Daily LInks
1. Luxury shoppers in China stymied by travel disruption buy second-hand and from local stores as shortages bite: China’s high-end shoppers are finding it hard to splash their cash with the Covid-19 pandemic halting travel and causing shortages of imported goods. Meanwhile, sales of second-hand luxury goods on online platform Paipai jumped 138 percent from 2019 during its summer sale. – Read More on SCMP
2. Why clothes are so hard to recycle: Currently just 13.6 percent of clothes and shoes thrown away in the US end up being recycled – while the average American throws away 81.5 pounds of clothes every year. Globally just 12 percent of the material used for clothing ends up being recycled. Compare that to paper, glass and plastic PET bottles – which have recycling rates of 66, 27 and 29 percent respectively in the US – and it is clear clothing lags behind. – Read More on BBC
3. How Is Rent the Runway Still In Business? The CEO Moved Quickly, Cut Deep. “We need to give people a more measured way to rejoin us, and perhaps for some of them, having unlimited outfits on unlimited rotation doesn’t make sense with a more modified life.” The company has stocked up on more casual offerings, such as athletic or leisure wear, and is working with designers on exclusive collections that will be co-manufactured. – Read More on WSJ
4. This startup sells clothes from the same factories as Alexander Wang and Prada—at a fraction of the cost: Over time, however, value stopped being the main selling point for many DTC brands, although their markups continued to be smaller than those of luxury brands. Instead, they focused on sustainability and ethics, developed distinct aesthetics, and invested heavily in branding. – Read More on Fast Co.
5. RETO READ: Italic Wants to Disrupt the Fashion Industry With “Unbranded” Luxury Goods. Here’s the (Legal) Problem …If companies like Italic can boast about using the same factories as the brands in the upper echelon of the fashion industry, there is a chance that high fashion figures’ mystique – and their air of luxury, quality, exclusivity, etc. – could be diminished. This concern might be heightened further if Italic’s offerings do not ultimately match the quality of the high fashion names it references (and without the same level of quality control, etc. that is exerted in connection with high fashion products, it likely will not be). – Read More on TFL