1. Want to Be the Next Big Thing in Fashion? Nah: Fashion is not dead, though tired ideas about the business — who owns it, what drives it, where it meets its consumers — are slumping toward the scrap heap, trailing a tight little cadre of panjandrums who controlled it for too long. If, not so long ago, a designer’s career goal was to create the next mega-label, the small-is-better approach is increasingly seen as preferable to the seductive fantasy of becoming an internet unicorn. – Read More on the New York Times

2. Can Gap Escape the Whirlwind? New CEO Confronts Years of Decline: Ms. Syngal said she is pushing executives to take risks by forming partnerships and moving faster to get ideas to market. A sense of urgency was evident in how quickly Gap launched a teen line this spring. Gap also swiftly enlisted Kanye West’s Yeezy brand to produce a Gap collection. While the partnership holds the potential to deliver younger consumers, it also thrusts Gap into the unpredictable celebrity and political worlds. – Read More on the WSJ

3. RELATED READ: From J.W. Anderson & Converse to Telfar and Gap, Big Brand x Creative Collabs Are Coming Under the Microscope. this course of action of essentially removing the creatives from the picture – whether it be Gap simply giving Telfar the boot or Converse opting to ultimately turn the designs of its creative collaborators, who tend to be some of fashion brands’ biggest assets, into house-brand staples – really the most effective way forward for brands? The cost savings are certainly clear but so, too, is the potential for reputational damage. – Read More on TFL 

4. Teenage consumers are the most eco-conscious generation in history, with 87% of British teens ‘worried or extremely worried’ about climate change; yet, they buy mountains of ultra-cheap clothes, wear them once or twice on social media and then discard them. This conundrum has branding work out how to target an age group they can’t quite get the measure of. – Read More on the Telegraph

5. Renting clothes is a silver bullet for fashion: Social media has normalized dropping serious coin on a fashion items simply for the digital clout – but fashion obsessives are also savvy, and are reluctant to spend thousands of dollars on an item they’re liable to think is tragically uncool in two months’ time. The true value of renting, as far as I see it, is to get out of the wedding market and start filling this gap. – Read More on the Guardian