1. Can retailers combat consumer desire for counterfeits? “With the rise of social media, with the rise of Instagram and people trying to show very aspirational lifestyles, that’s a big driver of it. Realistically, these people that are buying counterfeit goods are never going to buy the legitimate good.” – Read More on Retail Dive 

2. Apple is Really a Luxury-Goods Stock, Analyst Says: Categorizing Apple with other large technology companies is problematic because Apple’s business model is weighted toward selling hardware, rather than software. Clustering Apple with consumer and luxury goods makes more sense. – Read More on Barron’s 

3. RETRO READ: The company has evolved from its roots as a technology operation to more of a lifestyle-centric endeavor, complete with more expensive iPhone models, which some say “is a sign the smartphone maker is moving further into the luxury market.” – Read More on TFL 

4. Here’s why malls in America might not be dead after all: Consumers have increasingly favored buying products online or at strip malls where it is easier to quickly enter, shop and then leave. But some high-end mall operators have found ways to fend of the decline, offering luxury tenants and other amenities to lure in shoppers. – Read More on CNBC 

5. Artist Phillip Toledano To Sell Tweaked Rolex Submariners for $25,000: It’s a project with King Nerd that is unsanctioned by the watchmaker, but Toledano is channeling the spirit of the timepiece with artwork depicting a Jules Verne-era submariner. – Read More on Bloomberg 

6. Speaking of modified Rolexes, Rolex has something of a history of suing over this precise thing since the Swiss watchmaker looks beyond the traditional definition of counterfeit to include watches that come out of its workshops but that have been altered to the point that they look or function differently than the original. – Read More on TFL