5. Enterprise Tech Firms Push Further into Generative AI: The AI-enabled apps are designed to automate repetitive tasks in areas like customer service, sales and marketing—such as writing email replies to customer queries or summarizing sales meetings or generating promotional materials. – Read More on the WSJ
1. Adidas Slashes Dividend as Problems Mount: The company has yet to decide what to do with its unsold Yeezy inventory, but has already factored in a €700 million write-off of its Yeezy sneakers into its results. One option under consideration is selling the Yeezy sneakers and donating the proceeds to good causes. – Read More on the WSJ
2. EFF Tells Supreme Court: Trademark Law Doesn’t Trump the First Amendment. Our brief focuses in particular on an activism technique called “identity correction,” a form of parody involves pretending to speak for a company or organization in a way that exposes hypocrisy or a failure to take responsibility for their actions. – Read More on EFF
3. Beyond the hype: “What businesses can really expect from the metaverse in 2023. To complete the bridge between the consumer and business metaverses in the coming years, we also expect to see more metaverse-specific products and services: avatar-driven contact center support, financial education, telehealth and new, fully immersive commerce experiences.” – Read More on PWC
4. Three E-commerce Lessons Companies Should Apply In-Store: Thanks to advances in customer purchase and behavioral data capture, consumers have come to expect a certain level of personalization throughout their online shopping experience. – Read More on Inc.
5. China’s SHEIN set to raise $2 billion, eyes US IPO later this year: The flotation, if successful, would be one of the biggest worldwide this year and a test of U.S. investor appetite for Chinese companies amid volatile capital markets and geopolitical tensions. – Read More on Reuters
6. TikTok’s China twin takes on Alibaba and Meituan in e-commerce: Having attracted hundreds of millions of users with its video-sharing product, Beijing-based ByteDance is pushing to capitalize on that following. Since 2021, the company has pushed TikTok and Douyin to promote online shopping to monetize their user traffic. – Read More on Nikkei
1. Should Companies Allow Returns of Customized Goods? For companies that offer both standard and customized products, the complexity is elevated – not only do they need to consider the prices, costs, demand and returns for standard and customized products separately, but also the interaction between products. – Read More on INSEAD
2. Cartier and Tiffany are getting into AR to sell luxury to Gen Z: Virtual experiences might not lead to immediate sales, but if the experience is memorable, Gen Z consumers will make a mental note to purchase the product in the future. – Read more on MIT Review
3. Hong Kong loses luster as retail units go vacant and big brands look to China: “Most luxury retailers don’t think Hong Kong will return to the dizzy levels of 2014 when the market here peaked,” said Simon Smith, Savills’ senior director of research and consultancy in Hong Kong. – Read More on Reuters
4. With Gucci and Balenciaga Struggling, Kering Aims for a Reset: The French luxury group is seeking to rekindle interest as it falls further behind rival LVMH. Kering’s flagship brand, Gucci, has seen tepid sales even as rivals Louis Vuitton, Prada and Hermès prosper. – Read More on Bloomberg
5. Arbitration Clauses Help Resolve Disputes in the Fashion Sector: While dispute resolution decisions are rarely a top priority for fashion executives, arbitration clauses are being used more frequently to maximize efficiency and mitigate risk. – Read More on Bloomberg
6. How Google Became Cautious of AI and Gave Microsoft an Opening: “Google is struggling to find a balance between how much risk to take versus maintaining thought leadership in the world.” – Read More on the WSJ
1. US corporate bankruptcy filings hit 12-year high in first 2 months of 2023: The high monthly bankruptcy counts in 2023 follow a historically slow year in 2022. Many bankers and analysts expect a downturn in the economy in 2023 that may prompt additional bankruptcy filings. – Read More on S&P Global
2. Permira studying Gruppo Florence’s books for possible buy: Gruppo Florence, a hub of Italian clothing manufacturers that supply top luxury brands, has given private equity firm Permira access to its books to facilitate a potential sale. – Read More on Reuters
3. ENTERPRISE READ: Fashion Supply Chain Investment and M&A Tracker. We have compiled a tracker of supply-focused investments and M&A events to provide a broad overview of which players are fundraising, merging, and how the trajectory of this segment of the market evolves over time. – Read More on TFL
4. Jack Daniel’s trademark court case poses a danger to free expression: “The dispute obscures a perhaps more interesting question: Why is this even a trademark law issue in the first place? Jack Daniel’s makes whiskey, not chew toys. Nobody is going to accidentally buy a chew toy when what they really want is a bottle of Jack Daniel’s, unless, perhaps, they have already had a shot too many.” – Read More on Chicago Tribune
5. Shoppers Are Cooling on Luxury Purchases, Saks Fifth Ave Says: Sixty-two percent of respondents to the survey said they are planning to spend the same or more on luxury goods compared with the previous three months. That’s down from 68% in September. – Read More on Bloomberg
6. Shein’s lead under fire as Chinese-owned Temu tops US charts: Temu views Shein as its biggest rival in the near-term, but the firm, which sells anything from clothes to kitchen supplies, is ultimately aiming to take on global behemoths Amazon.com Inc. and eBay. – Read More on Economic Times
7. For female VCs, bias is a branding issue: More women in venture means that bias and strategic branding are increasingly relevant for a larger fraction of check-writers. – Read More on TechCrunch
1. According to his calculations, customers pay a mark-up of 10 times or more on a luxury leather bag, excluding other expenses typically borne by manufacturers. The gross margin for a luxury leather bag is generally around 80 or 85 percent. – Read More on the FT
2. RETRO READ: What Are Luxury Brands Really Selling? This association or larger brand image/ethos is to a large extent what consumers are buying when they purchase a product, and conglomerate-owned labels, in particular, know and have been pursuing this as a business model for decades. – Read More on TFL
3. Brands Are Making the Same Mistake as Amazon: Online retailers were wrong about the digital shopping boom lasting forever. But that doesn’t mean we’ll stick to IRL buying for long. – Read More on Bloomberg
4. The Laundress seeks to toss lawsuits filed over bacteria exposure: “Because [The Laundress] has tendered a full remedy for the only injury plaintiffs claim they suffered, plaintiffs’ claims are moot,” Unilever’s motion to dismiss states. – Read More on Modern Retail
5. U.S. court says French, Swiss groups cannot restrict ‘gruyere’ cheese label: The name “gruyere” can be used to label cheeses from outside of the Gruyère region of Switzerland and France, a U.S. appeals court said on Friday, in a victory for U.S. dairy groups and others. – Read More on Reuters
6. China E-Commerce Giant JD Set for $1.4 Billion Discount Spree: China’s internet firms are revving up efforts to outdo each other since Beijing began to wind back its bruising crackdown on the tech sector, spurring an abrupt surge in competition that’s spooking investors. – Read More on Yahoo
1. Judges, not lawmakers, are setting 2023’s tech policy: Technology moves faster than Congress can keep up with, and in the absence of new laws, lasting decisions about tech regulation are being determined by judges and courts across the country. – Read More on Axios
2. Green is the new black as fashion sector fast-forwards on sustainability trend: “Companies that had better production practices in place to start with, and a better contract, were the ones (that) came through the pandemic better, so there’s a recognition that that is more and more important.” – Read More on Reuters
3. The 8 Responsibilities of Chief Sustainability Officers: From anticipating regulatory trends and their implications, and preparing the completion and communications of a company’s ESG report to promoting ongoing dialogue with internal and external stakeholders in order to develop constructive, transparent relationships. – Read More on HBR
4. China’s Newest Weapon to Nab Western Technology—Its Courts: The battle over China’s acquisition of technology has raged for years. Counterfeit products and logo look-alikes are pervasive in China. Recently, Beijing has tried to crack down on domestic companies violating the IP rights of some foreign firms. – Read More on the WSJ
5. Fashion industry can cut overproduction by 15%: The global fashion industry could reduce waste and cut costs by reducing its production levels, and prioritizing quality over quantity. A new study suggests that some fashion categories are producing as much as 15% too much output, with most of that ending up in landfill. – Read More on Consultancy UK
6. Hong Kong retail sales rise in Jan, inbound tourism to add to cheer: In January, sales of jewelry, watches, clocks and valuable gifts, which before the pandemic were mostly to tourists from mainland China, jumped 23.1% from a year earlier. – Read More on Reuters
1. In trademark squatting cases, the burden shifts to companies to make their case: Companies that contend someone else has applied for a trademark inappropriately have a window during the examination process to register their opposition. Ottawa added a new criterion for challenges: that the application was made in “bad faith.” – Read More on Globe & Mail
2. Over a century since launching its famed boots, L.L.Bean sued over a ‘waterproof’ claim: L.L.Bean Inc., the famed Freeport retailer that got its start 111 years ago selling boots for wet weather, has been sued for false advertising. – Read More on Press Herald
3. Why fashion houses are getting into video games: The younger generation don’t think about it as ‘my physical life’ and ‘my digital life’. It’s just all the same. – Read More on the Guardian
4. E-commerce continues to grow in the EU. In 2022, 91% of people aged 16 to 74 in the EU had used the internet, 75% of whom had bought or ordered goods or services for private use. The proportion of e-shoppers grew from 55% in 2012 to 75% in 2022. – Read More on EuroStat
5. From condoms to cosmetics, China sales grow as lockdowns end: The world’s top consumer and luxury goods companies have seen sales grow in China since Beijing ended strict COVID-19 curbs, another sign that the world’s No. 2 economy is reviving after the pandemic. – Read More on Reuters
6. The RealReal Looks to Consign Its Way to Near-Term Profitability: With its stock trading at about $1.35 per share — after falling over 90% in the past two years — it could be argued there’s not a lot more downside for luxury resale marketplace The RealReal. – Read More on PYMNTS
1. Companies scramble to incorporate generative AI in products: Technologies like ChatGPT and image generators such as Dall-E 2 and Stable Diffusion have captured the imagination of the tech industry and beyond. – Read More on Axios
2. Can clothes ever be fully recycled? Just 1% of recycled clothes are turned back into new garments. While charity shops, textiles banks and retailer “take-back” schemes help to keep those donated clothes in wearable condition in circulation, the capabilities of recycling clothes at end-of-life are currently limited. – Read More on the BBC
3. Four Companies That May Show a Path for ‘Recession-Proof’ Fashion: Since November 2022, Bottega bags also boast a “certificate of craft,” meaning buyers are entitled to lifetime warranty and unlimited repairs. – Read More on the WSJ
4. Three pandemic retail tech trends that have lost their luster: Meta don’t seem to be that confident in livestreaming’s growth. The live shopping feature on Instagram was made widely available to businesses and creators in 2020 but was just recently axed. – Read More on Modern Retail
5. Balaan accounts for nearly half of all online luxury goods sales in Korea: Balaan said Tuesday it racked up 680 billion won ($513.4 million) in transactions last year, up sharply from 315 billion won in 2021, as more people purchased luxury bags and other high-end items through the online platform. – Read More on Korea Times
6. The SPAC Fad Is Ending in a Pile of Bankruptcies and Fire Sales: At least eight businesses that went public through mergers with “blank-check” companies have sought protection from creditors. – Read More on Bloomberg
1. Why Retailers Fail to Adopt Advanced Data Analytics: Advanced analytics have been available to businesses for years and are getting better all the time, but with a few big exceptions most retailers still use very basic tools. They do this even though they understand the advantages that analytics have given their competitors. – Read More on HBR
2. Chinese E-Commerce Flourishes on U.S. Soil: Chinese e-commerce apps are making a play for Americans shopping. Affordable prices and clever use of social media have worked wonders for growth. But profitability might be harder. And political risks are still lurking in the background. – Read More on the WSJ
3. Tradition & Innovation Collide at Decentraland’s Metaverse Fashion Week: Dolce & Gabbana, Tommy Hilfiger, COACH, adidas, DKNY, Vogue Singapore, Monnier Paris, DUNDAS, Phygicode Dress in collaboration with Rubin Singer, and others lead an all-star lineup at Metaverse Fashion Week 2023. – Read More in Press Release
4. Adidas has $500 million worth of Kanye West sneakers and no good options: “What makes this so dramatic is how big it is,” said Wedbush analyst Tom Nikic, noting that the Yeezy brand was doing nearly $2 billion a year in revenue. “That’s really a big, substantial part of [Adidas’s] business — and the abruptness with which it happened” is also remarkable. – Read More on Washington Post
5. Farfetch Aims to be at Center of Luxury Brands’ Shift to Digital: The increased focus on its first-party customer data is of increasing value to brands “especially in light of increased privacy restrictions that have reduced the ability to attribute marketing performance in the overall marketing landscape.” – Read More on PYMNTS
6. Generative AI’s money game: It seems logical that if AI can conduct conversations and produce images, companies will figure out how to use it to build revenue and profits — but there’s no guarantee, and the technology could also become a money sink for early adopters. – Read More on Axios