Daily LInks
1. Nike to make full exit from Russia: Nike is making a full exit from Russia three months after suspending its operations there, as the pace of Western companies leaving the country accelerates. – Read More on Reuters
2. Fashion Has Abandoned Human Taste: When enough brands and retailers begin using inventory tactics and trend-prediction methods, the results homogenize over time. And more efficient retailers don’t just copy it—they copy one another’s copies. – Read More on the Atlantic
3. If the Metaverse Is Left Unregulated, Companies Will Track Your Gaze and Emotions: Another way to think the metaverse is as a world of surveillance. Meta has already patented technology to build eye tracking and facial expression tracking into the optical equipment worn to access the metaverse. – Read More on Time
4. Tempered by Inflation, Revenge Retail Trend Favors Experiences, Luxury Goods: When Shanghai lifted COVID-19 restrictions on June 1, non-essential luxury retail came back quickly, with “the reopening of high-end mall Plaza 66 last weekend saw lines snaking outside a Hermes store.” – Read More on PYMNTS
5. The retail industry is facing a potential wave of bankruptcies: There could be an increase in distressed retailers beginning later this year, experts say, as ballooning prices dent demand for certain goods, stores contend with bloated inventory levels and a potential recession looms. – Read More on CNBC
1. Retail M&A robust at 2022’s midpoint: As investors wring their hands over the possibility of an economic downturn, retail M&A is surprisingly robust — with about $29 billion in deal value transacted as we near 2022’s halfway marker, according to data provided by Refinitiv. – Read More on Axios
2. How Companies Should Invest in a Downturn: A recession is the best time to acquire resources for the forthcoming expansion, all while your competitors are cutting back. – Read More on HBR
3. Meta and co. form metaverse standards body, without Apple: Meta, Microsoft and other tech giants racing to build the emerging metaverse concept have formed a group to foster development of industry standards that would make their nascent digital worlds compatible with each other. – Read More on Reuters
4. How New E-Comm Technology Is Changing the Way We Shop Second-Hand: “Due to our e-commerce leg, not only are we selling to way more people all across the country and internationally, but our buying team gets to see what sells in real time.” – Read More on Vice
5. China Is Becoming the Biggest Challenge for Luxury Brands: Even in industries that seemed “safe” from local competitors like luxury cars, the sentiment among Gen Z has shifted towards local names at a similar or even higher level than the traditional German leaders in the premium and luxury category. – Read More on Jing
1. The Metaverse Lures Brands Like Nike and Gap With New Ways to Market and Make Money: Though companies are making forays into transacting business in the metaverse, for now much of the activity there is focused on marketing to generate sales in the real world. – Read More on the WSJ
2. Gold sector must consolidate amid ESG, market pressures: One of the challenges for gold is it doesn’t play an intrinsic role in the world’s move to decarbonize energy supply. But gold plays an incredibly important role, as it has for millennia, in creating value. – Read More on S&P Global
3. Can Revlon Be Saved with a Surge in the Lipstick Index? Against the backdrop of Revlon’s heavy debt load, upstart brands are in the ascendancy — from those created by members of the Kardashian clan to luxe names such as Charlotte Tilbury, as well as trends that quickly go viral on Instagram or TikTok. – Read More on Bloomberg
4. “Right now we don’t need luxury.” Weeks after the easing of restrictions in Shanghai, which allowed the millions of residents who had been confined to home for months to venture outside, consumers and business owners are navigating a precarious new normal. – Read More on the FT
5. Companies Skewer SEC’s Climate-Disclosures Plan in Comment Letters: Gap Chief Financial Officer Katrina O’Connell said in a June 2 letter to the SEC that the regulator didn’t provide enough clarity about how it defines what is material to shareholders, which is the threshold for certain disclosures. – Read More on the WSJ
1. Spanish fashion retailer Mango to hand over Russian shops: The first two of the 55 shops Mango was directly operating in Russia will be transferred this week to local partners, as many Western retailers are seeking to get out of the Russian market. – Read More on Reuters
2. Meta is launching a digital clothing store where you can purchase outfits for your avatar: The new virtual store is launching on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger and will allow users to buy digital clothes for their avatars from Balenciaga, Prada and Thom Browne. – Read More on TechCrunch
3. Wealthy consumers begin shunning luxury goods amid soaring prices: “I mean, luxury firms here have been giving all kinds of excuses to raise prices, and it only looks like they want to rip off their customers. They have to know that people are not going to purchase luxury goods all the time.” – Read More on Korea Times
4. Harry Styles to Design for Gucci in Bid for Gen Z Luxury Consumers: Gucci’s parent company recently detailed plans to expand the Italian label’s annual sales to €15 billion from €9.71 billion, largely powered by “the high potential of Young Millennials and Gen Z” consumers. – Read More on the WSJ
5. Escaping The Retail Supply Chain Squeeze: With consumer expectations regarding access to inventory and on-demand delivery having shifted, retailers seem to now face a stark choice between super-dependence on the platforms like Amazon or continuing to operate their supply chains independently. – Read More on Forbes
1. LVMH on ‘a very good track’ for first half, CEO says: Bernard Arnault said on Thursday the French luxury goods giant was on a “very good track” regarding its performance for the first six months of the year. – Read More on Reuters
2. Finance Teams Gear Up for Potential New SEC Climate Disclosure Rules: The SEC in March presented a proposal that would require public companies to report their greenhouse-gas emissions for the first time and, in some cases, also provide that information for their suppliers and customers. – Read More on the WSJ
3. China’s multi-billion dollar shopping festival tests e-commerce giants and consumer appetite: Last year, the transaction volume across major e-commerce platforms totaled 578.5 billion Chinese yuan during the festival, up 26.5% year-on-year, but is expected to slow this year. – Read More on CNBC
4. Ferrari Commits to Building Luxury Lifestyle Brand: “Ferrari is at its core a luxury company and the most distinctive and innovative luxury brand, and we see huge opportunities lying ahead in further developing its lifestyle.” – Read More on Yahoo
5. Battered online retailers need new fashion model: Scrapping free returns, as 69 billion euro Zara-owner Inditex has already done, is one sure-fire way to drive down costs. – Read More on Reuters
1. Fashion retailer H&M’s sales jump, but investors fret over margins: March to May sales were not only lower than before the pandemic began, but investors also voiced concerns over profit margins ahead of H&M’s full quarterly earnings report due on June 29. – Read More on Reuters
2. What Happened to the Fashion Industry Reset? Not swearing off runway shows, brands are staging stand-alone shows in far-flung destinations around the world, in addition to the traditional Cruise and Resort events that we had pre-pandemic. – Read More on British Vogue
3. Luxury brands say China’s latest Covid wave has whacked consumer demand: Premium consumer and luxury goods brands now only expect 3% year-on-year growth in their mainland China business this year, down sharply from an 18% surge they forecast a few months ago. – Read More on CNBC
4. U.S. Retail Sales Declined in May as Inflation Stings Consumers: Consumer spending, buoyed by strong job growth and stimulus measures, was the backbone of the country’s economic recovery since a brief recession occurred in early 2020. That strength is fading. – Read More on the WSJ
5. Russia’s Wildberries selling Zara clothes online despite Inditex halting operations: Inditex is one of many Western brands to shutter stores and suspend operations in Russia, but the continued sale of some of its products highlights the difficulties companies face in keeping control of their brands. – Read More on Reuters
1. High price tags give boost to luxury retailers: Wall Street analysts estimate that revenue and earnings for some of the top luxury names are going to be even higher this year, “suggesting that the affluent shopper is fully engaged.” – Read More on Axios
2. Stores Have Too Much Stuff. Here’s Where They’re Slashing Prices: Retailers who sell their own lines of clothing and décor, like Gap Inc., could be especially inclined to mark down their inventory because they can’t pass the cost onto anyone else. – Read More on the WSJ
3. How luxury handbag label Delvaux, the ‘Hermès of Belgium’, made an incredible comeback, with China the key: French luxury entrepreneur Jean-Marc Loubier saw a great deal of potential in the historic maison and persevered in his pursuit of it. – Read More on SCMP
4. RETRO READ: How Supply Chain Transparency Boosts Business Value. In practice, creating a transparent supply chain is not simply a matter of determining what information to disclose to consumers; businesses must first gain visibility into their own supply chains. – Read More on MIT Sloan Review
5. Can blockchain offer solutions for cross-border trade and supply chain disruptions? Blockchain can be used for customs compliance and to minimize sourcing risk, by giving assets, such as inventory, orders, loans, packing lists, and bills of lading, unique identifiers. – Read More on Reuters
1. Shein’s $15 million pledge won’t stop the flow of fashion waste to Ghana: Each week, an estimated 15 million secondhand garments arrive in Ghana from Europe and North America, lumped together in bales that resellers then sort through en masse. – Read More on Quartz
2. Inflation Cuts Online Fashion Down to Size: Bricks-and-mortar brands have a better shot at keeping costs under control, especially as retail rents are falling. For the first time in years, stores look fashionable. – Read More on the WSJ
3. China’s Lockdowns Have Hurt Nike and Adidas. Why Things Could Be Improving: Although “the May results still represent a hefty decline, we are optimistic regarding further improvement in June since Shanghai (which is ~10%+ of China overall sales for some) started lifting restrictions at the start of June.” – Read More on Barron’s
4. The $2 Trillion Crypto Markets’ Impact on the High-End Luxury Goods Industry: As consumers build up more wealth through the trade and purchase of digital assets, there will come a point in time when their need to utilize these coins will be more important than trading them on the decentralized market. – Read More on Yahoo
5. How Fashion Giants Recast Plastic as Good for the Planet: The Higg Index strongly favors synthetic materials made from fossil fuels over natural ones like cotton, wool or leather. Now, those ratings are coming under fire from independent experts. – Read More on the New York Times
1. Brothers Behind Chanel Worth $90 Billion After Massive Windfall: The family behind Chanel pocketed a $5 billion windfall last year as surging global demand for its luxury products lifted one of the world’s biggest multigenerational fortunes to new heights. – Read More on Bloomberg
2. Fast fashion is in party mode: Zara-owner Inditex’s quarterly sales rose by 36% year on year, to $7.2bn, surpassing levels before the pandemic. Net profit jumped by 80% year on year. – Read More on the Economist
3. How China’s top luxury retailer fell after glory days of $140 million Nasdaq IPO: Analysts say a change of heart on e-commerce channels by global luxury brands, more competition, and the pandemic have all been challenges for Secoo. – Read More on SCMP
4. What Would Happen if Fashion Actually Slowed Down? Etro’s new creative director Marco de Vincenzo sees a new form of luxury taking shape, with unique or small-run pieces made from the inherently limited supplies of repurposed materials. – Read More on the New York Times
5. Amazon will let you try on digital versions of shoes you want to buy: Amazon said the tool – which enables consumers to virtually try one shoes from brands like New Balance, Adidas, Reebok and Puma – would make the online shopping experience easier and more interactive for shoppers. – Read More on CNBC
1. Kering Looks to Saint Laurent to Reduce Reliance on Gucci: To increase sales at Saint Laurent, Kering’s second-largest brand, the company told investors it would roll out new stores, especially in the U.S., to help the label reach new customers. Globally, the brand will increase its number of stores. – Read More on the WSJ
2. Global Luxury Sales Expected to Recover as Shanghai Ends Lockdown: A reported 90% of stores and restaurants have resumed operations as of last Wednesday, which is very good news for global luxury sales in particular. – Read More on Forbes
3. Retail CFOs Face Forecasting Challenges as Inventory Hurdles Persist: Longer lead times from suppliers, which have required companies to order several months earlier than usual, also have made it harder for retailers to control their inventory within a quarter. – Read More on the WSJ
4. Which luxury brands have entered the metaverse? Luxury brands are determined not to be left behind by the latest online developments, despite the challenges that technologies such as cryptocurrency, NFTs and the metaverse present to a sector that’s focused on preserving its heritage and protecting its image. – Read More on Raconteur
5. BofA Picks Top Luxury Stocks: “LVMH has the second largest share in luxury jewelry, thanks to its acquisition of Tiffany,” the analysts said. “Favorable wealth dynamics globally (i.e. accumulation of wealth for high-end consumers and expansion of the middle class via emerging-markets and China) will directly benefit LVMH as a market leader.” – Read More on the Street