Daily LInks
1. Fashion businesses are no longer a worthwhile investment. Nearly every flaw in the fashion system can be traced back to a single issue: inventory. The reliance on upfront, bulk production requires time and valuable resources to be allocated before consumers are able to indicate a preference for a style. – Read More on Fortune
2. US online shopping forecast to beat 2019 total by October: American shoppers are on course to surpass total online spending in 2019 as soon as early October, analysts forecast. At current growth levels, Americans will have spent more online than they spent for all of 2019 by October 5 – with Amazon Prime Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas to come. “We just trained the consumer to shop in a different way. They have a habit of buying things without ever having to leave their house.” – Read More on the FT
3. Luxury brands turn from Hong Kong to mainland Chinese consumers still eager to shop: “A lot of travelers to Hong Kong are from lower-tier cities (who) don’t have access to luxury stores in their hometowns. Livestreaming is a way to reach them. Online is another way to reach them.” – Read More on CNBC
4. Mark Cross CEO Ulrik Garde Due Talks Launching a Luxury Bag During a Pandemic: “I really believe there is an urge from the luxury consumer to buy into authentic quality brands. I’m seeing the same kind of scenario from a luxury consumer in 2008 and 2009 where during that recession we saw consumers leaning more towards long-lasting products, with the right quality-to-price ratio and looking for investment pieces.” – Read More on Forbes
5. Wall Street’s COVID Bonanza Grew From the Perfect Storm of Fear and Greed: American Airlines was able to raise $1.2 billion on July 23—from Goldman Sachs—by, somewhat incredibly, pledging as security for the loans the “American Airlines” trademark, the “aa.com” domain name, in several jurisdictions, and the airline’s gate slots at LaGuardia Airport and at Washington’s Reagan National. – Read More on Vanity Fair
6. How a pandemic upended the global diamond industry: Prices for high quality one-carat diamonds are rising steadily and are currently around 12 percent higher than at the start of the year, in contrast to still-depressed prices for lower-quality stones of the same size, data from trading platform RapNet shows. “If you are in that top end, the demand is still there because the people who go for these type of goods feel the pressure of the market downturn less.” – Read More on Reuters
