Daily LInks
1. China Wields New Legal Weapon to Fight Claims of IP Theft: In four major cases since 2020, Chinese courts granted so-called anti-suit injunctions blocking foreign companies from taking legal action anywhere in the world to protect their trade secrets. Three of the rulings were in favor of Chinese telecom companies—Huawei Technologies Co., Xiaomi Inc. and BBK Electronics. – Read More on the WSJ
2. Everyone wants to be an influencer: Takumi, a premier influencer marketing agency, received twice as many applications from people looking for representation in 2020 than it did in 2019. And year-to-date, it’s grown another 150-200%, Takumi group CEO Mary Keane-Dawson said. – Read More on Axios
3. What Would a Truly Circular Fashion Industry Actually Look Like? One of the main issues is that discussions around circularity are usually limited to one piece of the jigsaw, whether that’s resale, renting, or using recycled materials. Just having a take-back scheme doesn’t mean you’re suddenly operating on a circular model – in fact, data suggests that less than one per cent of clothing is currently recycled into new clothes. – Read More on British Vogue
4. On Sustainability: The Watch Industry’s Scorecard. Responsible sourcing of raw materials is indeed the most urgent topic that needs to be addressed by the watch and jewelry sector. Especially because the raw materials are often mined under difficult conditions that turn biodiversity-rich rain forests into moonscapes, and are often associated with human rights violations. – Read More on the New York Times
5. Designers Try Selling Clothes First, Making Them Later: “The industry has to change,” said Lawrence Lenihan, the chairman and co-founder of Resonance, which has raised $45 million since its 2015 launch. “Brands can’t be stuck making decisions 12 months in advance.” – Read More on the WSJ
1. Is Live-Stream Shopping the Future of Retail? Live-stream shopping has yet to significantly take hold in America as it has in countries like China, where smart-phone-based live-stream apps are a popular mode of purchasing. In 2020, Taobao Live, the live-shopping experience that China’s Alibaba launched in 2016, reported a gross merchandise volume (total revenue before fees) of $61.7 billion. – Read More on the WSJ
2. RELATED READ: Livestream Lawsuits Are Landing in Court in China, as Streaming-Induced Sales Continue to Grow. In what is being called a first-of-its-kind case, a Chinese livestream platform has been given similar treatment as a traditional e-commerce site in connection with a trademark squabble between two Chinese brands. – Read More on TFL
3. How AI is Changing Retail Marketing: marketers must take a proactive role by building strategies based on supply chain predictions. With a supply chain management system, business leaders can make accurate forecasts and anticipate demand, and marketers can use this data to inform their strategies. – Read More on Newsweek
4. Christmas Rush? You’re Already Too Late. Retailers Need to Plan Now for 2022: If the strains of 2021 should teach founders anything, it’s that logistics and supply chain can be a competitive advantage, with retailers like Amazon, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and Dick’s Sporting Goods having turned their supply chains and large brick-and-mortar presence into a competitive advantage. – Read More on Inc.
5. Luxury group Kering to ditch fur completely: Four years after its star label Gucci announced it would forego fur, France’s Kering will stop using animal furs in all its collections, joining a growing list of luxury fashion houses to respond to customer demands for ethical and sustainable clothing and accessories. – Read More on Reuters
6. Are gig worker complaints a retail problem? The longstanding debate over employment status of gig workers has been taking place globally. Gig economy companies assert that reclassifying workers as employees would add expenses, cost jobs and reduce the flexibility that their workers prize. Labor activists counter that gig companies are shifting business risk to precarious workers without other employment opportunities. – Read More on Retail Wire
1. Louis Vuitton’s CEO talks resale: Michael Burke says the rise of the sharing economy that extends its bags’ lifespan helps. And while China hasn’t embraced sustainability the same way, it will catch up, he says. – Read More on SCMP
2. RELATED READ: China’s Luxury Resale Segment is Expected to Grow into a $154 Billion Market. “Explosive” growth is on the horizon for pre-owned luxury products. This is only bolstered by the fact that the majority of Chinese consumers are keeping their luxury products for just one to three years, Kering revealed in its 2021 environmental impact report. – Read More on TFL
3. China’s millennials embrace local brands as fast fashion giants like H&M face changing tastes: National pride and skepticism about fast fashion is fueling a growing appetite among young Chinese to buy domestic brands. Chinese labels are big winners from the trend, while international firms like H&M are finding themselves on the wrong side of it. – Read More on SCMP
4. French luxury group LVMH seeks 25,000 young staff in recruitment drive: The European luxury sector has seen a fast pace of growth in recent months, as stores reopened following lockdown periods and consumers drew on money saved during periods of confinement to splash out on pricey goods. – Read More on Reuters
5. 70% of Consumers Say Addressing Climate Change is a Key Issue, Fueling Resale Growth: “What used to seem like a cheap, cheerful, fun little trendy purchase, people are starting to see actually comes at a pretty high cost environmentally and needs to be rethought.” – Read More on PYMNTS
6. Inside Amazon’s Department Store Plans: High-Tech Dressing Rooms, Its Own Apparel Brands. The retailer has attempted to build out its fashion business by giving customers more options on how and where to buy. It has had a tougher time, though, scaling the high-end fashion business, with few luxury brands selling on its website. – Read More on the WSJ
1. Apple and Target retail guru Ron Johnson: Commerce at home will change the way we shop. As we start to look beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, it is clear to me that the way we shop will never be the same. A recent survey found that 75% of U.S. consumers have tried new shopping behaviors during the pandemic. This heralds a sea change for the retail sector. – Read More on Fortune
2. Luxury Retail Evolution Requires Seamless Blending of Digital and Physical: Digital is expected to become the main channel for luxury purchases by 2025. Therefore, it is not surprising that physical stores are shifting from transactional to experiential. – Read More on Chain Store Age
3. China’s Secondhand Business Is Booming: Instead of spending at the mall, shoppers are increasingly buying and selling the secondhand stuff piling up in their closets and drawers. In the first half of 2021, about 202 million users bought and sold secondhand goods via China’s online platforms, up from 183 million for all of last year. – Read More on Bloomberg
4. U.S. retail industry seeks 90-day lead time on COVID-19 rules: The Retail Industry Leaders Association and the National Retail Federation strongly encouraged OSHA “to provide a 90-day implementation timeline to allow retailers and other employers to create the systems necessary.” – Read More on Reuters
5. RELATED READ: Brands Face Legal, Logistical Questions and Potential PR Impacts in Light of Biden Vaccine Mandate. A survey revealed that roughly 1 in 3 consumers (34 percent) would be “more likely to buy products from companies that adhere to Biden’s plan, compared with 12 percent who said they would be less likely to purchase from those businesses.” – Read More on TFL
1. How the NFT Boom and Luxury Fashion Brands Are Aiming for Success: Currently, the best example of NFT is when it is sold as a twin (digital product) of a physical one. “The winning bidders will receive the corresponding real-life dresses, and both the NFTs and the physical garments are one-of-a-kind.” – Read More on Forbes
2. RELATED READ: From Royalties to Resale Restrictions, What Would Tying NFTs to Luxury Goods Look Like? While “the tokenization of physical items is not yet as developed as their digital counterparts,” blockchain platform Ethereum states in a “use case” report that NFTs “can be used to represent ownership of any unique asset in the digital or physical realm,” and asserts that “there are plenty of projects exploring the tokenization of real estate, one-of-a-kind fashion items, and more.” – Read More on TFL
3. China wealth plans threaten European luxury stocks’ post-COVID boom: Demand for high-end products in the world’s most populous nation is the main driver for the sector, accounting for a third of European luxury goods makers’ sales in 2019 and 28% in 2020, according to UBS analysts. – Read More on Reuters
4. Giorgio Armani Says Company’s Independence Is Essential: The independence of the Armani fashion house is “an essential value,” designer Giorgio Armani, founder and sole shareholder of the company that bears his name, said in connection with enduring reports (including from this site) that his company may be looking for a buyer. – Read More on Bloomberg
5. RETRO READ: Giorgio Armani Hints at an Acquisition, Could Exor N.V. Be the Buyer? A push by Exor into luxury makes sense in light of the sheer depth of Exor and the Agnelli family’s understanding of – and connections in – that sphere. As we previously noted, the expertise that the group has built as a result of its majority ownership of Ferrari – which operates more in the luxury space than the traditional auto market – is integral to Exor’s quest to build time-tested, valuable companies, and could easily be applied to building more fashion-oriented luxury brands. – Read More on TFL
6. ‘Circular’ fashion: Greenwashing myth, or attainable goal? “Circularity is an exciting opportunity, where it is genuine – but it has been hijacked. For example, there is this idea that plastic is infinitely recyclable, and that’s just not the case.” – Read More on the Guardian
1. Next deal keeps Gap brand alive in the UK: The move will preserve some of Gap’s physical presence on the High Street after Gap announced in July it would close all of its UK stores. It is a similar deal to one signed with clothing brand Reiss earlier this year. – Read More on BBC
2. Nirvana ‘Nevermind’ Baby’s Lawsuit Raises Hard Questions: Spencer Elden, now 30 years old, is the baby who was featured on the cover of Nirvana’s “Nevermind” album. He argues that the image is pornographic and that, as an infant, he was forced to engage in commercial sex. – Read More on Bloomberg
3. China’s luxury market is more resilient than you think: In late August, Chinese President Xi Jinping took his government’s regulatory campaign a step further, calling for “common prosperity” and “wealth redistribution.” The directive suggested that another clampdown might be on the way; one that would rein in Chinese consumers’ penchant for luxury goods. – Read More on Fortune
4. Why fashion models have a stake in Adult Victims Act: The bill would make it easier for the adult victims and survivors of sexual abuse to file lawsuits by opening a legal look-back window. Based on a similar law for childhood victims, this proposal has stalled in the state Assembly. – Read More on Spectrum
5. Fast fashion in the U.S. is fueling an environmental disaster in Ghana: Many Americans donate their used clothing to charities when they are finished with it, under the assumption that it will be reused. But with the increasing amount of items being discarded, and the poorer quality of fast fashion, less and less can be resold, and millions of garments are put into bales and shipped abroad every year. – Read More on CBS
6. Amazon Is Doing It. So Is Walmart. Why Retail Loves “Buy Now, Pay Later.” Shoppers spend more at Macy’s when they use installment plans offered through Klarna Bank AB, Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette said on a recent earnings call. Klarna also is helping the retailer attract younger customers, he said. – Read More on the WSJ
1. Fashion faces a stark choice: Stop flogging cheap clothes or go out of style. There is a powerful business case for fashion to find its conscience: consumers increasingly demand it. Responsible production has become the hallmark of a respectable brand. – Read More on the Guardian
2. Curelty-free alternatives to fur and animal skin enjoy more support from shoppers: Plant-based and cruelty-free – qualities consumers look for not just in their diets but the fashion and accessories they buy, and boutiques are catering to their needs. Meanwhile, the fur industry is fighting back. – Read More on SCMP
3. Brilliant Earth Says Millennials, Gen Z Key to Future Growth: Millennial and Gen Z consumers collectively represent 87% of the brand’s active customers, Brilliant Earth said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, based on the company’s digital presence and emphasis on sustainability, both of which are resonant factors for younger shoppers. – Read More on PYMNTS
4. UK fashion group ASOS ties exec pay to new environmental goals: Joining a growing list of fast-fashion companies to open up its supply chain for external scrutiny, ASOS set out targets for improving recycling rates, cutting energy usage and increasing the diversity of its corporate leaders. – Read More on Reuters
5. How Old-Style Buy Now, Pay Later Became Trendy ‘BNPL.’ Millennials and Gen Z have a cool new way to buy stuff that would look pretty familiar to their great-great-grandparents. “Buy now, pay later” is a type of consumer credit that really got going back in the 19th century. – Read More on Bloomberghttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-15/how-old-style-buy-now-pay-later-became-trendy-bnpl-quicktake
1. The future of luxury marketing, according to marketers: Social may not appear to drive many sales for high-ticket items, but it’s a crucial part of communicating your brand story during the attract and engage phase of your customer journey, which leads to long-term engagement and an affinity for your brand. – Read More on The Drum
2. Amazon is planning a beauty products event for October to hook early holiday shoppers: Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, has long been trying to gain a bigger share of the global beauty market, which generates $500 billion in annual sales. The company began offering health and beauty products in 2000, but its selection was initially limited mostly to mass-market brands. – Read More on CNBC
3. Changes to UK SPAC rules open door for more listings: The U.K. capital missed out on opportunities earlier this year to list SPACs, which raise capital via an IPO and subsequently purchase a previously unidentified business, because of its tighter regulations, legal experts said. Changes brought in by the financial services regulator on Aug. 10 will bring long-term benefits for London. – Read More on S&P Global
4. Zara Owner’s Stock Has Shrunk in the Lockdown Wash: Despite Inditex’s full recovery, its share price is still 6% below where it was trading in the third week of February 2020, just before stocks plunged globally. Other high-quality European consumer stocks have bounced back. – Read More on the WSJ
5. Fast-fashion giants Zara and H&M are recovering from the pandemic at very different speeds: While their stores are often located 100 meters apart from one another, only Inditex has managed to recover from the pandemic, aided by an earlier turn toward integrating its online and brick-and-mortar stores. – Read More on Fortune
6. Fast-fashion chain Primark vows to improve environmental impact: Primark, which sells more than a billion items a year including jumpers and jeans for as little as 7 pounds ($10) each, said its task was to make sustainable fashion available for all, not just those who can afford it. – Read More on Reuters
1. U.S. Bankruptcy Tracker: Distressed Retail Debt Pile Collapses. Distressed debt tied to retail enterprises is putting on something of a vanishing act. The overall amount of tradeable troubled debt has shrunk from near $1 trillion in March of last year to less than $60 billion as of September 10. And the portion of that from the retail industry has collapsed at an even faster clip. – Read More on Bloomberg
2. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says it’s ‘hard to argue’ its retail business is a monopoly: “We compete with very large companies. These are companies like Walmart and Target and Kroger and some very successful digital companies like eBay and Etsy and Wayfair, and we don’t have the ability to raise prices in any kind of unfettered way.” – Read More on GeekWire
3. Garment workers in Los Angeles describe the “modern-day slavery” of sweatshops: “They paid us like 5 and 6 cents for a piece.” According to Marissa Nuncio, director of the advocacy group the Garment Worker Center, as a result, workers’ average hourly wage last year ranged from $5.85 to as low as $2.68. – Read More on CBS
4. RETRO READ: California Legislators Are Pushing for New Law to Protect Garment Workers From Retailers’ Loopholes. Despite findings of the DOL, which seem to clearly suggest rampant wage and labor violations, Fashion Nova’s assertions that it is operating in line with California state law very well may be true, assuming that the company can successfully position itself as a retailer of apparel and accessories, and not a manufacturer. – Read More on TFL
5. Fewer deals and shipping delays: Here are some early predictions for the holiday season. Shoppers should expect fewer discounts, longer shipping times and limited inventory at stores, thanks to supply chain woes and labor shortages, according to the firms. – Read More on CNBC
6. Gucci has an “it” bag, so does Louis Vuitton: Can Telfar become the next iconic bag brand? Labels that define modern fashion have failed to create a bag as enduring as the Fendi Baguette or Gucci’s Jackie O, but Telfar’s vegan leather tote comes close. – Read More on SCMP
1. What Brands Need to Know About Social Commerce vs. E-Commerce: Social commerce is quickly becoming the holy grail of marketing. But even as TikTok and other social platforms rapidly evolve to become shopping destinations, most retailers may still want purchases to ultimately take place on their own websites. – Read More on AdAge
2. Can fashion brands ever be taken seriously as watchmakers? Haute couture maisons have impressed at Watches and Wonders – particularly Louis Vuitton’s Tambour Carpe Diem – but is that enough to compete with Rolex and Patek Philippe? “It is a matter of perception – fashion or not fashion, it is very difficult to be a player from affordable for a few thousand francs to a couple of hundred thousand.” – Read More on SCMP
3. Mastercard Sees Holiday Spending Reaching Record on 7.4% Growth: U.S. retail sales are poised to reach a record high this holiday season, according to a forecast from Mastercard SpendingPulse, which projects a sizable jump both from last year and from 2019 — before the pandemic upended consumer behavior. – Read More on Bloomberg
4. Cross-border Demand for High-end Products Soars 50 Percent: To capitalize, luxury brands need to focus on recreating the high-touch, hyper-personalized experience customers receive in-store, in the d-to-c channel, and deploy those experiences across borders to meet demand at its point of origin.” – Read More on Yahoo
5. H&M lags behind Zara-owner Inditex in race to regain lost sales: Analysts said Zara-owner Inditex’ recovery in the quarter probably got an extra boost from remaining best-in-class at speed and from a strong overall recovery in its core market Spain, helped also by better sales in China, where H&M has taken a hit. – Read More on Reuters