Tribes versus trends, Tokyo stores reopen, India’s luxury real estate crunch, Inditex profit up, John Lobb bespoke

Ann Demeulemeester Autumn/Winter 2011 | Source: The Cutting Class

The Tribes of Westwood, Owens and Demeulemeester (The Cutting Class) “While some designers tend to beat to the drum of being on-trend, others have already cultivated their own communities and are even referencing it within their collections. In the recent Ann Demeulemeester, Rick Owens and Vivienne Westwood collections you feel that they are speaking in a language that their customers already know and understand.”

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Luxury leads recovery, Asos launches US site, Italians invest in India, Fast Retailing sees decline, Runway top ten

Neiman Marcus, Boston | Source: ICSC

US luxury stores outperform rest of retail sector (FT) “US luxury department stores outperformed the rest of the retail sector during September, underlining the extent to which more prosperous shoppers are leading the recovery in consumer spending.” Asos launches US site (Retail Week) “Asos is promoting the new website, Us.asos.com, by giving US customers free delivery. It plans to launch French and German

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Paris and Milan stay safe, Gucci repositioning, Indian luxury lags, L Capital invests, Counterintuitive Krakoff

Ferragamo Autumn/Winter 2010 | Source: Ferragamo

Fashion Opts for Safety in Paris, Milan (Bloomberg) “Even amid signs that demand for luxury clothing and accessories is returning, makers of the goods will ‘play it safe’ for spring-summer 2011, according to Sue Evans, senior editor of catwalks at fashion forecaster WGSN.” Gucci Unpacks ‘La Dolce Vita‘ (WSJ) “During the consumer-spending slump, aspirational purchases slowed sharply, and

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Nordstrom innovates, Emerging fashion, American Apparel warned, Content is king, Condé Nast courts India

Laura Theiss Autumn/Winter 2010, at Début | Source: Début New York

Nordstrom Links Online Inventory to Real World (NY Times) “The company wove in individual stores’ inventory to the Web site, so that essentially all of the stores were also acting as warehouses for online. Results were immediate… It also means that inventory is moving faster, and often at higher prices.” The Demand for Emerging Fashion: Part I (Huffington Post) “[The first trend] noticed was brand exhaustion

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Britain’s bad habit, Online fast fashion, India’s opportunity, Garment district perennial, A return to craft

Industrial sewing machine, detail | Source: Act Now

Britain’s appetite for fast fashion is pushing workers into starvation (Guardian) “Ethical trade has to be to ensure that workers are being paid a living wage… [including] food for her family and cover housing, education and health needs – Asian garment workers are currently being paid about half of what they need to do this.” Fashion chains H&M and Zara launch online operations (Guardian) “Several

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