1. This Skin Care Startup Founded with $3,300 Now Heads to 505 Target Stores: The expansion into essential retailers like Target and Whole Foods is key for a new brand like Three Ships, particularly as consumers are less able to experience beauty products in real life at specialty and department stores, as the pandemic has heavily curtailed in-store product testing. – Read More on CO

2. Finesse Says ‘FashionTech’ Will Disrupt Apparel Industry the Way FinTech Roiled Banks: “When you look at most fashion brands right now, they produce as much as they can and hope that something will stick and end up selling. That’s an incredibly inefficient business model, because most things actually do not end up selling.” – Read More on PYMNTS

3. Pressure mounts on President Biden to appoint a fashion czar: More than 80 brands, experts, and organizations have signed on to a letter asking President Biden to help make the fashion industry more sustainable and humane. – Read More on Fast Co.

4. Exports can’t save the fashion sector: In 2020, Spanish exports in clothing, footwear, accessories, cosmetics and jewelry saw a drop of 18.5%, the largest decline to date. – Read More on Business Insider

5. ESG hits the mainstream for European private equity sponsors: Looking at January’s loans that were backed by private equity sponsors, several carried pricing features linked to environmental, social and governance criteria as sustainable borrowing looks like becoming a mainstream practice for many private equity firms. – Read More on S&P Global

6. The Patagonia Paradox & How Luxury Can Learn About Purpose: Ten years ago, Patagonia ran a counterintuitive ad to tell consumers to buy their product less and be reasonable — benefitting its business greatly. The company’s success serves as a textbook example of how brands can win when product and purpose go hand in hand. – Read More on Jing