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.
HONG KONG, China — Beijing residents were up in arms this week, as another wave of toxic pollutants clouded the skies over the Chinese capital, making headlines across Greater China and around the world. On Monday, readings of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) — dangerous because it can enter the bloodstream via the lungs — reached 587 micrograms per cubic metre, more than 23 times the World Health Organization's recommended limit for human exposure and literally off the charts (the upper limit of the scale tops out at 500). So thick was the smog that drivers had to use their headlights in the middle of the day and the most daring pedestrians were donning carpenter masks.
It's the latest sign of a planet in the midst of a climate crisis, in a year which will go down as the warmest year in history. Meanwhile, Chinese president Xi Jinping, US president Barack Obama and other global leaders were gathering in Paris for the highly anticipated COP 21 UN Climate Change Conference in Paris with the aim to devise a global action plan to address the issue.
As one of the largest and most polluting industries in the world, fashion must also do its part. I invite you to revisit the stimulating and ongoing discussion on #BoFVoices about how fashion can be more sustainable. It's a clear call to action for all of us.
Imran Amed, Founder and Editor-in-Chief
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Enjoy our top stories for the week gone by:
What's Going On at Condé Nast?
The publisher is streamlining its operations and reorganising its US portfolio to capitalise on its most valuable brands: Vogue, Vanity Fair, GQ, Wired and The New Yorker. BoF breaks down the changes.
With New CEO, Mary Katrantzou Seeks 'True Global Scale'
With a business that has grown beyond her signature digital prints and now generates more than $15 million per year, Mary Katrantzou is ready to scale up and exclusively reveals to BoF her future plans and first CEO.
Elegantly Connecting Fashion and Art
On the eve of Art Basel Miami Beach, BoF talks to the powerbrokers cross-pollinating fashion and art about the intersection of the two worlds.
Will Social Selling Work in Fashion?
Supercharged by the rise of social media, new devices and new software, 'social selling' has taken off in beauty and jewellery. Will it work in fashion?
Riding the Miami Wave
Luxury brands are stepping up their presence in the gateway to Latin America, but can Miami carry their weight?
Hal Rubenstein's Book of Love
In conversation with Tim Blanks, InStyle's former fashion director discusses his new book, a rumination on the power of pop culture's most fashionable couples to inspire romance.
6 Global Gamechangers Revolutionising Multi-Brand Retail
From China and India to Nigeria and Mexico, a host of influential, bellwether boutiques have become real gamechangers in their respective fashion markets.
Fashion’s biggest sustainable cotton certifier said it found no evidence of non-compliance at farms covered by its standard, but acknowledged weaknesses in its monitoring approach.
As they move to protect their intellectual property, big brands are coming into conflict with a growing class of up-and-coming designers working with refashioned designer gear.
The industry needs to ditch its reliance on fossil-fuel-based materials like polyester in order to meet climate targets, according to a new report from Textile Exchange.
Cotton linked to environmental and human rights abuses in Brazil is leaking into the supply chains of major fashion brands, a new investigation has found, prompting Zara-owner Inditex to send a scathing rebuke to the industry’s biggest sustainable cotton certifier.