Sneaker designer Brandon Brubaker: Remaining tapped into culture is a business advantage Brandon Brubaker, co-founder of the 10-year-old SoCal sneaker brand Clearweather, is somewhat of a sneaker legend. In the sneaker game for 30 years, he first designed iconic sneaker styles for Vans after being recruited by the company at age 20. He then went on to launch the multimillion-dollar skate sneaker...
Fashion Briefing: ‘The church of Billy Reid’ — Inside the brand event building an army of evangelists Billy Reid, who started his company 20 years ago, welcomed 300-500 out-of-towners plus crowds of locals into his world set two hours away from the closest major airport — all Florence hotels hit capacity, he said. The brand’s best customers forked over at least $1,000 for an all-access pass, while...
Jennifer Hyman on Rent the Runway’s ‘relaunch’ and new subscription plan Next month, Rent the Runway will celebrate its 15th anniversary. Co-founder and CEO Jennifer Hyman plans to celebrate by starting from scratch — in terms of her approach to leading the company, anyway. “I need to evaluate the market as a new CEO who is just joining [the company],” she said...
Luxury Briefing: Luxury is refocusing on aspirational shoppers, per the latest M&A deals It’s repeatedly been said that today’s brands and retailers must also be media companies, regularly producing and distributing multimedia content across marketing channels. That pressure has, at minimum, held true for most sectors. But, rather than exclusively a play for engagement, the latest luxury deals show a business demand for...
Hanesbrands’ Jane Newman on the big shapewear opportunity and the Skims effect As the chief design officer of global innerwear at Hanesbrands, Jane Newman oversees innerwear products for all the brands in the company’s portfolio, including Hanes, Bali and Maidenform — each of which is at least 97 years old. On this week’s episode of the Glossy Podcast, Newman discusses how she’s...
Luxury Briefing: Prepping private jets with beauty products is a 9-figure business opportunity Six months after being named president of the travel retail company Duty-Free Holdings, fashion industry veteran James Mullaney has defined a five-year plan to grow the company — currently doing $200 million in annual sales — to a $500 million business by 2026. The vision includes accelerating the growth of a...
Inside fashion’s love affair with Porsche To get in front of target audiences and forward their aspirational alignment, fashion and Porsche are increasingly, officially and unofficially, getting in bed.
Alexandre Assouline: A curated library is the new luxury Assouline, the publishing house turned luxury lifestyle brand, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year — but, it seems, it’s just getting started. Largely driven by Alexandre Assouline — the company’s chief of operations, brand and strategy and the son of its founders — Assouline is in growth mode: In addition...
What’s next for luxury e-commerce As brands become more digital-savvy and promotions-averse, luxury e-tailers are losing their luster.