‘Gobbled us up and spit us out’: Canceled orders shed light on retailers’ power When the major U.S department stores closed their doors to stop the spread of coronavirus, they subsequently stopped accepting shipments of products they’d ordered from the brands they sell. That was regardless of whether the pieces were ordered to be sold at stores or through e-commerce. For brands, the move not...
‘The end of fashion as we knew it’: The new state of the seasonal trade show Cancellation announcements of entire fashion weeks and industry-mainstay trade shows rolled out one after another last week, hitting Paris Fashion Week Men’s, New York Fashion Week Men’s, Resort 2021 and Project, among others. But even prior, brands and retailers had already begun seeking out alternative platforms for presenting collections and...
Mall Rats: Gen-Z shoppers are rerouting the future of physical retail As “retail apocalypse” rumors continue to fly, teenagers are reviving shopping centers’ foot traffic. Among the draws are a social experience, immediate gratification, a personal branding opportunity and a much-needed break from their mobile phones.
How the surgical mask became the fashion industry’s beacon of hope When California and New York announced statewide lockdowns late last week, it was a jolt to workers in the notoriously hard-working fashion industry. Rather than take it lying down, many started fighting for their companies. For example, rather than cease production altogether, they found a workaround in the form of...
The Cult of Brandy Melville The fashion retailer built a community of Gen-Z diehards, despite its many practices that suggest it’s not trying to make friends.
2 months in: How Hong Kong-based brand Sau Lee has survived local lockdown Founder Cheryl Leung and her team at Hong Kong-based eveningwear brand Sau Lee have been in quarantine since mid-January. Leung, who started the company in 2014, owed her ability to keep the company afloat to minimizing costs by updating internal processes and renegotiating contracts with retail partners and manufacturers. In...
‘Every day, I wake up to a new battle:’ How California-based fashion brand Aviator Nation is fighting to stay afloat Aviator Nation, a casualwear brand based and produced in California, is determined to maintain a sales flow, shelter-in-place order be damned.
No stores, no e-commerce: Fashion retailers come to a standstill Since Friday, many fashion companies have halted operations entirely, as states’ new stay-at-home and shelter-in-place orders mean many also can’t fulfill e-commerce orders. They’ve been forced to close distribution and fulfillment centers, and at the same time, they’ve closed their online stores.
‘It’s leveled the playing field’: Amid social distancing, brands lean on influencers for content creation Social distancing mandates due to the coronavirus outbreak have called off the go-to content creation processes of fashion and beauty companies big and small. To compensate, they’re looking to influencers and digital tools that are suited to a world where every day is WFH.