GQ and Park & Bond pop-up shop, NYC | Source: Selectism

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 strong festive season, sales up (Reuters)
“Luxury fashion company Mulberry Group Plc expects 2012 financial year results to exceed its earlier forecast, led by strong Christmas and New Year sales, putting it firmly in the festive winners’ camp in the UK.”

Asos Third-Quarter Sales Rise on Retail Growth Outside U.K. (Bloomberg)
“Asos Plc, the U.K.’s second-largest online clothing retailer, reported a 46 percent increase in third-quarter retail sales because of growth abroad, and said it’s confident of meeting analysts’ full-year profit estimates.”

Chinese haute-couture steps up at HK Fashion Week (Reuters)
“China at one time may have been better known for fashion knockoffs than catwalk creations, but Chinese haute-couture is now finding its feet on the international stage — even as it grows ever more popular with customers at home.”

Marc Jacobs: “I don’t know what the key to happiness is” (The Talk)
“I don’t know, I don’t know what the key to happiness is. Happy is just a feeling like every other feeling. I certainly feel happy some days and in general I am pretty happy, but I have all the other feelings as well. So I don’t know if there is a key.”

Hermès Canton Road | Source: B on brand

Behind the brands (China Daily)
“A survey confirms China’s luxury goods buyers are young and keen on pampering themselves.Gan Tian reports… The focus of this year’s survey is in line with China’s luxury industry profile, where the majorityof buyers are aged between 20 and 30 – significantly younger than their counterparts inWestern countries or nearby Japan.”

Mulberry profits boosted by overseas growth (Reuters)
“British luxury fashion brand Mulberry said its first-half profit more than trebled, boosted by global expansion, and said it was cautiously optimistic about the future while acknowledging the challenging macroeconomic climate. The company, which designs, manufactures and sells leather goods and accessories, posted pretax profit of 15.6 million pounds in the six months to Sept 30, up 231 percent.”

The CFDA Refuses to Shorten New York Fashion Week (The Cut)
“The CFDA has agreed to move New York Fashion Week back a week for September 2012 (to run from September 6 to September 13), and also start on the second Thursday in September in 2013 and 2014, as Milan requested. However, it rejected Milan’s demand to shorten New York Fashion Week.”

Facebook Fashion Index Ranks Brands by ‘Likes’ (WWD)
“When it comes to getting ‘likes’ on Facebook, Converse is a pro. In November, Converse continued to hold the number-one spot among fashion brands in Facebook “likes,” at 20,985,796, up 0.38 percent from October. Coming in at number two was Adidas, which had 11,397,425 “likes,” up 0.86 percent from October, according to a survey on Stylophane.com.”

Ohne Titel Stands Alone (Interview)
“Flora Gill and Alexa Adams of Ecco Domani Award-winning womenswear line Ohne Titel have always wanted to showcase their structured high-impact garments in an environment that echoes their strong look. Hence their excitement when New York-based arts and culture nonprofit BOFFO selected them to participate in its second annual Building Fashion Project. “

Hermes Autumn/Winter 2011 | Source: Hermes

Luxury Market Surges While the Rest of the Economy Sputters (Atlantic Wire)
“Economic news these days is pretty bleak: job growth is anemic, retail sales are stagnating, and consumer confidence is plummeting. But the luxury goods market is another story… According to Reuters, investors are now pouring money into luxury stocks.”

UK brands: retro in new markets (FT)
“Clamour for British brands among emerging market consumers has been the making of luxury brands like Burberry and Mulberry… Appetite for retro British brands is sure to continue in the Bric economies – although there’s only so much tomorrow’s consumers can stomach.”

Topshop Rolls the Retail Dice in Las Vegas (Forbes)
“Sir Philip Green… Is gambling that Topshop’s latest collection, Dress Up, will have him in the chips when the retail chain’s flagship store opens… The Las Vegas location is just one part of a larger expansion plan for the chain that includes Toronto… Chicago… Another outpost in New York City and a new shop in Miami.”

Gilt Groupe’s Richardson Discusses Online Retail (Bloomberg)
“Nate Richardson, vice president of Gilt Groupe Inc, discusses the opening of four new markets of the online luxury retailer.”

Inside a Pending Deal for a Stake in It-Label Proenza Schouler (Thread NY)
“Enter Andrew Rosen, who is said to have started eyeing Permira’s stake in Proenza Schouler late last year. His acquisition of the brand will be separate from his role as co-founder and CEO of Theory and related to an investment group that he is leading.”

The gospel according to Forever 21 (Guardian)
“This is the American fashion chain run as a family business, the chain that, thanks to its “pile very high, sell very cheap” operation, has been a phenomenal success, with profits (in 2008) of $135m despite the fact that nothing it sells costs more than $65.”

Mulberry Tops Fashion Retailers on Sales Boom (Bloomberg)
“The 40-year-old British luxury-handbag maker, is the world’s best-performing fashion retail stock over the past year… Investors are betting Mulberry…will join the likes of Burberry Group Plc as an iconic luxury brand.”

Designs on Doha (FT)
“Muslimah dress restrictions have paved the way for an accessories boom in the Middle East. For affluent young women here, however, designer accessories are not symbolic of money or aspiration but are simply the norm. So they increasingly seek out unfamiliar territory in the form of emerging designers.”

Sitting in the lap of luxury (China Daily)
“While consumers in Japan, the United States and Europe are scrimping on luxury goods, the swelling ranks of big spenders in China are taking in whatever the “haute” houses in Paris or Milan can serve up… Luxury brands feel no constraint in boosting their prices to cover rising costs and foreign exchange losses.”

Designers Revisit Copyright Protection (On the Runway)
“…Five years into a campaign by the Council of Fashion Designers of America to enact some sort of protection for original designs…One of the biggest differences in the new bill is that designers would have to prove that a copy is “substantially identical” to their originals, rather than “substantially similar.”

Kris Van Assche by Paolo Roversi | Source: Interiew Magazine

Kris Van Assche By Rick Owens (Interview)
“The last two years have marked a subtle turning point for the 35-year-old Van Assche, who has weathered the early storms, turned back the critics, and started to carve out his own territory. But as he confesses to Rick Owens, beneath his organized, controlled surface lies a quiet intensity that continues to fuel his work.”

The height of fashion (Marketing Week)
“‘If you bought the first Harry Potter film, then you are probably going to buy the next one… But if you’ve bought a pair of red shoes there’s no certainty over what you are going to buy after that.. It’s more about understanding a customer’s preferred brands, styles and price point, then engineering that to a point where the product served to them is relevant.’”

Madewell, but Remade How Well? (NY Times)
“Around the turn of this millennium, Mr. Drexler… presciently intuited a groundswell of consumer yearning for traditional American dry goods and bought the rights to, though not the physical remains of, Madewell, a brave little workwear manufacturer in New Bedford, Mass.”

Mulberry profits surge as fashion group expands (BBC)
“Luxury fashion group Mulberry has reported a sharp rise in profits as the boom in luxury goods continues to defy the economic gloom. Pre-tax profit for the year to March jumped to £23.3m from £5.1m a year ago… ‘Strong demand in all markets has continued into the new financial year and the outlook for the Mulberry brand is positive.’”

The Sound of Style | Tim Blanks (AnOther)
“‘I’ve been doing what I’ve been doing for such a long time, but people don’t really know that much about me,’… Blanks rose to prominence celebrating and disseminating shows on video for Canada’s Fashion File, an international cult that gave thousands of viewers an insight to the world’s most vibrant catwalks, opening a closed-door culture.”