Daily LInks
1. 99% of Big Fashion Brands Don’t Disclose If Workers Are Paid Living Wages: The latest index released by the nonprofit Fashion Revolution shows that 99% of major fashion brands still aren’t transparent about living wages. In the new Fashion Transparency Index 2021, the industry was also called out on its lack of disclosure over Covid-19 response and climate action. – Read More on Green Queen
2. LVMH-backed fund to buy 60% of Italian fashion label Etro, says sources: Etro said in a statement that L Catterton was taking a majority stake in the company, while the Etro family would retain “a significant minority interest”. It did not go into specifics and gave no financial details. – Read More on Reuters
3. Online Boutique Lulus Is Planning IPO at $1 Billion Value: The Chico, California-based company is working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp. on the planned listing, said the people who asked not to be identified discussing private information. The company could be valued at around $1 billion, the people said. – Read More on Bloomberg
4. Hong Kong should resuscitate its garment industry: Sustainability, technology and innovation are key to building a smart city. While these buzzwords appeared in Hong Kong’s latest policy address, the new initiatives were mostly concentrated in a limited number of areas, such as fintech, biotech and ecosystem integration in the Greater Bay Area. – Read More on SCMP
5. Authentication startup Ennoventure raises $5 million: Ennoventure, a US-Indian company that provides tech to track and trace products and authenticate products, has raised $5m in first-round funding from Fenice Investment Group. – Read More on Securing Industry
1. Richemont Set for Strong Q1 Sales as Hard Luxury Leads the Charge: Cartier owner Compagnie Financiere Richemont SA is scheduled to report revenue results for the first quarter of its fiscal year to June 30. The Swiss luxury-goods giant is forecast to book sales of 4.11 billion euros ($4.87 billion) for the quarter, according to a consensus of seven analysts. – Read More on MarketWatch
2. New York’s retail rents set another record low: Leasing velocity has now decelerated for eight consecutive quarters, according to CBRE’s tracking of 16 major retail corridors in Manhattan. The number of direct, ground-floor availabilities increased to 290 during the second quarter, from 275 locations in the prior period. This marks a record-high availability of retail space. – Read More on CNBC
3. The fashion industry can’t allow this life-saving legislation to expire: Despite the previous extensions of the Bangladesh Accord, brands are now dragging their feet on a further renewal. Out of over 200 signatories, only five have committed to extending and, importantly, expanding the accord: ASOS, G-Star, Tchibo, KiK, and Zeeman. – Read More on Dazed
4. RELATED READ: 8 Years After the Rana Plaza Tragedy, What Has Changed for Bangladesh’s Garment Workers? The industry vowed to do better. Within a month, 222 companies signed the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, a legally binding agreement meant to ensure garment workers had safe workplaces. And while, things have improved, they have not improved enough. Eight years on, the fundamental problems in global supply chains – the disconnect between profits, accountability and responsibility – remains. – Read More on TFL
5. Sony Music sues Gymshark for misusing ‘hundreds’ of songs in ads: Sony Music accused British fitness apparel startup Gymshark of infringing its copyrights by misusing music from some of its most popular artists — including Beyonce, Britney Spears, Travis Scott, and Harry Styles — in social media ads, in a lawsuit filed in California federal court on Thursday. – Read More on Reuters
1. Are your favorite fashion brands using forced labor? By continually demanding shorter turnaround times and lower prices from their suppliers and fueling competition among supplier factories, fashion and retail brands make it difficult for factory owners to adhere to labor laws and standards. – Read More on Al Jazeera
2. More hours, less money: Garment workers hit by COVID-19 rights rollback. “Wage theft is intrinsic to the business model of global fashion brands, and it has been exacerbated by the pandemic,” said Anannya Bhattacharjee, international coordinator with Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA), which represents garment workers. – Read More on Reuters
3. U.S. Business Groups Urge Trade Chief to Forgo Vietnam Tariffs: The U.S.’s biggest business organizations in areas from food to fashion asked the nation’s trade chief to refrain from resorting to tariffs as a remedy in its trade disputes with Vietnam. – Read More on Bloomberg
4. Gaming is entering its fashion-forward phase: Riot is folding high fashion into its mainstream marketing to appeal to the players that want something more from the developer’s virtual worlds. “We really do see League as not just a game anymore, I think it’s become a lifestyle for our fans.” – Read More on Washington Post
5. Bloomingdale’s New Bloomie’s Store Model Charts the Future of Multi-Brand Luxury Retail: More than relevancy, it brings a new intimacy between customers and the brand. “A smaller-format footprint, like Bloomie’s, with its highly-curated, lighter but still commercial-touch, can really work.” – Read More on Forbes
1. Your Brand Has Never Been Easier to Destroy: Whereas hatejacking poses an acute reputational threat, brands also risk slow-burn displacement when adopted by the “wrong class” of mainstream consumer. The posterchild for such déclasséfication is the British fashion label Burberry which, in the early 2000s, found its trademark check overwhelmed by fakes and overtaken by “chavs.” – Read More on Bloomberg
2. RETRO READ: Unwanted Associations – Protecting Brand Reputation and Goodwill. Fred Perry’s decision to pull the shirts co-opted by Proud Boys from sale in the U.S. speaks volumes about the challenges facing brands in the online world, including the threat to brand reputations. After all, there is a real risk of damage to brand equity following association with consumers that do not share the same principles or ethos. – Read More on TFL
3. Fashion collaborations drive the metaverse: Meet Rook Vanguard, the Roblox creator behind the Gucci Garden. Like many artists and digital fashion designers, Vanguard thinks fashion and art are primed for virtual augmentation. “I imagine putting on a pair of AR glasses and being amused by seeing someone’s animated graphic t-shirt, and then again by someone else with hummingbirds dancing rhythmically around them.” – Read More on Forbes
4. Despite mostly being known for their capacity as works of art, NFTs could also add value to everyday items. Essentially digital certificates of authenticity powered by blockchain technology, NFTs could also serve this purpose for retail goods. – Read More on Yahoo
5. Top US companies pledge to cut emissions, but most don’t push for climate action: Although 50 of the largest 96 corporations in the U.S. now publicly support the Paris Agreement on climate change, only 40% of those 50 companies have actively been lobbying lawmakers on the importance of science-based climate policies over the past five years, a new analysis by Ceres found. – Read More on S&P Global
1. As Gap-Kanye West Pairing Turns One, Slow Pace of Yeezy Drops Stokes Concerns: As part of a 5-year (extendable to 10 years) partnership with the Gap, deadlines will be important, as having enough unique and affordable Yeezy wear available will be critical if the partnership is going to pay off the way Gap is hoping and analysis are forecasting. The puffy coats are a good start. – Read More on PYMNTS
2. From Aerie to Zara, retailers are turning viral TikTok moments into sales gold: It used to be a trip around the mall with friends, but many teens today are scouring TikTok for inspiration. Tethered to their phones, this generation spends an average of 12 hours on social media apps per week. They desire authenticity and individualism, with clothing serving as a key form of self-expression. – Read More on CNBC
3. China’s Shein has taken the womenswear world by storm. Now what? Shein’s app has overtaken that of Amazon.com as the most downloaded shopping app in monthly U.S. rankings. According to research company Similarweb, Shein’s website now gets more visits than any other clothing brand or retailer in the world. – Read More on Nikkei
4. RELATED READ: From Dr Martens to Ralph Lauren, Lawsuits Are Starting to Build for $15 Billion Ultra-Fast Fashion Brand Shein. Beyond its sheer size and ever-growing popularity, Shein is a sticking point for brands because of how “quickly [it can] turn emerging fashion trends into extremely cheap products” thanks, in large part, to its use of data analytics. – Read More on TFL
5. Alibaba, JD, Pinduoduo: A Deep Dive into China’s E-Commerce Sector. The e-commerce space in China can be particularly confusing because unlike in the USA where Amazon is dominant, China’s e-commerce sector is more fragmented. Since Alibaba owns both Taobao and Tmall, it’s shown that the combination of Alibaba, JD, and Pinduoduo made up 42% of global commerce in October 2020, but no single marketplace accounted for more than 15%. – Read More on Seeking Alpha
6. Reassuringly expensive: Top fashion labels bid to lure elite back. While that may be the hard-nosed luxury business rationale, one of the realities of the creative end is to act against decades of mass market luxury, with brands wanting to become more exclusive, rarefied and expensive enough to bear the additional costs of craftsmanship and sustainability. – Read More on the Guardian
1. Is China’s Affordable Luxury Market Dying? The affordable luxury market showed impressive potential in China over the past few years. But market experts question the future of this sector in the post-COVID-19 era. – Read More on Campaign Asia
2. Online thrift store Poshmark CEO sees fashion shift as consumers ‘purge’ closets: As interest in in-person social activities picks up in the warmer months, bikini and jean short sales have roughly doubled on the consignment site. And as many employers call staff back to the office after about a year of remote work, sales of work dresses are up 30%. – Read More on CNBC
3. Bank of America hails a ‘new era’ of online shopping: The bank’s analysts picked European stocks set to benefit from new business models such as marketplaces like Farfetch that help them access “vast” numbers of new customers overnight, calling such firms “pioneers” in the space. – Read More on CNBC
4. Luxury Watches Are Badly Set for Investors: Exports of watches priced above 3,000 Swiss francs, equivalent to around $3,280, have almost recovered to pre-Covid crisis levels, while those that sell at between 200 francs and 500 francs were down 40%. – Read More on the WSJ
5. Will conversational commerce be the next big thing in online shopping? The pandemic gave all such apps a fillip. Messaging on Instagram, Facebook’s photo-sharing app, and on Messenger rose by 40%. Four-fifths of mobile-device time is now spent on chat apps. – Read More on the Economist
1. Watches of Switzerland to Expand in EU Through M&A, Boutiques: The company also revealed that full-year sales rose 13% to 905.1 million pounds ($1.25 billion) at constant currencies. “The luxury watch market remains predominantly supply-driven with demand exceeding product availability for key brands and models.” – Read More on Bloomberg
2. Mickey Drexler, Former Gap and J.Crew Boss, Is Running a Fashion Brand Again: “The business used to be solely about having the best product. Today, it’s also about marketing.” – Read More on the WSJ
3. Demand for luxury goods soars despite higher prices: While some customers complain about a constant rise in prices, the popularity of luxury goods continues to grow. Between May 1 and June 29, sales of luxury goods at Lotte Department Store jumped by 37% compared to last year. Sales of luxury goods at Hyundai and Shinsegae Department Stores rose by 54.1% and 38.8%, respectively. – Read More on Inside Retail
4. RELATED READ: Chanel Boosts Prices Again, Sending Price Tags Up by 15 Percent or More for Certain Bags. Even if certain luxury names have been able to raise prices amid a global pandemic and even if consumers have been willing to pay accordingly, there may be a sticking point for even the most willing luxury shoppers, which prompts questions about how long this overarching push to raise price tags can go on for. – Read More on TFL
5. Levi Strauss forecasts profit above estimates as apparel demand bounces back: Peers including American Eagle and Abercrombie & Fitch all signaled a lift to sales as customers abandon their pajamas and work-at-home lounge wear for outdoor clothes. – Read More on Reuters
6. Swedish Challenger to H&M Planning IPO to Lure ESG Investors: That narrative is likely to appeal investors who remain hungry to load up on assets that meet environmental, social and governance goals. It’s a point that hasn’t gone unnoticed by one of the company’s main backers, Northzone Ventures Sweden AB. – Read More on Bloomberg
1. Asia’s wealthy next-gen seek to earn their spurs on sustainability, UBS says: The next generation of Asia’s wealthiest families are leaning on sustainability to stamp their mark on their businesses and also to grow returns in the post-COVID-19 world, according to senior UBS Group AG executives. – Read More on S&P Global
2. Liquidators Become Shopkeepers to Peddle Pandemic’s Unsold Goods: The Covid-19 crisis, which prompted a wave of retail bankruptcies and nationwide shutdowns, swallowed a whole season’s worth of unsold goods. That has opened the door for Hilco and Gordon to run sales — not for the retailers that usually hire them but under their own nameplate. – Read More on Bloomberg
3. China’s ageing population is an untapped resource for brands: Many retailers can’t seem to work out how to strike a balance between attracting younger millennial and Gen Z shoppers, while designing collections that appeal to older customers, so they bet on youth; designer brands moving towards an increasingly casual and streetwear aesthetic are doing the same thing. – Read More on SCMP
4. RELATED READ: What Does an Impending Increase in Senior Spending Mean for Youth-Obsessed Fashion and Luxury Brands? “As people age their purchasing power increases and they become more concerned with quality, not quantity, of their consumption,” which bodes well for luxury entities, particularly ones that “can tap seniors and their new-found confidence online.” – Read More on TFL
5. Greenwashing is ubiquitous in the fashion industry: A new report by Changing Markets Foundation states that 59% of sustainability claims made by major fashion companies such as H&M, ASOS, and even Patagonia are unsubstantiated or misleading. What’s more, the brands show no clear commitment to reducing their reliance on fossil fuel-based synthetic fibers. – Read More on Retail Detail
6. The Logic of Digital Luxury: Purchasing social clout from the right people, plugged into the right story, will turn whatever goods you make from commodities for consumption into emotional avatars for the owners. If your target audience is price-insensitive, then you should charge their maximum willingness to pay, as well as protect their purchase by pricing out people who are not like them. – Read More on Coin Desk
1. Can J.Crew make a comeback? It was not too long ago that its clothing was plastered across the pages of fashion and political news media on the daily with First Lady Michelle Obama as one of its biggest fans. Now, post-Chapter 11 bankruptcy, CEO Libby Wadle, says that the plan is not to tap into the Gen-Zs or focus on more formal office clothing (which J.Crew has been known for), but to go back to basics. – Read More on Fortune
2. Eurozone Retail Sales Rebounded in May Amid Reopening of Economy: Eurozone retail sales grew in May, reversing the losses registered in the previous month, signaling that the reopening of non-essential shops in several countries gave an impulse to the region’s economic recovery. The volume of retail sales rose 4.6% in May compared with April, slightly more than the 4.2% rise expected by economists. – Read More on MarketWatch
3. Luxury Brands Are Embracing Circular Fashion: “We don’t want people to end up buying more new clothes because they know that there’s an active market for their cast-off things. The notion that one can invest in one’s wardrobe over a lifetime is a part of the origin of luxury, and if fashion can return to those roots it would do an incredible service to creating an industry that exists and thrives within planetary bounds.” – Read More on Harper’s Bazaar
4. Despite online growth, stores will still account for three-fourths of retail sales in 2024, Forrester says: While much of the spending online was driven by pandemic concerns, many analysts expected a good chunk of last year’s growth to stick with many consumers becoming more accustomed to buying digitally. That includes categories, like food and home, that have remained relatively under-penetrated. – Read More on Retail Dive
5. Post-quarantine retail therapy: teeth whitener, wigs and … camping gear: In May, sales of eye makeup, teeth whitener kits, false eyelashes and lipstick were up at least 20 percent compared to a year ago, according to NielsenIQ analytics. – Read More on NBC
1. The newest challenges for the sustainable apparel industry: It’s not a question of when apparel brands will act but how they are addressing their role in damaging the environment, generating waste, and enabling unethical labor conditions —and the challenges they face in doing so. – Read More on Fortune
2. Singapore online retailers go green by merging fashion with sustainability: The question of sustainability in a world where packages are flying around by the second is a big one that the brand owners have to face. – Read More on CNBC
3. Beijing prices up cost of e-commerce data abuses: The powerful State Administration for Market Regulation has proposed rules to punish illegal pricing, adding a chapter specifically addressing subsidies and the practice of charging different prices based on algorithms that help analyze customers’ purchasing behaviors. – Read More on Reuters
4. RELATED READ: What Do New Online Transaction Rules in Mean for International Companies Doing Business in China? In an attempt to catch up with the swiftly-emerging developments in the Chinese e-commerce space by providing more detailed and practical guidelines for enforcement, and clarifying the responsibilities of e-commerce platforms, the State Administration for Market Regulation updated its Online Transaction Measures, which took effect on May 1, 2021. – Read More on TFL
5. How collecting sneakers became a multi-billion-dollar industry: Surging auction prices reflect the robust growth of the secondary resale sneaker market, which StockX estimates is now worth $10 billion. This figure is predicted to climb to nearly $30 billion by 2030, as growing numbers of collectors invest in limited edition “deadstock” items — shoes that “must be new and unworn.” – Read More on CNN
6. Amazon’s Biggest Threat in E-Commerce: Google, Shopify, and Square are trying to attract sellers who want an option other than living within Amazon’s ecosystem. And by using this network of companies, retailers and produce makers can sell directly to consumers – collecting information like names, emails, and addresses, and building a long-term relationship that includes marketing new products to highly qualified customers. – Read More on Motley Fool