Missoni A/W 2010 ad campaign | Source: Missoni

Italy’s Fashion Houses See No Early Recovery From Sales Slump (Bloomberg)
“Italy’s fashion industry will take years to recover after the biggest sales decline in at least two decades, according to the country’s designers, who criticized the government for not doing enough to assist them.”

Valentino Owners Say Company Will Survive Recession (New York Times)
“The finances of the Valentino fashion house will withstand the economic crisis, according to a partner in Permira, the private equity fund that owns the group. But current market conditions mean the investor will be sticking around longer than planned.”

Future Looks A Little Brighter For The Luxury Goods Sector (Financier Worldwide)
“Earlier this year, consultancy firm Bain & Company reported that the luxury goods sector was facing a decline of 10 percent, estimating that by 2010 the sector’s value could shrink to €153bn from its 2008 level of €170bn. In response, a new report by KPMG has recommended steps that the sector should take in order to survive the global recession.”

Gilt Groupe’s Jetsetter takes off (CNN Money)
“Jetsetter tells Fortune Brainstorm Tech exclusively that it aims to bring high-end travel online by adopting the model of its parent company, Gilt Groupe, a members-only shopping site featuring daily deals, or ‘flash-sales,’ on limited quantities of designer goods.”

Fast Fashion | +J at Uniqlo (The Moment)
“At 9 a.m., the line outside Uniqlo in SoHo was already stretching toward Dean & Deluca. By 10, it was around the block. Stores in London and Paris had already sold out.”

Pile of shoes | Source: e-boost consulting

Italian and Spanish footwear manufacturers to fight for EU protection (Drapers)
“Anti-dumping measures have been in place since 2006 to protect the European Union’s footwear manufacturers from import surges. A decision to maintain tariffs, amounting to 16.5 percent on Chinese footwear and 10 percent on shoes from Vietnam and strongly opposed by UK retailers, would be likely to worsen East-West trade relations.”

Retailers On The Hunt For Spring Fashions (WSJ)
“While luxury shoppers may be thinking of the cashmere cardigan or the wool jacket they want to add to their fall and winter wardrobe, retailers are already on the hunt for what they think will sell come spring.”

U.S. retailers to see some cheer this holiday season (Market Watch)
“After last year’s dismal holiday season, U.S. retailers may finally see some sun breaking through the clouds in their biggest selling period.”

Moss Bros notches up £3m first-half loss (Drapers)
“The menswear retailer, which runs the Moss, Cecil Gee and Savoy Tailor’s Guild chains and owns the UK licence for brands such as Hugo Boss, said it will meet its expectations for the full year.”

Gap founder Don Fisher dies (Telegraph)
“Mr Fisher died at his home in San Francisco on Sunday following a long battle with cancer. The entrepreneur opened the first Gap store in San Francisco in 1969 after a frustrating experience exchanging a pair of jeans that didn’t fit. The original store, named after the idea of ‘The Generation Gap’, sold Levi’s jeans, records and tapes to 12-to-25-year-olds.” See Bloomberg video here.

Marc by Marc Jacobs shows British pride

Patriotic buying in turbulent economic times (FT)
“They say a crisis can unite the most unlikely of characters, so when a cantankerous tycoon and a leggy It-girl both lend their celebrity quotient to helping the economy, it shouldn’t raise too many eyebrows.”

Once Slave to Luxury, Japan Catches Thrift Bug (New York Times)
“Not long ago, many Japanese bought so many $100 melons and $1,000 handbags that this was the only country in the world where luxury products were considered mass market. Even through the economic stagnation of Japan’s so-called lost decade, which began in the early 1990s, Japanese consumers sustained that reputation. But this recession has done something that earlier declines could not: turned the Japanese into Wal-Mart shoppers.”

The usual rules no longer apply (FT)
“It happened in politics, when heavy-hitting names such as Hillary Clinton and John McCain lost to the relative newcomer Barack Obama. It happened in film, when mega-stars such as Brad Pitt and Tom Hanks proved less alluring to audiences than a bunch of Transformers. What, exactly? The realisation that the traditional predictors no longer applied.”

UK designers say mass retail complements business (Reuters)
“London fashion designers say mass retailers do not necessarily undermine their business and can actually be of help, but acknowledge that they have awakened a desire among shoppers for frequent refreshing of stock.”

Lunch with the FT: Mario Testino (FT)
William Leith interviews Mario Testino: “As a photographer you either take the picture for yourself or for the person you’re photographing, or the magazine you’re working for, or the company whose advertising you’re trying to communicate. You either make the picture look like you, or you make the picture serve the purpose of that client by emulating them. If I’m working for Burberry, I’ll try and make it look like a Burberry girl, a Burberry moment. If I’m working for Versace, I’ll probably go in the opposite direction: I’ll try to make it Versace.”

Pringle A/W 09 ad campaign, courtesy of Pringle

A lady from Chanel who wants to drive Pringle off the golf course (Guardian)
“American Mary-Adair Macaire aims to restore the struggling Scottish knitwear firm’s name for elegance.”

From the Garage to the Runway (WSJ)
“Little more than a year ago, 27-year-old Hannah Marshall spent most days at a garage in rural Essex, two hours outside London, working in a makeshift studio to create tight, sexy-sinister dresses that looked a bit like Audrey Hepburn meets ‘The Matrix.’ Today, Ms. Marshall has her own fashion-design studio in London thanks to funding from the Centre for Fashion Enterprise.”

Fashion’s Night Out Falls Short (Forbes)
“Anna Wintour’s much-publicized event drew big crowds, but few dollars.”

Designers return to kick-start London Fashion Week (AFP)
“British designers who abandoned their homeland for the bright lights of New York, Milan and Paris are returning in droves this season in what promises to be the most exciting London Fashion Week for years.”

Burberry looks to win over friends online (FT)
“Burberry, the fashion brand that has gone from classic to cutting edge, is to launch its own social networking site next month. The clothing group hopes the move will deepen its relationship with customers and attract new devotees.”

Jil Sander for Uniqlo, courtesy of Uniqlo

Jil Sander’s new range for Uniqlo (Guardian)
“Jil Sander has been off the fashion scene for a while, but now the queen of understatement is taking on a new project – high-class design for the masses – with the Japanese brand Uniqlo.”

China Inc: Not just a maker but new owner of fashion (Reuters)
“After decades of Made-in-China garments, China’s fashion industry is keen to move on from being just a mass manufacturer of clothes — it wants to own western brands and to sell them to China’s 1.3 billion consumers.”

The A-Word: Fashion Embraces Accessibility (WSJ)
“During the boom time, it was considered somewhat shameful to create a ‘commercial’ collection that had practical elements (sleeves, for instance) that made them widely wearable. Now, many designers are creating more casual clothing — known in the industry as ‘contemporary’ — with an emphasis on luxury-quality sportswear.”

Back in fashion – Burberry’s CFO (Accountancy Age)
“In short, Thomson Reuters has delisted, leaving room for another company to enter the FTSE 100. Next in line is Burberry, the luxury fashion brand, and that brings Cartwright, the company’s CFO, into the top flight.”

Luxury Retailers Rush To Adapt: Chic Goes Cheap (Time)
“As fashion editors, department store buyers and couture afficionadoes congregate along the catwalks for New York’s Fashion Week shows, luxury retailers and designers may be looking upon beauty but their thoughts are likely on the ugly economy.”