The Business of Fashion

Stella McCartney’s Fashion Message (On the Runway) “Stella McCartney appears in a new video by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, released today. It’s worth watching. The subject is animal suffering in the leather industry and the risks to human health and the environment from tanneries.” At Fashion Week, a Peek at a New [...]

Counterfeit Gap joins the counterfeit Gucci (LA Times) “The economy is one reason for the trend. ‘The recession has more people trading down,’ said Susan Scafidi, academic director of the Fashion Law Institute at Fordham University’s law school. ‘Even lower-priced brands feel like a stretch in this economy, and people are more likely to trade down [...]

LVMH Profit Meets Estimates, Sees 2012 Growth (Bloomberg) “LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA (MC), the world’s largest maker of luxury goods, reported full-year profit that met analysts’ estimates and said it’s “well- equipped” to maintain growth in 2012. Net income rose 1 percent to 3.07 billion euros ($4 billion) in 2011, the Paris-based maker [...]

David Beckham Fetes H&M Launch in London (WWD) “It takes an unusual amount of sex appeal for a man to make a pair of long johns look good — and David Beckham has pulled it off. After serving as the face and body for Armani Underwear, Beckham decided to develop his own range together with his business [...]

Benetton to make decision on delisting (FT) “The Benetton family will decide at a board meeting on Wednesday whether to delist the Italian knitwear group known for its brightly coloured jumpers after the company posted another plunge in profits as it struggles to compete with Inditex and H&M.” Luxury Companies That Can Bring You Closer to the Good Life (Money [...]

Made Better in Japan (WSJ) “Louis Vuitton sales are plummeting, and magnums of Dom Pérignon are no longer being uncorked at a furious pace. That doesn’t mean the Japanese have turned away from the world. They’ve just started approaching it on their own terms, venturing abroad and returning home with increasingly more international tastes and [...]

His not hers (FT) “It’s a man’s world where luxury goods are concerned. At least judging by recent moves from two of fashion’s biggest players: in November, PPR acquired Italian tailor Brioni and LVMH appointed Antoine Arnault to head up the expansion (including a move into ready-to-wear) of its men’s footwear label Berluti.” Executive Education in a Material world [...]

Sonia Rykiel in talks with investor Fung Brands (Reuters) “Sonia Rykiel, one of the last family-controlled French fashion houses, is in exclusive talks with privately held Fung Brands which could lead to the investment firm taking an 80 percent stake in the company to help it expand internationally.” China’s Hidden Wealth Feeds an Income Gap (NY [...]

The Fine Line (NY Times) “Nowadays, almost no one talks about its demise. Quite the opposite. Not only have revenues reportedly risen, thanks to big spenders in countries like China and Brazil, but there are also more new names on the calendar, like Giambattista Valli and Bouchra Jarrar, who makes ready-to-wear but because of her [...]

Worst of times prove best for luxury brands (CNN) “Luxury brands, including fashion label Burberry and vehicle manufacturer Rolls-Royce, have all enjoyed bumper years, recording slump-busting profits that may raise eyebrows among consumers forced to tighten their non-snakeskin belts. Such income surges will dispel doubts raised when markets first began to falter over the resilience of the [...]

Dior Designer: On the Doorstep? (IHT) “The black and white, filmic Christian Dior haute couture show on Monday marked nearly a year since John Galliano left the brand in disgrace. But Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, confirmed that there would be no announcement about a new designer this week and that the ‘suspense’ would [...]

How Esquire Survived Publishing’s Dark Days (NY Times) “Amid the plague that hit the magazine industry back then, Esquire was worse off than most. Beaten up by a crop of lad magazines like Maxim, then hammered by the flight of advertisers and readers to the Web, Esquire suffered a 24.3 percent loss in advertising pages [...]

Asian Designers Make an Impact in Paris (IHT) “Asian designers, whether home based or in the fashion diaspora, are making an impact in the opening days of the Paris men’s 2012 season. Phillip Lim, the Cambodian-American designer based in New York, was smart to come to Paris to show a 3.1 Phillip Lim collection that was simple but [...]

When mags merge with bags (FT) “GQ is not the only media operation to embrace a more overt commercial role. More and more publications have been trying to establish ecommerce operations in an effort to extend their brands beyond the printed page, and find new sources of revenue in a tough advertising market.” Mulberry enjoys [...]

Military, Front and Center (IHT) “Is it the bitter, battling winter following the Arab spring that has created a march of the military in men’s fashion? A soldierly influence was an undercurrent in the winter 2012 Milan men’s show, which closed Tuesday. The idea of smartening up and shaping up may be a response to Europe’s [...]

How long can Dior thrive without a couturier? (France 24) “Ten months after John Galliano was sacked over a racist outburst, Dior has yet to name a new chief designer — but sales are booming. Which begs the question: how long can the French fashion house thrive without a couturier at the helm?” Rio 2012: [...]

New wave of Canadian fashion brands is looking to build a worldwide presence (FT) “Canada has many assets – commodities, natural resources, space, poutines – but most people would not count fashion among them… Yes, the Canadians are coming. And no, it’s not all lumberjack shirts and ice hockey jerseys. Their arrival marks a sense of maturity [...]

Farhi Sold (Vogue) “Nicole Farhi is on the cusp of a new wave of business expansion after private equity group Kelso Place Asset Management acquired a majority stake in the company. Kelso Place, which sold British luxury leather goods company Smythson in 2009, bought the stake from OpenGate Capital, which only acquired Farhi in 2010 for [...]

How Crocs Moved from Fashion Trend to $1 Billion Phenom (Forbes) “If they weren’t exactly running out to buy a pair of those bulbous bright resin (please don’t say rubber) clogs sprinkled with holes, investors sure are clamoring to snap up stock in Crocs Inc (CROX). The company whose fugly footwear has been the foundation of its business just [...]

The Inside Story of a Couture Dream in the Making (IHT) “Few dare to focus on a blank page, even if it has a gilded trim, or to imagine that a cover could be made from gros grain, with the texture of a couture dress and no sign of a title — until you find the [...]