1. Retailers have started paying rent again but are still fighting with their landlords: Real estate experts say retailers are increasingly looking to pay rent as a percentage of sales, making it a variable expense on their balance sheets rather than a fixed one. Landlords, however, have resisted this type of structure in the past, as it makes it more difficult for them to predict future revenue streams. – Read More on CNBC

2. Louis Vuitton CEO Michael Burke: “If my job was just about selling handbags, I’d have burned out fast.” Louis Vuitton’s CEO on fur, race rows and the real reason that Louis Vuitton became a must-have for the super-rich. – Read More on the Telegraph

3. The 15 Percent Pledge Is a Mixed Blessing for Black Beauty Brands: For Black business owners—the least likely to receive bank loans and VC funding— the cost to be in retail (from inventory and marketing costs, plus the hefty cut of sales retailers charge) is a heavy burden, and a deal to supply a national chain can either make their business or tank it. – Read More on Bloomberg

4. Fashion Week Is Actually Happening—at Least in Paris and Milan: Brands are determined to relaunch an industry ritual that some designers say can’t be replicated online. The biggest houses usually mount spectacular fashion-week sets designed to dominate social-media feeds, with creative directors planning for the perfect Instagrammable moment. Brands closely monitor the attention their shows—and competitors’ shows—garner on social media, and analysts say that a strong showing during fashion week helps translate to market share. – Read More on the WSJ

5. Fashion’s dirty secret: how sexual assault took hold in jeans factories. After revelations of sexual violence in Lesotho garment factories, where jeans are made for brands such as Levi’s, workers fought for better conditions. But now Covid-19 has hit the fashion industry, those gains may be lost. – Read More on the Guardian

6. Fashion label Chanel issues bond linked to climate targets: French luxury label Chanel on Thursday raised a 600 million euro ($699 million) bond with clauses linked to its environmental goals, as firms in a sector under scrutiny from waste-conscious shoppers ratchet up green initiatives. – Read More on Reuters