Daily LInks
1. Chanel, Hermès, Prada to hike prices in the new year. French high fashion brand Hermès kicked off the new year by raising its prices in Korea, with many other luxury brands expected to follow suit. Hermès upped the prices of some of its shoes on Monday. – Read More on Korea JoongAng
2. ‘Polluter pays’ doctrine will take on new meaning. Extended producer responsibility is at the center of discussions around a UN treaty to end plastic pollution, to be finalized in 2024. To be effective, this doctrine has to impose sufficiently high financial contributions to deter overproduction. – Read More on Reuters
3. Behind Cheap Stuff From Shein and Temu: A Hard Bargain With Suppliers. Some suppliers said they were grappling with razor-thin profit margins and intense pressure to cut prices. – Read More on the WSJ
4. Amazon crackdown on sellers spawns new legal industry. Merchants who have been suspended from selling goods on Amazon’s marketplace are turning to a cottage industry of lawyers to regain access to their accounts. – Read More on the FT
5. A New Kind of AI Copy Can Fully Replicate Famous People. The Law Is Powerless. New AI-generated digital replicas of real experts expose an unnerving policy gray zone. Washington wants to fix it, but it’s not clear how. – Read More on Politico
6. After a slowdown, luxury brands are changing course. Some experts predict that luxury will slow down while fast fashion continues to rise, especially as companies like Shein increasingly attract young shoppers ahead of its reported IPO. Now, brands will need to readjust their strategies to reflect the current economic realities. – Read More on Modern Retail
1. Why luxury goods just isn’t a platform business. In a sector where only a few brands really matter, Farfetch’s path to profitability is not clear. – Read More on the FT
2. US Supreme Court’s Roberts urges ‘caution’ as AI reshapes legal field. AI represents a mixed blessing for the legal field, SCOTUS Chief Justice John Roberts said in a year-end report published on Sunday, urging “caution and humility” as the evolving technology transforms how judges and lawyers go about their work. – Read More on Reuters
3. The record rush to buy a Rolex or a Patek Philippe is over. Watch manufacturers have seen demand cool in recent months, while prices on secondary markets have tumbled. And executives – from those leading historic brands to upstarts who thrived during the recent frenzy – have started to accept that things are rapidly downshifting. – Read More on Press Herald
4. Should You Invest in Watches, Wine, or Other Luxury Goods? It’s hard to predict what’s going to appreciate in value. You’re not just picking a type of luxury good either, but a specific item. Some watches and cars skyrocket in value; others don’t. – Read More on Yahoo
5. RELATED READ: The Potential Paradox of the Investment Handbag. There may be some consensus that luxury goods “can sometimes hedge against inflation when they appreciate in value,” as Bay Street Capital Holdings founder William Huston told MarketWatch this summer. However, the prospect of handbags as assets is not without nuance. – Read More on TFL
6. Welcome to the era of AI nationalism. Another way America intends to stay ahead of the pack is by nobbling rivals. It has also barred Americans from sharing their AI expertise with those countries. – Read More on the Economist
1. What 2024 has in store for luxury. Despite the reopening of China at the start of the year, demand for personal luxury products slowed to 8 per cent at constant currency rates according to Bain, narrowly outpacing global inflation and marking a significant deceleration after three consecutive years of 20 percent sales growth on average. – Read More on FT
2. Climate Reporting, ESG Wars Set to Dominate Boardrooms in 2024. The Securities and Exchange Commission is looking to issue requirements in the coming months for companies to report their greenhouse gas emissions and reveal other information about how climate change affects them. – Read More on Bloomberg
3. JD.com wins antimonopoly lawsuit against Alibaba. The High People’s Court of Beijing ruled that Alibaba Group Holding Limited and subsidiaries had abused their market dominance and adopted monopolistic practices known as “choosing one from two” causing JD.com severe damage, JD.com said in a statement published on its official WeChat account. – Read More on Reuters
4. Michael Cohen Used Artificial Intelligence to Feed Lawyer Bogus Cases. Michael D. Cohen, the onetime fixer for former President Donald J. Trump, said in newly unsealed court papers that he had mistakenly given his lawyer bogus legal citations after the artificial intelligence program Google Bard cooked them up for him. – Read More on NY Times
5. AI-created “virtual influencers” are stealing business from humans. “For a brand, they have total control versus a real person who comes with potential controversy, their own demands, their own opinions.” – Read More on ArsTechnica
1. Fashion Industry In 2023: Sustainability Surges, Tech Soars, Challenges Persist. The demand for eco-friendly clothing saw a remarkable 25% increase, indicating a growing consciousness among consumers. Another significant trend in 2023 was the adoption of smart textile-based wearable devices. – Read More on BW
2. High-end brands like LVMH and Gucci-owner Kering felt the pinch in 2023—but a new type of luxury is gaining a share of consumers’ wallets. While some outliers, like Hermès, defy the downturn with strong Q3 sales, the overall luxury sector is navigating uncertainties. However, niche segments, such as luxury cruises, are thriving. – Read More on Yahoo
3. Wary courts confront AI pitfalls as 2024 promises more disruption. U.S. judges grappled with the use of evolving AI tools in their courtrooms, particularly after lawyers made headlines for submitting legal briefs with fictitious case citations that were generated by tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. – Read More on Reuters
4. Google settles $5 billion consumer privacy lawsuit. The lawsuit accused Google of continuing to “track, collect, and identify [users’] browsing data in real time” even when they had opened a new Incognito window. – Read More on ArsTechnica
5. Why 2024 is poised to be the year international apparel brands take over the U.S. market. Although American shoppers are pulling back spending on discretionary items like apparel, the U.S. still continues to be an attractive market for international brands looking to scale their businesses. – Read More on Modern Retail
6. The Key Branding Trends Set to Define 2024. Busy multicolored backgrounds and bright text are being used all over the place to create memorable brand experiences and connect brands to a feeling of joy. – Read More on Inc.
1. AI can now tell if your Louis Vuitton handbag is fake. Using the AI could be a way for luxury resellers to build trust with their customers who may be wary of buying products that aren’t real. – Read More on Business Insider
2. Generation Dupe: Why Gen Z Admits to Buying Knockoff Goods. The public embrace of dupes offers an interesting look into the Gen Z psyche. On one hand it would seem dupes go against Gen Z’s reputation for conscious consumption, ready to boycott a company for any indiscretion. – Read More on Bloomberg
3. RELATED READ: A Snapshot of the Global Counterfeit Market. Consumers are readily referring to counterfeit – or otherwise infringing – goods as “dupes,” co-opting a term previously reserved for products that are inspired by others but nonetheless, above-board from an intellectual property perspective. – Read More on TFL
4. Alibaba must face lawsuit in US over counterfeit Squishmallows. A U.S. judge on Wednesday rejected Alibaba’s bid to dismiss a lawsuit over the alleged sale by various merchants of counterfeit versions of the popular children’s toy Squishmallows on its online platforms. – Read More on Reuters
5. U.S., Mexico Expected to be Big Winners as Companies Move Away from China. Companies are generally targeting a 40% reduction in their share of sourcing from China to reduce exposure, with the U.S. (plus 30%) and Mexico (plus 10%) expected to see the biggest gains. – Read More on SCMR
6. Apple Can Restart Watch Sales as U.S. Court Pauses Ban. A U.S. appeals court temporarily lifted a federal agency’s import ban on Apple watch models while it weighs Apple’s request to suspend the ban during litigation over patents. – Read More on WSJ
1. Luxury e-commerce stares down consolidation. The era of low-cost capital and chasing growth is past, and there’s more of an emphasis on building a sustainable business model, says Nicolas Llinas, a partner in Boston Consulting Group’s luxury, fashion and beauty practice. – Read More on Axios
2. Farfetch, Now Matches: Investors Look for Deals Amid Luxury eCommerce Sites. January 2023 marked a bold investment move, with Apax injecting £60 million into Matches — its most significant investment in the company since the acquisition. – Read More on PYMNTS
3. RETRO READ: Farfetch’s $1.1 Billion Deal with Richemont, Alibaba Exemplifies Some Existing Trends in Luxury. Beyond the focus on China, the headline-making deal plays to two existing but ever-accelerating trends in fashion/luxury in light of the COVID-19 pandemic: the rampant adoption of e-commerce by notoriously digitally-averse high fashion and luxury brands, and an enduring consolidation of players in the upper echelon of the industry. – Read More on TFL
4. Return Policies Have Gotten More Annoying This Holiday Season. Returns are expensive for online retailers. Companies charge return fees to offset shipping and labor costs, said David Morin, vice president of customer strategy at Narvar. The fees are also an attempt to reduce customer returns, he said. – Read More on WSJ
5. ESG Is Under Attack. How Should Your Company Respond? Leaders need to better understand exactly how ESG or sustainability are being used as a critique, and whether those doing the critiquing are doing so in good faith. – Read More on HBR
6. Bustling City Stores Are Hurting Luxury Middlemen. Fashion houses see shoppers flock to their websites and physical stores while third-party online platforms struggle. – Read More on Bloomberg
1. ‘Daigou’ goes corporate as retailers seek new ways to reach Chinese shoppers. “I think we have to level up our idea of daigou,” Re-Hub’s Piachaud said. “Essentially there’s this chain from global retail to Chinese consumers not directly from the brands. That’s the professionalization of daigou at work.” – Read More on Reuters
2. RETRO READ: Fendi Case Shed Light on Challenging Fight Against Parallel Imports in China. Tackling counterfeits can be frustrating and challenging at the best of times. Dealing with their trickier – and more “lawful” – cousin, parallel imports can be even more challenging. – Read More on TFL
3. Inside PDD, China’s e-commerce titan behind Temu and Pinduoduo. “We’ve reinvented the online shopping experience to be more interactive and engaging, drawing inspiration from some aspects of physical retail.” – Read More on Nikkei
4. Luxury Brands Are Overstocked, Leading to Discounts That Threaten Their Reputations. Many brands got into this fix because they overestimated demand after the post-pandemic sales spike. However, consumers put the brakes on luxury spending this year. – Read More on Forbes
5. Whole Foods beats NLRB case over ban on Black Lives Matter apparel. Whole Foods Market Inc did not violate U.S. workers’ labor rights by barring them from wearing Black Lives Matter facemasks, shirts and other apparel, a National Labor Relations Board judge has ruled. – Read More on Reuters
6. Allen & Overy rolls out AI contract negotiation tool in challenge to legal industry. Allen & Overy has created an artificial intelligence contract negotiation tool, as the magic circle law firm pushes forward with technology that threatens to disrupt the traditional practices of the legal profession. – Read More on FT
1. Can anyone bar Europe do luxury? The biggest beneficiaries of the boom have been European companies. These account for around two-thirds of luxury-goods sales, according to Deloitte. – Read More on the Economist
2. Pulitzer-winning authors join OpenAI, Microsoft copyright lawsuit. A group of 11 nonfiction authors have joined a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court that accuses OpenAI and Microsoft of misusing books the authors have written to train the models behind OpenAI’s popular chatbot ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence based software. – Read More on Yahoo
3. RELATED READ: Author Takes Issue with “Unfair” Use of Copyrights in OpenAI Lawsuit. A new copyright lawsuit targeting OpenAI and Microsoft sheds light on what at least one plaintiff is asserting in an effort to get ahead of the fair use arguments being waged by the companies behind large language models. – Read More on TFL
4. Digital reinvention fuels a fast-growing luxury sector. Competition to win customers may intensify if economic growth slows in 2024 (as we expect it will) and aspirational luxury consumers reduce their spending. The likely outcome: The strongest luxury brands will get even stronger. – Read More on JP Morgan
5. Ebay to Take on Poshmark, The RealReal for Luxury Resale Spend. Even despite the April shutdown of Cudoni, a luxury resale platform backed by eBay, eBay has continued to double down in the space. – Read More on PYMNTS
6. Wartime sanctions on Russia have sparked new smuggling opportunities for hot-ticket items like luxury Italian handbags and microchips. Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of luxury items — including champagne, watches, perfume, Rolls Royce cars, and designer fashion items from brands like Chanel and Louis Vuitton — were cleared for entry into Russia between March and August of 2022. – Read More on BI
1. Fashion executives see uncertainty for industry in 2024. While growth in luxury goods is expected to slow in China and European markets, it is expected to expand a bit in the U.S. – Read More on Seeking Alpha
2. The Oldest Businesses in the World Share Their Secrets. The average American business closes shop after about 21 years. What does it take to stay open for the long haul—and not just for a few generations, but hundreds if not thousands of years? – Read More on Bloomberg
3. Activists call for more transparency as fashion continues to fail on human rights. While 95% of brands placed expectations on their suppliers around human rights, fewer than a third took proactive steps, such as providing targeted support on gender equality or maintaining cash flow by avoiding delayed payments. – Read More on Reuters
4. These six questions will dictate the future of generative AI. Will we ever mitigate the bias problem? How will AI change the way we apply copyright? Will we come to grips with its costs? Will doomerism continue to dominate policymaking? – Read More on MIT Tech Review
5. GPT and other AI models can’t analyze an SEC filing, researchers find. Large language models, similar to the one at the heart of ChatGPT, frequently fail to answer questions derived from Securities and Exchange Commission filings, new research finds. – Read More on CNBC
6. Sustainable finance fuels fashion industry decarbonization. “Accelerating net zero for supply chains requires the rapid scaling of low-carbon technologies and new, innovative financing models to drive adoption.” – Read More on Sustainability Mag
1. ChatGPT and other LLMs have created a copyright crisis. The writers and artists argue that the companies behind these models didn’t ask permission before hoovering up countless people’s life work, and many of these models will end up competing with the same humans on whose opuses they were trained. – Read More on the Washington Post
2. Retailers Enlist AI in Fight Against Returns. They are using AI to sharpen product descriptions and recommendations, steer certain ads away from shoppers most likely to return those products and aim advertising toward consumers they believe will hold on to their purchases. – Read More on WSJ
3. Saks CEO says luxury retail will be ‘here to stay’ in 2024. “People are not going to trade down out of it. Folks that reached in, maybe a few years ago, even last year, might not be reaching in this year, but the core luxury consumer doesn’t trade down.” – Read More on Yahoo
4. Golden Goose IPO to raise about $1.1B, sources say. Luxury fashion group Golden Goose plans is looking to raise about 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) from an initial public offering (IPO) in Milan, three people said. – Read More on Reuters
5. RELATED READ: A Running Tracker of Fashion/Retail Industry Initial Public Offerings. As for the companies that are expected to make public listings next, names like Shein, Italian footwear brand Golden Goose, Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS, sustainable fashion brand Reformation, e-commerce tech company Rokt, activewear-maker Vuori, and Spanish fashion retail company Tendam have been raised. – Read More on TFL
6. Apple to pause some Watch sales before Christmas over patent dispute. The decision stems from two orders issued by the U.S. International Trade Commission on Oct. 26, which would restrict Apple’s ability to sell products that use the Blood Oxygen feature after an IP disagreement between Apple and Masimo, a med tech company. – Read More on CNBC