Skims

In an era of austerity on Wall Street, apparel businesses are more likely to be valued on their profits rather than sales, which usually means lower payouts for founders and investors. That is, if they can find a buyer in the first place.

A growing number of fashion and beauty brands are looking to AI to solve age-old recruiting challenges, from wading through piles of résumés to writing job postings — but even with all their promise, these new technologies aren’t without shortcomings.

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.

Growing demand for lookalike products, coupled with a pullback in spending due to inflation, is cutting in to sales of some trendy, big-name products.

Platforms like Instagram let sports stars connect with fans in ways they couldn’t previously, while helping to make fashion a vital element of an athlete’s image and branding.