Daily LInks
1. What matters to fashion shoppers across the globe? Discounts were the top driver for both British (23%) and Italian (33%) online shoppers. online reviews are particularly important in the US (the biggest motivator for 13% of respondents), while in Germany, 29% of respondents said that being able to browse a variety of products was their top motivator. – Read More on the Drum
2. China Should Brace for Higher Luxury Goods Taxes, CICC Says: China’s plan to reform its consumption tax system will likely entail a hike in rates on luxury goods and products that use high energy or generate significant pollution, according to analysts at China International Capital Corp. – Read More on Bloomberg
3. Household Brands Count the Rising Cost of Trains, Planes and Automobiles: Demand for consumer products has been unusually strong since countries began to reopen their economies. This has put pressure on global transport routes and increased the cost of logistics. – Read More on the WSJ
4. It’s not Kanye, it’s Ye, after judge approves name change: West has used Ye as his Twitter handle for years and had petitioned a court to make it his full name with no middle name or last name. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michelle Williams Court approved his request on Monday. – Read More on Reuters
5. A fashion turnaround and a logo no-go: hits and misses of rebranding. Facebook is planning to rebrand with a new corporate name to reflect its shift to building the metaverse, it has been reported. The announcement could be made during Facebook’s Connect conference this month. – Read More on the Guardian
6. RETRO READ: As Brands Continue to Tweak Their Logos, the Gap’s Failed Rebrand is an Important Lesson. Although rebranding can provide a boost to a company’s image as a whole, particularly as it evolves in its tangible offerings and/or its larger mission or position in the market, such an exercise is not without potential risks – both in terms of legal rights/protections at play but also in terms of consumer reception. – Read More on TFL
1. The E-commerce shopping spree: Saks, which was taken private early last year, split off its e-commerce division in March. The value of Saks.com was $2 billion. An IPO could value the standalone e-commerce company at $6 billion. – Read More on Axios
2. RELATED READ: What is Behind Hudson’s Bay Co.’s Plan to Split Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks.com? Should Hudson’s Bay let go of a minority stake of Saks.com, “The market might take a view on a digital asset like a Saks.com and say, ‘Hey, that is really valuable,’ and price the stock accordingly,” he says. “Then that stock price is essentially absorbed by Hudson’s Bay” by way of the Saks.com stock that it is still holding. – Read More on TFL
3. Pandemic Has Stoked Appetite for French Luxury, Survey Finds: “People were traveling less, and local spending became predominant. Purchasing luxury products is reassuring; the Americans in particularly are very sensitive to revenge buying.” – Read More on Yahoo
4. The adapting landscape of luxury retail: “One of the key objectives in luxury when you’re at a store is actually to make you forget about price. The world’s also looking for wonderment, and that’s a key opportunity for luxury, too.” – Read More on NRF
5. A used Hermès handbag under the tree? Why shopping resale might offer a way around holiday supply chain woes: A report compiled by retail analytics firm GlobalData and online market research company Zogby Analytics for marketplace Mercari, projected that Americans will spend $69 billion on previously owned items from October through December 2021, up 24% from last year. – Read More on Biz Journals
1. Fashion firm Rent the Runway aims for nearly $1.3 bln valuation in U.S. IPO: The company plans to sell 15 million shares priced between $18.00 and $21.00 apiece in its IPO, raising $315 million, as the fashion rental company looks to cash in on the rising interest in pre-owned clothing. – Read More on Reuters
2. Three ways social innovators are driving systemic change, from creating sustainable fashion to supporting refugees: The world’s fashion brands face a daunting challenge. In order to mitigate the harm caused to the environment by today’s throwaway culture of cheap clothing, they need to build a sustainable future based on sharply reduced volumes. – Read More in World Economic Forum
3. Rolex Daytonas have outperformed the stock market over the past year as collectors pile in to the $20 billion secondary market for luxury watches: The average price of a Rolex Daytona has increased 34% over the past year to reach nearly $48,000, as limited new supply is pushing the secondary market for luxury watches to new heights. – Read More on Yahoo
4. French luxury goods groups’ shares hit by weak Chinese data: Shares in French luxury goods companies LVMH and Kering fell on Monday after weak economic numbers from China, a leading market for many of the world’s top fashion companies. – Read More on Reuters
5. RELATED READ: Will China’s Sputtering GDP Crush Luxury Brand Hopes? China’s GDP slowed to 4.9 percent in the July-September quarter compared to a year earlier, falling below expectations and showed a strong deceleration from the first quarter when China expanded at a record pace of 18.3 percent. – Read More on Jing Daily
1. LVMH Has Powered Through the Pandemic, and China’s crackdown on excessive wealth may not change that: “Most of the luxury brands will tell you that high-net-worth individuals in China probably account for a maximum of 10 to 15% of their sales.” – Read More on Barron’s
2. China forcing fashion industry to silence concerns over ‘dirty’ cotton: The escalating conflict shows how difficult it can be for brands to satisfy demands from western consumers and human-rights groups for greater sustainability without risking open war with China, which has become more willing to wield its clout to defend its policies. – Read More on Japan Times
3. Pandemic spurs sales of luxury goods, counterfeits: There are many reasons why Koreans love luxury goods, but the biggest is scarcity. In the case of Chanel, the French high-end fashion house already raised the price tags of its luxury items three times this year ― in February, July and September ― and it is preparing for another increase in November. – Read More on Korea Times
4. Mushroom Leather Is About to Bloom for Fashion: Following a $60 million Series D funding round in March, Ecovative Design, a pioneer in mycelium material science, is planning to bring its mushroom biofabrication technology directly to fashion, footwear and accessories. – Read More on Yahoo
5. RELATED READ: As Leather Alternatives Find Fans in Fashion, Companies are Clamoring for Protection. In a nod to the mushroom-based material, MycoWorks is seeking to register the word “REISHI” for use in connection with leather goods, clothing and footwear, and upholstery, among other things. Its application is currently pending before the European Union Intellectual Property Office. – Read More on TFL
6. Retail Sales Rise, Showing Strong Consumer Demand, Higher Inflation: Sales at retail stores, restaurants and online sellers rose a seasonally adjusted 0.7% in September from the previous month, the Commerce Department said Friday. The rise in sales reflects persistently strong demand and higher consumer prices. – Read More on the WSJ
1. On-Demand Manufacturing Could Dramatically Cut Restock Times: “This idea that you can stitch together the capacity that’s needed to begin on-demand adoption at a truly enterprise scale is not going to come from a single manufacturing partner, [but] from disparate capabilities of a lot of specialized manufacturers.” – Read More on PYMNTS
2. Opinion: Luxury fashion must ditch leather to be truly ethical. The problem is that leather is the single most important driver of revenue and profits for many luxury brands, and the soft luxury goods sector at large. It is responsible for about half of sales at Kering, Hermes and Prada. – Read More on the FT
3. URBN achieves the retail-resale-rental trifecta with launch of Nuuly Thrift: URBN’s Nuuly rental service added a resale service called Nuuly Thrift, making URBN one of the first major fashion companies to house retail, resale and rental businesses under one roof. – Read More on Modern Retail
4. RELATED READ: URBN’s rental arm is not without legal woes, though … Urban Outfitters Cannot Escape Le Tote’s Trade Secret Claims Over “Copycat” Rental Venture, Nuuly. A Pennsylvania court will not toss out the trade secret misappropriation claims that Le Tote lodged against Urban for allegedly gaining access to an array of valuable information under the guise of a potential acquisition, and then abandoning the M&A talks and launching a copycat rental service of its own” using that “stolen” info. – Read More on TFL
5. AI Regulation Is Coming: For years public concern about technological risk has focused on the misuse of personal data. But as firms embed more and more artificial intelligence in products and processes, attention is shifting to the potential for bad or biased decisions by algorithms. Inevitably, many governments will feel regulation is essential to protect consumers from that risk. – Read More on HBR
6. The Steady Decline of the Facebook Brand in America: Facebook’s reputation in the U.S. has been trending downward for years, fueled by data-sharing and misinformation scandals. Yet, that’s not slowing down daily usage or negatively impacting brands that advertise on the platform. – Read More on Morning Consult
1. Not so fast! Supply bottlenecks strain fashion chains: A business model that aims to bring new styles into stores every three or so weeks and where shoppers expect to see fresh, reasonably priced merchandise on each visit is discovering its limitations. – Read More on Reuters
2. Lulu’s Fashion files for IPO: Lulu’s Fashion Lounge Holdings Inc. has filed for an initial public offering, the latest retailer seeking to tap equity markets to fuel its growth. The fast-fashion company revealed that it has been profitable this year. – Read More on MarketWatch
3. LVMH Sends Mixed Signals on Chinese Luxury Spending: LVMH management said Beijing’s new focus on wealth redistribution isn’t necessarily a bad thing for the well-heeled consumers that buy its goods. Up to 80% of luxury sales in China are made to middle-class rather than ultrarich shoppers. – Read More on the WSJ
4. Supply chain issues “not as big a factor” for luxury retail: “There are some segments of luxury, like watches and jewelry, where there’s some parts scarcity. But that’s a different supply chain challenge than the one that we’re seeing hitting toys and other mass manufactured goods.” – Read More on Yahoo
5. Could TikTok force the fashion industry to finally acknowledge its wastefulness? Donating or selling these products at a discount would undermine the very assumption upon which the luxury industry is built — that its products are more expensive because they’re more valuable. – Read More on Mic
6. Video Games Are Becoming a High-Fashion Playground: Increasingly, gamers want their virtual characters to look good, even if their sole mission is to stay alive. So, virtual cosmetics—as in the clothes, hair, and makeup with which you customize your character—are becoming important facets. – Read More on Vogue
1. How Olivier Rousteing Made Balmain a Revolutionary Force in Fashion: For years, the fashion establishment was slow to warm to Rousteing’s reorientation of the brand. During the long lockdowns, though, as life and work across the world became screen-mediated, Rousteing’s vision started to seem more practical and naturalistic. – Read More on Vogue
2. What NFTs Can Learn from Streetwear: Crypto might be one of the most significant cultural trends of the last ten years that isn’t influenced by adolescents at all. NFTs appear to be of little interest to many teenagers. – Read More on Medium (via Adam Bomb Squad)
3. Social commerce closes in on e-commerce as preferred channel for SEA consumers: “Southeast Asia already had some of the most avid social media users in the world, and spurred by the pandemic, they’ve taken to social platforms for their shopping needs at an exhilarating pace.” – Read More on the Drum
4. RELATED READ: Brands Are Reaping Rewards, Facing Risks Due to the Rise of the Nearly $500 Billion Social Commerce Market: 44 percent of social shoppers said that they had made three or more online purchases in the past month after seeing social media posts or ads. – Read More on TFL
5. How strong missions helped companies like Marriott and Athleta survive the pandemic: The pandemic underscored just how important a company’s mission and values can be, said executives, particularly when everyone is aligned on an underlying purpose and setting their goals and initiatives accordingly. – Read More on Fortune
6. The New Balance Between E-Commerce and In-Store Shopping: Now that shoppers see e-commerce as a more viable option, the stakes are higher for in-store shopping. Shoppers may be less willing to wait, brave long drive times or parking issues, and scour through multiple retail stores for the item they need. – Read More on Forbes
1. The myth of the high-growth fashion startup. ThredUp, Poshmark, and Warby Parker have gone public this year, but their financials show how hard it is to be profitable and scale at the same time. Meanwhile, Everlane, Away, and Glossier have collectively raised upward of half a billion dollars in venture funding, so their investors may be looking for a payday soon. – Read More on Fast Co.
2. ASOS boss exits as fast fashion retailer warns on profit: The British online fashion retailer, parted ways with CEO Nick Beighton on Monday as it warned that supply chain pressures and consumers returning to pre-pandemic behavior could reduce 2022 profit by over 40%. – Read More on Reuters
3. ‘Made in the USA’ brands fight for your attention online: Apparel has a strong future in e-commerce, with people in the US buying more than 46% of their clothing and accessories online in 2020. However, domestic goods only accounted for 2.3% to 3.5% of all apparel sales in the US in 2020, according to the American Apparel and Footwear Association. – Read More on CNET
4. Michael Jordan’s Rookie Nike Sneakers Expected to Sell for at Least $1 Million: The high-end sneaker auction market has exploded in the past few years. The sneaker resale market itself is expected to reach $30 billion by 2030, and Sotheby’s is trying to carve out the top 5% of the high-end sneakers market. – Read More on the WSJ
5. How Peloton builds a community around health and wellness to craft its brand: Peloton uses its now-famous team of instructors to connect with members. The trainers are active across social media platforms and frequently interact with members online. – Read More on CNBC
1. Cotton prices just hit a 10-year high: Retailers have achieved that pricing power by proactively veering away from discount channels and culling excess inventory. The Covid pandemic has acted as a “cover” for companies to accelerate this shift. This dynamic has driven costs up so much, businesses are raising prices and consumers are still buying. – Read More on CNBC
2. Dolce & Gabbana Bets on Independent Future After China Stumble: Dolce & Gabbana Srl plans to remain independent to preserve its creative freedom, as it sees sales climbing back to pre-pandemic levels this year, but hasn’t fully overcome its setback in China in 2018. – Read More on Bloomberg
3. California will require large retailers to provide gender neutral toy sections: The new law, which takes effect in 2024, says that retail stores with 500 or more employees must sell some toys and childcare products outside of areas specifically labeled by gender. Retailers can continue to offer other toys and childcare goods in traditional boys and girls sections if they choose to. – Read More on the LA Times
4. Is bling out? What Chinese “common prosperity” means for luxury goods: There have not yet been any concrete announcements around common prosperity. Those who have been following developments closely, however, are perhaps beginning to get an outline of how the policy may look. Some sizeable voluntary political donations from very wealthy businesspeople add to the emerging outline. – Read More on CityAM
5. Stuck in China, consumers are spending millions for luxury goods in Hainan: Sales at nine duty-free shops in the southern island province of Hainan totaled nearly 1.64 billion yuan ($252.3 million) from Oct. 1 to 6, according to state media. – Read More on CNBC
6. How Retail Sales Became “Unskilled” Work: There’s a big difference between how salespeople in traditional department stores and big-box retailers interact with their customers. – Read More on JStor
1. The Nasty Logistics of Returning Your Too-Small Pants: At the very least, many retailers now offer free shipping, free returns, and frequent discount codes, all of which promote more buying—and more returns. Last year, U.S. retailers took back more than $100 billion in merchandise sold online. – Read More on the Atlantic
2. Carbon Might Be Your Company’s Biggest Financial Liability: Through some combination of government intervention and the development of carbon trading markets, it seems inevitable that a price will eventually be put on carbon around the world. That means that many companies have hidden liabilities on their books. – Read More on HBR
3. Is there room in the metaverse for indie fashion labels? The potential for growth is manifest. The gaming industry has increased by half a billion players in the last three years. Facebook has invested in virtual reality technology and plans to make it widely available, hinting at a future where Zoom meetings are replaced by more immersive 3D experiences in which everyone has their own avatar. – Read More on the Guardian
4. Containergeddon’: Supply crisis drives Walmart and rivals to hire their own ships. “Chartering vessels is just one example of investments we’ve made to move products as quickly as possible,” said Joe Metzger, U.S. executive vice president of supply-chain operations at Walmart, which has hired a number of vessels this year. – Read More on Reuters
5. RELATED READ: A Large-Scale Disruption in Container Shipping is Expected to Wreak Havoc on Retail This Christmas. What matters is future COVID outbreaks and to what extent China and other major port nations have to impose tough regulations to protect their populations. Perhaps, we will be lucky and the situation will steadily improve from here, or perhaps this mismatch between supply and demand will endure for several years. – Read More on TFL