Right Brain, Left Brain | The Making of Pattern (Opinion)
"BoF founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed kicks off Right Brain, Left Brain, a new column on his observations at the intersection of business,creativity, and the global fashion industry... In 2006, when I first started exploring the fashion industry, there was one book that became my bible. It wasn't a book about the fashion business. It was a book called Sample, published by Phaidon, which showcased 100 emerging fashion designers from around the world, as selected by a panel of 10 fashion luminaries."

Photo Diary | NYFW, Day 1 (Photo Diary)
"Despite the impending chaos of winter storm Nemo, New York Fashion Week kicked off yesterday. And, as always, Sonny Vandevelde is backstage at the shows, bringing us a daily photo diary of behind-the-scenes imagery from the Autumn/Winter 2013 collections. First up, it's Creatures of the Wind, Duckie Brown, Richard Chai Love, Costello Tagliapietra and BCBG."

The Basics | Part 6 – Sales (BoF Basics)
"In recent years, the sales landscape has changed dramatically. No longer are brands limited to wholesale and bricks-and-mortar retail channels. Today, brands sell across multiple channels, including online retailers and their own e-commerce. Each channel has its pluses and minuses, of course. And each requires different toolsets to succeed. Here, we focus on how to navigate the wholesale and direct-to-consumer sales channels."

Market Pulse | Dealing in All Shapes and Sizes (Market Pulse)
"The Savigny Luxury Index (SLI) gained 2.8 percent in January, outperforming the MSCI World Index (MSCI) by a touch over 1 percent. Positive economic news coming out of China sent the SLI into a mini-rally at the beginning of the month, however mixed corporate results announcements took some of the wind out of its sails. From a mergers and acquisitions perspective though, the year has started off with a bang."

New York's Grimy Garment District Hatches Designers' Dreams (NPR)
"A recent survey found that 47 percent of New York's designers say they have their samples — prototypes of what you eventually see in stores — made in the Garment District. According to a 2012 report published by the Design Trust for Public Space, apparel production is the largest manufacturing division in New York City. It provides 24,000 jobs citywide with about 7,100 of those jobs centered in the Garment District. Within the district alone, those jobs generate $2.1 billion of economic output."

Luxury Labels Are Scaling Up for China's Year of the Snake (WSJ)
"Luxury brands are rolling out a menagerie of merchandise to capitalize on the holiday, which marks Asia's biggest shopping season. And more Western brands are getting in on the Year of the Snake, pushing snake- and red-themed goods, from Vacheron Constantin's $150,000 watch with an engraved snake etched onto its face to the serpentine, limited-edition Mercedes-Benz Smart Car, of which only 666 were made."

British Fashion Gets a Web Dynamo (IHT)
"This month Natalie Massenet, the founder of Net-a-Porter and Internet guru to the fashion world, will throw her might behind London Fashion Week. As the newly appointed chairman of the British Fashion Council, she will use her power to promote designers not in their traditional role as funky and cool, but as major players in a global arena."