Pas Normal Studios (French for ‘not normal’) is a Danish cycling brand focused on ambitious cyclists. With its minimalist design, it is currently one of the most sought-after brands in the segment. The brand is currently opening stores from Munich to Beijing and collaborating with established brands like the hyped outdoor brand Salomon. Its origins, however, actually lie in fashion.

Behind Pas Normal Studios is Karl-Oskar Olsen, who co-founded the Danish menswear brand Wood Wood in 2002. Before launching the cycling brand with CEO Peter Lange, he used the name as a slogan on Wood Wood T-shirts. This was an allusion to a quote from professional cyclist Lance Armstrong, who used it to shift the focus onto his competitors during the doping debate. The design evolved into its own brand and success story.

Despite jersey prices starting at 160 euros, the brand is aiming for double-digit growth. Lange explains how this is being achieved and the strategy behind it in the interview.

Your latest collaboration with Salomon goes beyond cycling. Does the bicycle remain the focus, or will you become a broader sports and lifestyle brand?

Cycling is and remains our main focus. A collaboration like the one with Salomon is good for reaching new consumers within cycling who may also be active in other sports. We know that many runners ride bikes to give their bodies some variety during intensive training.

So you are focusing on the versatility of cyclists and less on covering other sports.

Running sportswear is interesting for us because it's very close to our DNA. In modern cycling, it's also common to do strength training once or twice a week to strengthen the neck and the lower back. Participants in a cycling race do not show up in a T-shirt and jeans; they wear sportswear. Running apparel and sportswear styles are therefore closely connected to the ambitions of cyclists.

What is the scope of the off-bike segment in your range?

We expand our off-bike segment very cautiously, adding a few styles year over year, because it's not our focus. We concentrate more on aesthetics and performance in cycling, which accounts for 80 percent of our business.

Within training, there are also fewer gradations. We can do more specialised winter styles or styles for very hot summers. Since we have a strong presence in the Asia-Pacific region, we naturally need more summer styles and lighter jackets.

And for other products like running shoes, do you rely on collaboration partners?

Exactly! There are many other brands with more expertise in developing something for dedicated runners – in shoes, but also in specialised split shorts and everything that is very sport-specific in other categories.

Are there any other collaborations coming up that you can reveal details about?

There's one more coming with Salomon in autumn, which will close out the three-year collaboration for now. Next year we'll start a new collaboration, which unfortunately I can't say anything about yet.

Do your collaborations always run over a longer period, or can they also be short-term projects?

It's a mix. A three-year collaboration isn't always in the cards. Sometimes it's a shorter partnership that works for a special event or activity, for example. We're not that locked into our collaboration strategy in terms of timing and drops. What matters more is: do we see a brand fit, and do we see added value for our consumers?

Sportswear is currently performing better than other categories. Do you see this in your own range – with athletic versus fashion-led pieces?

No, that's very difficult for us to see, because off-bike styles only account for between 15 and 20 percent of our revenue. It's very difficult to segment growth across the different collections, as they follow one another.

From conversations with retailers in that segment – some of whom ask for products – we know that it's difficult for them. It's difficult in cycling, too, though. But we're doing well.

What does that mean for the financial year?

Our goal is double-digit growth. We are currently on track, so we expect to achieve it.

With cycling jerseys starting at 160 euros, you are in a higher price segment. How do you justify this price to your customers?

We chose this price point because we want to offer our consumers quality – in terms of fit, but also the material as well as the durability and sustainability of the materials. And that comes at a price. We have a very loyal customer base.

We target dedicated cyclists, and they place great value on aesthetics and performance. They want something that fits well and doesn't fade after three or four washes, because it's fully dyed. We do a lot of testing and work intensively with sample sizing to make sure we have a quality product.

Do you also benefit from the growing road cycling trend, where even beginners are impeccably styled?

We can see consumers moving in that direction. Our aesthetic has an everyday appeal, and we naturally also try to match the contemporary look.

If you go back a few years, cycling clothing consisted mainly of team jerseys. It was black, with garish colors, lots of logos, and made from cheaper material. The fit was such that the jersey would slip down at the back as soon as you put something in the rear pocket.

Cyclists today pay more attention to looking good – not in a fashionable way, but in a stylish, sporty way. Many running brands have taken this approach for years. Cycling, however, is newer in this approach than other sportswear categories.

Which styles are particularly popular with your community?

It changes every season. But our color world is rather down to earth and a little inspired by Scandinavian and Japanese minimalism.

Then there are also pieces in the collection where we use bigger logos – that looks more like a team set, like the Pro Tour. And of course we have limited collections within our collections, like TKO, in which Karl [ed. note: Karl-Oskar Olsen], my partner and creative director, explores creativity on another level and brings it into the collections. It's simply different needs for different purposes.

Do you see differences between regions?

The markets in Northern Europe, including Germany, are very similar – as is Europe as a whole, really. In the US, on the other hand, people like a bit more performance color and logo presence. And in Asia, they love limited editions. Things that are out of the ordinary and much more colorful.

Are these also your core markets?

Yes, our core markets are Northern Europe, the US and China.

How is turnover distributed across the markets?

40 percent of turnover comes from Europe, 40 percent from the Asia-Pacific region and 20 percent from North America.

You also operate your own stores in all regions. Do you plan to expand your retail network further?

Yes, we just opened a store in Beijing and are already present in Singapore, Shanghai, Copenhagen, Munich, Mallorca and San Francisco.

There are many different ideas in the works, but we haven't decided which city is next. That depends on what's coming in 2027/28. At the moment, only franchise stores in the focus market China are on the table, and they could come within three months.

What about in Europe or the US?

Definitely, but we don't want to open our own stores by default. We like to work with local retail partners if they are strong and meet our requirements. Then we don't need a flagship store.

However, if there's a location like Munich, where we couldn't find a partner and there was great potential, then we open our own store. So over time, we'll look at whether we need to invest in a market to develop it further. And then we either find a partner or do it ourselves.

Your own stores are more than just points of sale, serving as starting points for ride-outs, among other things. What is at the heart of the concept?

Most stores are strongly community-based. A store like the one in Mallorca is naturally much more community-oriented than our stores in Copenhagen. The one in Beijing is located more centrally, where there's more foot traffic.

It depends on what is needed locally. Is the focus on the community because we need to reach consumers and develop the cycling trend? Or is it more about the commercial side, meaning we need a location with high footfall? We decide that when we target a market.

What role does the actual sales process still play at the physical locations?

I firmly believe that brick-and-mortar retail is important. It is a balance. People can touch and feel the brand, interact with our sales staff and get closer to the brand. It gives you the opportunity to really open up to your own consumers. You can't do that by focusing only on online retail or a pop-up event. The retail stores are an investment in our consumers. For pure brand awareness, we also do pop-ups.

Financial crises, pandemics, geopolitical turmoil – for Marco Götz, a state of emergency is the norm. The Drykorn founder is correspondingly calm when looking back on a first half-year that saw the Kitzingen-based label suffer a significant loss in menswear due to the Wormland insolvency.

In an interview with FashionUnited, Götz discusses growing international markets, the shift in tailoring and the new dual leadership with co-CEO Marino Edelmann.

Mr Götz, how was the first half of the year for Drykorn?

It was stable. We experienced a major insolvency with one of our clients, Wormland. This created some imbalance in the menswear division and made things more challenging. We have since compensated for this and will continue to improve through expansion into international markets. In womenswear, we are still seeing good growth.

Which markets are you focusing on?

We are currently most active in Central Europe. Two years ago, we added Spain and Greece, which are developing very positively. Overall, everything in the resort and holiday locations is performing extremely well – Mallorca; Ibiza; the Spanish coast; and also the ski resorts.

Why are these holiday regions developing so well?

We are observing different purchasing behaviour there. In these resort locations, it is all about ready-to-wear. Customers can wear it immediately; it is not bought to be stored.

The high-fashion part of the collection is not automatically sold alongside it. It is more about customers having forgotten something for their holiday or looking for something that suits the weather.

Which pieces are currently selling well at Drykorn?

Trousers and knitwear continue to perform well, in both womenswear and menswear. In tailoring, we are currently undergoing a transformation for men. We no longer have a slim-fit suit in the collection and are moving towards 'loose' and relaxed styles. It will take some time for this to become truly commercial, however.

What topics are currently on the minds of your retail partners?

Delivery dates are a classic issue. When do you deliver what? We have been dealing with this for 25 years and there is always room for improvement because we are constantly reacting to information from previous seasons. Added to this are different weather conditions and geopolitical factors, which lead to a certain price sensitivity.

The issues are not really different from previous years, but things have not become worse either. There are always a few points of discussion that become sticking points. Considering what is happening in the world, the situation is actually stable.

Do you see this way of dealing with the crisis mood as a bit of a 'new normal'?

For me, the 'new normal' began 30 years ago when I started in the industry. It was challenging even then and everyone said: “Do something else, just don't go into this industry.” In the meantime, we have had everything from 9/11 and the financial crisis to Brexit, Trump, Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine. There is always something.

Normality is that something unforeseen always happens. There are many different influences that repeatedly make the situation challenging, but that is precisely what is normal. Perhaps there is a brief phase where nothing happens, but it usually does not last long.

Marino Edelmann has been co-CEO at Drykorn since June. How did this decision come about?

I had been considering this for a long time because my areas of responsibility had simply become too diverse. Ten years ago, the structure was clearer: there was product; sales; HR; and production. Now, areas such as technology and corporate development have been added, and marketing was not even a topic for us in the past. Sales has also become much more varied.

Previously, there was a clear path: managing channels through wholesale. Today, we have our own stores, which we will continue to push; e-commerce, which we are expanding; and various concession models, all of which are different.

Are you planning to expand the management team further in the long term?

For now, it is stable as it is. We are well-positioned for our size. The question now is more about what the new goals are and what new approaches we can take.

What are they?

We have not seized many opportunities – including in terms of sales, international markets and expansion – because we lacked the manpower.

You just mentioned your own stores. The new store in Düsseldorf recently opened. What is the strategy for this area?

We have a store concept that we will also roll out in other cities. It always has to be the right opportunity. Simply opening a shop for the sake of opening a shop makes no sense. We open a store with the intention of making money from it – we will not open a store purely as a brand ambassador.

We are working on several other locations and are in good discussions in a number of cities, but it really has to be the right fit.

A few years ago, you also tested the international waters with a pop-up in Zurich.

That was really just an opportunity because a client wanted to implement it together with us. It is very important to us to do things together with our partners. We have enquiries from abroad – from Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands. There are interesting possibilities there, and anything can happen.

Finally, how do you plan to close the year?

We are planning for growth and will hopefully be close to double-digit growth. It is also possible that it will remain in the single digits. Under conditions where you are not necessarily going full throttle, that would be fine.

The market, especially wholesale, is very shaky. Many retailers are struggling but are now finding their footing again. What is needed now is the courage to take a new or different step. That is why we are not going into next year with total euphoria, but we will definitely generate growth.

LVMH-owned luxury lifestyle brand Loro Piana has added yet another win to its ongoing efforts to defend its signature White Sole footwear range.

In a preliminary ruling issued on May 12 but only recently made public, the Court of Turin ordered French e-tailer Parijan SAS to stop producing and selling footwear judged to be a copy or dupe of Loro Piana's 'Summer Walk' and 'Open Walk' designs, which date back to 2003 and 2005. The ruling names four Parijan styles, among them 'Monaco Old Money' and 'Old Money Premium Suede Loafers,' and additionally prohibits the online retailer from making any commercial use of the Loro Piana and White Sole names.

In his ruling, Judge Ludovico Sburlati concluded that Parijan's shoes did not just draw inspiration from Loro Piana's White Sole line, but copied the entire design formula: the pale rubber sole set against a suede upper, the soft, unstructured shape, the faux welt, matching-color stitching and the signature ridged outsole. Together, the court noted, these elements define the collection's identity. Rather than looking at each design aspect of the shoes separately, the court considered how all the features work together as a whole, noting that the complete look of a product can serve to identify its maker in the same way a logo does.

While Parijan had argued that its shoes differed in construction and quality, the court was not persuaded, adding that shoppers browsing online rarely look for or register these types of distinctions, instead making purchasing decisions based on how a product looks and its price. On that basis, the judge found that shoppers would look to Parijan's designs as cheaper dupes for the originals, which in turn would allow the e-tailer to monetize a line and reputation built by the luxury brand.

The ruling also raised issues with Parijan's promotional and marketing tactics, noting how it partnered with influencers connected to Loro Piana, like Gstaad Guy, which reinforces the impression that its footwear was positioned as a lower-priced alternative. The Court of Turin ordered Parijan to pay 1,000 euros for every day it fails to comply with the order, plus 500 euros for each item sold in breach of the injunction. The etailer must also reimburse Loro Piana for the costs of the legal proceedings.

The ruling builds on Loro Piana's success streak since it first began taking legal action to protect its White Sole line in 2022, with earlier victories in Turin and in Bari against Mnswr Group. It also signals that European courts are increasingly prepared to protect a product's overall appearance, a significant precedent for luxury brands as the dupe market continues to grow.

Fashion titan Shein has won approval from China's market watchdog for its initial public offering application in Hong Kong, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said in a statement on Friday.

Shein's plan to sell up to 341.6 million shares and list on the Hong Kong stock exchange is approved, the CSRC said.

Plans to list the company in New York and London had been held back in recent years by regulatory hurdles, according to media reports.

A vast selection of products at stunningly low prices has boosted the popularity of Shein, along with China's Temu and AliExpress, bringing them into the same league as Amazon in the US.

Founded in 2012 by Chinese-born entrepreneur Xu Yangtian, Shein moved to Singapore in 2021 and sells trendy clothes in more than 150 countries.

With most of its factories located in China, Shein sets itself apart from its so-called fast fashion competitors through the speed at which it designs products and a highly efficient supply and production chain.

Xu pledged to allocate greater resources to the southern Chinese province of Guangdong earlier this year, seeking to leverage the efficiency of the local garment supply chain and the international logistics network.

He said at the time that the Chinese Communist Party and the provincial government had given crucial support to Shein.

Shein's platform exports exceeded 100 billion yuan (14.5 billion dollars) in 2025.

'Selective reopening'

Beijing's approval signifies that "China is still supporting Hong Kong as a major offshore capital raising platform", Kelvin Lam, a China-focused economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, told AFP.

The US regulatory ban on Shein's listing bid in New York, which cited supply chain issues, reflected the geopolitical risks involved in listing abroad, Lam said, adding that the company also "has been undergoing a lot of problems with listing" in the UK.

With the approval, China "removes a long-time and major political uncertainty for Shein," Han Lin, China director for consultancy firm The Asia Group, told AFP.

"Beijing is signaling selective reopening, not deregulation -- rewarding companies that strengthen China's economy while remaining aligned with national security and regulatory priorities," he added.

The online platform has been scrutinised over its environmental footprint and allegations of human rights violations for years, but its executive chairman told AFP last year that the company has "zero tolerance" on forced labour.

Shein also drew criticism last year in France over the discovery of childlike sex dolls on its platform.

In June, French authorities imposed two fines on Shein totalling more than 22 million euros (25.1 million dollars), citing problems with product traceability, environmental labelling and delivery times.

Canadian retailer Aritzia reported a strong start to fiscal 2027, with first-quarter net revenue rising 43.4 percent to 951 million Canadian dollars driven by strong demand across its fashion collections, digital sales and boutique network.

CEO Jennifer Wong said the retailer delivered "exceptional net revenue growth" as "robust demand" for its spring and summer collections, supported by digital initiatives, new boutique openings and marketing investment, helped drive momentum across all markets.

Comparable sales increased 35.1 percent, while adjusted EBITDA rose 80.5 percent to a record 191.6 million dollars. Net income nearly tripled to 117.3 million dollars.

The US remained the brand's fastest-growing region, with sales up 54.5 percent, while digital revenue jumped 55.5 percent. In its home market of Canada, net revenue was up 25 percent to 312.9 million dollars.

The fashion retailer also continued expanding its physical footprint, opening 14 boutiques and repositioning five over the past year, bringing its total store count to 143.

Looking ahead, Aritzia expects second-quarter revenue growth of 35 to 39 percent and forecast full-year sales of between 4.55 billion and 4.75 billion dollars. The company plans to open 12 to 13 new boutiques this year, the majority in the US, as it continues to invest in geographic expansion, digital growth and brand awareness.

Wong added: "The strength of the Aritzia brand has never been more evident, and we look forward to executing on our strategic vision for the future."

Tom Tailor improved its profitability and extended its financing in the 2025 financial year. The Hamburg-based clothing company achieved a turnover of 582 million euros in the period, just below the previous year's result, according to a statement released on Thursday. In 2024, the company generated revenue of 588 million euros.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) improved by 38 percent year-over-year to 52.2 million euros in 2025. The gross profit margin improved from 56 to 58.2 percent. These positive developments are primarily due to improved merchandise purchasing management and consistent cost management, according to the statement. Direct sales performed at the previous year's level, as they did in 2024. The company's own stores achieved like-for-like growth of 3 percent. This was mainly possible due to the strong performance in Austria and Southeast Europe.

“2025 was another challenging year for our industry. It is therefore all the more important that we have consistently focused on the areas that we can influence ourselves,” said Gernot Lenz, CEO of Tom Tailor. “The development of profitability shows that we have made further progress in the evolution of our business model.”

Financing extended until 2028

In addition, Tom Tailor announced that it was able to complete its refinancing at the end of 2025 and extend the term until the end of 2028, with renewed support from its shareholder Fosun International Ltd. Last month, the state-guaranteed Covid-19 loan of 100 million euros was also repaid as planned.

For 2026, the company continues to expect challenging market conditions. It will continue on its current course, focusing “unchanged on sustainable profitability, operational excellence and the further strengthening of the brand”.

Madrid – Looking beyond the institutional message with which a particularly presidential Marta Ortega opened Inditex's 2026 Annual General Meeting (AGM), we now delve into the significant issues raised before the Spanish group's investors. During the meeting, as was widely expected, all items on the agenda were approved in their entirety. The ordinary meeting surprisingly saw Inditex's own shop assistants from Galicia take the floor.

The ultimate goal of Inditex's 2026 AGM was to submit the nine points on its agenda to a vote and analysis by its investors. Following an eloquent welcome speech by Marta Ortega, non-executive chairwoman of the board of directors, Javier Monteoliva Díaz took the floor. In his capacity as non-director general secretary of the Inditex board, he addressed the procedural matters required by law and the company's statutes for such meetings. The event was held on Tuesday, July 7, at Inditex's headquarters in Arteixo, A Coruña. Díaz then gave the floor to Óscar García Maceiras, the group's chief executive officer since November 2021.

Maceiras thus directed his fifth Inditex AGM, the same number that Amancio Ortega's daughter has opened and supervised as chairwoman of the board. He dedicated his address to investors to highlighting Inditex's outstanding evolution over its first 25 years as a listed company, a milestone celebrated in 2026. This anniversary follows the 50th anniversary of Zara's founding, which was celebrated last year in 2025. Maceiras noted that this success is underpinned by a “management style marked by high standards and a desire for permanent improvement” that has always prevailed within the company.

He completed his presentation with a general overview of the positive results for the 2025 financial year. He emphasised the main indicators to shareholders, who were to vote on the approval of the 2025 accounts and reports during the meeting, held as scheduled on the first call. Maceiras stressed that these positive results, achieved in a complex environment, were due to the strong commercial performance of the group's brands and efficient operational management by its teams.

“Our purpose remains the same” as it was when the company went public 25 years ago: “to reach millions and millions of people around the world every day,” Maceiras told Inditex shareholders. He added that the goal is to do so “with an increasingly attractive fashion proposition and an ever-improving experience for our customers.” “This purpose has guided us in 2025 to continue on a path of positive growth, despite a complex geopolitical and macroeconomic environment.” This path has been possible thanks to “good commercial performance” and “efficient operational management.” “Why are these figures important?” the Inditex CEO asked shareholders. “Because they demonstrate the financial strength and solidity of our business model, the main guarantees that we will continue to invest whatever is necessary for the group's future sustainable growth.”

Inditex's 10 pillars for future growth

Following these words of confidence to investors, which were backed by various investment plans the company has implemented in recent years, Maceiras guaranteed a sustained commitment to investing in the company's “future.” This includes an exceptional plan to strengthen logistics capabilities with 900 million euros annually for 2024 and 2025, completed last year alongside ordinary annual investments of 1.8 billion euros. He highlighted the ordinary investments of around 2.3 billion euros committed for 2026. These funds will be used to reinforce and advance each of the 10 growth pillars on which Maceiras bases Inditex's immediate future. These pillars encompass various initiatives the company will continue to launch. They aim to advance its growth, customer experience, adoption of new technologies, product design and quality, “emotion,” innovation, efficiency, talent, its commitment to Spain, and its position as a company committed to communities worldwide.

Looking ahead to 2026 and beyond, “we maintain our purpose” of “offering attractive fashion, based on design, quality and produced responsibly,” as well as “the best possible experience for our customers,” Maceiras told Inditex shareholders. In this purpose, “we are ambitious,” and “we will continue to grow, we will continue to innovate, we will become increasingly efficient, and we will have an ever-greater positive impact.” All this will be done while the company and its various portfolio brands remain true to “a strategy of stable and accessible prices for the largest possible number of people.”

1.- Growth and expansion

Briefly elaborating on each pillar, Maceiras reiterated that in terms of growth and expansion, the group's eight chains—Zara, Zara Home, Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho and Lefties—will continue to pursue differentiation strategies. These strategies will allow them to expand their presence in existing markets and enter new regions and countries. He highlighted developments already announced in late 2025 and the first half of 2026. These include the opening of the first Bershka stores in the US and Brazil; the planned arrival of Lefties in France, the UK, and now officially confirmed, Germany; Pull&Bear and Massimo Dutti in Denmark; and Zara Home in Norway.

With these and other strategies to be implemented, “our eight commercial formats continue to increase their differentiation, attract new customers and strengthen the bond we have with our current customers,” Maceiras said during his speech. For Zara, “the group's engine,” Inditex will “continue to increase the chain's retail space” and “will continue to improve our stores with image, technology and in new locations, executing projects in major cities around the world.” Meanwhile, “thanks to our international presence and the experience we have acquired over time, the rest of our commercial formats will continue to execute ambitious growth plans.” He concluded, “we continue to see opportunities for expansion; opportunities that we will seize by following our guiding principle of profitable and selective growth, project by project.”

2.- Customer experience

In response to the growing trend and paradigm shift towards customer experience, the company will continue to promote initiatives aimed at meeting the needs of “increasingly demanding and experience-oriented customers.” This will be achieved through “new services and new functionalities,” as well as the “execution of projects that generate community.” Examples of these initiatives include Zara's “Try-On” virtual fitting room, which Maceiras announced in March will be rolled out to the group's other chains. Other examples are the Bershka MMBRS loyalty club, which currently has over 40 million users in 18 markets, and Oysho Community, which provides access to exclusive sports events and launched a “pro” version for professionals at the end of May.

3.- Latest technologies

As the third pillar, Maceiras presented Inditex's constant commitment to the latest technologies. The Spanish company will focus on innovations that streamline the purchasing process and eliminate friction points. A recent example is a new labelling system introduced in early June. This system allows visually impaired customers to access all product information autonomously via their mobile phones. Maceiras noted that this initiative will be rolled out across all the group's brands and in all markets where they operate.

4.- Design and quality

Contrary to claims made on social media by supposed fashion and business analysts, Inditex is first and foremost a fashion company focused on selling clothes. The multinational directs all its efforts, investments, and strategies towards this purpose. This naturally includes a firm commitment to the design and quality of its product offering. The group's CEO highlighted that the company will “continue to listen to our customers.” It will place the talent of “our more than 700 designers” and the staff of “our pattern-making teams” at their service and at the service of the fashion they demand. The company is also working towards quality fashion with a lower environmental impact. These commitments are being pursued in collaboration with suppliers, research centres, and specialised laboratories “for the analysis and improvement of our products.”

5.- Emotion

The term “emotion,” the desire to “excite,” is becoming a cornerstone of the strategies of major fashion houses and groups, including Inditex. Marta Ortega used the term three times during her welcome message to shareholders. Maceiras confirmed this commitment to the “emotional” by placing it among the main pillars for building Inditex's future. The company aims to continue “exciting” and “surprising” fashion consumers, primarily through new collaboration strategies with relevant figures from the worlds of art, fashion, and culture. At the same time, the CEO of the Spanish company stressed that Inditex remains true to its unwavering principle of offering quality fashion at accessible prices.

“In order to continue exciting and surprising our customers, we will continue to develop projects in collaboration with figures from the world of art and culture.” These alliances, Maceiras noted, “are allowing us to reach an audience and acquire a relevance” as a company “that is unprecedented in the history of our group.” “So far in 2026 alone, we have collaborated with figures such as Willy Chavarria, Aaron Levine and Bad Bunny. Also in March 2026, we announced our collaboration agreement with John Galliano, the first fruit of which will be a collection that we will launch from September, with a timeless fashion proposal.” He added, “logically, all our efforts in relation to design, quality, durability” and “the future collaborations that we will continue to make available to our customers, will remain compatible with a strategy of stable and accessible prices for the largest possible number of people.”

6.- Innovation

Complementing the strategies for implementing new technologies, but as a distinct pillar, is a sustained commitment to innovation. Inditex will use this to shape its future, both physically and digitally. This area includes the adoption of new solutions driven by artificial intelligence, everything related to its online platforms, and innovations in the strategic field of logistics. The latter will be pursued mainly through robotisation and automation projects to improve productivity and competitiveness. These projects are based on the implementation of RFID technology, which is revolutionising Inditex's logistics architecture. They also rely on the adoption of the new “invisible alarm” system, already implemented in over 90 percent of its products. This system “is allowing us to provide our stores with a new technological ecosystem that is radically transforming our processes and operations,” through examples like self-checkout tills or automated processes “that connect our fitting room areas with our warehouses.”

Within Inditex, “innovation is not the result of isolated projects, but the logical consequence of a systematic and permanent process of searching for, analysing and implementing new solutions,” said Óscar García Maceiras. From this perspective, “we will continue to innovate, as we have always done at Inditex,” seeking to “take advantage of any technology at our disposal, but without losing sight of the importance of the human component, as our chairwoman pointed out in her opening speech.”

7.- Efficiency

Advancing efficiency, through better use of resources and raw materials, was also presented as one of the 10 pillars for Inditex's future. The company is shaping this future hand in hand with its suppliers. Together, they are implementing transformation plans to reduce the impact of water and energy use in their facilities. This contributes to a company based on a less polluting and more efficient model, from garment manufacturing to logistics processes, which includes incorporating renewed fleets for which “we are promoting the use of sustainable fuels.”

“We are going to be increasingly efficient,” Maceiras proclaimed to Inditex shareholders. “In a sector like ours, which uses a large number of suppliers and has processes divided across different markets, achieving the levels of efficiency we aspire to requires working in collaboration with our supply chain.” This is already being done “together with our suppliers,” with whom “we are executing a transformation plan that currently has specific action plans for almost 1,000 facilities.” These initiatives will allow Inditex to have “an ever-increasing positive impact” on the environment and on people.

8.- Talent

Continuing with the assertion of people's value as the true engine for Inditex's future growth, as championed by Marta Ortega in her speech, Maceiras also highlighted the talent of Inditex's people as a strategic pillar for its future. He called on the more than 160,000 employees from 174 countries that the company employs globally to continue contributing to this future. The Spanish group will support these professionals through training and development plans in new tools, technologies, leadership, and team management; prioritising internal promotion; and improving their working and economic conditions. In this commitment, he highlighted both the agreement for the upward renewal of salaries for its store staff in Spain and the decision taken by the company, together with its workers' representatives, to start exporting the “extraordinary incentive for commercial performance”—more popularly known as the “shop assistants' bonus”—with which it rewards its shop assistants in Spain, to the other markets in which Inditex operates.

9.- Commitment to Spain

Spain, the company's country of origin and headquarters, will continue to hold a preferential position within its structures, dynamics, and investment strategies. This “commitment” to the country, Inditex's largest market by turnover and where it employs some 50,000 workers, nearly a third of its global workforce, will materialise in new investments. These will be in stores, logistics, and corporate headquarters, including the construction of the new Inditex Campus in Barcelona for the new central offices of Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Oysho, and Lefties.

“We will continue to contribute to the economic growth of our country,” Maceiras asserted to Inditex shareholders. “We were born in Spain. Spain continues to be our number one market,” and “in Spain we will continue to invest; in our stores, in our logistics platforms, in our corporate headquarters, such as the future Inditex Campus in Sant Adrià de Besos.” He also mentioned “deploying new projects in very different areas, including technology, which will contribute to strengthening the business fabric and generating new opportunities for economic growth.”

10.- Support for the “community”

As the final point of his strategies, Maceiras highlighted the growing commitment the company will continue to make to communities in different regions of the world. These commitments have materialised in recent weeks with a donation of 3 million euros to benefit those affected by the earthquakes in Venezuela. Another commitment is the renewal of the alliance with UNHCR, under which Inditex will allocate 13 million euros between 2026 and 2028 to improve the living conditions of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. In addition, the company will donate another 7.5 million items of clothing and footwear over the next three years to refugees in countries such as Uganda and Chad. This donation will incur an additional logistics cost of around 2 million euros, which Inditex will cover.

Marta Ortega, a “differentiating” value for Inditex's strength

Concluding this part of his speech, Maceiras continued his address to shareholders by calling for their support for Inditex's future. This new stage will continue to be marked by its origins and fundamental objectives. He praised the positive influence and “differentiating strength” provided by both Amancio Ortega, as founder, majority shareholder, and key figure on its board of directors, and the rest of the founding family members, especially Marta Ortega, in her position as chairwoman of the board. Maceiras thus acknowledged her more than positive and active role in the group's recent results and performance.

“Maintaining our purpose of offering fashion based on design, quality, produced responsibly, and the best possible experience for our customers,” the desire to “continue to grow, continue to innovate, become increasingly efficient” and “have an ever-greater positive impact,” are “tasks that will only be possible thanks to the trust of our shareholders,” Maceiras explained to Inditex investors. “Many of you have been with us for the last 25 years, almost half of our company's life. Our company has an additional factor, a differentiating strength, which is the presence of the founding family in the shareholding and in the chairmanship of the board of directors, supporting our management and providing vision, commitment, continuity and stability every day.”

Regarding this reality and “differentiating strength,” which is personified today in the figure of Marta Ortega, he said, “I invite all of you to continue to accompany us on the road ahead. A road that will undoubtedly be full of challenges and opportunities. Challenges that we will be able to overcome, and opportunities that we will continue to seize as we have always done at Inditex, with humility, with prudence, but also with ambition.”

Inditex's shop assistants take the floor

In an equally noteworthy event, during the final part of the meeting, in the interventions section, Lucía Domínguez Rodríguez managed to take the floor. She is a delegate of the Confederación Intersindical Galega (CIG) and president of the Stradivarius works council in A Coruña. She spoke on behalf of all the store workers of the different Inditex chains in Galicia. A representation of these workers was stationed at the gates of the Inditex headquarters in Arteixo, where the meeting was being held, to protest against the state agreement for large chains promoted by the Asociación Retail Textil España. They condemn this new labour framework, which they say is specially promoted by Inditex, and which will lead to a marked impoverishment of working conditions for workers in regions such as Galicia.

After managing to “circumvent” the control measures for participation in the AGM by buying a share in Inditex, Domínguez began her speech “on behalf of the majority of the workers in Inditex's stores in Galicia.” She made her intentions clear: “to request very relevant information for our group on remuneration and working conditions.” “Today, accounts, reports and remuneration will be approved here, with figures whose magnitude is difficult for us shop assistants, who are the visible face of the company every day with effort and enthusiasm, to comprehend.” “We are the ones who sell the product” that “allows the company's profits,” and while “we are very happy and proud that once again we can talk about great results and great remuneration,” she added, “for years, we shop assistants have fought to improve working conditions.”

In that battle, “it was not until 2023 that we achieved a substantial improvement that has brought us closer to the salaries and improvements that the rest of the company's staff had had for a long time.” However, “subsequently, Inditex created an employers' association of large textile retail companies,” Arte, “with the aim of creating a state collective agreement that is about to be published.” This agreement, if not remedied, will lead to “losses” in wages and working conditions of up to “2,000 euros per year for the largest category in the sector in the province of A Coruña, which is the shop assistants.” Faced with this impoverishment, which would initially affect new workers in particular, “we have formally approached Inditex on several previous occasions, demanding a written solution that guarantees that these unjustifiable and totally unnecessary setbacks do not occur.” However, “the response has been silence, or vague promises, which do not provide any formal guarantee” against this setback.

The agreed salary improvement mentioned by Maceiras is no relief either. In the “best case scenario,” it would not be a +4 percent increase but +1.65 percent per year for provinces like A Coruña or Pontevedra; an increase that “does not correspond to the company's current performance.” In light of all this, Domínguez concluded her speech by demanding an answer from Inditex. She asked if the company would agree to offer “a legal and juridical guarantee, in writing, that these setbacks in salaries and other conditions will not occur, neither for current staff nor for those who join in the future.” She also asked them to sit down and negotiate “an improvement that would effectively make possible the announced +4 percent increase for 2026” for all its workers.

In response to her intervention and demands, García Maceiras replied, “thanking you first of all for your attendance at this Annual General Meeting, and for your contribution to the group's development.” He continued, “I would like to begin by pointing out that, as the chairwoman pointed out in her opening speech, and I also did during my speech, the success of Inditex, the success of this company, is only possible thanks to the commitment, effort and talent of the thousands of people who work with us every day, in our stores, in our logistics, in our offices” or “in our factories.” “And precisely for this reason, our priority from the outset has been to offer employment conditions that are competitive, stable and of high quality, resulting from permanent dialogue with the legal representation of our professionals.”

“In this context, we consider that the recent signing of the first state collective agreement for the large textile retail chains in Spain is very good news for the sector, because it helps to raise the level of protection and working conditions of the large distribution companies in Spain.” However, apart from “that agreement, Inditex's store staff enjoy conditions that are far superior to those of any collective agreement,” especially after having “renewed the state store agreement.” From this point on, and in a more direct response to the shop assistants' demands, he limited himself to pointing out that “our agreements remain fully in force.” He added that “we will continue to work on their evolution, through dialogue and collaboration, with the aim of continuing to recognise that commitment, that effort,” and “the talent of our professionals, which will undoubtedly continue to be an essential driver of our group's future growth.”

Fashion group Hugo Boss considers the takeover bid from major shareholder Frasers Group to be inadequate. “The offer price of 38.00 euros per share does not adequately reflect the standalone value and future value creation potential of Hugo Boss,” the company announced on Thursday. The offer has been subjected to an independent review process.

Hugo Boss's management sees significant potential, particularly through its current strategic concept. Given its strong balance sheet, the company is well-positioned “to implement its strategy independently and create sustainable, long-term value for its shareholders.” The offered 38.00 euros per share therefore represents the legally required minimum rather than an appropriate fundamental valuation of the company.

The British company has been attempting to take control of the Swabian firm since mid-June through a voluntary public offer. Frasers is a retail conglomerate backed by entrepreneur Mike Ashley. According to previous statements, the group holds a direct stake of over 26 percent in Hugo Boss.

DBGI (Digital Brands Group) is guiding for Q3 2026 revenue of 8.5 million to 11 million dollars, expecting to hit breakeven or positive net income. The announcement is a big deal for a company that lost 3.5 million dollars in Q3 2025, claiming a 500 to 650 percent YoY revenue jump.

The Texas-based company, which operates eCommerce apparel brands such as Bailey 44, Stateside, and AVO, among others, credits its growth to collegiate expansion and a landmark government contract for the first scale deployment program across three cities.

"Our shift toward collegiate licensing and government contracts is scaling rapidly and profitably. This transition proves our new high-margin model is the right strategy to drive sustainable growth and creating both short and long-term shareholder value," said Hil Davis, CEO of Digital Brands Group, in a statement.

DBGI first announced a manufacturing agreement with Yea Alabama, the NIL programme of the University of Alabama, in December 2025, acquiring the rights to exclusively design, manufacture, and distribute collegiate apparel under private label for the university’s bookstores and online storefront. The company later expanded its range in the college apparel sector, jumping from 1 to 18 university deals, including agreements with the University of Colorado, Vanderbilt University and University of Mississippi.

In April, DBGI also announced an apparel licensing deal through Global Combat Collective (GCC), a premier boxing organization, supporting existing U.S. program deliveries up to 125 million dollars in potential aggregate contract value, subject to delivery orders, program requirements and customary conditions.

The latest Q3 forecast does not include 8 million to 9 million dollars in revenue and 3 million dollars net income contributions from the seven additional cities designated for the initial scale deployment program, which were affected by the government shutdown earlier this year.

Fast Retailing, the owner of Uniqlo, has increased its full-year profit outlook for FY26 following a boost in performance during the third quarter.

For the three months to May 31, the Japanese retail giant saw its operating profit increase 45.7 percent to 213.79 billion yen (1.3 billion pounds), up from 146.74 billion yen in the year prior.

As a result of the higher-than-anticipated results, the group raised its forecasted operating profit from 700 billion yen to 730 billion yen, keeping it on track for its fifth consecutive year of record earnings.

The Uniqlo brand welcomed an increase in revenue and profit across all regions, with the international business performing particularly well, as revenues rose 33.8 percent year-on-year, excluding forex impact.

Performance was boosted by the swift opening of Uniqlo stores across Europe and the US, which Fast Retailing said had “further enhanced global brand power and generated strong performances”.

For FY26, the group predicts gains to continue into the second half of the year across all international regions.

Gu’s revenues also increased by 7.5 percent, while its operating profit was up 34.8 percent. A reduction in sales costs and product numbers were cited as the primary drivers.

In contrast, the group’s global brands category, which includes the Theory, PLST, Comptoir des Cotonniers and Princesse tam.tam, saw sales decline 4 percent in local currency terms.

The Theory brand in particular experiencing a decline in performance. Fast Retailing pointed to the dampening of summer sales due to cool weather. This was offset by an increase in profit, driven by lower discounting rates within the US business.

The board of directors at Destination XL Group Inc., (DXL), a publicly traded retailer specializing in Big + Tall men’s apparel, has advised that stockholders reject the revised offer made by Zodiac Partners II, LLC (“Zodiac”) on June 23 to acquire all outstanding shares of DXL for 0.84 dollars per share in cash, and not tender their shares. According to a statement from the DXL board, stockholders who have already tendered their shares may withdraw them at any point prior to the expiration of the offer at 5pm ET on July 24.

“The DXL Board of Directors remains committed to maximizing stockholder value and acting in the best interests of all DXL stakeholders,” said Lionel Conacher, chairman of the board of DXL, in a statement. “After careful review of Zodiac’s revised proposal, the Board unanimously concluded that the modest increase in consideration still undervalues DXL and is not in the best interests of our stockholders. The Board reiterated its belief that Zodiac’s repeated offers are highly conditional, opportunistic and seemingly timed to deliberately exploit a period of market dislocation. We therefore recommend that stockholders reject the Revised Offer and do not tender their shares.”

The DXL Board issued its formal recommendation in a Solicitation/Recommendation Statement on Schedule 14D-9 filed on Wednesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). According to the statement, the company is committed to maximize shareholder value and act in the best interest of the Company and its shareholders, based on "current expectations, estimates and beliefs of DXL management."

Zodiac Partners II, LLC, an acquisition entity of Camac Fund, first announced on May 12 an offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Destination XL Group, Inc. for 0.82 dollars per share. On June 3, DXL announced it was not longer continuing with its planned merger with FullBeauty Brands, previously announced in December 2025. On June 23, Zodiac made its second offer, raising it to 0.84 dollars per share, with the total transaction valued approximately 46 million dollars.

Ziggy Gokea, managing member of Zodiac Partners II, LLC, said the second offer "was designed to show the Board the flawed nature of the Full Beauty Brands (“FBB”) merger and to give stockholders a better path forward. The strength of the support we have received to date is a clear signal that stockholders want a choice.”

Authentic Brands Group is accelerating its European expansion of Lee through a new long-term partnership with Experience Group. The deal intends to strengthen Lee’s presence across wholesale, retail and e-commerce, while further extending the brand’s international reach.

Through the agreement, which will come into effect after Authentic finalises its acquisition of Lee, Experience Group will serve as the denim specialist’s operating partner, overseeing men’s and women’s sportswear, activewear and workwear. The company will utilise its regional expertise, operating infrastructure, and product capabilities to back Lee’s next phase of growth.

Authentic’s president of EMEAI, Henry Stupp, said the partnership marked an “important step in Lee’s international expansion strategy”, adding that Experience Group offered “proven operating capabilities and a clear understanding of how to build brands across channels”. “Together, we see a significant opportunity to grow Lee’s presence across Europe while continuing to deliver the products and experiences consumers know and love,” Stupp added.

Authentic announced plans to acquire Lee from Kontoor Brands earlier this year, revealing a deal valued at up to one billion dollars. The acquisition, set to close in the second half of 2026, extended Authentic’s long-term streak of snapping up notable labels, placing Lee alongside the likes of Guess, Dockers and Boardriders.

The group quickly sought to impose its signature third-party licensing and distribution model onto Lee, securing a partnership with One Jeanswear Group for the brand’s operations in the US and Canada.

Luxury brand Marine Serre was placed into receivership on July 7. The brand is now seeking an investor to continue its operations, according to reports from WWD.

Famous for its crescent moon logo, Marine Serre has successfully attracted a large customer base by championing sustainable fashion through a circular approach that underpins its aesthetic. Like other luxury brands such as Coperni, which entered receivership last June, Marine Serre has not been immune to sluggish consumption. This has affected part of its wholesale network, alongside rising costs.

Pressure on cash flow

“During the 2025 financial year, amid a deteriorating global geopolitical and economic climate, the company was affected by payment defaults from several clients. This put pressure on its cash flow,” stated the press release quoted by WWD.

The brand clarified, however, that the house's “creative identity” and its “attractiveness on the international market” remain strong. To continue operating and growing, Marine Serre is now looking for a financial partner.

Most recently, the company launched a collection in collaboration with the Louvre museum, as well as another with sportswear brand Under Armour.

The European textile recycling alliance, ReHubs, has appointed a new board to drive the further development of textile-to-textile recycling in Europe.

New board members are Luca Campadello of Italy's Erion; Kasper Damsø of Denmark's NewRetex; Gianluca Pandolfo of France's Reju; and Paolo Sandri of Thai chemical group Indorama Ventures. Re-elected board members include Dirk Vantyghem of industry organisation Euratex, Felix Poza of Inditex and Véronique Allaire Spitzer of Refashion.

The new chairman of the board is Robert van de Kerkhof (Pepper-i2), while Kasper Damsø and Véronique Allaire Spitzer have been appointed co-chairs.

The new board is tasked with the further implementation of the ReHubs strategy. The alliance aims to recycle 2.7 million tonnes of textile waste annually from 2035, contributing to the transition to a circular textile industry.

The 'Breaking the Supply-Demand Deadlock' strategy, published in September 2025, outlines how ReHubs plans to address the current bottlenecks between the available supply of recycled fibres and market demand. According to the organisation, closer collaboration between collectors, sorters, recyclers, fibre producers, manufacturers and brands is necessary to enable textile-to-textile recycling on an industrial scale.

“The transition to a circular textile industry is urgently needed, but it cannot be achieved by one organisation alone,” said Van de Kerkhof. “With this new board, we have the expertise and shared ambition to further expand collaboration throughout the supply chain.”

ReHubs expects the new board to focus on stimulating investment, strengthening collaborations and creating better conditions for the further growth of circular textile solutions in Europe.

The new board was elected during the annual ReHubs event in Brussels on June 23, which took place concurrently with the Textile Recycling Expo and Future Fabrics Expo.

This news report was written with the help of AI.

US apparel company Levi Strauss & Co. (LS&Co.) has once again exceeded market expectations in the second quarter of its 2025/26 financial year. Following the unexpectedly strong results, the denim specialist raised its annual forecast again on Wednesday evening.

In the three months to May 31, revenue amounted to 1.56 billion dollars. This represented an eight percent increase compared to the same quarter last year. On an organic basis, which adjusts for currency effects and changes in the group's portfolio, revenue grew by six percent.

Above-average growth in retail revenue

The growth driver was its own retail business, the strengthening of which is one of management's strategic priorities. Its revenue increased by 11 percent (organically +8 percent). In the wholesale business, the company achieved an increase of five percent (organically +3 percent).

Revenue for the core Levi's brand developed particularly dynamically in Asia, growing by ten percent (organically +12 percent) to 284 million dollars. In the Americas, sales increased by nine percent (organically +7 percent) to 815 million dollars. In Europe, it rose by four percent to 420 million euros; however, on an organic basis, it declined by one percent. Revenue from the sportswear brand Beyond Yoga amounted to 43 million dollars, exceeding the previous year's quarter by 16 percent.

Despite higher tariffs and negative currency effects, the company was able to increase its gross margin by ten basis points to 62.7 percent. According to a statement, this was primarily due to lower product costs and an adjustment in pricing policy. As a result, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), adjusted for special items, grew by 18 percent to 141 million dollars. Reported net profit rose by 30 percent to 87.3 million dollars. The quarterly surplus from continuing operations, which excludes the earnings contributions from the Dockers brand sold last year, increased by 19 percent to 94.8 million dollars.

CEO Michelle Gass anticipates further growth

In light of the surprisingly strong figures, the company raised its annual forecast again. Revenue from continuing operations is now expected to grow by 7.0 to 7.5 percent, up from the previously forecast increase of 5.5 to 6.5 percent. The target for adjusted earnings per share, previously set at 1.42 to 1.48 dollars, has been raised to 1.46 to 1.52 dollars.

CEO Michelle Gass expressed her satisfaction with the recent performance. "The Levi's brand is connecting with consumers around the world in a deeper way than ever before, and our second-quarter results are further proof that our strategies are working and our team is executing them successfully," she explained in a statement. The focused development towards a D2C-led denim lifestyle company is leading to faster growth and greater profitability.

Gass also anticipated further improvements. "While we are pleased with the progress, we are still in the early stages of our long-term growth trajectory, with more opportunities for success ahead of us than ever before," she emphasised.

Vinted has joined a coalition of European companies across media, telecoms, retail, and advertising technology, launching a new initiative: the European Media Marketplace.

The initiative, launched on July 7, aims to change how advertisers, agencies and publishers activate campaigns and connect across Europe's open web. Among the first founding members of the initiative are T Advertising Solutions, Equativ, Experian, Lastminute.com, Leboncoin and Kleinanzeigen, Orange Advertising, Vinted, Virgin Media O2 and Vodafone.  

The European Media Marketplace will seek to overcome the fragmentation in media buying, audience data and campaign activation across different countries, channels and platforms. 

Rather than functioning as a publisher or data alliance, the marketplace is set to connect media owners, trusted first-party data and AI-powered activation through a single framework, allowing campaigners and advertisers to activate campaigns across connected TV, video, display, native advertising and retail media.

Providing an alternative to closed advertising ecosystems, the European Media Marketplace is built around collaboration, privacy and interoperability, with publishers' interests at its core. Media partners keep full control of their inventory, data and commercial strategy, while advertisers gain simpler campaign activation, clearer reporting and better results.

The new marketplace reduces the number of intermediaries between advertisers and audiences, thereby retaining more value within Europe's own media and data ecosystem, including publishers, CTV platforms, broadcasters, telecoms companies, retailers and data owners, while giving brands access to trusted audiences in premium environments across the open web.

"Every day, millions of people across 25 markets in Europe use Vinted to buy and sell second-hand fashion and consumer goods. This gives us a unique understanding of our members and their needs across Europe," said Satya Vinnakota, Business Director of Ads, Vinted, in a statement on joining the coalition.

"Joining the European Media Marketplace as a founding partner lets us turn that insight into measurable, transparent value for brands while keeping our members' data under our own governance." 

The new marketplace will initially launch across the UK, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy, with other markets in the pipeline. Global advertisers that have registered are expected to start preparing to launch omnichannel campaigns across Europe through the platform from September 2026.

Golf footwear brand Alma Mater has announced a new group of athlete investors as it prepares to open its next fundraising round, bringing together professional golfers and stars from the NFL, NHL, MLB and NBA.

The investor line-up includes golfers Taylor Montgomery and Natasha Oon, NFL players Jordan Poyer and Levi Wallace, NHL veterans Joe Pavelski and Tyler Seguin, alongside former MLB players Kevin Millar, Jackie Bradley Jr., Jed Lowrie and Chris Young.

The announcement comes as the company looks to accelerate growth following the launch of its Beta golf shoe, which debuted in 2025. Built around Alma Mater's proprietary 3PE Technology, the shoe was designed to combine performance, comfort and style without the trade-offs traditionally associated with golf footwear.

In a statement, chief executive officer, Nathan Brown, said the athletes invested because they believed in the product rather than as part of a sponsorship agreement. "This group didn't sign on for a check. They invested because they've worn the shoe, they know what we're doing differently, and they want to be part of building something that gives golf what it deserves."

The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO), a Washington, DC-based trade association that represents the full breadth of the US textile industry, has offered recommendations in the US Trade Representative’s (USTR) ongoing Section 301 investigations, calling for new tariffs on apparel imports from countries at risk of forced labour in their supply chains, while proposing three reforms to encourage the growth of the domestic industry.

NCTO advocates for domestic textile industry protection in USTR Section 301 Investigations

According to the NCTO, forced labor remains prevalent across international textile and apparel supply chains, putting US manufacturers at a "disadvantage." The organization argues that the administration now has the opportunity to "take meaningful actions in the investigations to revitalize the domestic textile industry" while protecting it from "predatory trade practices like forced labor."

At the same time, the NCTO warns that while the right approach "could potentially double industry capacity," the wrong one could "cost US jobs" and cause "irreparable harm." The tariff recommendations come ahead of NCTO president and CEO Kim Glas testifying at the USTR hearings on Section 301 forced labor investigations on July 9.

NCTO's recommendations come after USTR initiated 60 investigations into economies alleged to have failed to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor in March. After reviewing more than 450 written comments and hearing from nearly 60 witnesses, USTR found all 60 economies actionable and proposed tiered additional duties on June 2, including 10 percent for jurisdictions with forced-labor import prohibitions or commitments, and 12.5 percent for those without.

The USTR investigation is widely seen as the next step in replacing the administration's IEEPA tariffs. With a temporary 10 percent Section 122 surcharge set to expire on July 24, 2026, unless Congress extends it, USTR has an incentive to finalize the Section 301 duties before then. For countries that rely on garment production and export, including Bangladesh, Vietnam and India, the proposed duties would land hard on top of what has been a turbulent year to date, as the current tariff regime has already driven sharp export declines and led to tens of thousands of job losses across Bangladesh and India.

In addition to urging the USTR to impose Section 301 duties on apparel and finished textile products from China, the Global South, and Southeast Asian countries at risk of using forced labor in manufacturing, and to strengthen customs enforcement, NCTO is also calling on USTR to preserve duty-free treatment for textiles and apparel that meet the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) requirements.

The organization is also urging necessary reforms within the USTR's proposed textile mechanism to support domestic growth. NCTO calls for three reforms within the textile mechanism proposed by USTR as part of its forced labor investigation. These include the exclusion of raw cotton from the mechanism, arguing that the cotton track rewards the offshoring of US yarn, fabric, and apparel production and ultimately benefits Asia. NCTO is also seeking an exemption from additional Section 301 tariffs for textile manufacturing inputs and machinery not available domestically, to protect US competitiveness. Lastly, the organization calls for the mechanism to be restructured to incentivize more Western Hemisphere sourcing, rewarding supply chains free of forced labor.

To aid these reforms, NCTO has partnered with the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA), the United States Fashion Industry Association (USFIA), and the US Industrial and Narrow Fabrics Institute (USINFI) to develop an alternative textile and apparel incentive program, the first time these organizations have jointly advocated for a trade policy initiative. The program is designed to "reshore domestic manufacturing, stabilize and grow Western Hemisphere textile and apparel supply chains, and help brands and retailers to diversify sourcing at a critical time.

"USTR should include an innovative textile proposal that would reward the whole textile and apparel supply chain, including US cotton, through a novel program developed by NCTO and brands and retailers to create over 56,000 jobs in the United States," the submission stated.

Final decision-making by the USTR is expected to occur before July 24.

MVC Group, a company specialising in technical apparel for cycling and outdoor sports, has established MVC UK Group Ltd. This marks the group's tenth international subsidiary.

The new entity will manage the direct distribution of the Castelli and Sportful brands in the UK and Ireland. Management explained this will "generate synergies and operational efficiencies that will allow the group to significantly strengthen the presence of the two cycling brands in the area".

"With this new operation, the third completed in less than a year, we are achieving an important objective: direct control of distribution in specific strategic markets where, from today, we aim to grow even faster. We will work in the area ensuring operational continuity for our customers, while at the same time investing to support new commercial initiatives,” emphasised Emilio Foà, chief executive officer of MVC Group, in a statement.

MVC Uk has taken over operations from Saddleback, the long-standing distributor and partner. Saddleback has ceased its activities after contributing significantly to the success of the Castelli and Sportful brands in the UK for many years.

The establishment of the tenth subsidiary falls in line with the group's multichannel development strategy. This strategy aims to more efficiently oversee selected markets where it intends to support commercial expansion, including through dedicated investments. The move follows the acquisition of Wolvenberg, announced last February, which led to the creation of Mvc Benelux.

The objectives set for the UK markets will further strengthen those already outlined in the group's three-year plan. The plan estimates a significant increase in turnover to approximately 150 million euros in 2028.

French running equipment specialist i-Run has acquired its Belgian counterpart Trakks. This strategic move, announced by Trakks in a LinkedIn post, allows i-Run to open its first physical stores outside of France. The company already has a strong online presence across Europe.

The French running specialist has bought the six physical shops and the e-commerce site of the Belgian brand Trakks, according to reports from the business daily L'Echo. The financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed. Trakks' physical network includes six points-of-sale located in the following municipalities: Etterbeek; Uccle; Charleroi; Rocourt; Jambes; and Waterloo.

In a LinkedIn post, Christophe Thomas, founder of Trakks, wrote: “This may seem like a “simple” deal, but it is much more than just a deal (...) Over months of discussions with the i-Run management, we discovered that we share genuine and sincere common ground. This has only strengthened our desire to work together.”

The i-Run company, founded in France in 2007, currently operates 24 stores in its domestic market. At the same time, the distributor has developed a strong digital presence with e-commerce platforms active in several European countries: France; Belgium; Spain; Germany; the Netherlands; Portugal; Austria; and Italy. This acquisition agreement significantly strengthens i-Run's position in the Benelux sportswear market.

Workers at Net-a-Porter’s Charlton warehouse have resumed their strike after rejecting the luxury e-tailer’s latest pay offer. After a period of postponement, action by members of trade union GMB walked out again on July 7 and continued into July 8.

GMB said the majority of workers have rejected the company’s pay offer, with fresh redundancies also said to be adding towards growing anger across the workforce. The organisation had postponed industrial action earlier this year to allow for negotiations, with the goal of reaching a revised agreement on an improved offer.

In a statement, Craig Prickett, GMB regional organiser, said: “Members are raising serious concerns that a significant part of the proposed pay package relies on performance targets they believe are unrealistic, unachievable and, in many cases, outside of employees’ control. The dispute has further intensified following the announcement of a further round of redundancies, leaving many employees facing uncertainty over their jobs.”

Strike action at the Charlton warehouse was first initiated in May, at which time deliveries were expected to be “savaged” despite the warehouse remaining operational. Workers raised concerns over Net-a-Porter’s alleged failure to pay the London Living Wage to its lowest-paid staff.

At the time, LuxExperience, Net-a-Porter’s parent company, said it was “open to engaging in constructive dialogue with union representatives as we navigate the next steps in this process”.

The strike comes as Net-a-Porter’s financial positioning continues to improve under the turnaround strategy of LuxExperience. The German multibrand group reported the stabilisation of revenues during the Q3 of 2026, with the luxury segment, including Net-a-Porter, anticipated to show further improvements. FashionUnited has contacted LuxExperience with a request to comment on the latest strike action.

Ankara - US president Trump wants to end all trade with Spain. At a press conference during the NATO summit in Ankara, Trump said: “I don’t want to continue trading with them”. Similar to last year's NATO summit, Trump was deeply annoyed with the position of NATO partner Spain.

“Spain is a terrible partner in NATO. They don’t participate, they don’t pay,” said Trump. “End all trade with them.” US treasury secretary Scott Bessent was also present at the press conference. He made no concrete announcements on how such a measure would be implemented.

Trump's plan would not be easy to implement, as Spain is a member of the European Union and the European single market. In trade matters, member countries have largely transferred their powers to the European Commission in Brussels, which speaks and negotiates on behalf of the member states.

London-based start-up Fleek, which is building the AI infrastructure to digitise second-hand fashion supply chains powering Vinted, Depop and Whatnot, has secured 25 million US dollars in Series B funding.

The investment was led by Burda Principal Investments, an early Vinted backer and lead investor in its Series C round, with participation from Ebay, FJ Labs, and H14, alongside existing backers, including Andreessen Horowitz, HV Capital, and Y Combinator.

In a statement, Fleek said the funding would be used to accelerate the development of its AI-native marketplace, expand its engineering teams, scale its technology platform and grow its global buyer and supplier network.

Founded in 2021 by Abhi Arora and Sanket Agarwal, Fleek is taking on the manual, fragmented and offline infrastructure powering the 200 billion US dollar second-hand industry with its proprietary AI-powered business-to-business marketplace and systems designed to digitise the second-hand supply chain.

Abhi Arora, co-founder and chief executive of Fleek, said: "Most people have no idea what happens to a piece of clothing after they part with it. It travels thousands of miles, gets sorted by hand in a warehouse in Karachi, and finds its way back to a vintage shop in London or New York, if it's lucky.

“We started Fleek because that system is broken, the market it serves is exploding, and nobody is building the technology and infrastructure to fix it."

Fleek: connecting the global second-hand fashion economy with AI-powered technology

At the centre of the platform is Fleek Sort, a custom vision language model trained on millions of second-hand marketplace transactions from Fleek’s global network over the past four years. The AI model, which is already used by graders in sorting hubs in Pakistan, India and Dubai, and in pilots launching in the UK, Europe and the US, identifies, categorises, grades and merchandises second-hand garments using photographs or videos from smartphones, and then turns a historically manual process into a digital workflow. As more inventory is graded, listed and sold through the platform, Fleek Sort continuously learns from real-world outcomes.

Once processed, inventory is automatically listed on Fleek's marketplace, where AI-powered pricing, search, recommendation and matching systems connect stock with relevant buyers around the world. Every transaction also generates additional data that improves the platform's understanding of second-hand inventory, creating a proprietary intelligence layer for the industry.

Julian von Eckartsberg, managing director of Europe at Burda Principal Investments, said: "We backed Vinted when second-hand fashion was still considered niche. We know what it takes to build a platform that scales in this market. From its growing supplier network to the technology behind it, Fleek is building the infrastructure the next generation of fashion will rely on."

Fleek connects vintage clothing wholesalers and retailers

With up to 24 billion second-hand clothing items moving annually through the global supply chain, Fleek states its AI-powered approach will help suppliers increase recovery rates, enable buyers to source inventory more efficiently and reduce the volume of wasted clothing.

To date, the company said it has kept more than 12 million items in circulation and has connected more than 2,000 verified wholesale suppliers and graders with over 50,000 retailers, resellers and boutiques across more than 100 countries.

Sanket Agarwal, co-founder and chief technology officer of Fleek, added: "There's more data locked inside the global second-hand supply chain than almost any other market, yet historically very little of it has been captured.

“We've built the world's first AI trained specifically to understand second-hand inventory, what it is, what it's worth, who wants it and where demand exists. Every transaction improves that understanding, creating an intelligence layer we believe will become critical infrastructure for the future of the industry."

US workwear brand Dickies has named Just Now Distribution, in partnership with Luke Distribution, as its new commercial partner amid plans to accelerate growth in the UK and Ireland.

The strategy, which also includes a regional wholesale footprint expansion, is being overseen by SportLux, the owner and operator of the Dickies label across Europe.

Just Now Distribution will take on sales, wholesale development and market expansion activity, with operational and financial infrastructure support to be provided by Luke Distribution to ensure immediate delivery requirements and long-term growth.

In a statement, Juls Dawson, founder and managing director of Just Now Distribution, said the firm was excited to partner with Dickies at “an important stage of the brand’s development”.

For Dawson, the connection to Dickies is also personal, with his grandfather having previously stocked the brand in his retail chain stores, making this partnership a “genuine full-circle moment”.

“Dickies has incredible heritage, enormous cultural relevance and huge untapped potential within our market,” Dawson added. “Working alongside SImon [MD of Luke Distribution] and the Luke team gives us the operational scale required to execute from day one, and we genuinely could not be more excited about the opportunity ahead.”

Dickies was acquired by Bluestar Alliance for 600 million dollars in late 2025, and has tasked SportLux as part of a master-licensing alliance to shift the brand’s positioning and scale up its wholesale presence across Europe.

German and Danish shipping giants Hapag Lloyd and Maersk announced in a routing update yesterday that they would resume services through the Red Sea route, effective immediately. This affects specifically their SE3 service, which is the gateway to Europe from China via the Middle East.

SE3 starts from Qingdao in China or Kwangyang in South Korea before continuing to Ningbo in China, just about 400 nautical miles away. The journey then continues to Tanjung Pelepas in Malaysia for Southeast Asian markets and Port Said and Damietta Port in Egypt near the Suez Canal for fast and efficient connections to Italy, Greece, the Black and Red Sea. On the return route, the ships will stop at the important ports of Colombo in Sri Lanka and Singapore.

Mid East gateway to Europe from Asia is open again

“Following a careful assessment of the current security situation in the Red Sea area, Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk have decided to implement a structural change to one of the Gemini services: effective immediately, the SE3 service will now sail via the Red Sea route instead of transiting via the Cape of Good Hope. The first sailing will be the Majestic Maersk,” stated the update.

“The Red Sea route is the most efficient connection for these voyages and helps us provide a more direct and faster transport option for our customers with transport between Asia and Europe. The safety of our crews, vessels and customers’ cargo remains our highest priority. We will continue to closely monitor the situation and inform affected customers in case of further relevant changes,” the shipping giants added.

Cautious return to the Red Sea

While this is a positive operational update, the garment industry remains cautious because the return to the Red Sea remains highly dependent on regional stability. On Sunday itself, a bulk cargo vessel came under attack in the southern Red Sea approximately 30 nautical miles (55 kilometres) southwest of Al Hudaydah (Hodeidah), a strategic Yemeni port city currently controlled by Houthi rebels.

According to maritime agencies including the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), a small skiff carrying armed assailants approached the bulk carrier and opened fire. Onboard private security guards engaged in a brief firefight with the attackers and successfully returned fire, after which the skiff retreated. Both the vessel and its crew are safe. No group has officially claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

Thus, western brands are maintaining diversified logistics strategies, such as keeping rail and air freight options on standby just in case geopolitical volatility forces another sudden rerouting. In addition, competition for container space is fierce and prices are still inflated.

L'Oréal and Gucci said they have reached a licensing agreement lasting 50 years for the French company to make perfumes and cosmetics under the name of the Italian fashion house, Gucci's parent company Kering said Tuesday.

The agreement follows a decision to terminate a licence agreement between Gucci and US-based Coty a year before it was due to expire, Kering said in a statement.

The licence agreement between Gucci and Coty - which will receive approximately 400 million dollars in compensation - was due to expire in June 2028. The new licence agreement with L'Oréal is expected to come into force in mid-2027.

"By combining Gucci's global desirability and distinctive creative vision with L'Oréal's unparalleled expertise in beauty, innovation capabilities and worldwide distribution network, the partnership aims to unlock significant long-term growth opportunities across fragrance and beauty," Kering said.

Madrid – This Tuesday, July 7, the Inditex group's headquarters in Arteixo, A Coruña, once again hosted the company's 2026 Annual General Meeting. The event was opened by Marta Ortega Pérez in what was her fifth address to the shareholders of the Spanish fashion multinational, owner of Zara, since she officially became non-executive chair of its Board of Directors on April 1, 2022.

A summary video showcased the main initiatives from 2025 and early 2026. Afterwards, Ortega delivered her traditional annual review speech, welcoming Inditex shareholders to her fifth Annual General Meeting as head of the Board of Directors. Before handing over to Inditex's chief executive officer, Óscar García Maceiras, and the general secretary of the Board of Directors, Javier Monteoliva Díaz, who managed the meeting's proceedings under her supervision, Ortega looked beyond the figures. As is now customary under her leadership, Amancio Ortega's daughter focused on more than the magnificent results posted by the Spanish fashion multinational at the close of its last fiscal year in 2025. She instead highlighted the values, working dynamics, commitments, and strategies that underpin Inditex's operations, enabling the company to sustain its outstanding performance and achieve new record highs year after year.

The current climate is defined by two key factors. First, there are growing political and macroeconomic tensions across the globe, causing the fashion industry to look on with concern at events from America to Asia, via Europe and the Middle East. Second is the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI), which promises to completely revolutionise our lives and business dynamics. In her welcome message to shareholders, the Inditex chair addressed both these issues. She downplayed the potential impacts of global tensions and the capabilities of AI, subordinating them to what she considers Inditex's true strength and key differentiator: human value. This factor, she argued, allows Inditex to continue growing, generating value, and taking on an increasingly important role, not only within the fashion industry but also in today's challenging and disruptive world. Marta Ortega asserted that this human element has been and will remain the guiding principle for the Spanish fashion multinational and all eight of the commercial chains and brands in its portfolio.

Full speech by Marta Ortega Pérez during the 2026 Inditex Annual General Meeting

“Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, members of the Board, good morning, and welcome to this Inditex Annual General Meeting, which I am greatly honoured to chair once again. To change is not to cease to be. Sometimes, changing is the clearest way to recognise oneself. Inditex has changed many times throughout its history. It has grown, learned, and incorporated new tools, capabilities, and ways of connecting with people. One thing has not changed: our way of understanding things. I believe that is one of the great responsibilities for those of us who are part of this company. We must advance without losing our core focus; look forward without forgetting our origins; and reach further while remaining close. The environment changes, sometimes very quickly. Technologies, habits, markets, and expectations all shift. Even amid this constant movement, something remains: people, their emotions, their sensitivity, and what they expect from us. For this reason, beyond a year's results, which are of course important, a deeper purpose must guide us. We must continue to generate a positive impact wherever we are: here in Galicia, in Spain, and in all the places we operate. This requires something simple to say but not always easy to uphold: staying true to our path.

Thank you to each of the more than 160,000 people who make up Inditex, and to those who work with us, from our partners to our suppliers. Thank you also, of course, to our customers for their time, trust, and for allowing us to be part of their daily lives. Before I conclude, I want to take this opportunity to express a very special thanks to our director, Rodrigo Echenique, for his twelve years of rigour, dedication, and commitment. Rodrigo, it has been an honour to share this journey with you. Thank you so much for all these years. You know you will always be a part of our shared history. To all of you, thank you very much for joining us today and especially for your constant trust. Our chief executive officer and general secretary will now manage the proceedings of this meeting under my supervision. I now give the floor to our chief executive officer, Mr Oscar García Maceiras. Thank you very much.

On the 25,000 square metre site of Milieuwerk, near Sloterdijk, Amsterdam, a group of brand owners, textile processors and investors have gathered for the launch of Vnyx. This robot is set to transform resale into an attractive market.

Iced coffee and homemade pastries are ready for the attendees. From a two-metre-high mountain of clothes – discarded items from the metropolis – founders Vincent van der Holst and Romy Goedhart, the faces behind Vnyx, share their story. "Every three seconds, a truckload of textiles is dumped or incinerated worldwide. We have found a solution for that."

Vnyx is the name behind a series of innovative robots designed to help the resale market gain momentum in the coming years. Currently, it costs around 11 euros per garment to remove collected clothing from bales; sort it; clean it; photograph it; price it; relabel it and list it on a webshop, Goedhart later tells FashionUnited. The first bot, which the six-person start-up team worked on for two years, can do it faster and for a fraction of the cost.

"Robotics has always focused on making new, mass-produced fashion faster and cheaper," states Van der Holst. "Vnyx applies the technology on a large scale to second-hand items, overstock and returns." Additionally, AI can handle product photography and pricing, which are normally time-consuming, precise tasks.

Fleece for sale in two minutes

Not too much can be revealed about the Vnyx machine, says Van der Holst, as he demonstrates the latest version. Two patents were recently filed: one for the hanging system and another for the entire assembly line where the second-hand items are processed with the help of robots and AI.

Imagine a high monorail with stations. In one second, Van der Holst clicks a lava-print fleece jumper onto a 'smart' hanger, which opens automatically. The item passes through a photo studio, after which the computer can begin to determine its value. Shortly after, the webshop of Boas, the second-hand brand where it all began, appears on a large screen. The fleece costs 25.99 euros. It is already for sale.

Vnyx is not a sorting company. There are other established names for that, such as the nearby textile factory of Brightfiber Textiles, where all textiles from the city can be separated. Pre-sorted garments enter the front of the Vnyx system: items with a high probability of resale. In the future, this could be at a Zeeman or Vestiaire, with the machine located in their distribution centres.

AI

When scanning the clothing, AI reads a lot of data, including a reasonable selling price, the brand and the composition. This data is immediately integrated into the brand's system. Van der Holst: "Previously, resale was unprofitable because you had to figure out all those steps yourself, and it was cheaper to simply burn the items. We have managed to reduce the cost to a point where resale is profitable."

Each product also comes with five AI-generated photos in the system, presented on an attractive AI model. In addition, two real photos of the product itself are provided. "In times of fake news and AI, the customer also wants to see something tangible," says Van der Holst.

We R

At Milieuwerk, the Vnyx100 is on display. The first commercial version can upload up to a quarter of a million items per year to the websites of client brands. Vnyx retains ownership of the hardware and then charges per processed product. This way, the machine pays for itself quickly, and the brands do not have to come up with millions themselves, explains Van der Holst. "We are already running this system for Boas, Decathlon and Bever. With the largest system, we are targeting international fulfilment centres, major fashion brands and resale platforms, as well as sorting centres like the one here in Amsterdam." A pilot is also underway at one of the largest distribution centres in Europe, with 400 fashion brands as clients. He cannot disclose the name for now.

Behind the scenes, the next version, the Vnyx3000, is almost complete; it will be delivered in 2027. Milieuwerk has signed on for it: next year, three million garments will be processed at this location. A name has already been chosen for the collaboration: 'We R'. Van der Holst: "The robot takes away the tedious work and finally makes resale profitable, leaving more valuable work for the people at Milieuwerk." He is referring to tasks such as straightening the fabric or smoothing out a crease. That will soon be done in less than a minute, the founder promises. "We started with twenty minutes for the entire process, now it's down to two."

'Without automation, we will never make it'

One million euros have been invested in the research and development for the Vnyx100. The growth capital comes from a mix of angel investors, including Baltic Business Angels; impact partners such as Stichting DOEN and Earthstar; Squads; and Spark Design as an engineering investor, plus subsidies from the Dutch government (RVO).

For the next round, around 3 million euros in VC growth capital and another 2 million in European subsidies are planned to set up three large systems, the first of which has already been allocated.

Van der Holst is convinced that the machine can contribute to the European transition. "Without automation, we will never meet the European mandate to sell and recycle 55 percent of textiles. The strength of China – offshoring to a gigafactory – does not work here: second-hand is local, you do not transport a unique jacket halfway across the world."

XY Retail, the retail operating system for the Armani Group and other global luxury brands, has announced Vivek Veeramani as its new vice president, ecosystem and delivery. According to the company, Veeramani will strengthen strategic partnerships, supporting its next phase of growth.

"Our success depends not only on the strength of our platform but on the strength of the ecosystem around it. Vivek brings the operational discipline and partnership mindset to scale that ecosystem, ensuring our partners become an extension of how we deliver value to customers around the world," Susan Jeffers, CEO of XY Retail, said in a statement.

Before joining XY Retail, Veeramani held senior roles at ThoughtWorks, GoTo Group, Quess Corp, Nivoda and Technogise. He has over 25 years of leadership in enterprise technology, product strategy and business transformation across retail, banking, manufacturing and digital businesses in India, Southeast Asia and Africa.

"What attracted me to XY Retail is the combination of an ambitious product vision and a company already delivering for some of the world's leading luxury retailers. The opportunity now is to strengthen the partner ecosystem so customers can move faster, scale confidently and realize greater value from the platform. I'm excited to be part of that journey," Veeramani said.

XY Retail is a retail operating system that powers more than 1,500 stores globally for brands including brands including Giorgio Armani Group, LuisaViaRoma, Golden Goose, Boggi Milano and others.

Wardrobe styling app Whering has raised 7 million US dollars in funding led by Ebay Ventures and Google AI Futures Fund, as it surpasses 10 million users globally.

The London-based start-up, which launched in 2021 and was inspired by the iconic virtual wardrobe in the movie ‘Clueless,’ helps people create outfits from clothing and accessories they already own, tapping into a sustainable shift away from passive overconsumption towards more intentional wardrobe use.

In a statement, Whering said that the latest round of funding would support “the next phase of growth,” as it scales its AI-powered wardrobe technology to help users better understand what they own, wear more of it, and buy with intent, as well as drive towards its goal of building “a definitive data source” for the future of circular and personalised retail.

Bianca Rangecroft, founder and chief executive at Whering, said: “I launched Whering to help answer the question billions of people ask themselves daily: What should I wear today? Five years and 10 million users later, we’re thinking about what’s next.

“We have access to such a vast amount of data that hasn’t existed before, not just what people buy, but what people actually wear, what they wear it with and how it makes them feel. For us, what’s next is helping people not just when they get dressed in the morning, but every time they interact with clothes, whether that’s buying, selling or styling, and we have the data to do that in an incredibly personalised way.”

Wardrobe app Whering raises 7 million US dollars in latest funding round

With participation in Google AI Futures Fund, Whering is hoping to offer enhanced services powered by AI, such as generating suggestions that adapt to a user’s mood, the weather, or an occasion. It believes that with Google’s backing it can power a series of new in-app launches, such as automatically enhancing every uploaded image to a retailer-quality standard, adding a “gallery scanner” allowing users to extract and upload individual items directly from outfit photos in their camera roll, and adding a virtual try-on service to help users visualise how pieces work on their body.

David Benjamin from Google AI Futures Fund added: “Whering’s vision for a digital, AI-powered wardrobe that prioritises both personal style and the planet deeply resonates with us.

“We are thrilled to welcome them to Google AI Futures Fund and to support their journey in redefining the future of sustainable fashion through cutting-edge technology.”

Another enticing feature for investors is the way the platform gathers data about its mainly Gen Z user base’s habits, with its own research showing that 84 percent of its users now wear their clothes more often, while nearly 70 percent have reduced fast fashion purchases since adopting Whering into daily routines. In addition, over a third have also saved between 100 and 300 pounds annually.

Alexis Hoopes, vice president and global head of fashion at Ebay, said: “At Ebay we not only power recommerce, we empower the infrastructure that keeps fashion in rotation longer. This is exactly what Whering brings to industry and closets everywhere.

“The fashion industry’s buy, use, dispose model has been long overdue disruption, and with over 10 million users and digitised wardrobes, Whering is well positioned to be the catalyst.”

Whering is available to download on iOS and Android.

A series of escalating tariff regimes—most notably a universal 10 to 15 percent tariff implemented by the US—is triggering a massive reshuffling of global apparel sourcing. In addition, the US Trade Representative (USTR) launched a sweeping Section 301 investigation into forced labour compliance, threatening an additional 10 to 12.5 percent tariff on countries failing to strictly police their supply chains.

Impacts vary on apparel manufacturing and employment in traditional garment-producing hubs. According to the US Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA), imports from India declined by 28.7 percent year-on-year; from Bangladesh by 16.4 percent, while those from Vietnam increased by 5 percent. FashionUnited has taken a closer look at the situation in Bangladesh, India and Vietnam

Bangladesh: Double-edged trade deal among job losses

Bangladesh's textile sector has faced severe turbulence, caught between shifting tariff structures, domestic cost spikes and labour unrest. On the manufacturing side, Washington and Dhaka signed the US–Bangladesh Agreement on Reciprocal Trade to stabilise trade after the 2025 tariff shocks. This agreement reduced Bangladesh's headline reciprocal tariff rate to 19 percent, with a pathway to 0 percent tariffs only if factories use US-origin cotton or man-made fibres.

This “managed trade” deal has created a massive cost-push squeeze. Forcing factories to move away from cheaper, diversified cotton to more expensive US inputs has eaten away at net profit margins. Furthermore, the looming USTR forced labor ruling threatens to slap an additional 10 to 12.5 percent duty on top, stalling long-term brand orders.

On the employment side, the margin squeeze has hit factories hard. Western buyers are aggressively demanding discounts and stalling further order planning. According to the Business and Human Rights Centre (BHRC), more than 20,000 garment workers have lost their jobs through retrenchments or factory layoffs in the first half of 2026. Small-to-medium factories are facing bankruptcy due to falling export prices and rising energy and compliance costs.

India: Order drops and growing factory tension

As if the recent heatwave was not enough, India's garment sector has struggled significantly under the weight of the tariff changes, leading to severe localised industry friction.

Unlike Mexico, India enjoys no sweeping trade exemptions and has seen its garment and textile exports to the US drop by 29 percent. US brands rapidly redirected orders to lower-cost hubs when tariffs fluctuated, and Indian suppliers have found it incredibly difficult to win those customers back. “All the customers are already calling me. They want us to shift from India to the other countries,” confirmed Pallab Banerjee, managing director at garment supplier Pearl Global, when speaking to Reuters news agency.

To make matters worse, India was included in the USTR’s list of nations facing a potential 10 to 12.5 percent forced labour penalty surcharge, casting a shadow over future orders.

On the employment side, the 29 percent export drop has triggered intense financial distress across India's primary apparel hubs such as Noida and Tirupur according to the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO). Factory management teams have frozen wage hikes and delayed salaries, citing immense financial pressure from US tariffs. This has sparked widespread labour protests and strikes involving thousands of garment workers protesting unpaid wages and high domestic inflation as reported by the BHRC.

Vietnam: Restored competitiveness but supply chain risk remains

Vietnam has emerged as a resilient player, though it remains highly vulnerable to rules of origin violations due to improper labeling, falsified certification and the like. On the manufacturing side, Vietnam was the biggest beneficiary of the US Supreme Court ruling with the previous punishing IEEPA tariff of 46 percent plummeting to the flat 10 percent Section 122 surcharge (layered over standard Most-Favoured Nation (MFN) duties). This has restored Vietnam's cost competitiveness, helping its overall textile and garment exports rise by 1.7 percent to 22.2 billion US dollars in the first six months of 2026 according to the the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS).

However, a major hidden risk persists: Vietnam relies heavily on raw materials from China. Under US trade rules, if any Chinese-origin input is flagged, the garment faces transshipment penalties with punitive tariffs up to 40 percent. To combat this, Vietnam has rapidly scaled up imports of US cotton (now holding a 47 percent market share) to guarantee compliance.

While overall employment has stabilised due to a 1.3 percent uptick in shipments directly to the US (valued at 6.81 billion US dollars according to VITAS), the labour market is shifting. Basic Cut-Make-Trim (CMT) factories are downsizing, while specialised facilities focusing on high-value, sustainable and automated digital manufacturing are seeing job growth.

“The Vietnamese textile and garment industry no longer has much room for growth in scale. The road ahead requires us to shift towards improving productivity, added value, proactively securing raw materials, diversifying markets and promoting digital transformation and green transformation”, stated VITAS chairman Vu Duc Giang in a recent announcement.

Outlook

Recent shifts in US trade policy have disrupted Asian garment manufacturing, triggering severe job losses and export declines in Bangladesh and India due to tightening margin pressures, while enabling Vietnam to boost shipments and pivot toward automated, high-value production.

Going forward, apparel brands will increasingly bifurcate their sourcing, concentrating high-value, compliant orders in tech-forward hubs like Vietnam while strictly squeezing prices or exiting struggling South Asian markets unless those regions can rapidly automate and absorb these tariff-driven margin pressures.

Paul Marchant, who resigned from his position as chief executive officer of Primark last year, joined George at Asda as a consultant. According to a representative of the brand, Marchant has been advising on long-term strategy for the George business

"Paul is working with the George team to provide consultative support as we set out our strategy to grow the George business," a spokesperson of Asda told FashionUnited.

Marchant stepped down as Primark CEO in March 2025, following an investigation into allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards a woman in a social setting. The executive acknowledged his error in judgment and admitted his actions fell short of Associated British Foods' expected standards.

George Weston, chief executive of ABF, said at the time he was "immensely disappointed" by Marchant's behavior. "At ABF, we believe that high standards of integrity are essential. Acting responsibly is the only way to build and manage a business over the long term,” Weston added. ABF has since announced a definitive plan to demerge its retail business, Primark, from its food operations.

On July 3, Asda announced Helen Connolly as the chief executive officer of George. The appointment marked a return to the business for Connolly, who had previously spent 15 years with George across two periods.

George is currently going under a retail expansion strategy, after introducing its first standalone concept store in 2025. The clothing label is now expecting to open 100 dedicated locations over the next five years. Allan Leighton, chairman of Asda, said Connolly is “the ideal person to lead George through its next phase of growth.”

British retail giant Next is believed to be preparing to launch a takeover bid for Harvey Nichols just days after the owner of the department store chain announced plans to sell the business.

According to Sky News, Next has entered the race to potentially acquire the struggling retailer from billionaire entrepreneur Dickson Poon, who is mulling either a sale or new investment to help revive the chain.

FTI Consulting was reportedly brought in to oversee the process as “difficulties” within the business persisted.

For the most recently reported fiscal year ended March 30, 2024, Harvey Nichols recorded a pre-tax loss of 35.3 million pounds, widening on the 21.1 million pound loss seen in the year prior.

For Poon, the sale would bring to an end 35-years of ownership over Harvey Nichols. The businessman first snapped up the retailer in 1991 for 53 million pounds, and he has since remained as the chair of the company.

Harvey Nichols currently operates several locations across the UK, including Leeds, Birmingham, Manchester, London and Edinburgh, as well as stores in Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Dubai and Qatar.

Its Knightsbridge flagship store in London is in the midst of a multi-million pound refurbishment led by CEO, Julia Goddard, who took on the helm two years ago.

Convenience store giant 7-Eleven has sued Nike over claims that the sportswear giant copied its signature tri-colour stripe branding for a new sneaker design.

The filing specifically pertains to Nike’s use of an orange, green and red stripe feature seen on its incoming Air Max 95 sneaker, scheduled to release on July 11, typically referred to as ‘7-Eleven Day’.

In the complaint, which was issued with the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Nike was accused of “a callous and malicious disregard for 7-Eleven’s rights”.

The retailer said Nike’s upcoming shoe bore a “confusingly similar imitation” of its tri-colour branding, and added that the trademark-protected branding element has been used for decades across consumer-facing initiatives, from marketing to product.

In a statement cited by Reuters, 7-Eleven said “based on the unauthorised use of our brand along with the impending launch in a matter of days on our birthday, 7-Eleven Day, we had to act quickly and decisively to protect our brand”.

The retail chain said it had attempted to resolve the dispute prior to the lawsuit filing, but Nike planned to move forward with the launch regardless.

7-Eleven, which claims consumers are likely to mistake the shoe as either sponsored or endorsed by the company, is asking the court to block Nike’s sale of the shoe entirely, recall any products already distributed, and to issue any profits from the sale of the footwear.

Amancio Ortega, founder of Inditex, reportedly manages a real estate portfolio valued at around 20 billion euros through his holding company Pontegadea, according to Forbes.

Pontegadea, led by its chief executive officer, Roberto Cibeira, reinvests a significant portion of the dividends Ortega receives from the Galician textile multinational into leased, income-generating properties.

According to a ranking compiled by Forbes in April this year, the entrepreneur is the world's largest individual real estate owner, ahead of developers such as Australia's Harry Triguboff and the US's Donald Bren. At the time, the magazine valued his portfolio at around 25 billion dollars, spread across more than 200 properties in thirteen countries.

The Coruña-based group concentrates its rental assets in prime office buildings, logistics centres and hotels. The US remains its primary market by number of properties and rental income, despite a strong pace of acquisitions in Europe over the past two years.

The valuation has been revised upwards from the April Forbes estimate as the holding company has continued to make purchases. Its latest transactions include the largest refrigerated logistics centre for Lactalis in Canada, located in Oshawa, Ontario, for around 115 million euros. It also acquired a logistics warehouse in Sevenum, Netherlands, leased to Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein—both part of the PVH group—for 132 million euros.

Furthermore, Pontegadea is in exclusive negotiations to purchase the Parisian office complex Capital 8 from Invesco. According to Bloomberg, this deal could reach 850 million euros and would be the largest office sale in Europe since 2022. Forbes calculated in April that Ortega has invested 24 billion dollars in real estate over the 25 years since Inditex's stock market debut in 2001, acquiring 216 properties while selling just ten.

The latest official valuation of the portfolio, released through the holding company's accounts, corresponds to the end of 2024, when independent experts placed it at nearly 19 billion euros.

Gymshark founder and chief executive officer Ben Francis is believed to be in talks to buy back part of the stake held by private equity investor General Atlantic, according to the Financial Times, in a move that would increase his control of the activewear brand.

The discussions reportedly centre on the size and valuation of the transaction, with Francis also exploring financing options with banks. While he is said to have considered purchasing General Atlantic's entire holding, the report suggests a partial buyback is the more likely outcome.

General Atlantic acquired a 21 percent stake in Gymshark through a 200 million pounds investment in 2020, valuing the business at one billion pounds. Francis has retained a majority shareholding since the deal.

The reported talks come as Gymshark continues to navigate a more challenging trading environment. Revenue increased 6.5 percent to 647 million pounds in the year to July 2025, while pre-tax profit fell to 6.9 million pounds as the brand invested in physical retail expansion and restructured parts of the business to improve its European operations.

According to the Financial Times, Gymshark and General Atlantic both declined to comment on the discussions.

In recent years, the global textile and apparel landscape has transformed from a race for the cheapest labour to a high-stakes battle over supply chain data. While the EU and its trade partners are readying themselves for the upcoming Digital Product Passport (DPP), not a few are wondering which impact it will have on global logistics. Forward-thinking operators are looking at US Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) aggressive enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) as a real-world case study. The UFLPA represents the first time a major consumer market has successfully operationalised a “guilty until proven digitally innocent” standard for physical goods.

The UFLPA was signed into law in December 2021 and implemented in June 2022. According to the CBP definition, it “establishes a rebuttable presumption that all goods, wares, articles and merchandise mined, produced or manufactured, wholly or in part, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of the People's Republic of China, or by an entity on the UFLPA Entity List, are made with forced labor and are prohibited under 19 U.S.C. § 1307 to enter into the United States”.

Guilty until proven digitally innocent

The sheer volume of the recent UFLPA enforcement actions highlights that customs agencies have broken past standard administrative boundaries and are actively choking off traditional logistics routes. CBP's data reveals that the agency has subjected more than 18,000 global shipments to rigorous forced labour reviews, totalling roughly 3.81 billion US dollars. For apparel, footwear and textiles, this means that in the last four years, more than 13,000 shipments were flagged, of which almost two thirds (62 percent or more than 8,000) were denied while about one third (34 percent or around 4,500) were released; the remaining almost 500 shipments (4 percent) are currently pending.

In a significant operational shift, CBP altered its auditing criteria this year to track enforcement at the specific “individual import transaction" level rather than by entire shipment entries. This granular deal-level auditing exposes every single item in a container to targeted data validation but also excludes those that are not subject to UFLPA enforcement actions. For example, a shipment under one bill of lading or airway bill may contain different types of garments like cotton t-shirts, cotton pants, polyester vests and manmade fibre jackets from multiple garment-producing countries like China, Malaysia or Vietnam. It may contain three items that are subject to UFLPA enforcement actions. While the previous auditing criteria would have flagged the whole shipment, it now flags individual items.

Logistics bottleneck

For the apparel, footwear and textiles industry, this data-driven gatekeeping has triggered an unprecedented bottleneck. CBP statistics show a major spike in targeted interventions, with consumer products and apparel climbing to represent roughly 56 percent of all recent UFLPA detentions; the apparel sector alone accounts for 22 percent of these stops. The operational friction is perhaps best illustrated by this compliance reality: In fiscal year 2025, when roughly 7,325 shipments were held for review under UFLPA parameters, independent legal and industry reviews noted that only a minuscule 6.5 percent of those initial holds managed to clear and gain entry into the US market.

What makes the UFLPA a true preview of the EU’s DPP framework is the aggressive targeting of transshipment hubs. Importers who believed shifting final garment assembly to Southeast Asia would hide upstream compliance gaps have been hit with a reality check. While China accounts for 76 percent of apparel detentions, secondary hubs like Cambodia (9 percent) and Vietnam (7 percent) are actively being flagged and held. This mirrors how the DPP will operate under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR). The EU will not just inspect where a jacket was stitched; its automated customs systems will interrogate the entire structural history of the garment, from the Tier 4 raw cotton fibre to the chemical toxicity of the dye batches.

Furthermore, the mechanics of how these shipments are managed has entered a highly standardised, digital-first environment. With the launch of the required CBP Forced Labor Portal, the US government effectively ended the era of ad-hoc emailing and messy physical paperwork, forcing brands into structured digital workflows for scope reviews and exception requests.

A product without a digital passport is like a defective product

The DPP will run on this exact philosophy but at a much grander scale. Brands exporting to the EU will be required to feed 49 mandatory data points, which were published on 13th May 2026, into machine-readable, interoperable formats (ISO/IEC 15459) linked directly to a central EU registry. These data points are divided into four categories - product identification and information, producer identification and compliance documentation - and ten garment types. The latter are t-shirts, shirts, sweaters, jackets, pants, dresses, leggings & socks, underwear, swimwear and textile accessories and include workwear and sportswear but not smart and medical textiles and intermediate products like yarns, fabrics and fibres.

The clear takeaway for the textile industry is that a failure in digital tracing is now legally equivalent to a defective physical product. The UFLPA has spent three years conditioning customs officials to demand verifiable, unalterable proof of origin down to the raw material level before letting cargo pass.

The upcoming DPP will merely expand this template from labour origins to holistic environmental footprints. For apparel brands, the blueprint has been written: if you do not build robust digital twin frameworks and absolute, tier-by-tier data transparency into your supply chain today, your physical inventory will simply rot in a customs warehouse tomorrow.

Comité Colbert, a French committee uniting over 90 luxury houses across multiple sectors, formalised a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the French-Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, with the ambition to support the development of French luxury houses in India and remove the main barriers to their establishment in this growing market.

The partnership was formalised in the presence of Sanjeev Singla, ambassador of India to France; Éléonore Caroit, minister delegate to the minister for Europe and foreign affairs, responsible for Francophonie, international partnerships and French nationals abroad; and Marc-Antoine Jamet, secretary general of LVMH.

Comité Colbert aims to accelerate French luxury development in India

The observation is that brands established themselves in India relatively early. However, many subsequently slowed their investments due to a lack of growth. According to Bénédicte Epinay, general delegate of Comité Colbert, the situation has changed profoundly in recent years and brands must reassess the potential of the Indian market.

India has numerous cities with over ten million inhabitants and is now the third country in the world for the number of billionaires. It also has a significant population of millionaires.

To illustrate this potential, Jamet cited a few figures: ten million weddings are celebrated in India each year. A wedding lasts an average of four days. For one of these days, guests wear Western outfits, thereby creating opportunities for French houses.

Another indicator: LVMH employs around 300 staff in India, compared to approximately 20,000 in China. The group wishes to reach a level comparable to that of China and have as many stores in India as it does in France.

Closer trade relations with India appear to be a response to the uncertainties surrounding trade with the US and China. However, there are still three barriers to entering this market.

Non-tariff barriers (BIS), main obstacle to luxury development in India

Comité Colbert is making the simplification of non-tariff barriers its priority. The constraints particularly concern tannery processes and certain chemical substances, which are banned in India but permitted in other countries. Companies must undertake numerous administrative procedures with multiple authorities.

For some luxury houses, compliance costs are equivalent to, or even exceed, the turnover generated in India.

Customs duties remain very high on many product categories. They are the primary obstacle to market entry. Free trade agreements between the European Union and India should, however, gradually eliminate these duties. The stated objective is for customs duties to be abolished within approximately five years.

According to the European Union representative, this is the most significant free trade agreement ever concluded between the European Union and a single country. It is expected to facilitate both European exports to India and the trade of raw materials such as diamonds and precious stones.

On the distribution side, premium shopping centres are a recent development. The main high-performing malls have been established within the last ten years. The Jaya World mall in Mumbai opened in 2023. The high-end retail offering is therefore still under construction.

The MoU is the first international partnership of its kind focused on the Indian luxury market. It includes plans for round tables, symposiums, professional delegations, dialogues with public authorities and cultural exchange programmes.

Production workers in Tuscany, Italy, are preparing to go on strike on July 9 as calls for a restructuring of the supply chain landscape escalate.

According to figures provided by local trade unions, 830 leather goods companies in the province of Florence have closed since 2019, affecting 7,000 employees who were partially reabsorbed by other brands. Meanwhile, in the last two years, the use of the temporary redundancy fund has increased by 250 to 260 percent.

830 leather goods companies closed in Florence province since 2019

"We challenge the designer labels to come to the table to redesign the district together. The workers cannot be the ones to pay for the crisis; capitalism cannot be purely extractive; we must rebuild the quality of this district together," said the Florentine secretary of the CGIL, Bernardo Marasco, in a recently recorded video. Trade union representatives will take to the streets in Florence on July 9 to protest against the crisis in the fashion sector and to find solutions.

The unions are demanding urgent answers to avoid the risk of deindustrialisation. The Florentine secretary of the CGIL, Bernardo Marasco, added that “we are not only gambling with an industrial model but also a social one”. Among the points highlighted by the unions to revive the sector are anchoring production to the region, implementing reshoring policies to bring back offshored production to Italy, and ensuring traceable and sustainable supply chains.

Unions state brands must safeguard employment in the district

In detail, five proposals have been put forward by CGIL Florence, CISL Fi-Po, UIL Tuscany Coord. Florence and the relevant categories (for CGIL: Filctem, Fiom, Filcams, Filt) to save the sector.

A statement read: "We ask the Region to reconvene the sector's round table and involve the large groups present in the area. The major brands must maintain production volumes in our territory. For these brands, our territory must remain the benchmark and centre of excellence for production, design and product creation activities; they must, therefore, implement reshoring policies.

"At a time when new markets are opening up, such as South America, with the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement that came into force on May 1, 2026, it is even more important that production remains anchored to the territory. Trade benefits must not translate into offshoring. The region has a strong manufacturing tradition that must be preserved. Brands must safeguard employment in the district and guarantee the full use of social safety nets aimed at maintaining employment and skills in the area."

Access to credit and financial support are other desired measures

Furthermore, it was stated that "the production chains of our district must be legal, traceable, sustainable, and characterised by excellent workmanship. They must continue to be composed of all the product components of the production cycle. It is necessary for major brands to implement policies to shorten subcontracting levels, taking into account the absorption of existing skills within them".

The organisations added: "They must openly commit to the full legality of their supply chains in collaboration with public control bodies and trade union organisations. They must also commit to guaranteeing margins for the economic sustainability of the entire production chain."

Access to credit and financial support are other measures suggested by the unions.

The fourth point is professional training, which "must be the subject of shared planning between brands, the business system, social partners and the public body. This should enhance existing tools, from bilateral bodies to inter-professional funds, and build targeted paths to preserve and renew the manufacturing knowledge of the district".

Finally, as the fifth point, the unions demand that European structural funds for Tuscan SMEs be accompanied by clear employment clauses and tenders accessible even to the smallest artisan businesses. These businesses "form the productive backbone of our district, together with the safeguarding of our territory's commercial and logistics chain, which is essential to guarantee employment and continuity of flows".

For decades, luxury houses have mastered their image down to the finest detail. Every customer touchpoint, from advertising and window displays to boutiques, social media and runway shows, was meticulously scripted. This dynamic is now changing.

According to the fifth edition of the 'Luxury & Technology' study, published June 30 by the Comité Colbert and Bain & Company, artificial intelligence is no longer just a new internal tool. It is gradually becoming a new channel for brand discovery, forcing houses to rethink their visibility strategy far beyond traditional search engines.

This is a particularly crucial development, as consumers appear to be adopting the technology faster than the companies themselves.

Customers have already adopted AI

The figure is undoubtedly the most revealing of the study. Among top luxury clients, 82 percent report having used an AI tool during their last purchase. They use it to compare products; discover new brands; get recommendations; or prepare for their boutique visit. Even among consumers who ultimately bought in-store, nearly one in two had consulted an AI beforehand.

In other words, a part of the customer journey no longer begins on Instagram, Google or in a flagship boutique. It now starts with a conversation with a conversational agent.

A stated priority, but with few results so far

In 2024, 22 percent of luxury houses now place artificial intelligence among their top three corporate priorities, compared to only 5 percent two years earlier. More broadly, 61 percent now include it in their top ten strategic priorities.

However, the transformation remains largely unfinished.

Since 2024, the deployment of AI has progressed significantly in support functions, such as procurement, finance, human resources and operations, where productivity gains are most immediate. In contrast, customer-facing applications are advancing much more slowly. Crucially, fewer than one in five executives believe that AI projects have already had a significant impact on the business.

New battle: from AEO to the end of 'commodity content'

This is probably the main takeaway from this study, which aligns with the analyses shared by experts at the WAN-IFRA conference in Marseille. The industry is no longer just talking about SEO, but about AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), which is optimisation for answer engines.

According to Bain & Company, nearly 70 percent of luxury-related queries to generative AI do not mention any brand. Users ask, for example, which bag to buy or what watch to give as a gift, without mentioning a specific name. Furthermore, 90 percent of the links cited by the models direct to third-party sites rather than official brand websites.

During the conference in Marseille, search expert Jan-Willem Bobbink pointed out that “When an AI answer appears at the top of a search, a website loses an average of 40 percent of the traffic it would have captured if it were in the top five traditional results.”

'Commodity content' trap

This transition creates a clear distinction between two types of content:

• Cold or 'commodity content': Basic buying guides, generic tip lists and in-depth articles with no unique historical value are the hardest hit. AI summarises them perfectly, depriving brands of clicks.

• High-value experiential content (non-commodity content): As expert Clara Soteras highlighted at the WAN-IFRA conference, the key to surviving AI is to produce content based on unique perspectives, behind-the-scenes insights and authentic field expertise, which algorithms cannot invent.

Great return of fundamentals: AEO is still SEO

However, the challenge is not to reinvent the wheel. Behind the jargon of GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), the rules for optimising for ChatGPT, Perplexity or Gemini remain the same as for Google: a clear editorial structure with short paragraphs and precise subheadings; structured data; and strong brand authority. As Jan-Willem Bobbink ironically summarised to publishers: “It’s classic SEO with 50 percent more expensive packaging. It’s exactly the same thing.”

For luxury houses, historical advertising power is no longer enough. To exist in the AI era, they must become indispensable sources of authority, widely cited by third parties, to ensure that the 'conversations' of conversational agents are in their favour.

Not all houses start with the same advantages

The study also reveals an unexpected phenomenon. A house's economic power no longer automatically guarantees its visibility with AI.

Among the thirty most visible houses in generative engines, 70 percent of groups with revenues over 5 billion euros capture less visibility than their actual market share. Conversely, some houses with revenues under one billion euros manage to significantly outperform.

In other words, AI could redraw the balance of power and redefine the competitive landscape.

In this environment, several factors could gradually become as important as advertising power. These include the quality of published content; editorial richness; a presence on reference sites; and the ability to be cited by credible sources.

This development explains why some brands have already started reworking the editorial content of their product descriptions to improve their visibility in ChatGPT or Perplexity.

Towards a more conversational luxury

Beyond visibility, Bain and the Comité Colbert identify four major uses likely to permanently transform the customer experience: conversational commerce, AI-assisted personalisation, copilots for in-store advisors and a new generation of CRM and clienteling tools.

The common thread of these innovations is that they do not seek to replace the human relationship, but to enrich it.

At this stage, the most advanced application remains assisting in-store sales staff, providing them with real-time information on a customer's preferences, available stock or personalised recommendations. This application improves service without undermining the central role of the advisor.

New battle of influence

Ultimately, this study is less about the emergence of artificial intelligence in luxury and more about a shift in prescriptive power.

For a long time, houses sought to appear on the first page of Google or in social media feeds. Tomorrow, they will also have to convince AI models to recommend them when a user asks which coat to buy, what watch to give or which house best embodies a certain craftsmanship.

The battle for desirability now begins in a conversation.

Interview

British footwear brand FitFlop, founded by wellness entrepreneur Marcia Kilgore in 2007 and known for its ergonomic and wellness footwear, is undergoing a brand evolution to transform into a global lifestyle brand, aiming to "own summer" by focusing on women's footwear and expanding its reach through strategic collaborations to become a billion US dollar company.

In the past five years, since the appointment of former Ugg and Coach executive Gianni Georgiades as chief executive in 2021, FitFlop has been on a journey to reset its global brand image, transforming itself from a functional, comfort shoe aimed at an older consumer looking for orthopaedic relief into a design-led, science-driven innovative footwear brand, where “style is fused with comfort”.

“I’ve been here five years, and the brand has gone on a real evolution,” said Georgiades in an exclusive interview with FashionUnited at the brand’s SS27 conference. “We had great foundations and obviously heritage, but we weren't realising our full potential. To do so, I needed the team, the product, even the back-end operations all set up to deliver; that takes time, which is why I always set out for spring 2027 to be our big moment.”

Working alongside Georgiades on FitFlop’s brand reset is Louise Noble, chief product and brand officer, who joined the footwear company in late 2024, tasked with shaping the global creative, strategic, and innovative future of its product offerings. With experience as global category director of active lifestyle at Vivobarefoot and senior roles at Clarks and Nike, Noble has more than 25 years of experience across product creation, merchandising, and sustainable innovation, and her first fully directed collections for FitFlop are scheduled to debut for spring/summer 2027.

Other key members include Phil Brunetti, the brand’s head of product merchandising; Chris Anderson, footwear design director, who joined the company in May 2025; and Kim Lilley, innovation and product development director of product, who has more than 12 years of leading research and development projects and serves as FitFlop’s in-house biomechanist.

Georgiades added: “The starting point was having the right team. Before we started about product, before team culture, I needed a team around me that could sit in a room and plan and strategise and build things forward.

“There are a lot of brands now that talk about comfort, wellness and the science that goes in the product, but I can tell you nobody in casual or lifestyle footwear does what we do. We know what goes into making a performance product. We have 20 years of history; our technologies are real, they all stand for something, they all work. Now we need to fuse our technology and science with that comfort, without sacrificing style.”

SS27: Start of FitFlop’s evolution to drive global brand ambitions

As part of its ambition to become a global lifestyle brand, SS27 is FitFlop’s realisation of a “new era” of comfort, evolving its footwear brand, designed primarily for women, with a clear ambition to design “for women who make the ordinary extraordinary,” underpinned by its in-house biomechanics lab led by Dr Kim Lilley, which builds products utilising extensive scientific understanding of the female body to ensure that styles supports women through every part of their day, “empowering every movement from the first step to the last”.

As FitFlop enters its new phase of accelerated growth, the footwear brand is concentrating its efforts on collections that “feel purposeful, wearable and culturally in tune,” in response to global consumers increasingly seeking product that truly fits the way they live and “demanding comfort,” explains FitFlop’s CEO, with its core collections for SS27 bringing together “biomechanics, design and cultural insight to create product that supports the body intelligently, while connecting with how people want to live, move and express themselves today”.

“Women’s is the most important category to get right, and is our focus,” said Georgiades. “Whilst we still take care of men, we still bring out new products, ensuring that it's relevant product; it's women's where our focus and investment is. We want to create beautiful product that is comfortable. Comfort used to be a dirty word, but I’m not ashamed to say it, we’re going to own it, because we already own it, we're just not driving it hard enough, but that changes now.”

While open-toe styles, which the brand is known for, are still very much a key component of its upcoming drops, there is also a strategic move into “transitional close-toe” products, with the brand reporting “phenomenal” growth in its sneaker and ballerina styles.

Georgiades added: “With SS27, we’re setting a new direction for FitFlop, one that puts design and performance on equal footing. We’re seeing a clear shift in the market toward footwear that must deliver across multiple expectations: it needs to perform, it needs to be wearable, and it needs to feel relevant.”

A key highlight for SS27 is its iQushion products, tipped as the brand’s entry market styles, offering lightweight and flexible flip-flops and pool slides, in bold, playful colours, featuring technology that makes every step “feel soft, springy and light,” due to the high-rebound cushioning that absorbs impact and bounces back, while reducing fatigue and keeping movement smooth.

“iQushion is going to be something quite special over the next few years,” explains Georgiades. “It’s not just flip flops, it’s a really important part of our strategic approach to own summer. The market leader in that category has a tremendous business, but they don't have what we have; theirs is basic and not very comfortable, our technology makes them flip flops that you can live in.”

FitFlop to use collaborations to drive brand reach

With its core collections taking shape, FitFlop is also looking to drive brand awareness and expand its creative reach with a series of brand and designer collaborations.

With success from its partnership with London Fashion Week designer Roksanda, FitFlop is implementing a three-track strategy, designer collaborations that are “more direction, unexpected” partnerships, alongside more “commercial” collaborations, such as upcoming collections with Pantone and Haribo, as seen with its recent line with Keith Haring, which drew inspiration from the artist’s use of streets and subways of New York as a living canvas. In addition, FitFlop plans to add local collaborations with local designers to ensure “cultural relevance” in key markets, such as Asia, which is shaping up to be one of the brand’s strongest markets.

“The collaborations we do, it's really about generating interest, brand heart,” adds Georgiades.

FitFlop CEO: Global success comes with having the “right partners”

Since joining the business, Georgiades states that FitFlop has grown “every single year,” and 2025 was a financial record year, reaching 170 million US dollars, up from 114 million US dollars when he arrived.

“I have no doubt in my mind that this can be a billion-dollar brand,” adds Georgiades. “I've worked for billion-dollar brands, so I know it can be, because those billion-dollar brands don't do what we do. “We’ve sold more than 75 million pairs worldwide - the consumer is choosing our products, and even during the last few years where the world has been in turmoil, we grew nearly 60 percent. We're in that period where wellness, comfort, how a woman feels is really important. Once we fuse that style with comfort, which is what we're doing right now, the acceleration will come.”

The UK is the brand’s home market; however, it doesn’t have a standalone store here, but rather a multi-brand distribution through department stores, such as Selfridges and House of Fraser, whereas in Asia and the Middle East it has utilised distribution partners to roll out stores and brand reach.

Georgiades added: “We are a small to medium-sized brand. So, for us to be able to really scale, we need the right partners, and the likes of Samsung C&T Fashion in South Korea, Apparel Group in the Middle East, Whiteplane in the Philippines, and Albion 1879 in Spain are helping us to scale locally.

“They have the infrastructure, they have the experience, the right retailers and wholesalers. We couldn’t do it on our own. We see our disruptors as an extension of our team, and we work in partnership.”

FitFlop taking on Europe and South Korea

The most recent of those collaborations was with Albion 1879, which introduces, develops and manages international brands in the Iberian Peninsula, including AllSaints and Ugg, and opened FitFlop’s first-ever store in Spain, in Puerto Banús, Marbella, as part of the British footwear brand’s European retail expansion strategy.

Spain is described as a “strategic market” for FitFlop, and Albion 1879 are accelerating brand visibility and activation across the market, supporting the brand's vision to build momentum across Europe.

Growth in Europe will also be supported by a new warehouse hub in mainland Europe, which is set to open in the autumn. Georgiades adds the move will allow the brand to “really accelerate its digital business” across the region, with Germany and Switzerland being key targets for the brand.

“Brexit does not help trading with mainland Europe now,” states Georgiades. “The demand is there, but the service hasn’t matched it. You try being a customer waiting weeks for your product and paying a premium. Having a distribution centre in mainland Europe is a game-changer for us, and we need it to absolutely power what we want to achieve in mainland Europe. I really believe it will push our digital business through the roof.”

FitFlop has also started accelerating its South Korea expansion through an exclusive partnership with Samsung C&T Fashion, responding to consumers increasingly prioritising wellbeing alongside functionality and style, with comfort-led footwear emerging as a “high-momentum category,” explains the British footwear brand.

“South Korea is a market that doesn’t just follow trends, it helps set them,” explains Georgiades. “As consumers look for footwear that supports how they feel and live, we see a powerful opportunity to grow a category that blends style with real-world performance. Partnering with Samsung C&T Fashion enables us to scale with precision, combining the biomechanical expertise of FitFlop with their outstanding local retail and digital capability to build long-term brand momentum.”

Under the partnership, Samsung C&T Fashion lead FitFlop’s retail, digital and wholesale operations across South Korea. The company currently operates 22 premium shop-in-shop locations at key destinations, including Lotte Department Store Jamsil, Shinsegae Gangnam and Hyundai Department Store Trade Center. This retail presence will also be supported by “a robust online strategy and a broader wholesale distribution network”.

The first standalone concept store between the two opened recently at Starfield Suwon Mall, establishing the brand’s physical footprint in the country to bring the product experience closer to Korean consumers. The goal is to expand this concept store strategy to 30 locations across South Korea by the end of 2026.

FitFlop has a presence in 88 countries, through more than 5,000 stores and over 2,000 retailers. The footwear brand operates 89 concept spaces across the UK, Europe, the Middle East, India and APAC, and has showrooms in London and New York.

The White House has chosen not to renew its trilateral trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, also known as USMCA. The Trump administration has opted to conduct annual reviews of the deal after disagreeing with its current form.

In a statement, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said that following the most recent joint review, the US would continue to engage with Mexico and Canada to “address the agreement’s shortcomings and our trade deficits with these countries”.

The deal currently remains in force for the next 10 years pending resolution of these issues or until its termination. The US will meet with Mexico the week of July 20 for a third round of negotiations.

President Donald Trump had initially touted the USMCA as the “fairest, most balanced” trade agreement signed into law, yet his sentiments began to wane into his ongoing tenure as relationships between the neighbouring regions soured.

The deal came into question alongside other trade agreements Trump had deemed unfair towards the US. Upon taking up his presidency, Trump sought to establish deals he perceived as more favourable by imposing retaliatory tariffs on regions like the EU and beyond.

In February 2026, however, his plans faced a major setback when the Supreme Court ruled that the use of the International Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA) for broad duties was illegal, and ordered US Customs and Border Protection to process tariff refunds to impacted organisations.

The US then implemented a 10 percent across-the-board temporary import surcharge, set to expire July 24. The administration also expanded investigations targeting specific sectors and introduced a new wave of tariffs over concerns regarding forced labour.

Chanel announced the acquisition of shirtmaker Charvet on Thursday. The decision follows a historic relationship spanning several decades between the two French houses.

After 188 years of independence, the Parisian company Charvet is beginning a new chapter by joining the portfolio of luxury group Chanel. The financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed. The luxury brand emphasizes, however, that this acquisition is being carried out with “full respect for Charvet’s creative independence.”

In a message on its LinkedIn account, the house of Chanel noted that the two companies “share a common history and values: artisanal excellence, attention to detail and the transmission of unique know-how.” The house presents this acquisition as a continuation of a “creative dialogue established between Matthieu Blazy and Charvet since his first collection.” However, the link between the two companies is older.

Gabrielle Chanel herself wore shirts from the Charvet brand, as noted in the show notes for Chanel's spring/summer 2026 collection. In this show, Matthieu Blazy's first for the label, several looks featured the garment. The piece was weighted with a Chanel chain and designed in collaboration with Charvet.

Ensuring the sustainability of Charvet

The acquisition of the Charvet brand aims to “ensure the longevity of this emblematic house of French heritage and its unique craftsmanship,” Chanel stated. Located on the prestigious Place Vendôme, the Parisian house has existed since 1838 and has dressed several illustrious historical figures, including Winston Churchill.

“We are delighted with this partnership with Charvet, as it holds a unique resonance for Chanel,” said Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel Fashion and Chanel SAS, in a statement. “It reflects a shared approach to craftsmanship: with exacting standards, respect, and the conviction that it only truly comes into its own when it is cultivated over the long term.”

"At Chanel, we have always considered it our responsibility to support, preserve and keep alive these rare gestures, which embody both artisanal excellence and an essential part of our cultural heritage," says the executive

Madrid – The Inditex group has successfully completed the share buyback programme announced in early February. The programme was designed to increase the company's treasury shares to meet obligations from its Long-Term Incentive Plans for certain members of its management team and employees. This operation was finalised with a saving of approximately 19.5 million euros against the maximum planned expenditure.

As a starting point for this latest update, Zara's parent company Inditex had kept a share buyback programme open. On February 4, 2026, Inditex reported that its Board of Directors had approved the launch of a temporary share buyback programme during its meeting that day. The process was intended to ensure the company could meet its share delivery obligations to certain members of its management team, including its executive director, and other employees. These obligations were contracted under the first and second cycles of the 2023 to 2027 Long-Term Incentive Plan and the 2025 to 2029 Long-Term Incentive Plan.

Guidelines and limits were established for its proper execution. The programme involved the repurchase of up to a maximum of three million outstanding Inditex shares, representing 0.096 percent of its share capital, for a maximum amount of 180 million euros. This amount was the limit for repurchasing up to three million shares. The company planned to acquire these shares in two tranches. The first tranche, from February 5 to March 31, was for up to 1.6 million shares. The second, from May 1 to June 30, 2026, was for the remaining 1.4 million shares.

Saving of 19.5 million euros

Strictly adhering to the planned schedule, on March 25, Inditex informed the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) that it had successfully completed the first tranche of the buyback programme. The company had reached the maximum limit of 1.6 million shares. These shares were repurchased before the March 31 deadline for that tranche. They were acquired by Inditex through a series of operations concentrated in the periods of February 5 to 6; March 12 to 18; and March 19 to 25. During these periods, the company repurchased its 1.6 million shares, mainly after presenting its 2025 financial year results on March 11. A total of just over 82.67 million euros was allocated for this purpose.

Following a similar pattern, Inditex began executing the second tranche of the share buyback programme after presenting its first quarter 2026 results on June 3. The tranche was scheduled for May 1 to June 30 but was completed entirely within June. A series of share acquisitions were concentrated in the periods of June 4 to 10; June 11 to 17; June 18 to 24; and June 25 to 30. By the June 30 deadline, Inditex informed the CNMV that it had successfully completed the second tranche, again reaching the maximum limit of 1.4 million shares. The company spent just over 77.81 million euros on acquiring these shares. This amount, added to the 82.67 million euros from the first tranche, brings Inditex's total expenditure on the programme to just over 160.48 million euros. This is approximately 19.51 million euros less than the 180 million euro maximum set by the company.

Share prices from 49.29 to 57.92 euros

The shares repurchased by Inditex were acquired within a price range of 49.29 euros to 57.92 euros per share. The lowest price was paid in transactions on March 23, while the highest price was recorded on February 5.

In the final operations of the buyback programme, from June 25 to 30, Inditex repurchased just over 325,350 shares for more than 18.12 million euros. These funds were used to acquire shares at prices ranging between 54.60 and 56.84 euros.

To put these operations into context, the buyback programme's execution range of 49.29 to 57.92 euros aligns with the movement of Inditex's shares during the same months. The shares fluctuated between a low of 48.29 euros on May 13 and a high of 58.28 euros on February 20, 2026.

As a final update, Inditex shares closed at 55.12 euros per share on June 30, the deadline for the buyback programme's execution. This value was 2.62 percent lower than the 56.60 euros per share closing price on February 4, the day the programme was announced. The shares closed the session last Wednesday, July 1, at 55.74 euros per share.

Led by Germany, France and the Netherlands, an increasing number of EU member states are calling for coordinated European action against fast fashion and ultra-fast fashion.

The three member states raised the issue at the EU Environment Council in Luxembourg on Thursday. They appealed to the European Commission to make existing and planned EU regulations against short-lived and low-quality textiles more effective. Their call was supported by other member states, including Slovenia and Denmark.

“Ultra-fast fashion is only worn for a short time, but causes long-term trouble. Once discarded, it can hardly be reused as second-hand clothing or recycled, and it overwhelms used clothing collections. This puts a strain on resources, the climate and waste management. It also puts pressure on companies that invest in durable and circular textiles. We therefore call on the EU Commission to impose higher sustainability requirements on ultra-fast fashion manufacturers. Cheap, disposable clothing must no longer be a competitive advantage,” urged State Secretary for the Environment Jochen Flasbarth.

Clear criteria demanded

As FashionUnited previously reported, laws and regulations are currently being adapted in Germany to align with the “EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles”, which was adopted as part of the EU Green Deal. This includes shaping the regulations for textiles under the EU Ecodesign Regulation and incorporating requirements for recycled content, durability and recyclability.

Germany is also calling for clear criteria to “precisely define and accurately regulate ultra-fast fashion as a business model,” according to a press release from the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection.

Extended producer responsibility for textiles is another important lever in the fight against fast fashion and ultra-fast fashion. “Those who place large quantities of short-lived clothing on the EU market should also contribute appropriately to the costs of collection, sorting, reuse and disposal,” the Federal Ministry stated.

Online retail must be included

Germany, France, the Netherlands and other supporting member states are also advocating for European environmental and product standards to apply to online retail. This includes online platforms and direct sales from third countries such as Shein, Temu and others. At the turn of the year, a law banning advertising for ultra-fast fashion is set to be introduced in France.

As of July 1, customs duties will also apply to parcels from non-European countries, and the previous threshold of 150 euros for goods value will be abolished. Instead, a flat customs fee of 3 euros will be levied per product group in the parcel, and an import turnover tax will also be charged. This is intended to curb, if not stop, the flood of cheap products from non-European countries.

From July 19, 2026, large companies will be prohibited from destroying certain unsold products intended for consumers under the Ecodesign Regulation.

On Wednesday, luxury group Richemont, parent company of Cartier, announced it has finalised the sale of watchmaker Baume & Mercier to the Italian Damiani Group. The initial agreement for this private transaction was made public on January 22, 2026. It involves the acquisition of 100 percent of the Swiss brand's shares, with all prerequisite conditions having been met. The financial terms of this operation have not been disclosed.

Strategic transaction for the 'hard luxury' segment

This announcement demonstrates the desire of specialised independent groups to consolidate their position in the competitive 'hard luxury' market. Integrating a house with over 200 years of heritage allows the Damiani Group to diversify its offering beyond its jewellery brands (Damiani, Salvini, Bliss and Calderoni) and its art glass brand (Venini).

Development prospects and integration

The Damiani Group's long-term growth strategy for Baume & Mercier will initially focus on the Italian market, where the brand already has a solid presence. The group plans to use its own distribution network, particularly through its Rocca banner, which specialises in watches and jewellery.

Commercial expansion will also involve international retail development, with the gradual opening of its own boutiques in strategic locations. To ensure business continuity during the integration phase, Richemont will continue to provide operational services for a transitional period.

Reactions from the respective management teams

The leaders of both entities highlighted the complementary nature of this agreement. Nicolas Bos, chief executive officer of Richemont, stated in a press release: “The Damiani Group is a long-standing partner of both Baume & Mercier and Richemont. It successfully operates several of our partner boutiques and distributes watches from several of our houses within its Rocca network. Given Baume & Mercier's strong presence in Italy, its predominantly multi-brand distribution model and its positioning in the accessible luxury segment, the Damiani Group is ideally placed to support the house in a new phase of its development. We are confident that we have found the best home for Baume & Mercier to continue its growth in the years to come.”

Guido Damiani, executive chairman of the Damiani Group, confirmed this expansion ambition: “We are particularly pleased to welcome the house of Baume & Mercier into the Damiani Group's portfolio. This acquisition is a major step in strengthening our presence in the world of fine watchmaking and is fully in line with our long-term growth strategy.”

The executive also stated his conviction that the group will be able to “unlock the full potential of the house while preserving and enhancing its remarkable watchmaking heritage.”

Last May, the Richemont group announced its results for the staggered 2025/2026 financial year, reporting a 27 percent increase in net profit to nearly 3.5 billion euros. Its turnover for the past financial year, which ended at the end of March, rose by 5 percent year-over-year to 22.4 billion euros. This growth was driven by jewellery and demand in the Americas.

Nordic retail giant Kappahl Group has acquired a majority stake in Arkivet Second Hand, reflecting a strategic move to strengthen its position in circular fashion and expand resale capabilities.

Arkivet, known as Sweden’s leading secondhand retail chain, will continue to operate its 'Modern Second Hand' concept, which combines curated pre-owned assortments with an in-store shopping experience. The acquisition intends to support its expansion both within the Nordics and internationally.

For Kappahl, the investment aligns with its broader strategy to build a portfolio of brands while developing circular business models across the group. The company also operates Newbie alongside its core Kappahl brand. The group said it will continue developing its own circular initiatives while supporting Arkivet’s growth as part of a wider sustainability strategy.

In a statement, Elisabeth Peregi, president and CEO of Kappahl Group, said: “We are impressed by Arkivet’s concept, which presents and offers second-hand fashion in a modern way to customers who want both to buy and sell pre-owned garments.”

She added: “This is an important and exciting step for us. Arkivet represents a business model we strongly believe in and one that has a natural role in a more responsible fashion industry, where garments are given a long life.”

Arkivet CEO Martin Hallander said the partnership would help scale the business, stating: “We are genuinely proud to welcome Kappahl Group as a partner. With its strong Nordic presence and extensive experience in brand building, we see great opportunities to scale the Modern Second Hand offering together.”

He added that the collaboration provides “better conditions for continued expansion and development, while remaining true to who we are as Arkivet.”

Fashion e-tail giant Asos has completed the disposal of its Atlanta fulfilment centre, in a transaction that forms part of its ongoing programme to sell non-core assets and simplify its logistics footprint.

The lease for the US site has been assigned to a global consumer brand, while the associated automation assets have been acquired by a member of the DHL Group. The deal generates net proceeds of around 48 million pounds and is expected to deliver annual cash savings of approximately six million pounds.

Asos said the asset was non-operational and had already been fully written down in prior periods. The sale follows a series of recent balance sheet actions, including refinancing activity and earlier warehouse disposals, as the group continues to streamline its operations.

The company said the transaction supports its 'Efficient Operating Model' strategy, focused on capital discipline and improved cash generation.

In a statement, Asos chief executive officer, Jose Antonio Ramos, said: “The disposal of Atlanta is another clear demonstration of us delivering on our commitments - strengthening the balance sheet, simplifying the business and maintaining strict discipline in how we allocate capital.

"Since closing the Atlanta fulfilment centre, we have successfully transitioned to our new US operating model, giving customers access to a broader product assortment from our global inventory.”

Paris - For the seventh consecutive year, online sales set a new record in 2025. Sales were up by 7 percent, with French consumers spending almost 200 billion euros online, the Fédération du e-commerce et de la vente à distance (Fevad) announced on Wednesday.

E-commerce is “firmly established in the daily lives of French people,” Marc Lolivier, general delegate of Fevad, said in a statement. He highlighted the sector's “resilience” in “an uncertain political and economic climate”.

However, e-commerce has no “immunity to crises” and is “more sensitive than ever to household spending decisions,” he told AFP. In 2024, online sales also achieved their best result with a turnover of 175.3 billion euros.

75 online orders per year

The number of transactions increased by 11 percent in 2025, across a panel of 158,000 e-commerce sites in France surveyed by Fevad. French consumers place an average of 75 online orders per year, more than one per week, for an annual total of 4,657 euros.

Last year, sales of services “maintained their momentum” with a 9 percent increase, compared to 4 percent for product sales.

Specifically, shoppers primarily order homeware and apparel online. Overall, non-food sales are very prominent on e-commerce sites.

Furthermore, “second-hand fashion is becoming a permanent fixture in e-commerce habits,” noted Fevad. Four out of 10 online shoppers ordered at least one pre-loved item during the year. The Vinted platform is the second-largest site by customer numbers in France in 2025, with over 10 million users, behind the giant Amazon.

According to Lolivier, e-commerce continues to face “significant challenges.” Among these, Fevad highlights an “unprecedented technological acceleration,” driven by the “key lever” of artificial intelligence (AI). In fact, 94 percent of online sellers have integrated generative AI into their platforms, and nearly one in three customers use it while shopping.

AI is the central theme of Fevad's annual conference, which brings together key industry players for various panel discussions on Wednesday in Paris.

Environmental intelligence platform Carbonfact has released a free, open-source database featuring detailed environmental impact data for textile manufacturing, arriving shortly after the company's acquisition of fellow fashion sustainability platform Vaayu in May.

The database contains 300 Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) datasets covering core processes such as spinning, dyeing, and weaving. By measuring emission factors across all 16 European Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) environmental indicators, the tool provides roughly 4,800 specific impact scores to help brands rigorously map their supply chains in compliance with evolving European legislation.

With this release, the French software company aims to address a long-standing issue in the fashion industry: the lack of transparent, auditable data. Most existing emission databases lean on generic sector averages. For example, a dyeing process typically receives a single emission factor regardless of the specific machinery, chemicals, or fiber types used. Carbonfact’s database disaggregates data at the unit-process level, allowing fashion brands to inspect individual parameters or swap them out for primary data collected from their own suppliers.

The launch strategically positions Carbonfacts as an expert in transparency, impact measurement, and environmental reporting for the fashion industry – services already utilized by brands including On, Ganni, and The North Face.

Database provider ecoinvent and the French environmental agency ADEME have responded enthusiastically to the launch, bolstering ongoing discussions on how granular production data can better feed into future European methodology standards and mechanisms like the French environmental score or PEFCR.

Textile-to-textile materials regeneration company Reju announced today the opening of its first research and development (R&D) centre in North America. Its establishment means the company is a step closer to building a closed-loop recycling ecosystem that converts discarded fabric and textiles into quality products.

The new facility is located in former mill town and manufacturing centre Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, just north of Philadelphia. The lab is situated within the existing research centre for advanced materials and catalysts of parent company Technip Energies so that Reju can benefit from direct access to decades of Technip Energies’ expertise in catalysis, process development, technology integration and industrial scale-up. In addition, the new R&D centre will help Reju accelerate the deployment of its recycling technologies and next-generation circular solutions.

Building a closed-loop recycling ecosystem

Reju's core research team from IBM’s Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California, will relocate to the new R&D center. At the former, Reju first developed its Volcat depolymerization technology, a catalytic chemical recycling method breaking down polyester into reusable raw materials.

“I am excited to be joining such an innovative company and to be part of the team moving the technology towards industrialisation and supporting the infrastructure for true post-consumer textile-to-textile recycling at scale,” comments Gregory Breyta, director of research & development at Reju, in a press release.

Moving from mere polyester recycling, the new facility will be focused on the full development spectrum from early-stage feasibility through to kilo-scale production. This includes mixed-fabric solutions and new circular chemistry pathways. The aim is to enable rapid iteration and to accelerate Reju's path from concept to industrial reality.

Most importantly, the new R&D centre will support the development and validation of technologies intended for deployment across Reju's future regeneration hubs. Currently, there is Hub Zero in Frankfurt, Germany, which is up and running, Hub One planned in Sittard, Netherlands, another one in Lacq, France, and the first North American one in Rochester, New York.

British retail conglomerate Frasers Group has agreed to sell 100 percent of its interest in Sports Direct Malaysia to strategic partner MAP Active (PT MAP Aktif Adiperkasa Tbk) for 150 million US dollars.

Following the sale, Frasers will enter into a long-term deal under which MAP Active will “further grow and develop Sports Direct in Malaysia, with a continuing income stream payable to Frasers Group”.

In a statement, the British retail group said the move builds on its existing partnership with MAP Active across Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, and complements its Southeast Asian market strategy “to unlock efficiencies and streamline operations in the region”.

Michael Murray, chief executive of Frasers Group, said: “MAP Active is a valued strategic partner, and this transaction further deepens our relationship as we accelerate Sports Direct’s growth across Southeast Asia.

“Together, we are creating a strong platform to deliver our ambitious growth plans. I look forward to continuing to work with the MAP Active team to unlock further value.”

MAP Active’s established infrastructure, local expertise and portfolio of distributed brands “will further accelerate the growth of Sports Direct in the region,” supporting the shared ambition to open more than 350 stores long term.

V.P. Sharma, group chief executive of PT Mitra Adiperkasa Tbk, added: “We are delighted to be strengthening our relationships with Frasers Group through this transaction. Leveraging on our local expertise and regional retail network, we look forward to offering more of Sports Direct's world-class offerings to our customers across the region, and unlocking new opportunities that create long-term value for both companies.”

Australia’s Accent Group has called on shareholders to reject a takeover bid submitted by Frasers Group. An independent committee established by Accent found that the timing of the deal was “opportunistic”, having come amid weak retail conditions and prior to potential benefits accumulated through ongoing growth initiatives.

In a filing, Accent said the offer, at 0.65 Australian dollars per share, undervalues the company and sits below its most recent market price, meaning shareholders would receive no premium for surrendering control. The price is also lower than what Frasers previously paid for shares, Accent added before claiming that the British retail giant is seeking greater control, including board representation, without paying for it.

The group further stated that the bid undervalued an ongoing long-term growth strategy, 2030 Strategic Growth Plan, which targets at least 1.9 billion dollars in sales, a 9 percent EBIT margin and around 950 stores by 2030.

Accent expressed additional concern over Frasers’ efforts to increase exposure of its flagship business, Sports Direct, in the ANZ region, and highlighted a potential conflict of interest that could arise from the deal, which would make Frasers a major shareholder and commercial partner.

Frasers launched its hostile takeover bid for Accent in June, looking to snap up the remaining 77.10 percent stake of the business for around 316 million Australian dollars. Frasers said the offer came in response to Accent’s recent financial performance, capital management, and approach to growth, and was made after repeated attempts to engage with management regarding declining earnings and rising borrowings.

Authentic Brands Group (Authentic), the global brand development, marketing and entertainment platform, has signed a long-term partnership with One Jeanswear Group (OJG), a wholly owned subsidiary of Premier Brands Group Holdings, to drive growth and market position for Lee in the US and Canada.

The partnership will take effect following the completion of Authentic’s acquisition of Lee, which was first announced in May and is expected to close in the second half of 2026.

OJG will serve as Lee’s operational partner across the US and Canada, with Authentic stating the move will leverage OJG’s expertise in denim, sourcing, product development, and wholesale distribution, as it looks to “drive the next chapter of growth for the iconic denim brand”.

As part of the deal, OJG will take on the Lee US and Canada operating business and work closely with Authentic, working to strengthen the brand's market position, expand product opportunities and deliver continued value to consumers and retail partners.

Lee's operations will remain headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, and OJG adds that it has plans to maintain operations at the brand's Mocksville, North Carolina facility and continue to leverage the expertise of the existing team to support the business.

Jarrod Weber, global president, sports and lifestyle at Authentic, said in a statement: "Lee is one of the most recognisable names in denim, with an unmatched heritage and tremendous opportunity for future growth.

"One Jeanswear Group has been a trusted partner of Authentic for many years, and we have seen firsthand their ability to execute at the highest level. They bring deep category expertise, strong retail relationships and a proven track record of growing iconic brands. Just as importantly, they share our commitment to preserving Lee's legacy in Greensboro while investing in the brand's future. We are pleased to partner with Chris and the OJG team as we unlock new opportunities for Lee across the US and Canada."

Chris Waldeck, chief executive officer of One Jeanswear Group, added: "Having previously led Lee, I know firsthand the strength of this brand, the passion of its team and the loyalty of its consumers.

"Our priority is to build on the brand's rich heritage, support the talented team in Greensboro and Mocksville, and create a foundation for long-term growth.”

Value fashion chain Primark, which is set to be spun off, has recorded a decline in sales in its third quarter. Like-for-like sales fell by 2.2 percent in the three months to June 20, parent company AB Foods announced on Wednesday.

Primark was affected by the challenging consumer environment. The British conglomerate, which also operates in the sugar, agriculture and food ingredients sectors, announced in April that it would spin off Primark after more than three decades.

AB Foods also expects a further deterioration in its sugar business, following a rise in energy prices due to the conflict in the Middle East. The company's shares fell by almost 3 percent in morning trading.

Safilo Group (Safilo) has announced the completion of its acquisition of Spy+ and Serengeti from Bollé Brands. This follows the signing of the agreement on May 11 and the fulfilment of all customary closing conditions.

The consideration for the transaction amounts to 24.6 million dollars. It was financed through the group's available financial resources.

The transaction includes selected Spy+ and Serengeti assets in Europe and 100 percent of the shares of two dedicated companies operating in the US and Canada. According to a statement, this “represents a further step forward in Safilo's strategy focused on the selective acquisition of brands capable of strengthening the group's positioning in attractive segments with high growth potential, enhancing the portfolio of proprietary brands that already includes Smith, Carrera, Polaroid and Blenders”.

“The completion of this acquisition represents another important step in the implementation of our strategy. Spy+ and Serengeti are highly complementary brands to the Safilo portfolio and fully consistent with the Group's focus on sport and high-quality eyewear,” stressed Angelo Trocchia, chief executive officer of Safilo.

In 2025, Spy+ and Serengeti generated combined sales of approximately 39 million dollars.

Madrid – The Majorcan group Camper, parent company of footwear and lifestyle brands Camper and Camperlab, has just announced the acquisition of a majority stake in the Greek footwear brand Ancient Greek Sandals. Following the transaction, it has been specified that the Athens-based brand will continue to operate as an independent company under its own executive, creative and brand management.

The financial details of the acquisition have not been disclosed. Ancient Greek Sandals' founders, Nikolas Minoglou and Christina Martini, and the firm's former co-owner, Yiannis Vagenas, will retain a minority stake in the company. The three will remain connected to the business, not only through their capital positions but also by continuing to lead its new phase of growth and expansion in their current roles as chief executive officer, creative director, and brand and marketing director, respectively.

“Welcoming Ancient Greek Sandals to our family represents a very exciting milestone for us,” emphasised Miguel Fluxà, CEO of Camper and a fourth-generation member of the Majorcan company's founding family. “Nikolas and Christina have built an exceptional brand that fits perfectly with our respect for quality and craftsmanship. Their deep Mediterranean roots connect naturally with our DNA. With these characteristics in mind, we are very excited to start this new chapter together and to make our global infrastructure available to them so they can continue to develop their independent long-term vision.”

“Partnering with Camper is a dream come true for us,” added Nikolas Minoglou, co-founder and CEO of Ancient Greek Sandals. “From day one, Christina and I have been driven by our love for the history of shoemaking in Greece. Joining forces with a historic, family-owned company like Camper gives us the logistical, technological and commercial support we need to reach our full potential, while maintaining our creative independence. We could not be more excited about the road ahead.”

An independent brand with support from the Camper group

Founded in 2012 by Christina Martini and Nikolas Minoglou, Ancient Greek Sandals began its journey with the founding objective of highlighting the tradition of Greek footwear, as Minoglou noted in the statements accompanying the announcement. To this end, the brand focused on creating meticulous and extensive contemporary reinterpretations of traditional Greek sandals. These designs continue to underpin a now more diversified range of footwear, with prices slightly above or on par with Camper's models.

Positioned in the accessible luxury sector, Ancient Greek Sandals has remained true to its attention to detail and artisanal production in Greece. Over the years, the brand has successfully expanded its universe beyond footwear into fashion accessories and even the home category. This strategy has established Ancient Greek Sandals as a complete lifestyle brand. Under its label and its renowned trademark, the mythical winged sandals of Hermes, it now sells products ranging from leather bags and wallets to tablecloths, crockery, baskets, vases and glassware. Its footwear and sandal models, however, remain its core offering.

The brand's operations will now be enhanced thanks to Camper's entry as the new majority shareholder. The Spanish company presents the acquisition as a transaction born from the shared heritage and inspiration of both Mediterranean-spirited businesses. While it guarantees independence for Ancient Greek Sandals, Camper will also seek to unlock its full potential by providing the Greek brand with its expertise and multinational group strength.

“Ancient Greek Sandals will continue to operate as a completely independent brand, preserving its unique Greek identity and characteristic aesthetic. At the same time, this integration will allow the Athens-based company to fully access Camper's global capabilities,” the Spanish company specified. These synergies will provide Ancient Greek Sandals with “first-class support in commercial infrastructure; technology; human resources; and advanced product development.” This is all thanks to a “strategic” operation that unites “two brands with deep Mediterranean roots, which share a firm commitment to quality, traditional craftsmanship and a long-term vision for the future of footwear”.

Valued at one billion dollars, Farm Rio, owned by Azzas 2154, surpasses its parent company, which is currently valued at 3.8 billion reais. The Rio de Janeiro-based brand, famous for its colourful prints and elegant casualness, accounts for approximately 40 percent of the group's revenue.

As previously reported, the Azzas group hired Morgan Stanley for a potential sale, which subsequently led to a rise in the group's shares. However, according to the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo, an initial public offering (IPO) for the brand is now being considered in the US.

Azzas 2154 has also hired the law firms Mattos Filho and Pinheiro Neto for legal advice while internal discussions are ongoing. However, in either case (a sale or an IPO), the newspaper reports that the brand would need to become independent. This would happen through a process known in corporate finance as a “carve-out”, or a partial spin-off.

So far, Azzas 2154 has not disclosed any material information, except for the announcement on June 19. The statement confirmed it had hired the foreign bank to evaluate strategies involving the brand's assets.

It is worth noting that Farm Rio expanded internationally when it launched in New York in 2019. Since then, Farm, as it is known inside of Brazil, has established a presence in 18 countries, showing double-digit annual growth and high profitability. Colloquially, Farm Rio can be considered the “jewel in the crown” of the Azzas group.

US sportswear group Nike Inc. sees a gloomy mood in the sportswear market overall, despite a business boost from the World Cup. “Our customers are under pressure around the world, and that is being felt in the sportswear business,” said chief financial officer Matthew Friend during a conference call with analysts.

Three months ago, Nike had already identified risks from the war in Iran, which could lead to “unplanned fluctuations” in consumer behaviour due to factors like rising oil prices. Now, the company has stated it does not expect an improvement in sentiment over the next six months.

Figures better than expected

Nike's results for the fourth quarter of 2025/26 largely exceeded average analyst expectations, although there was another decline in the important Chinese market. The company's shares fell by around 3 percent in after-hours US trading.

Nike CEO Elliott Hill also highlighted a positive effect from the World Cup, which is currently being held in the company's home market of the US, among other places. He said that at the start of the tournament, the company had already sold two and a half times more national team merchandise than at the same point during the previous World Cup in 2022. Nike is the official supplier for the US national team, among others, and will also replace Adidas as the supplier for the German Football Association (DFB) team next year.

Revenue declines expected

Nike is preparing for revenue declines in the coming months. In the last quarter, revenue fell by one percent year-over-year to 10.97 billion dollars. Analysts had expected an average of 10.86 billion dollars. The bottom line showed a quarterly profit jump from 211 million dollars in the same quarter last year to 1.07 billion dollars. A key reason for this, however, was a claim for the repayment of US import duties after orders from President Donald Trump were overturned by the country's Supreme Court.

With revenues of 4.83 billion dollars in the US, Nike was slightly below market expectations. In contrast, revenues of around 1.3 billion dollars in China were higher than the average expert forecast.

Self-inflicted slump

Nike is looking for a way out of a slump that the company manoeuvred itself into. In recent years, the group has focused heavily on direct-to-consumer sales at the expense of retail. As a result, competing brands were able to take shelf space from Nike in stores, particularly in the US market, which hurt sales. The company is now striving to improve its relationship with its retail partners.

CEO Hill has directed the Adidas competitor to focus more on athletes, after the lifestyle portion of its product range had increased in recent years. (dpa/FashionUnited)

Summer discounting keeps shop price inflation stable according to latest figures by the British Retail Consortium (BRC): While overall shop price inflation held steady at 1.2 percent year-on-year in June, thus matching May's growth rate, despite the stability, this figure remains slightly higher than the three-month average of 1.1 percent.

“Overall shop price inflation was unchanged in June,” said Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, in a press release. “In clothing and general merchandise, retailers responded to the hot weather with promotions across summer essentials in clothing, footwear and lighter household textiles, despite overall non-food inflation rising.”

Inflation in check but mounting cost pressures for retailers

“While a competitive market is keeping inflation in check for now, retailers face mounting cost pressures, including higher National Insurance, the triple packaging tax and higher input costs from extreme weather and geopolitical tensions. To support the cost of living for households, government must reduce the costs of business. Starting with cutting the taxes and levies on energy bills would ease pressure on retailers and help keep prices down for customers,” she advises.

The steady headline rate hides contrasting trends between food and non-food categories. Non-food inflation ticked upward to 0.6 percent in June from 0.5 percent in May, pushing well past its three-month average of 0.3 percent. Conversely, general food inflation cooled to 2.4 percent from May's 2.7 percent, dipping below its three-month average of 2.7 percent.

Within the food category, performance diverged sharply based on product type. Fresh food inflation experienced a notable drop to 2.8 percent in June down from 3.4percent in May, falling below its three-month average. Meanwhile, ambient food inflation climbed to 1.9 percent from May's 1.6 percent, matching its three-month average perfectly.

The global luxury industry has officially moved past its explosive post-pandemic “super-cycle” and become a market that is fundamentally “shrinking and splintering” according to a recent report by McKinsey and Business of Fashion (BoF).

“The State of Fashion: Face to Face with Luxury Clients” is based on a survey of more than 2,000 clients and dozens of interviews across the US and China. It reports how the sector is navigating a multi-year transition toward normalised growth, projected at a more modest 4 to 6 percent annually through 2030.

The industry’s recent strategy of aggressive pricing — with average luxury retail prices spiking a staggering 61 percent between 2019 and 2025 — has backfired by alienating the traditional aspirational shopper. “Luxury brands spent the last few years prioritising clients least affected by economic headwinds, and in doing so, lost touch with everyone else,” comments BoF founder and CEO Imran Amed.

The real battleground for the sector’s future lies in the distinct, diverging behaviours of its two most powerful geographic anchors: the United States and China. While both nations are leading the luxury comeback, they are doing so under entirely different rules of engagement.

The retail landscape: store inspiration vs. store fatigue

One of the most glaring divides between American and Chinese luxury clients is how they view and interact with the physical retail footprint. While in Mainland China, the physical boutique remains an immersive space, the American luxury shopper is experiencing major brick-and-mortar fatigue.

Across all spending tiers, Chinese consumers rank the brick-and-mortar store as their number-one source of shopping inspiration. Luxury houses have responded by aggressively investing in high-performance “experience hubs” across major Chinese cities, transforming traditional storefronts into hyper-localised, sensory spaces that blend art, community and hospitality.

In the US, pushy sales tactics, transactional environments and rigid entry queues have actively put consumers off in-person shopping. American clients are demanding friction-free, seamless digital integration and a softer, relationship-first approach when they do choose to cross a boutique’s threshold.

“A store has to do many things at once. We have clients who come three times in a week and others who visit once a year. They want to look around and discover; they also want privacy and discretion,” explains Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel’s fashion division, in the report.

Brand loyalty and the demand for experience

The modern luxury client worldwide is looking for far more than just a beautifully crafted status symbol. When given additional disposable income, nearly 30 percent of clients in both markets stated they would prioritise travel and wellness over material goods. However, how they define brand value diverges sharply by region. While American buyers are heavily viewing luxury through the lens of investment, Chinese clients, historically driven by overt logos and status indicators, are shifting rapidly toward self-expression and subcultural alignment.

Facing domestic economic shifts, US luxury consumers gravitate toward timeless, heritage-backed items that retain value, causing a massive surge in the secondary luxury market. Both established and aspirational Chinese buyers now prioritise an emotional connection with a brand over its heritage, logo recognition or even pure craftsmanship. They are looking for “creator energy” and brands that resonate with their personal values.

The digital frontier: quiet tech and AI adoption

Technology is no longer a gimmick in the luxury space; it is the invisible engine driving client retention. Interestingly, both US and Chinese established luxury clients are heavily relying on artificial intelligence to dictate their shopping journeys.

According to the data, 46 percent of established luxury clients across both markets utilise AI for design inspiration and trend discovery, and 54 percent leverage it to evaluate brands. In highly technical categories like hard luxury (watches and fine jewellery), that figure climbs to 57 percent.

Outlook

For luxury executives, the path forward requires unlocking the massive 70 billion to 90 billion US dollar pool of underserved “established” luxury clients — those spending between 5,000 and 50,000 US dollars annually. To win them over, fashion houses must abandon the illusion of artificial scarcity and marketing-driven waitlists. The future of luxury belongs to the brands that can deliver authentic emotional resonance in Beijing while perfecting seamless, low-friction clienteling in New York.

Across markets, brands are well served to keep in mind that luxury sales worldwide are driven by four factors: desirability, exclusivity, luxury experiences and discovery, which moves beyond brand-owned channels.

Advertising for fast fashion platforms such as Shein, Temu and Aliexpress will soon be banned in France. The Senate, the second chamber of parliament, has approved a law aimed at curbing ultra-fast fashion. The law specifically provides for an advertising ban from the start of the new year. Influencers will also be prohibited from advertising, facing a fine if they do not comply.

While the original plan was to target the entire fast fashion industry, the measures are now specifically aimed at “ultra-express platforms”, as stated in the bill. This refers to companies that launch a particularly large number of products at such low prices that consumers have little incentive to repair worn-out items. French and European brands are no longer the target; instead, the focus is on giants like Shein, Temu and Aliexpress. A precise definition of the criteria is still pending.

France also intends to oblige these platforms to make an increasing financial environmental contribution per product, based on environmental standards. The sites will also be required to display messages encouraging consumers to repair, reuse and exercise restraint when shopping.

In 2024, more than 885,000 tonnes of clothing, household linen and shoes were launched on the French market. According to a Senate text, the volume of clothing on offer has increased significantly in recent years. Fast fashion products are sold at low prices and are often made from materials that are not durable.

Luxury high-performance ski and lifestyle brand Perfect Moment has reported double-digit revenue growth and significantly smaller losses for its fiscal fourth quarter and full year ended 31 March 2026, as its strategic pivot toward wholesale and full-price selling begins to take hold.

Full-year revenue rose 9.8 percent to 23.6 million dollars, up from 21.5 million dollars the year before, while fourth-quarter revenue increased 13.4 percent to 5.7 million dollars.

The London-based company attributed the growth to a stronger wholesale order book and more efficient fulfilment. The clearest driver for the brand’s strong results was its wholesale channel, where full-year revenue grew 42.3 percent to 14.4 million dollars. Fourth-quarter wholesale revenue jumped to 1.5 million dollars, up from just 45,000 a year earlier. The growth offset a deliberate decline in e-commerce, which fell 17.9 percent for the year to 8.3 million dollars as Perfect Moment stepped back from discounted online sales in favour of pursuing a full-price model.

Margins improved markedly, as full-year gross margin rose to 67.6 percent from 48.5 percent, while fourth-quarter gross margin reached 83.0 percent, up from 32.0 percent in the same period last year. The company credited improved supply chain efficiency, better sourcing economics and disciplined pricing.

Losses narrowed across the board, with the full-year net loss improving by roughly 8.8 million dollars to 7.1 million dollars, while the adjusted EBITDA loss narrowed to 3.5 million dollars from 11.3 million dollars. Total operating expenses fell 12.5 percent for the year to 21.2 million dollars.

"Fiscal 2026 was a defining year for Perfect Moment — one where the strategic work we've been executing is now clearly visible in our annual results," said Jane Gottschalk, co-founder, creative director and president, in a statement. She noted the company had achieved the growth while navigating a complex global duty and tariff environment, and had secured 12 million dollars in growth financing during the quarter to support expansion into new product categories.

Chief financial and operating officer Chath Weerasinghe pointed to the company's new European fulfilment centre, renegotiated supplier terms and broader supply chain reengineering as central to the margin gains. "We enter fiscal 2027 and the winter season with the infrastructure, cost discipline and commercial momentum to pursue continued profitable growth," he added.

Perfect Moment, which is positioning itself as a four-season luxury outerwear and lifestyle brand rather than a high-performance, skiwear label, added that it sees significant runway in underpenetrated and emerging markets as it moves into fiscal 2027.

Los Angeles-based womenswear brand Reformation has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange as it reported an increase in revenue for the year to December 27, 2025, to 507.1 million US dollars.

The fashion brand, which currently operates over 70 stores across the US, UK, Canada, and France, filed a registration statement for a proposed IPO on June 25. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering “have not yet been determined,” and Reformation aims to list under the ticker symbol REF.

Reformation Files for IPO on New York Stock Exchange

“The offering is subject to market conditions, and there can be no assurance as to whether or when the offering may be completed, or as to the actual size or other terms of the offering,” stated Reformation in its filing. The brand aims to use a part of the proceeds from its IPO to repay debt and repurchase shares from certain existing investors.

J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and RBC ⁠Capital Markets ​are among the underwriters for the ​IPO. News of Reformation’s intention to go public comes as the 17-year-old women's wear brand continues to grow, reporting a net income of 12.6 million US in 2025. Reformation has reported a positive net income since 2018, apart from 2020, as it was impacted by the COVID-19 global pandemic. 

Direct-to-Consumer sales drive Reformation's revenue growth

Although net revenue for its fiscal year ending December 27, 2025, grew 15.7 percent from 438.2 million dollars the year before, net income fell from 32.6 million dollars to 12.6 million dollars. The filing listed adjusted EBITDA at 45 million dollars, or 8.9 percent of net revenue. Net revenue grew 30.4 percent during the first quarter of 2026, reaching 112.3 million dollars, making it the 20th consecutive quarter of double-digit net revenue growth.

Reformation currently generates approximately 90 percent of its sales through its direct-to-consumer channels, which include e-commerce and retail stores. At the end of its first quarter in late March, the brand had 1.1 million active customers who brought in an average revenue of 421 million US dollars. Founded in 2006 in Los Angeles as a sustainable apparel brand, Reformation first began using deadstock and upcycled materials to produce its collections.

“Our goal is to have a positive impact on people and the planet and prove that it’s possible to build a global fashion brand that delivers both impressive financial and environmental results,” stated Reformation in its SEC filing. “Our business stands in contrast to traditional retail businesses that can often be characterized by limited direct connection to the customer, imprecise product forecasting and merchandising, frequent promotions, long manufacturing lead times, and slow technological adoption … Not to brag, but after 17 years, we’ve gotten pretty good at this.”

The brand’s SEC filing also touches on the success of its merchandising strategy, which centers on producing new styles in small quantities first to test them out biweekly on its website and once a week in stores. The brand's current business model creates a sense of scarcity among its items that “encourages consumers to frequently engage” with the brand “in order to shop what’s new,” added Reformation.

Since global private equity company Permira acquired a majority stake in Reformation in 2019, the brand has also increased its focus on international expansion, recently opening its first continental European flagship store in Paris in late 2025. Following the IPO, Permira will continue to hold significant influence over the brand. Reformation's impending IPO comes as it eyes plans to expand its product range into new categories such as intimates and lingerie, and aims to continue its international push in the UK and Western Europe, and further. 

Saks Global announced the successful completion of its restructuring process, emerging from Chapter 11 under new ownership, with a new name: Exemplar Luxury Group (ELG). The department store group stated that it has reduced its debt by 75 percent, secured sufficient liquidity, and has the full backing of its capital partners and other stakeholders.

The new group is dedicated to driving long-term growth and now has a “solid financial foundation with a right-sized capital structure and the liquidity necessary” for profitability, wrote ELG in a press release on June 26.

The announcement comes weeks after the department store group, which includes multi-brand luxury retailers Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Bergdorf Goodman, received the green light from the US bankruptcy court for the Southern District of Texas for its reorganization plan. 

Exemplar Luxury Group completes restructuring, reduces debt by 75 percent

"This pivotal moment reinforces the enduring strength of our business, our luxury banners and our team as we look ahead to a bright future guided by our relentless devotion to our customers," said Geoffroy van Raemdonck, Chief Executive Officer of Exemplar Luxury Group, in a statement. 

"Moving forward as Exemplar Luxury Group reflects the shared ideals that anchor each of our banners and our commitment to setting the standard of excellence for luxury retail across all three. As the gateway to the US luxury customer, we are uniting coveted brands with unrivaled customer experiences to drive growth for Exemplar Luxury Group and the broader luxury ecosystem. We are deeply grateful to our customers, brand partners, capital partners, and colleagues, whose loyalty and support have made this possible."

Under the new restructuring, ELG will continue to build on its integrated retail model, combining an optimised store footprint with e-commerce platforms and remote selling services.

New board of directors appointed for Exemplar Luxury Group

As part of the rebranding, the new group has also reshuffled its board of directors.  Pentwater Capital Management and Bracebridge Capital, the investment firms that have partnered with the department store group throughout the restructuring process, will each have two representatives on the seven-person board.

In addition, Dave Kimbell, former chief executive of Ulta Beauty, the largest US beauty retailer, and Philippe Schaus, former president and global chief executive of Moët Hennessy, have both been appointed as independent directors.

"We greatly appreciate the commitment of our new owners, who understand the value of our banners and the growth opportunity for Exemplar Luxury Group," added Van Raemdonck. "It is a new day for ELG, and we are focused on executing our business plan with discipline and investing in the experiences that matter most to our customers. Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Bergdorf Goodman have long set the standard for luxury retail in the US, and we are committed to building upon that legacy."

The restructuring plan included a large overhaul of the ELG store network, which included 33 Saks Fifth Avenue stores prior to filing for bankruptcy. The company now operates 49 department stores, including 33 Neiman Marcus stores, 15 Saks Fifth Avenue stores, and one Bergdorf Goodman store. Under the plan, ELG also seeks to reach 9 billion US dollars in total gross merchandise value (GMV) and a double-digit adjusted EBITDA by the 2029/30 financial year. 

Over the past five months, the group has focused on strengthening its financial position, optimising its store and supply chain networks, and scaling back much of its off-price business to concentrate on luxury and full-price retail.

Swiss watch group Swatch has initiated legal proceedings in London's High Court, claiming 170 million dollars in damages from Samsung. The claim relates to the marketing of 26 digital watch face applications which, according to the company, reproduced the designs of its most recognised brands without authorisation.

The applications in question were available for download from Samsung's Galaxy App Store. They imitated the visual appearance of watches from the Omega, Tissot and Breguet brands, all of which belong to the Swiss group. Swatch estimates that the applications were downloaded approximately 160,000 times in the UK and the European Union during the period under claim, between October 2015 and February 2019.

Previous conviction and quantification phase

The London court had already ruled in 2022 that Samsung was liable for the trademark infringements, despite the applications having been developed by third parties. The ruling established that the South Korean conglomerate controlled the review and marketing process of the applications in its store, making it directly responsible. Samsung appealed that decision. The Court of Appeal, however, upheld the conviction at the end of 2023.

The current process aims to determine the amount of compensation. Since the lawsuit was filed before the UK's departure from the European Union, the ruling will have repercussions throughout the EU market. In parallel, proceedings have been opened in the US. These are currently suspended pending the London resolution.

Samsung rejects the claimed figure

Samsung's lawyers have described the claim as “exaggerated” and “out of touch with reality”. They argue that Swatch did not suffer any real losses and that the South Korean company did not make a significant profit from the matter. The judge will rule on the compensation at a later date.

The litigation comes at a sensitive time for Swatch. The Swiss group recorded an 88.6 percent decrease in its net profit for the 2025 financial year, falling to 25 million Swiss francs from 219 million in 2024. The year was marked by the impact of tariffs and weakened global demand.

Frankfurt - The German financial supervisor BaFin announced on Friday it has opened an investigation into Zalando over suspected accounting rule breaches. The announcement caused the online fashion giant's share price to plunge.

The Bonn-based authority stated it has “concrete indications” of possible violations of accounting standards. This led it to launch a review on June 19 of the consolidated accounts for the year 2025 and the related management report.

On the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the shares of the Dax-listed group plunged by 7 percent in early trading.

About You acquisition at the heart of the investigation

This procedure relates in particular to information that may have been “incorrectly omitted” from the notes to Zalando's accounts. It concerns a related-party transaction in connection with last year's acquisition of its Hamburg-based rival About You for 1.1 billion euros.

The supervisor stated that it will publish its findings, whether or not it finds errors in the accounts.

Zalando stated in a separate press release on Friday that it is in “close and constructive dialogue” with the supervisor. The company added that the issue is a “purely formal matter with no material impact,” believing it has provided all necessary information regarding the acquisition of About You.

A major player in fashion e-commerce under pressure

Founded in Berlin in 2008, Zalando is one of Europe's leading online ready-to-wear retailers, with tens of millions of customers.

The acquisition of About You is intended to strengthen its position against competition from Chinese platforms Shein and Temu.

The luxury industry has always stood for prestige, exclusivity and artisanal perfection. For a long time, it was associated with a kind of promise: investing in a brand meant acquiring not just a product, but also status, cultural relevance and a sense of belonging. This understanding still holds true today, yet the underlying model for success is coming under increasing pressure.

A recent study by Accenture shows that it is no longer enough for customers for a brand to be beautiful, rare or prestigious. It is becoming crucial whether it also connects on an emotional level, remains relevant and can build a relationship with consumers that feels personal and authentic. According to the study, ‘Luxe Eternal: The Customer Edit’, this marks the beginning of a new phase for the sector. Success is no longer primarily determined by prestige and status, but by the ability to create lasting emotional resonance.

A robust market is showing fine cracks

At first glance, the global luxury market appears remarkably resilient. The industry has proven to be robust, even in times of crisis, despite geopolitical tensions, economic uncertainties and generally volatile demand. However, beneath this surface, a subtle trend is emerging that could be more profound for brands than short-term economic fluctuations: dwindling loyalty.

The results of a survey of customers in 13 countries reveal a remarkable paradox. 65 percent of respondents still see luxury brands as culturally influential, yet many report a decline in emotional relevance. More than a third say that brands are no longer able to maintain a lasting connection with them. One in two feel that many houses are now driven more by profit motives than by an inspiring vision.

A single definition of luxury no longer exists

The industry's long-standing principle of viewing customers as a homogeneous target group is increasingly losing its validity. In fact, customer expectations today differ much more significantly. On one hand, there is a digitally savvy, globally connected target group that interprets luxury largely through aesthetics, cultural relevance and visible affiliation.

On the other hand, there are value-oriented consumers for whom principles, sustainability and social significance play a central role. There are also still customer groups who primarily associate luxury with heritage, craftsmanship, reliability and trust. What connects these groups is, at first glance, unsurprising: luxury continues to stand for quality, exclusivity and timeless elegance.

How brands should stage, convey and bring these values to life, however, differs significantly depending on the customer group. This is precisely where the strategic challenge lies. Brands are required to clearly align their identity with the individual expectations of their customers.

Resonance gap is widening

This growing diversity gives rise to what the study's authors describe as a “resonance gap”. Brands can still appear desirable yet lose their significance. They are noticed, but not necessarily experienced as personally relevant. This very difference is crucial in determining whether interest turns into loyalty or whether consumers switch to a competitor for their next purchase without a second thought. The criticism from customers is quite specific:

• 37 percent of respondents perceive a declining price-performance ratio.
• 35 percent find brand communication to be undifferentiated.
• 50 percent believe that brands prioritise profit over principles.

The consequence is that prestige alone is no longer enough. Relevance must be continuously re-established in communication, service, product assortment logic and the brand experience across all channels. In the future, the luxury business will be determined less by the individual product and more by the quality of the relationship. Customers expect brands to understand them, anticipate their needs and remain present beyond the point of purchase. They often desire personalised experiences and for the relationship to continue after the sale.

This also shifts the perspective on the customer journey away from isolated touchpoints towards a continuous, “omni-personal” relationship narrative. This means a brand experience that feels personal across physical and digital spaces, remains coherent and conveys a sense of belonging. Community, dialogue and long-term engagement are thus becoming key drivers of brand value.

Operational excellence becomes foundation

It is also striking how much the focus is shifting to the previously less visible areas of the brand experience. What happens behind the scenes now shapes brand perception almost as much as campaigns, window displays or product presentations. For instance, 69 percent of respondents rate efficient delivery as important, and three-quarters cite employee competence as a decisive factor influencing their perception of the brand.

Operational excellence in the luxury segment is therefore much more than a mere hygiene factor. It forms the basis for emotional connection and brand promises to be credible at all. If service, advice or availability are not convincing, the narrative of exclusivity also loses its impact.

Human connection regains importance

A particularly interesting aspect of the study is the role of the so-called “Relational Artisan”. This refers to a new type of employee at the interface between the brand and the customer, who combines the brand message, personal advice and cultural understanding. Their role extends far beyond pure sales. They build trust, contextualise brand values and translate them into individual, personal experiences. This human factor is gaining significant importance, especially in a market where products and presentations are becoming increasingly similar.

At the same time, these roles act as a sensitive early warning system for companies. They perceive changes in expectations, tones and purchasing motives early on and feed this knowledge back into product development, service and communication. Since luxury has historically always been characterised by personal connection, advice and interaction, this human element could once again become a crucial differentiating factor in the future.

Future of luxury lies in relationships

The luxury industry is therefore approaching a turning point. According to a study by Luxury Daily, over 83 percent of luxury brand executives surveyed in a previous study stated that their customers' needs and expectations are changing faster than their companies can adapt. For brands, this means no longer treating heritage and reinvention as opposites. Instead, they should strike a good balance: combining artisanal excellence with digital innovation; preserving exclusivity while enabling new forms of openness and relevance. Those who only manage their heritage risk becoming outdated.

The winners in the coming years will therefore not necessarily be the brands that produce the most striking products or the loudest campaigns. Success will instead belong to those brands that manage to form a resilient relationship from individual purchasing acts, with relevance, consistency and genuine personal engagement. In other words, the future of luxury is not decided by material, price or visibility alone. It is decided by whether a brand is perceived as a counterpart – as something that understands, accompanies and creates meaning. Relationships are therefore no longer a side effect of the luxury promise. They are becoming its most visible expression.

Lithuanian second-hand marketplace Vinted is expanding its international footprint with its official launch in Australia on July 1, a company spokesperson confirmed to FashionUnited.

Although the official launch is scheduled for next month, retail trade publication Inside Retail reported that the platform is already operational, with listings available to Australian users.

According to Vinted, Australia represents a natural next step for the company. Internal research shows that 88 percent of Australians have unused items at home that they could sell, while three in five (60 percent) say they have clothes they no longer wear. "Across Europe, we've helped make buying and selling second-hand easier, more reliable and more affordable, and we're excited to bring that experience to Australia," a Vinted spokesperson said. The company added that, as with every new market launch, it will take a "data-led, test-and-learn approach", using local insights and its experience scaling across other markets to guide future growth.

For parcel deliveries, Vinted has entered into a three-year partnership with Australia Post, which will handle shipments made through the platform.

The expansion follows a period of strong growth for the Lithuanian company. In 2025, Vinted reported revenue of 1.1 billion euros and a gross merchandise value (GMV) of 10.8 billion euros. In April, the company also reached a valuation of 8 billion euros following an 880 million euro secondary share sale.

With its launch in Australia, Vinted continues to execute its international expansion strategy. The platform is currently active in 26 markets.

In the takeover bid for Hugo Boss, major shareholder Frasers Group will not increase its offer. The company announced this in London. The British company has been attempting to take the helm of the German brand since mid-June through a voluntary public offer. It is offering 38 euros per share. Frasers is a retail conglomerate backed by entrepreneur Mike Ashley. According to previous statements, the group holds a direct stake of just over 26 percent in Hugo Boss. The Hugo Boss share price barely reacted to the statement, trading at 37.72 euros on Thursday afternoon, below the offer price.

According to its own statements, Hugo Boss was not informed of the major shareholder's move in mid-June. The management team, led by CEO Daniel Grieder, deliberately kept a low profile afterwards. The offer is not without reason. If Frasers had exceeded the 30 percent threshold, a mandatory offer to the remaining shareholders would have been required. This is a legal requirement. The company stated it opted for a voluntary offer to consolidate its investment in Hugo Boss.

The group has 20,000 employees worldwide, with more than 4,400 in Germany. The responsible trade union, IG Metall, is initially holding back on an assessment of the takeover attempt. The district manager for Baden-Württemberg, Barbara Resch, said: “IG Metall acknowledges the Frasers Group's takeover plans and will closely monitor the developments surrounding Hugo Boss. We expect the interests of the local employees to be protected at all times.”

The fashion group is currently struggling with weak consumer sentiment. For the current year, management expects a currency-adjusted sales decline in the mid to high single-digit percentage range. Earnings before interest and taxes are expected to reach between 300 and 350 million euros. In 2025, a turnover of around 4.3 billion euros was recorded, with an operating profit of 391 million euros.

Coach and Quince have come to a mutual agreement to end their ongoing federal litigation, which saw the lifestyle brand owned by Tapestry, Inc., accuse the online-luxury brand of selling dupes of its handbags.

Both companies filed a joint stipulation on June 23 to dismiss all of Coach’s claims of trade dress infringement and unfair competition without prejudice in the US District Court for the Northern District of California and drop the case entirely, with each company covering its own legal fees and costs.

Coach first accused Quince of allegedly selling dupes last spring, filing a complaint on April 4, 2025, against the affordable luxury brand for trade dress infringement, unfair competition, and false designation of origin.

In the filing, Coach stated that two handbag designs from Quince, namely its "Italian Leather Medium Convertible Satchel" and “Italian Leather Buckle Detail Shoulder Bag," are “substantially indistinguishable” from its “iconic” Rogue and Soho Flap handbags.

Coach argued that Quince copied several distinctive, non-functional design features from both of its handbags, such as the silhouette, stitching detail, and hardware placement, which serve as source-identifying trade dress.

At the time, Coach was seeking a court order to stop Quince from selling its dupe handbags, following a product recall and the destruction of the allegedly infringing products, and damages. The complaint also claimed that Quince’s copycat handbags could lead to consumer confusion regarding the handbag source.

The brief case between Coach and Quince is part of a growing number of trade dress litigation from designer brands against the copy-cat market. Rather than trying to build a case on the alleged logo theft, a copied monogram, or the misuse of a brand name, Coach’s claim rested on the argument that its product's design, namely the handbags' silhouette, stitching, and hardware placement, could constitute protectable trade dress, a higher and more contested legal bar.

No stranger to lawsuits, Quince, a San Francisco-based brand, has built its business model and reputation on its factory-direct designs and pricing strategy that seeks to undercut designer brands by offering similar designs for less. Valued at 10.1 billion US dollars, Quince has faced several lawsuits in recent years, from names including Deckers Outdoor Corp., Williams-Sonoma Inc., and Yeti Coolers LLC.

News of the end of the lawsuit comes days after Deckers, parent company of Ugg, lost its infringement lawsuit against Quince over its copycat Ugg. Deckers first filed its lawsuit against Quince in 2023, over allegations of infringement for its US Design Patent No. D927,161t of the Ugg Classic Ultra mini boot.

After close to three years of litigation, a federal jury in California ruled last week that while Quince’s boots may have infringed on Deckers’ design patent, the asserted trade dresses were too common within the footwear industry to identify a single source, with the jury going even further by invalidating Deckers' design patent entirely.

In Pictures

British spectacle maker Cubitts, founded in 2013, has opened a new headquarters and optical manufactory in King’s Cross, London, investing around 500,000 pounds to bring together frame making, lens production, design, repair, consultation, exhibition and training under one roof.

The 13,000 square foot ‘The Yard’ marks “a new model for optical production in Britain,” explains the brand, returning spectacle making to an area of London once closely associated with the craft, as the streets around Clerkenwell and King’s Cross were once home to many of Britain’s spectacle makers.

Located within former Victorian stables that once served the nearby Crosse & Blackwell vinegar brewery, the headquarters have been designed as a working ecosystem for the brand, “part factory, part school, part studio and part cultural space” as a place where “spectacles can be designed, manufactured, glazed, repaired and fitted in one building,” allowing visitors to experience the process first-hand.

Cubitts invests 500,000 pounds in British manufacturing with the only spectacle-making workshop in central London

Tom Broughton, founder of Cubitts, said in a statement: "After years of moving through offices, railway arches and improvised workshops, The Yard is Cubitts’ permanent home. It is a one-of-a-kind manufactory in central London, bringing spectacle frame making, glazing, design and the full Cubitts team under one roof.

"Cubitts has always been rooted in King’s Cross. We began on my kitchen table in Cubitt Street, and have moved through a series of increasingly unlikely spaces — offices, arches, borrowed corners — but never quite found our home. The Yard at Blundell Street is that home. Just off the Cally, in the shadow of Pentonville Prison, it feels very King’s Cross: a working building for a working part of London.

"We’ve stripped away the paint and the lipstick, and let the building speak for itself. The London stock brick, the Victorian stable fabric, the original cobbled floor, the pine boards, even the 1980s post-modern concrete and purple ducting — all of it is part of the story. We didn’t want to turn it into something pristine. We wanted to show it for what it is."

Inside Cubitts’ new headquarters and workshops

The building centres on a large open courtyard, which has been transformed into a working frame-making workshop and headquarters, where advanced manufacturing technologies sit alongside traditional hand skills. Highlights include an onsite optical laboratory featuring next-generation glazing and milling equipment designed to reduce water and energy consumption, alongside five-axis CNC machines for frame production, and space for Cubitts’ makers to carry out finishing and assembly by hand.

Alongside the workshop and laboratory, the headquarters houses Cubitts’ design studio, creative facilities and growing archive, including a curated collection of historically significant spectacles spanning more than two centuries. There is also a bespoke consultation room, where clients can commission custom frames and explore Cubitts’ bespoke services and a repair and servicing area.

The Yard also hosts the workshop of master spectacle maker Lawrence Jenkin, who originally taught Cubitts founder Tom Broughton the craft of frame making. At the new site, Jenkin will work alongside Cubitts’ makers, helping to carry forward a tradition of British spectacle making that has largely disappeared from central London.

The building, designed by 51 Architecture, also includes a commercial kitchen and communal dining space, allowing Cubitts to host talks, suppers, exhibitions and industry events, alongside a dedicated training academy for the company’s opticians and makers. The brand also commissioned a mural by David Shrigley for the exterior.

“The intention is for The Yard to be more than a workplace: an active house for making, learning, hospitality and cultural exchange,” added Cubitts.

Fashion group H&M continued to feel the effects of a weak consumer climate in its second fiscal quarter. In the three months to the end of May, sales fell by 3 percent to 54.8 billion Swedish kronor, the company announced on Thursday. Analysts, however, had expected a smaller decline in revenue.

The business was also impacted again by negative currency effects. The Swedish company's profit development was also disappointing. The share price recently reacted to the figures with a drop of around 2.5 percent.

Although H&M was able to keep its operating result almost stable at a good 5.9 billion kronor despite restructuring costs, experts surveyed by the news agency Bloomberg had expected an average increase to 6.35 billion. The bottom-line profit of 3.96 billion kronor was marginally above the previous year's level.

Mixed quarter

CEO Daniel Ervér painted a mixed picture of the quarter. He explained in a statement that although sales had developed somewhat more poorly than originally planned, H&M is making further progress in its efforts to achieve higher profitability. The operating margin rose to 10.8 percent in the second quarter, up from 10.4 percent in the same quarter last year.

At the same time, the manager admitted to problems in inventory management. He stated that the reduction of stock levels, which has been underway for some time, has in some cases meant that customer demand could not be met. H&M must improve in this area in the future and better balance supply and demand.

H&M is under great pressure in its competition with budget retailers such as Shein and Primark and has also recently been at a disadvantage in direct competition with Zara's owner, Inditex.

Since taking office in 2024, Ervér has been working to improve the product range, sharpen pricing and shorten delivery times. At the same time, the group continued to reduce its store network in the second quarter. These measures have contributed to the recovery of margins. Demand remains fragile in several key markets. H&M therefore also expects sales in June to be only at the previous year's level.

Hsg has become the majority shareholder of Golden Goose Group. The international venture capital and private equity firm has completed the acquisition of a majority stake in the company.

Marco Bizzarri appointed non-executive chairman with immediate effect

Global investment company Temasek and True Light Capital, an asset manager wholly owned by Temasek, have completed their investment as minority shareholders. Permira will remain a strategic minority shareholder.

A statement read: “The investments by Hsg and Temasek are based on a strong strategic and cultural affinity and represent a new stage in Golden Goose's global growth journey.”

Golden Goose has recorded consistent and profitable growth. Its revenue increased from 266 million euro in the 2020 financial year to 734 million euro in the 2025 financial year. More recently, the group reported first-quarter revenue growth of 10 percent year-over-year to 173.2 million, supported by strong performance across all geographical areas.

“Today marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Golden Goose. We are delighted that Hsg and Temasek are officially joining our journey as strategic partners,” said CEO Silvio Campara, who will continue to lead the company. “We look forward to benefiting from their extensive experience in the international development of luxury brands and in accelerating innovation, as we strengthen our global ambitions and bring Golden Goose to more Dreamers around the world.”

“Golden Goose is a one-of-a-kind luxury brand. Its Italian heritage, pioneering model and authentic tone of voice are able to create connections with a constantly growing and deeply passionate global community,” added Jiajia Zou, a partner at Hsg. “We are happy to support Silvio and his talented team, together with Temasek and Permira, to seize new growth opportunities, while enhancing what has made the brand a success story to date.”

Business has grown from 266 million in revenue in 2020 to 734 million in 2025

“What Silvio and his extraordinary team have achieved over the past six years is truly remarkable. The business has grown from 266 million in revenue in 2020 to 734 million in 2025,” said Francesco Pascalizi and Tara Alhadeff, partners at Permira. “The team has accelerated the brand's direct-to-consumer model, turning it into a powerful engine for growth, and has expanded the store network to 232 locations across EMEA, the Americas and APAC.”

The note specified: “Leveraging the global presence of Hsg and Temasek and their respective track records in the global development of consumer brands and innovation platforms, the group will continue to accelerate its international expansion and innovation platform. It will strengthen its distinctive direct-to-consumer model and the brand's global resonance at the intersection of luxury, lifestyle and sportswear, while preserving and continuing to invest in Golden Goose's made-in-Italy roots.”

Silvio Campara will continue to lead Golden Goose as chief executive officer, alongside the current leadership team. Marco Bizzarri, previously a non-executive member of the board of directors since April 2024, now assumes the role of non-executive chairman.

The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Jp Morgan acted as lead financial advisor and Bank of America as financial advisor to Permira. Giliberti Triscornia e Associati acted as legal advisor and Maisto e Associati as tax advisor to Permira.

Ey conducted the financial due diligence for Permira. The chief executive officer Silvio Campara and the management team were assisted by Gatti Pavesi Bianchi Ludovici, with a team led by equity partner Andrea Giardino and partner Filippo Sola, and by Ropes & Gray.

Valentino, controlled by Qatari fund Mayhoola (70 percent) and with Kering holding a 30 percent stake, has closed 2025 with 1.12 billion euros.

According to the balance sheet filed by the fashion house, as reported by Il Sole 24 Ore, revenue stood at 1.12 billion euros. This represents a decrease of 15 percent compared to the previous year. The gross operating margin (EBITDA) fell by 41 percent, settling at 174 million euros.

Net debt also increased, rising to 1.13 billion euros from the previous 1.08 billion.

In the document, according to Il Sole 24 Ore, the company explains that exchange rate fluctuations also weighed on the results.

Washington, US, June 24, 2026 (AFP) - Technology giant Alibaba filed a federal lawsuit in the US on Monday against its designation as a “Chinese military company” by the Department of Defense, claiming the classification is arbitrary.

The lawsuit, filed in a San Francisco federal court, challenges the Pentagon's determination that Alibaba should be included on the federal list of military companies.

“The determinations are not based on fact or law,” the lawsuit states.

On June eight, the Pentagon published a new list of 80 companies and their subsidiaries that it claimed were assisting the Chinese military.

The list included technology giants Alibaba and Baidu, as well as electric vehicle manufacturer BYD.

Under this designation, from June 30, the Pentagon cannot enter into new contracts with the designated companies or their controlled subsidiaries.

The designation also restricts the company's ability to hire lobbying firms in the US, which the lawsuit claims violates its First Amendment rights.

“The effect is already being felt: advocates who have represented Alibaba for years have informed the company that they can no longer do so,” the document states.

On Monday, China imposed export controls on ten US companies involved in defence and rare earth mining, in response to Washington's blacklist.

The confrontation tests bilateral relations. It follows the meeting between US president, Donald Trump, and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in Beijing last month, which aimed to stabilise ties between the two powers.

The Leisure Collective (TLC), the Australia-based parent company of surf and coastal lifestyle brands Creatures of Leisure, Otis Eyewear, Sito Shades and Layday, have created a director of brands role as part of a leadership restructuring designed to “fuel next five years of growth”.

In a statement, TLC said it was promoting key staff to take its “iconic brands to the next level,” including appointing industry veteran Beau Campi to the newly created role of director of brands to oversee the commercial direction across the entire TLC portfolio. Campi has led Creatures of Leisure for seven years and was previously a key design director with Billabong and Volcom.

To support Campi, TLC has also named Mike Guarino as the new brand manager for Creatures of Leisure, Simon Lafranchi takes on the role as brand manager for Otis Eyewear, India Atkinson continues as Layday brand manager, and Sally Kerr has been appointed as brand manager for Sito Shades.

The changes also opened up two new positions, with Maxime Lemaitre appointed as Creatures product manager and Freya Manuel becoming the new marketing and e-commerce assistant for Sito Shades.

Commenting on the appointments, Nathan Omodei, chief executive and director of The Leisure Collective, said: “This is a deliberate investment in leadership and long-term focus, ensuring each brand is supported by clear ownership, creative direction, and accountability.

“Beau’s experience and track record, combined with the strength of the newly appointed brand managers, positions us strongly for the next phase of growth.”

Nike has appointed David M. Denton as executive vice president and chief financial officer, as the sportswear giant continues to drive forward with its ‘Win Now’ turnaround strategy.

Denton will join Nike on August 17, replacing the American sportswear brand’s current CFO Matthew Friend, who will step down from his role and remain with the company until September 4 to “support an orderly transition”.

Joining from Pfizer, Inc., where he has served as CFO and executive vice president since May 2022, Denton has more than 30 years of finance and operating leadership experience. He has served as CFO at several global public companies, including Lowe’s and CVS Health.

In his new role with Nike, he will lead its global finance organisation, working with president and chief executive officer Elliott Hill and the senior leadership team to support disciplined execution, capital allocation, and long-term value creation.

Commenting on the appointment, Hill said in a statement: “Dave is a proven public-company CFO who knows how to help great consumer brands operate with discipline and invest to win.

“We’re focused on doing what Nike does best: serving athletes, leading with sport and building the most innovative products in the world. Dave’s experience, judgment, and operating rigour will help us execute against these priorities with consistency and build on the progress underway.”

The appointment comes as Nike reported flat sales growth for the third quarter ending February 28, 2026, with 11.3 billion US dollars in revenue.

Denton added: “Nike is one of the world’s great brands, with extraordinary strengths in sport, innovation, and global scale.

“I’m excited to partner with Elliott and the leadership team to support the company’s priorities, invest with discipline, and help deliver sustainable long-term value as Nike continues to lead with sport and serve athletes around the world.”

Puma shares accelerated their decline on Tuesday, at times falling as sharply as they did in January. The drop is thought to have been triggered by subdued analyst comments on second-quarter sales following discussions with management.

The sporting goods manufacturer's shares were last down 7.5 percent at 26.02 euros, placing them second to last on the MDax in the afternoon. At times, they had fallen by as much as 9.6 percent.

In response, Bernstein analyst William Woods has now lowered his estimates. He expects a currency-adjusted sales decline of 9 percent for the second quarter. This is below the market consensus, which forecasts a 6 percent decline. Woods cited a normalisation of business activity and challenging comparatives in the US mass-market business as reasons for his move.

Puma is set to release its second-quarter results on July 31.

Seidensticker is bringing its womenswear back to wholesale, starting from the upcoming order season. The blouse specialist has adapted its collection accordingly.

Back in January, Seidensticker's CEO Silvia Bentzinger did not rule out a return for womenswear to wholesale, as she mentioned in an interview. She did not want to announce any concrete plans at the time. The Bielefeld-based company has now confirmed its updated strategy, following a report by the trade magazine Textilwirtschaft (TW).

“With the realignment of our womenswear, we are deliberately focusing on a distinct profile rather than breadth,” said Bentzinger, speaking to FashionUnited. “We are returning with a clearer, more modern collection and a selective wholesale strategy that perfectly matches our positioning as a blouse specialist.”

Before Seidensticker announced at the end of 2024 that it would no longer sell its womenswear via the wholesale channel, the collection and customer structure were very heterogeneous, Bentzinger explained to TW. At the time, the womenswear collection was available in the premium segment as well as at retailers such as Sinn and Galeria Kaufhof. The different requirements of these partners led to a dilution of the brand.

The company did not wish to provide specific details about potential retail partners when asked by FashionUnited. The goal is to build sustainable partnerships with the “right retail partners,” the CEO added. “The current market movement is opening up opportunities that we want to seize with a focused offering and a strong signature style.”

From spring 2027, Seidensticker plans to return with a more focused and expressive assortment than before. The collection, comprising around 60 options, will be somewhat more understated, which is why fewer prints will be included. The focus will be on blouses, although product groups such as knitwear, trousers, dresses and blazers will also be expanded in the future. Additionally, the never-out-of-stock range has been adjusted. It now includes around 120 items and features a larger proportion of fashion-forward pieces.

Womenswear currently accounts for around 30 percent of turnover. Menswear is expected to remain the main revenue driver in the long term. However, the company considers an increase in the womenswear share to 40 percent to be realistic.

Madrid – Under the name "MPattern", Spanish entrepreneurs Iván Royo, José Luis Gonzálvez and Antonio Calero have just launched an innovative solution. They aim to reshape common practices within the fashion industry, once again thanks to artificial intelligence (AI). Their platform automates the process of pattern drafting and fitting.

The creators behind the "MPattern" platform explain that current dynamics in the garment industry involve creating a base pattern. Pattern makers then work on this base to create the uniqueness of each garment through cuts, plays on volume, gathers and all other kinds of elements and fabric manipulations. These creative gestures lead to the final pattern for the garment in a later phase. The platform's launch not only acknowledges but also aims to enhance this process. It does not focus on that stage of garment construction, but on the immediately preceding and initial one: drafting the base pattern. For small sewing workshops, this element must be drawn for each new client. For small fashion firms, it makes it difficult to expand the range of their different styles, as each resizing and grading of a pattern consumes hours of work to achieve the perfect fit for each different size. Automation systems do exist to overcome this barrier. However, they warn that these solutions "cost thousands of euros" and are designed "for factories with hundreds of workers". In response to these tools, they are launching this AI-powered pattern generation platform.

"Our goal is not to replace the work of pattern makers and designers, but to democratise access to tools that were previously reserved for large companies, allowing students, small workshops and emerging brands to compete technically on an international level," defend the founders of MPattern. In this commitment, "the artificial intelligence" implemented through the platform "is not here to replace the pattern maker," but "is here to give them back their time." Therefore, professionals will continue to lead the "transformation" phase and "the creative decision-making—what the craft is really about—," while "the repetitive base" will be left to technology. With this platform, "we dream that a person in their home, or a small atelier in any country, can compete technically with any studio in the world, without giving up the craftsmanship behind" the fashion industry.

Available in 52 languages

Developed under the umbrella of Midnata Labs, a technology company founded by the three co-founding partners at the beginning of 2026, the platform is the result of years of work dedicated to its design and development. It is now available and accessible to users from its official website. For now, it is only accessible through this environment, although an option for combined work between the web platform and mobile devices is already enabled, pending the upcoming launch of an app.

Regarding its functionality, MPattern summarises it in a sequence of just five steps. It begins with the creation of a measurement profile, for which they note they have 47 anthropometric points ready for any user. After this initial step, the user must choose a base pattern from the more than 50 professional patterns offered by the platform. These include models for shirts, trousers, dresses, tailored garments or kidswear. These models can then be further personalised with a measurement adjustment step, where users can enter the different values for chest, neck, shoulders, wrist or waist, in either millimetres or inches. The process concludes with the visualisation of the pattern, which the platform generates in parallel and in real time from the measurements entered in the table. It modifies the pattern while respecting the original proportions with each measurement change. Finally, the pattern is ready to be either printed at a 1:1 scale for finishing "by hand", or exported to Adobe Illustrator, CLO3D or any other design software. A noteworthy feature is the "projector mode" option. This allows the pattern to be projected at a 1:1 scale directly onto the fabric, further streamlining the entire process and reducing resource consumption.

"What used to take four hours can now be done in just three minutes," MPattern emphasises. The platform is accessible to its users—beyond the free trial, which does not require a credit card—on a one-time payment basis without a subscription. It operates under European data protection regulations, shielding user information from public AI learning models. It is accessible from any country's browser in 52 different languages. These features, they stress, highlight their "vocation to serve a fashion student in Madrid" equally to "an 'atelier' in Lagos or an independent designer in Seoul". With "thousands of technical adjustments and calculations" happening in the background, users can "work more efficiently". This translates into "less time building base patterns" and "more time creating fashion".

Paris - The environmental cost of clothing is still of little interest to consumers, according to an initial assessment by brands on Monday. This comes eight months after the eco-score came into effect in France.

Since October 1, brands have been able to voluntarily implement this eco-score. A label displays the "environmental cost" of a textile. The higher the score in "impact points", the less sustainable it is. Therefore, the objective for brands is to achieve the lowest possible score.

The eco-score is calculated based on water consumption; greenhouse gas emissions; toxicity; recycling or repair possibilities; the volume of microplastic fibres released during washing; and a "fast fashion coefficient" that considers production volumes.

This week, the milestone of 100 brands using this label "will be passed", according to the Ministry of Ecological Transition, which gathered industry stakeholders on Monday. "We wanted to show that we could have low prices and be exemplary from an environmental standpoint," stated Camille Caron, head of CSR at Kiabi.

Lack of customer interest and clarity highlighted

According to initial feedback on Monday, consumers are paying very little attention to the eco-score. "For now, customers are not interested, despite the physical display in stores," testified Clémence Berlier, head of CSR at menswear brand Jules. The sentiment is similar at SMCP (Sandro, Maje, Claudie Pierlot and Fursac), where "the primary criterion for customers remains desirability," advanced Damien Pelle, the group's head of sustainability.

There is no reason to be alarmed, however, noted Bertrand Swiderski, CSR director at Carrefour. "It took people several years to adopt the Nutriscore," he remarked.

Some brands note that consumers find the indicator difficult to understand. "For those who are interested, it is not clear enough," testified Berlier. The displayed eco-score figure "is not very legible," confirmed Pauline Greneche, CSR project manager at Leclerc, a retailer that has used the system since February.

A 'titanic task' for brands ahead of European harmonisation

Collecting data for 400 of the group's products represents a "titanic task", particularly in "identifying all suppliers," she added. These reasons prompted Camille Caron of Kiabi to call for "more experimentation before regulating this score".

The system, planned in the Climate and Resilience Act (2021), was set to become mandatory in 2024. It is ultimately only voluntary to allow the European Union to complete its work on developing a future mandatory environmental label.

Resale technology company Reflaunt has launched Folio, opening the platform to personal stylists and private client advisors to manage second-hand sales for their clients through a single app.

"For the first time, a stylist has the infrastructure to advise and edit a client's wardrobe across its full lifecycle, not just focus on what's new each season," Sarah Rutson, creative merchant and Reflaunt advisor, said in the press release.

The London-based company already operates resale programmes for brands including Balenciaga, Harvey Nichols and Level Shoes. With Folio, it is targeting stylists directly, as high-net-worth clients increasingly expect them to handle resale alongside new purchases. The company has not disclosed revenue figures, though it said earlier this year that it had reached profitability.

How it works

Stylists or clients flag items for resale through the app, after which Reflaunt handles collection, authentication and listing within days across platforms including Vestiaire Collective, Poshmark, eBay and The RealReal. Proceeds go to the client or are reinvested in new purchases, while stylists earn a commission on each sale and can track activity in real time.

"Resale platforms were built for consumers, not for the professional managing ten clients across several markets, tracking 300 live listings, and channeling proceeds back into a client relationship," said founder and CEO Stéphanie Crespin. "We built Folio to answer that."

Rollout

Folio ran as an invite-only pilot from January 2026 and is now open to its first broader cohort of fashion professionals via referral or through the dedicated Folio website.

This article was written by AI

European companies whose value increasingly depends on intellectual property and other intangible assets could benefit from improved access to finance. This follows work by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) on intellectual property-backed financing. The EUIPO is responsible for managing EU trademarks, registered EU designs and models, and EU geographical indications for craft and industrial products.

During a joint meeting of the steering group and the technical working group on intellectual property-backed financing, held in Brussels on June 10, participants approved the European IP-backed finance roadmap. This marks the transition from analysis and research to the practical implementation phase.

João Negrão: "what we need is a financial system that better recognises the value of innovation and intellectual property"

The approval is based on the findings of the EUIPO report "IP-backed finance in Europe: state of play and future perspectives". The report identified the main obstacles preventing innovative companies from using their intellectual property more effectively when seeking finance.

Organised by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the European Commission, the meetings brought together representatives from EU institutions, national intellectual property offices, financial institutions, industry organisations and experts.

Opening the event, Nathalie Berger, director for competitiveness coordination at the European Commission's DG Grow, and João Negrão, executive director of the EUIPO, stressed the importance of adapting the European financial system to an economy increasingly driven by innovation, knowledge and intangible assets.

"Europe has the talent, the research and the capital. What we need is a financial system that better recognises the value of innovation and intellectual property, helping innovative companies to grow, expand and compete globally," stated Negrão.

Although intellectual property and other intangible assets are often among a company's most valuable resources, they remain difficult to assess and use in financing decisions for many financial institutions. Consequently, innovative companies, particularly start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs, may face difficulties in accessing the finance they need to grow.

The intellectual property-backed finance roadmap sets out a practical path to address this challenge. Its goal is to help companies present information about their intellectual property and other intangible assets more clearly and consistently. It also aims to support banks, investors and public financial institutions in better understanding and using this information.

The work focuses on several areas identified as essential for a functioning ecosystem of intellectual property-backed financing. These include: improving how intangible assets are communicated and valued; strengthening valuation practices; building a more robust evidence base through real data and financial transactions; and exploring how guarantee schemes and other risk-sharing mechanisms can support the financing of innovative companies.

By the end of 2027, the fundamental components needed to support the wider European intellectual property-backed financing ecosystem are expected to be ready for operational deployment. This will create new opportunities to connect innovation, investment and growth.

British sportswear brand Castore, founded by Tom and Phil Beahon, has acquired a controlling stake in heritage shoemaker Grenson, which has been making footwear in Northamptonshire, England, since 1866.

According to Grenson’s Companies House filings, J Carter Sporting Club Limited, the parent company of Castore, has acquired a 75 percent stake in the shoe and bootmaker, and Grenson’s previous owners, Tim Little and his wife Julie Little, have stepped down from the board.

In addition, Grenson officially changed its registered office address from its traditional home in Northamptonshire to Castore's headquarters in Manchester.

Tom Beahon, co-founder and chief executive of Castore, said in a statement: “Grenson is an iconic British brand with extraordinary heritage, craftsmanship and authenticity. Phil and I have admired the business for a long time, and we see a significant opportunity to support its next chapter while protecting the qualities that make it so special.

“Castore Group’s ambition is to build a portfolio of premium British brands with global relevance. As with Belstaff, this investment is a commitment to long-term stewardship, investing behind strong fundamentals and helping distinctive British brands reach more customers around the world.”

Castore continues to diversify beyond sportswear with a controlling stake in Grenson

Grenson is one of the oldest and most respected names in traditional British shoemaking, founded by William Green in 1866, and the brand made a name for itself as a major supplier to the British military during World Wars I and II.

In 2010, Little bought the business from the Green family, where he kickstarted an expansion of the brand through four stores in London and wholesale with retailers such as Selfridges, Dover Street Market and Mr Porter. He also introduced the first women’s collection in 30 years, as well as high-profile collaborations with the likes of New Balance, Craig Green, Liberty, Vivienne Westwood, Neighbourhood, and Kith.

Key styles for the brand include the signature ‘Fred’ brogue boot and the ‘Nanette,’ a chunky women’s hiker boot that has become a favourite with celebrities, such as Holly Willoughby.

Commenting on the sale, Tim Little, chief executive of Grenson, added: “I have always known that one day I would want to secure a bright future for Grenson, and when I met Tom and Phil, I knew that they were the perfect people. They understood the brand, its heritage and the opportunity, and from the very first meeting, I was convinced they were the ideal custodians of the brand.

“I can’t wait to start working with them on this exciting new chapter for this 160-year-old company.”

Details of the deal have not been disclosed.

This marks the second heritage acquisition for Castore, following its purchase of British luxury brand Belstaff in August 2025 from its parent company INEOS. The move at the time was seen as Castore’s step into luxury fashion, diversifying beyond its sportswear credentials, where it sponsors major sports teams around the world, as well as designing sportswear for both everyday workouts and professional athletes.

Elche (Alicante) - Five weeks after Fice and the Spanish Association of Component Companies for Footwear and Leather Goods (AEC) met with the minister of industry and tourism, Jordi Hereu, to present a sectoral competitiveness plan, the AEC is raising the alarm. It highlights the critical situation facing the sector, which is experiencing a sustained decline in its business fabric, employment, and industrial production. The association is demanding an immediate and coordinated sectoral action plan from public authorities.

According to the latest data from the Central Business Directory (Dirce), the number of footwear manufacturers in Spain decreased by 35 percent between 2020 and 2025, falling from 3,280 to 2,131 companies. In 2025 alone, 195 companies closed. The decline has been particularly severe in regions with the highest industrial concentration: the Valencian Community lost 37 percent of its companies, Castilla-La Mancha, 39.7 percent, Murcia, 22.5 percent and La Rioja, 17.4 percent. These four regions account for 87.4 percent of the Spanish national footwear business fabric.

The Industrial Production Index for footwear recorded a year-over-year decline of 9.2 percent in 2025 and stood at -29.1 percent in April 2026. In parallel, employment in the footwear and leather sector fell by 10 percent year-over-year in December 2025. By May 2026, it had accumulated a loss of 1,704 jobs compared to the same month the previous year, representing a decrease of 4.5 percent.

Trade deficit and Asian pressure

The sector's trade balance closed 2025 with a deficit of 1.86 billion euros in value. Exports reached 167.7 million pairs, valued at 3.39 billion euros, while imports totalled 370.8 million pairs, valued at 5.25 billion euros. 83.5 percent of imported footwear came from Asia, with China as the main supplier, accounting for 198 million pairs. Compared to the 71 million pairs manufactured in Spain—0.3 percent of world production—China accounts for 53.4 percent of global production, with 13 billion pairs annually.

The hourly labour cost in the Spanish sector is 15.38 euros, lower than Italy (26.38 euros) and Germany (20.83 euros), but significantly higher than Portugal (9.94 euros), Greece (9.33 euros), and Eastern European countries, where it ranges between five and eight euros. This gap, compounded by the rigidity of seasonal hiring, limits companies' ability to adapt their production to demand.

The footwear components sector, which comprises nearly 1,000 companies and over 19,000 direct and indirect jobs, is directly affected by the deterioration of the value chain. In 2025, it exported components worth 1.70 billion euros and imported components worth 1.76 billion euros. AEC notes that the contraction in consumption, the increase in imports, and weak export performance are compromising industrial activity in clusters where footwear holds significant strategic importance.

”We are not talking about isolated companies; we are talking about a complete value chain. Companies can no longer endure. We need an immediate, coordinated institutional response with an industrial vision”, stated Álvaro Sánchez, general director of AEC.

AEC is calling for a coordinated plan between the state, autonomous communities, and local entities that combines emergency measures with structural reforms. Priorities include making seasonal hiring more flexible; providing financial support for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises; implementing reindustrialisation programmes focused on productivity and export capacity; and reviewing trade instruments to address Asian imports with stricter tariff controls.

The association is also demanding greater institutional support for international promotion and for the sector's international trade fairs held in Spain, as well as a reduction in administrative and tax burdens on industrial activity.

Beijing - China imposed export controls on ten US companies, including some from the defence and rare earth mining sectors, Beijing reported on Monday.

It also banned dozens of US companies from participating in public procurement, in response to a Washington blacklist of Chinese firms.

The measures were adopted one month after US president Donald Trump's visit to China, which sought to stabilise tense relations with his counterpart Xi Jinping.

Shortly after the visit, the United States released a blacklist of 80 Chinese companies and their subsidiaries. Washington claims these companies support the Chinese military, which prompted Beijing to threaten retaliation.

China's new export controls are "in response to the heinous act of the US government of adding companies to its so-called 'list of Chinese military companies'," the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.

It added that the provisions also seek to "safeguard China's national security."

Among the ten entities are Aveox, which has aerospace contracts with the US armed forces, and Oshkosh Defense, which manufactures military vehicles.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Ministry of Finance announced a ban on 46 US companies from participating in public procurement in the country. The ban includes Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Boeing's defence division.

The US blacklist affects Chinese giants such as Alibaba, Baidu and BYD.

E-commerce worldwide is suffering from a growing number of fraudulent customers.

According to an analysis by US cybersecurity service provider LexisNexis Risk Solutions, both the economic downturn and organised crime contribute to this. International gangs are reportedly targeting and recruiting people to commit online shopping fraud or provide their identities to criminals.

The company operates a “Digital Identity Network” to verify online identities and purchases. The analysis was based on 116 billion transactions last year.

Organised gangs have discovered e-commerce

Genuine customers, as opposed to perpetrators who use stolen or fake identities or commit other forms of fraud, reportedly accounted for 38.8 percent of all fraud cases worldwide in 2025. This is almost two percentage points more than the previous year. In Europe, the rate of these so-called first-party fraud cases is now almost 52 percent.

“On the one hand, the crisis is driving some people to look for opportunities to commit fraud,” says Jason Lane-Sellers, a cyber fraud expert at the company. “There are also groups that are specifically targeted by criminals, such as people with poor credit ratings or students. The perpetrators pay an extra 50 euros and instruct them.”

Some are unknowingly involved

This also affects German e-commerce. A spokesperson for the e-commerce association BEVH confirms the British cyber expert's assessment: “It is indeed the case that students or pensioners are recruited for the scam. Many do not even know they are supposed to be part of a scam, but simply receive an offer of money in exchange for providing their data.”

Fraud is a growing and significant problem, says Bernd Ohlmann, spokesperson for the Bavarian trade association (HBE). “E-commerce is booming and continues to grow this year. There are some who want to take a piece of the pie, and not just in a legal way.”

A common scam involves goods delivered on account or credit not being paid for, or being claimed as never ordered. “People who order the latest trainers and then claim the goods never arrived, or that they never placed the order,” says Lane-Sellers.

Favourable credit offers an incentive for criminals

This also affects the financial sector, which attracts customers with favourable credit offers: “It is now possible to order expensive mobile phones with a two-year credit agreement and no down payment,” says the expert. “Many of these attacks affect financial service providers. We see the biggest impact on services like buy now, pay later and one or two-year credit agreements.”

According to Lane-Sellers, it is also common for dishonest buyers to demand a refund for goods they claim were not delivered. “As long as a company cannot prove that a customer has intentionally committed fraud, it is very difficult to dispute fraudulent refund claims.”

The burden of proof lies with the retailer, as HBE spokesperson Ohlmann also states. Goods obtained through online fraud, or stolen from a brick and mortar shop, often end up back online. “Stolen goods are sold off en masse online,” says Ohlmann.

The increase in fraud cases by genuine customers does not mean that identity theft or the criminal takeover of online accounts are in decline. In this respect, according to LexisNexis Risk Solutions, gangs are now more frequently shifting their attacks to desktop computers.

Companies can read more signals and data in mobile apps, which potentially allows for better security profiles for fraud detection, says Lane-Sellers. “Meanwhile, customers may believe that traditional desktop computers are more secure for higher-value transactions than their mobile devices.”

LA-based womenswear brand Reformation is believed to be preparing to confidentially file an initial public offering (IPO) in the coming week, with plans to potentially go public in July, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Reports suggest that the company has been mulling an IPO for years, with rumours of such discussions spanning as far back as 2023, when Bloomberg reported on a potential public listing.

The brand is said to be on track to rake in more than 500 million dollars in revenue this year, an increase of 40 percent on its 2023 turnover.

Sales are largely driven by its direct channels, with 70 stores located globally, including five in London. It also operates via retail partners like Selfridges, Harvey Nichols and Liberty.

Founded in 2009, Reformation has remained under the majority ownership of Permira since 2019. At the time, stakes in the business were retained by CEO Yael Aflalo, president Hali Borenstein, and investor Stripes Group, which remained a partner.

The brand emphasises a commitment to sustainable materials, and operates via a vertically integrated model for both manufacturing and distribution.

Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio, an heir to Ray-Ban parent company EssilorLuxottica, is believed to be seeking expanded influence over the eyewear conglomerate's holding company as the future of the empire's ownership structure comes into question.

According to Reuters, the 31-year-old executive, who serves as chief strategy officer at EssilorLuxottica and chairman of Ray-Ban, is reportedly exploring financing worth around 10 billion euros to acquire the stakes of two siblings in Delfin, the Luxembourg-based holding company that owns 32.4 percent of EssilorLuxottica.

If completed, the transaction would increase Del Vecchio's holding in Delfin from 12.5 percent to 37.5 percent, making him the company's largest shareholder.

The move follows the death of EssilorLuxottica founder Leonardo Del Vecchio in 2022, when ownership of the family holding company was divided equally among eight heirs. Since then, differing views among shareholders have reportedly complicated decision-making within the group.

Despite potentially gaining a significantly larger stake, Del Vecchio would not gain full control of Delfin, as major strategic decisions require enhanced shareholder majorities under governance rules established by the founder.

The news comes after EssilorLuxottica reported a weakening profit in fiscal 2025, despite an improvement to global revenues. For the year, group net profit dropped 1.9 percent to 2.32 billion euros, while operating profit fell 2 percent year-over-year.

Annual revenue for the period rose 7.5 percent to 28.49 billion euros, with double digit growth seen across North America, EMEA and Asia-Pacific.

The group is currently initiating a medtech strategy that sees it pivot from traditional eyewear towards a holsitic healthcare ecosystem, driven by the vertical integration of medical research and advanced devices to create therapeutic treatments and connected wearables.

Reju has joined Recycling Europe as the organisation’s newest partner. The textile-to-textile recycling firm is now part of the Recycling Europe Textiles branch, underlining what it says is a commitment to advancing textile circularity and supporting recycled materials markets.

In a statement, Reju’s chief executive officer, Patrik Frisk, said: “Building partnerships like this one are important and we have the opportunity to establish a genuine circular ecosystem for textile recycling and invite collaboration across the entire value chain.”

Recycling Europe’s secretary general, Julia Ettinger, added that the “partnership shows how industry collaboration can scale textile circularity at the speed Europe now needs – unlocking both environmental and economic opportunity”.

With a focus on textile regeneration, Reju specialises in creating solutions for polyester textiles and post-consumer PET waste. It currently operates from a pilot Regeneration Hub in Frankfurt, Germany, and has revealed plans to expand through future industrial sites in Chemelot, the Netherlands; New York, US; and Lacq, France.

By joining Recycling Europe Textiles, Reju will collaborate on a collective mission to scale mechanical and chemical recycling technologies for post-consumer textiles, transitioning them back to raw materials and reducing emissions.

Plans for a new round of US-Iran talks have been postponed after US vice president JD Vance delayed a scheduled visit to Switzerland, slowing progress on the implementation of a recently signed ceasefire agreement.

The talks were due to focus on the next phase of a 14-point memorandum of understanding (MoU) agreed earlier this week, which brought to an end nearly four months of conflict between the two countries and paved the way for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

The waterway is one of the world's most important shipping routes, connecting manufacturers and suppliers across Asia and the Gulf with European and US markets. Recent disruptions in the region have raised concerns around freight costs, shipping delays and supply chain reliability.

The MoU includes the lifting of the US naval blockade on Iranian ports, the restoration of commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the gradual removal of US sanctions and a commitment to negotiate a final agreement within 60 days.

While shipping traffic is said to have begun to recovering following the deal, uncertainty remains, particularly amid renewed violence in Lebanon, where Israeli strikes reportedly killed at least 18 people overnight.

Upcoming negotiations are expected to focus on implementing the agreement and addressing longer-term issues, including Iran's nuclear programme, as governments and businesses work towards ensuring stability for global trade routes.

October’s Very Own (OVO), the lifestyle and apparel label co-founded by rapper Drake, is facing a lawsuit over allegations of partial debt repayments and contractual breaches. The claims have been made by A.R.I. OVO Growth Capital, which said despite previous attempts to resolve legal issues, it now sought to enforce its rights and protect investors.

The investment firm, which commenced litigation in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, is seeking the recovery of around 4.6 million dollars in relation to owed funds, contractual default interest, legal fees and other expenses.

A.R.I. established a financing agreement with OVO in early 2025, injecting funding via separate transactions, including a senior secured credit facility and convertible promissory notes. The firm said it had initially viewed the globally-recognised brand as an attractive credit opportunity with substantial value enterprise potential.

OVO was founded in 2008 by Aubrey ‘Drake’ Graham, Oliver El-Khatib, and Noah ‘40’ Shebib, and is currently helmed by chief executive officer Derek ‘Drex’ Jancar. The brand sits within the premium lifestyle and luxury streetwear segment, and has become known for its activations across fashion, music, and sports.

Tensions heighten following acquisition rumours and equity raising efforts

In February 2026, however, OVO was alleged to have defaulted under the governing agreements after failing to repay debts on time. A.R.I. said it had worked to remedy the situation outside of court and ultimately entered into a forbearance agreement in which OVO approved the validity of unconditional payable obligations.

In a statement, the firm noted that it had “worked extensively with OVO through a formal workout process and provided the company substantial time and flexibility to resolve the situation outside of court”.

By May, A.R.I. claimed to have received a wire payment of around 3.8 million dollars transferred from a third-party account, making up part of the 4.6 million dollars owed. According to the case filing, however, OVO is alleged to have taken a stance that no further payments are withstanding.

Concerns over the deal were heightened upon A.R.I. learning of OVO’s reported efforts to secure a 30 million dollar equity financing transaction, which it said may be used to repay approximately 10 million dollars of indebtedness. The company is also believed to be facing approximately 12 million dollars in cumulative losses between 2022 and 2024.

A.R.I. further pointed to a recent report by media platform Puck that suggested OVO was mulling a transaction with Authentic Brands Group, which is believed to be considering the acquisition of 50 percent ownership. The investment firm said such discussions should have been disclosed as part of the contractual agreement.

FashionUnited has contacted OVO and Authentic Brands Group with a request to comment.

After an extended period of uncertainty, it appears that Quiz is finally closing its entire retail network. According to Drapers, the fashion retailer will be shutting its remaining 20 stores by the end of June 20.

The media outlet said the closures will impact Quiz’s locations in Merry Hill, Sheffield, Derby, Newtownabbey, Stirling, Portsmouth, Castleford, Leicester, Hull and Livingston, among others.

It comes as administrators at Interpath Advisory finalise their winding down process, which first launched in February. In May, a phased closure plan was then confirmed, and sought to shutter shops by June.

In a statement to Drapers, Alistair McAlinden, head of Interpath in Scotland and joint administrator, said: “As the Quiz stores close their doors for the final time, we would like to thank every member of staff for their commitment over the past five months.

“In exceptionally challenging circumstances, their professionalism ensured the business could continue to trade effectively. We are extremely grateful for their efforts and wish them all the best for the future.”

Zurich - Swiss watch exports remained almost stable in May, recording a modest increase of 0.4 percent to 2.1 billion Swiss francs, amid a sharp decline in China, the watch federation announced on Thursday.

This stabilisation, however, helps “to mitigate the cumulative decline observed over the first five months of the year,” the federation noted in a statement. The decline since the beginning of January now stands at 3.1 percent.

During the past month, Swiss watch exports rebounded by 12.3 percent to the US and by 24.9 percent to the UK, according to the watch federation's records.

France, however, showed the strongest increase among the major watch markets. Growth there amounted to 57 percent compared to the same period a year earlier. The federation highlighted that France is “driven by its role as a logistics hub” for re-exporting watches to other markets.

In contrast, exports to China fell by 21.4 percent, dampening hopes of a recovery in this key market for Swiss watchmakers.

These statistics “probably confirm that Chinese demand is mixed,” reacted Jefferies analysts in a market commentary. This comes as statistics since the beginning of the year had suggested an improvement after two difficult years in this market.

The basis for comparison was, however, “weak,” notes Manuel Lang, an analyst at Vontobel. For Lang, this drop in May “could serve as a warning for those who were betting on a recovery in China.”

After reaching peaks in 2023, the Swiss watch industry has experienced two more difficult years with the fall in demand in China since 2024, to which were added customs duties in the US in 2025. A glimmer of recovery seemed to be emerging in China in the watch federation's statistics since the beginning of 2026.

Watch exports to China had recovered by 5 percent in January, then fell by 11 percent in February but rebounded by 4.2 percent the following month. In April, they strengthened significantly, recording an increase of 17.1 percent.

The temperature is 35 degrees celsius but feels like 40 degrees due to the humidity. The air is stifling, the garment dust making it hard to breathe. The old ceiling fan is creaking and full of dust too, barely cooling the air. Workers, used to not drinking too much to avoid frequent bathroom breaks, sip on water spiked with electrolytes but fainting, nose bleeds and heatstroke are common.

What sounds like a dystopian narrative is very much a reality in many garment factories right now. The heat wave that is currently gripping large parts of South and Southeast Asia is stalling work in garment and textile factories and making workers’ lives even harder.

A strong El Niño is currently pumping massive reservoirs of oceanic heat into the atmosphere, compounding the long-term effects of human-induced climate change to drive global temperatures to record-breaking levels: 38 degrees Celsius in India and between 32 to 34 degrees Celsius in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

If you have ever exited a plane that just landed and been exposed to the jet exhaust for a few seconds while doing so, imagine being in there for hours. Across Asia, this is what it feels like at the moment, with shifting tropical weather patterns suppressing rainfall and weakening trade winds, thus trapping stagnant, dry air over the continent and triggering prolonged, extreme heatwaves. Heat strain starts from a temperature of about 30 degrees Celsius; heat stress from 32 degrees Celsius.

What is heat stress?

A recent report by the NYU Stern Centre for Business and Human Rights, entitled “Too Hot to Ignore: Extreme Heat in Garment Supply Chains,” warns the garment and textile industry not to ignore heat stress. The World Health Organization identifies heat stress as the leading cause of weather-related deaths. It occurs when the body cannot cool itself sufficiently through sweating and thus experiences symptoms like headaches, heat exhaustion, heatstroke, kidney damage, reproductive health issues or aggravated underlying health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, asthma and mental health disorders. Heat stress arises when individuals are exposed to excessive heat and humidity or undertake strenuous activity in hot environments - such as working in a garment factory for instance.

The report makes the point that climate-driven extreme heat can no longer be dismissed as a distant environmental concern; it has rapidly transformed into a core operational hazard. It underlines that rising ambient temperatures and soaring humidity levels across South and Southeast Asia are actively disrupting production ecosystems right now. It reframes extreme heat not merely as a peripheral sustainability metric, but as an immediate occupational safety and health crisis that fundamentally threatens the resilience of the global fashion supply chain.

To substantiate these findings, the research methodology employed by the NYU Stern team combined broad corporate tracking with deep, localised field analysis across India, the world’s sixth-largest garment exporter that is increasingly exposed to extreme heat.

The researchers conducted on-site investigations across ten apparel factories, collectively employing nearly 9,000 workers and spanning key industrial states, including Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Odisha, Maharashtra and Karnataka. They supply brands for the domestic (D-mart, V-mart, Joki) and international market (Jack & Jones, Levi’s, Marks & Spencer, Primark, S.Oliver, Target, Tom Tailor, Uniqlo and others).

The empirical fieldwork included interviews with approximately 80 workers onsite at nine of the factories and a further 40 interviews with them off-site to get a feel for heat exposure at living conditions. The report also tracked internal environmental variables and evaluated medical-room logs across multiple facilities to capture seasonal health spikes. Additionally, the researchers surveyed international footwear and apparel brands to evaluate the stark misalignment between corporate awareness and actual compliance oversight on the factory floor.

What physical and financial toll does heat stress take on workers?

The human toll of this escalating climate crisis falls square on the individuals operating the sewing lines. The report documents how indoor microclimates in manufacturing facilities often eclipse the dangerous conditions found outdoors, particularly within heavily industrialised zones. For instance, researchers recorded indoor temperatures reaching a staggering 43 to 45 degrees Celsius inside a fabric dyeing and processing unit, which actually exceeded the outside ambient heat by as much as 5 degrees Celsius. This oppressive indoor environment triggers severe physiological strain, with workers frequently reporting acute episodes of dizziness, chronic headaches, debilitating dehydration, fainting, skin rashes and severe kidney or urinary complications brought on by a lack of proper cooling and restricted rest periods.

Crucially, this physical suffering translates into a severe financial penalty for a workforce that is already heavily economically marginalised. The report reveals that heat-related healthcare costs and defensive expenditures—such as buying electrolytes or paying for medical treatment—drain between 500 and 1,000 rupees (5.30 to 10.60 US dollars) per month from a worker's pocket. Given that average monthly garment wages in these regions hover between 11,500 and 18,000 rupees (around 122 to 190 US dollars), these climate-induced out-of-pocket expenses represent a devastating chunk of household income. This financial erosion is compounded by immediate wage losses whenever workers are forced to take unpaid sick days due to heat exhaustion, illustrating how the poorest stakeholders in the fashion ecosystem absorb the direct economic shocks of global warming.

What does heat stress mean for factories and supply chains?

From a strictly commercial standpoint, the report outlines how extreme heat actively dismantles factory efficiency and compromises product standards during peak summer periods. Factory managers interviewed across nine operating facilities reported measurable productivity drops ranging from 3 to 10 percent during intense heatwaves, alongside an increase in worker absenteeism of roughly 2 to 5 percent. The physical toll on the workforce forces a natural slowing of the production pace, which directly jeopardises tight delivery schedules. Furthermore, extreme heat strains the machinery itself, causing frequent generator overloads and grid outages, such as an incident in April 2024 at a Faridabad knitwear facility that forced the complete closure of an entire production floor.

Beyond volume drops, the physical realities of a sweating workforce degrade the actual quality of the garments being manufactured. Excessive worker perspiration leads to fabric staining, while open windows and struggling ventilation systems allow external dust contamination to compromise clean assembly lines, resulting in a spike in stitching errors and structural defects.

“Extreme heat is now a predictable supply chain risk for apparel brands. Factories are losing output, quality is suffering and delivery timelines are at risk, not as a future scenario, but right now,” notes Lucy Siers, senior research scientist for global labour at the NYU Stern Centre. This reality forces manufacturers to choose between absorbing the costs of rejected merchandise or facing stiff penalties from brands for late shipments.

Whose responsibility is heat stress?

The broader narrative of the report exposes a profound governance failure within global fashion supply chains, characterised by a severe imbalance of power and responsibility. The researchers found that while 94.1 percent of international brands surveyed openly acknowledge that extreme heat poses a moderate to significant threat to their operations, their internal purchasing practices tell a completely different story. Only 35.3 percent of these brands mandate that their suppliers track internal heat or humidity levels, and absolutely zero brands collect this data on a continuous basis. This creates a convenient informational blind spot, allowing multi-national retailers to demand strict compliance with labour standards while remaining entirely ignorant of the literal sweatshop conditions their pricing structures perpetuate.

This operational disconnect means that the immense financial burden of climate adaptation is pushed entirely onto the suppliers. Tight purchasing margins, volatile order volumes and brutally short lead times imposed by brands systematically starve factory owners of the capital needed to invest in necessary structural overhauls.

Michael Posner, Director of the NYU Stern Centre, addresses this systemic failure directly, arguing that brands sourcing from heat-exposed regions have a clear commercial and ethical mandate to remain and assist: “The answer is not to walk away from these sourcing regions and leave workers and suppliers behind. It is to invest in making them more resilient by requiring heat monitoring, setting clear safety standards, building flexibility into purchasing practices when heat disrupts production and sharing the cost of cooling and ventilation upgrades."

Key recommendations

To redress these structural vulnerabilities, the report offers a series of targeted, non-negotiable recommendations for all key actors across the textile value chain, starting with global buyers. First, brands and retailers must formally categorise extreme heat as a core occupational safety hazard and integrate continuous indoor temperature monitoring into their standard supplier audits.

They are urged to move towards a shared-responsibility financial model, co-funding engineering upgrades like passive cooling infrastructure and high-volume fan installations, while building explicit timeline flexibility into production schedules during heatwaves. A successful precedent is highlighted at Epic Group’s Bhubaneswar facility, where a joint financial partnership with the International Finance Corporation utilised automated systems to maintain a stable indoor environment of 28 degrees Celsius.

Simultaneously, the report calls for aggressive intervention from domestic governments and international industry regulators to codify these protections. National regulatory bodies must establish legally binding indoor workplace temperature thresholds and enforceable work-rest schedules that trigger automatically when specific heat indices are breached. Governments should also extend existing national heat action plans to formally encompass indoor industrial environments and classify heat stress as a compensable occupational illness within state-sponsored social protection frameworks.

Finally, suppliers must implement immediate local safeguards, such as ensuring worker wages are fully protected during heat-induced output drops, and establishing democratised factory committees to give workers a direct voice in identifying and mitigating heat risks on the floor.

Hollister is venturing into the home and decor category as part of a collaborative collection with Target. The US lifestyle label has designed a line for college dorm rooms or bedrooms, marking an expansion beyond apparel alone to cater to evolving consumer needs.

The first drop, set to launch June 28, includes nearly 60 pieces across men’s and women’s apparel and bedding, including twin/twin XL and full/queen comforters and sheets; wearable throw blankets; decorative and study buddy pillows; and weighted plushies. A line of fleece tops and bottoms, sleep pants and sleep shorts complement the range.

In a statement, Corey Robinson, chief product officer of Hollister’s parent company Abercrombie & Fitch Co., said the assortment was a translation of the brand’s details and draws on signature elements, like ditsy florals and stripes. “Each category is intentionally connected through a shared colour, print and pattern that allows customers to style what they wear and how they live in a cohesive way,” Robinson said.

The line, dubbed ‘The Hollister Collection at Target’, will become available via Hollister and Target’s respective e-commerce sites, as well as most Target stores and select Hollister stores. Further products will roll out ahead of the holiday season and in spring 2027.

Deckers Outdoor Corp has lost a high-profile lawsuit against Quince over look-alike iterations of Uggs’ Australian shearling boots.

A federal jury in California found that while Quince’s boots may have infringed on Deckers’ design patent, the patent itself was invalid due to functional, indefinite, and obvious design characteristics.

Deckers had first sued Quince back in 2023 over allegations of infringement for US Patent No. D927,161, a design patent that covers object designs instead of inventions, this one specifically in relation to the Ugg Classic Ultra Mini boot.

This latest decision is another blow to Deckers in this long-running dispute. The apparel group, which also owns Hoka and Teva, had previously brought trademark-related claims against Quince earlier in the legal battle.

Last year, however, a US district judge determined the Ugg design was too generic for trade dress protection.

Quince then filed an antitrust lawsuit against Deckers in February, accusing the Ugg owner of attempting to claim an improper monopoly over basic, category-wide footwear features like rounded toes and thick soles.

Sportswear retail giant Decathlon is doubling down on its employee ownership model by introducing a new scheme that grants eligible employees 2,000 euros in free shares or asset incentives.

Dubbed ‘The Decathlon Seed’, the initiative intends to “reflect the diversity of the group while maintaining a shared principle of fairness and value sharing”. The project allows staff to become “partners, co-owners, and co-responsible contributors to the company’s growth”, a press release explained.

Each employee will receive an allocation worth 2,000 euros, which will vest after three years. During that time, the value of the allocation will evolve alongside the company’s performance.

The launch of the programme, developed over the course of a year, comes as Decathlon celebrates its 50th anniversary. It expands on the company’s long-existing value proposition of sharing success, evident in the more than 56,000 employees that are already shareholders in the business.

Decathlon CEO, Javier López, commented: "With The Decathlon Seed, we are investing in the future by building on one of Decathlon's core values for the past 50 years: sharing the value we create together.

“The initiative is the result of collective work carried out with all our markets and our family shareholders, and reflects our conviction that value is created on the ground and should be shared with those who create it."

Original Penguin is venturing in a new direction. Under brand director Laura Colagrande, the US lifestyle brand is moving towards the accessible luxury sector for its spring/summer 2027 collection, which was unveiled for the first time at Pitti Uomo.

At the Florentine menswear fair, the label is housed in both a showroom and outdoor deck, where a full range of its collections, from Icons to Golf, sits alongside new categories, such as accessories, hats, and bags.

These complement what is described to be a “high-tier” SS27 collection, which features “elevated fabrics, advanced construction, and refined silhouettes”.

The new look comes ahead of major European expansion plans for Original Penguin, bolstered by the opening of a showroom in London earlier this year.

The company is currently eyeing growth in Italy, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Switzerland, Germany, and Scandinavia, while in the UK, its presence has expanded through a partnership with retailers like John Lewis.

Colagrande said the team was specifically plotting the rollout of wholesale and strategic distribution partnerships. She further revealed plans to open flagship stores in London, Madrid, Barcelona, Milan, and Berlin over the next few years.

In a statement, Oscar Feldenkreis, CEO of Original Penguin’s parent company, Perry Ellis International, underlined the brand’s “distinct positioning” and said its return to Pitti served as a “statement of intent about where we’re taking this brand”.

“We are accelerating our European growth and moving Original Penguin into refined contemporary channels while staying true to the craftsmanship and storytelling that have defined us for more than seven decades,” Feldenkreis said.