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.
THE CHEAT SHEET
Topshop’s Fate Comes Down to the Wire
Topshop store | Source: Shutterstock
Arcadia, which owns Topshop, Miss Selfridge and other struggling chains, employs 18,000 people in the UK and operates over 1,100 stores in dozens of countries. It's also woefully out of step with the modern retail environment. The company's merchandise and stores failed to keep pace with fast-fashion competitors like Zara and Primark, while flagship brand Topshop's minimal online presence opened it to attack by Asos, Boohoo and a crowd of other digital competitors. What's left should look familiar to anyone watching the unfolding retail armaggeddon in American malls and British high streets: under-trafficked stores with expensive leases, and angry creditors. Layered on top are the allegations against Green, from racial abuse to sexual harassment to the charges in Arizona on Friday. He's denied them all, but the headlines have no doubt contributed to plunging sales.
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The Bottom Line: No matter what the outcome of Wednesday's vote, without radical reinvention, Topshop is a dead chain walking.
Revolve Prepares to Finally Go Public
Revolve recently launched a private label brand with influencer Aimee Song | Source: Courtesy
Revolve was founded in 2003, but it truly is a creature of the Instagram era. The site carries products coveted by millennial women, and then hires an army of influencers to flog them on social media. Revolve's size (nearly $500 million in net sales last year) masks some of the challenges it faces as a primarily wholesale business in an increasingly direct-to-consumer world. The number of brands using some variation on Revolve's model is growing by the day, and top-tier influencers increasingly prefer to shill their own lines over someone else's. Revolve has recently pivoted, partnering with macro influencer Aimee Song on a private label collection that gets the company deeper into the direct sales game. The strategy shift may have been necessary to coax investors into supporting Revolve's IPO, which was announced in October but took nearly eight months to reach the finish line.
The Bottom Line: Revolve's IPO should provide a good indicator of the reception the most recent class of digital native brands and e-commerce platforms are likely to receive as their initial investors look for an exit.
A Scattered Start to Men's Fashion Week
Saint Laurent men's Spring/Summer 2019 | Source: Indigital.tv
The Bottom Line: The continued splintering of the men's calendar is a sign that the CFDA made the right call in pulling the plug on NYFW Men's as an independent event.
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COMMENT OF THE WEEK
Amazon boxes | Source: Shutterstock
"The fashion game created this situation when they wanted to save rent costs and not stock stores so much. They created this situation and now have to face the consequences." @mrdavidskilling, commenting on "Customers Love Free Returns. Here's How Brands Are Navigating the Costs"
The Week Ahead wants to hear from you! Send tips, suggestions, complaints and compliments to brian.baskin@businessoffashion.com.
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In 2020, like many companies, the $50 billion yoga apparel brand created a new department to improve internal diversity and inclusion, and to create a more equitable playing field for minorities. In interviews with BoF, 14 current and former employees said things only got worse.
For fashion’s private market investors, deal-making may provide less-than-ideal returns and raise questions about the long-term value creation opportunities across parts of the fashion industry, reports The State of Fashion 2024.
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