Brioni Shock (Vogue UK)
"Brioni is ending its womenswear line, and its contract with the label's creative director Alessandro Dell'Acqua. Brioni's manufacturing plant in Italy, which was dedicated to the production of the brand's womenswear collections, will be shut down in September."

Why luxury goes hand in hand with sustainability (Guardian)
"As social and environmental stresses increase and global resources come under greater pressure, the concept of luxury, always fluid, will keep changing. There have also been positive efforts within the sustainability movement to redefine luxury as something that embodies the social and environmental credentials of a product or service... If we read 'luxury' as placing an importance on durability, pride in buying less and better, the link to sustainability becomes less jarring."

Billionaire Slim Spends $8.8 Million to Boost Saks, Times Stakes (Bloomberg)
Billionaire Carlos Slim spent $8.8 million to boost his stakes in Saks Inc and New York Times Co, adding to his biggest U.S. holdings as the stock market slumped last week... Slim, who had been Saks's largest shareholder before the purchases and last acquired the New York-based retailer's shares in April 2009, raised his stake to 16 percent from 15.7 percent."

What China Should Learn From Hong Kong's Luxury Malls (Mao Suit)
"There are currently upwards of 50 new luxury malls currently being built across China to tap into rapidly growing luxury goods market, yet very few of them will come anything close to the standard of the luxury malls developed in HK over the last few years... What the HK developers do so well is that they create mixed-use shopping malls that... Create an ecosystem of real estate that brings masses of people to the mall everyday and easily translating into sales."

Deutsche brands (FT)
"German fashion has been a bit off the international radar since Jil Sander sold her namesake label and Wolfgang Joop left Joop! to start up a new label, Wunderkind... Recently, however, that has begun to change. Thanks to the combination of a buzzy Berlin fashion week and a new generation of fashion-forward consumers, a growing number of local heroes is emerging in the country."