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.
Spotify Expands Merch to Beauty Products (TechCrunch)
"The new service is the latest expansion of Spotify's partnership with Merchbar to sell artists' merchandise on their profile pages. Working with makeup artist Pat McGrath, Spotify is selling three shades of her lipstick as well as an eye pencil. Fans are able to 'shop the look' of a particular artist."
Stitch Fix Prices IPO of 8 Million Shares at $15, Below Expectations (CNBC)
"Stitch Fix priced 8 million shares at $15, below its indicated range of $18 and $20. The company had originally planned to sell 10 million shares in the offering. The main concern for investors was its continued ability to stay profitable, exacerbated by troubles at Blue Apron and Snap."
Amazon Could Be Worth $1 Trillion in 2018 (Retail Dive)
"The company is on track to become one of the first-ever $1 trillion companies by the end of 2018, and its many high-margin business operations could push its stock to $2,000 per share. That means that Amazon's retail enterprise will continue to disrupt the industry."
How Brands and Startups Are Using AI to Help You Get Dressed (Fashionista)
"Retailers and tech companies want to help by styling customers via 'virtual stylists' on chat platforms that live primarily on Facebook Messenger, given its over 1.3 billion users. By the year 2020, over 80 percent of retailers are predicted to be using chatbots in some capacity."
This AI Learns Your Fashion Sense and Invents Your Next Outfit (MIT Technology Review)
"Researchers have outlined a way for AI to not only learn a person's style but create computer-generated images of items that match that style. The system could let retailers create personalised pieces of clothing, or could even be used to help predict broader fashion trends."
It’s been a tough year for luxury e-commerce — but a crop of smaller marketplaces are beating the odds with a focus on emerging accessible luxury brands and a firmer grip on operating costs.
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.