The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
"Farfetch, an Online Boutique, Enjoys Its Moment" (The New York Times)
"[Jose Neves] has turned his six-year-old site into a big business, and, apparently, a very appealing investment. Farfetch has raised $66 million in its latest investment round, on top of the $42.5 million it had already raised over the previous three years. The start-up had more than $160 million in sales last year and is quickly becoming one of the more intriguing players in the online shopping world."
"Making Wearable Tech More Wearable" (The New Yorker)
"This week, Ahrendts will join Apple as its head of retail. With her pedigree, she has a chance to solve tech companies' fashion dilemma: how to create wearable technologies that people actually want to wear. (Ahrendts also has considerable experience in China, where Apple currently has thirteen stores and plans to triple that number within two years.)"
"The New Style Counsel Start-Ups" (The Financial Times)
"Many retailers are struggling to understand these customers. They have grown up on social media and been pinched by a global economy that has been particularly harsh for young people. Yet as these factors confound some retailers, they have also opened the way for new contenders in online commerce, upstarts such as Wanelo, Nasty Gal and ModCloth as well as Dolls Kill."
"Nike President on Fuelband News: We're Excited for a Future With Apple" (Mashable)
"Nike President and CEO Mark Parker has added fuel to rumors on Friday that the company's Fuelband software could end up in the Apple iWatch. In an interview with CNBC, the executive stressed the importance of its existing relationship with Apple and is 'excited about where that relationship will go forward.'"
"'Swiping Is The New Liking' Now Applies To Shoe Shopping" (TechCrunch)
"Stylect, a shoe shopping app for iOS, has a Tinder-esque UI, underpinned by its own recommendation engine, to help women find and purchase the perfect pair of shoes. If you have déjà vu, you are not alone. A ton of 'Tinder for X' apps have sprung up over the last year, with the 'swipe right, swipe left' model – a User Interface Stylect co-founder Giacomo Summa describes as 'addictive' — proving popular with users and investors alike."
The nature of livestream transactions makes it hard to identify and weed out counterfeits and fakes despite growth of new technologies aimed at detecting infringement.
The extraordinary expectations placed on the technology have set it up for the inevitable comedown. But that’s when the real work of seeing whether it can be truly transformative begins.
Successful social media acquisitions require keeping both talent and technology in place. Neither is likely to happen in a deal for the Chinese app, writes Dave Lee.
TikTok’s first time sponsoring the glitzy event comes just as the US effectively deemed the company a national security threat under its current ownership, raising complications for Condé Nast and the gala’s other organisers.