The Debrief

Latest Episodes:

Why So Many Athletes Are Launching Fashion Brands Jul 20, 2022

Show notes

BoF’s Daniel-Yaw Miller unpacks why — and how — sports stars including Russell Westbrook and Megan Rapinoe are running their own labels, with full financial and creative control.

Background:

Athletes have long been part of the fashion conversation. In the past, they’ve capitalised on their influence by inking brand endorsements with the likes of Nike and Adidas. Now, stars like the NBA’s Russell Westbrook, soccer player Megan Rapinoe and runner Allyson Felix are taking it a step further and launching their own labels in pursuit of more financial and creative control.

Key Insights:

Tennis champion Rene Lacoste’s namesake label is one of the earliest examples of an athlete starting a brand. One of the latest is NBA star Russel Westbrook’s Honor the Gift, which just showed its Spring 2023 collection at Paris Fashion Week.
Founding a brand gives athletes more control over creative direction, finances and their future; whereas endorsement deals often mean athletes have little say, are restricted in what they can wear and will expire upon their retirement.
Many athlete-founded brands are imbued with a sense of purpose. After leaving Nike, track star Allyson Felix founded footwear and apparel label Saysh — which just closed an $8 million funding round led by Gap’s investment fund — with a nod to her advocacy for maternity rights baked in, allowing mothers and pregnant women to trade in shoes as their foot sizes change.
Though many athletes, including Westbrook and Felix, are pushing out brands toward the end of their playing and running careers, younger players are starting their careers with the mindset that they will eventually run fully-fledged businesses like Honour the Gift or Saysh.

Additional resources:

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Department Stores Make a Comeback Jul 13, 2022

Show notes

After a pandemic pivot to e-commerce, many brands are back to working with third-party retailers, this time, with better terms.

Background:

The wholesale model, while offering exposure and some upfront revenue, did not always have the best terms for vendors. Department store bankruptcies, pandemic-induced store closures and the boom in online shopping pushed brands further towards their direct-to-consumer and e-commerce businesses to drive revenue.

But that’s beginning to change. As shoppers return to stores, brands are seeing value in ramping up their partnerships with multi-brand retailers — this time on better terms. “What I'm hearing across the board from both brands and retailers is that this vendor-retailer relationship is more collaborative than ever,” said BoF retail correspondent Cathaleen Chen.

Key Insights:

There are multiple factors pushing brands back to wholesale. Among them, the growth of e-commerce, which has slowed after spiking in 2020, and the growing consumer appetite for curated, in-person shopping experiences that allow them to stumble upon new designers. “That discovery is still so important, and now [shoppers are] relying on a cool third-party retailer to sort of facilitate that discovery,” said Chen.
Both parties are also increasingly open to exploring other models like concession, consignment — more typical to European department stores — and drop-shipping, where the brands themselves are responsible for fulfilling orders made through retailer’s websites.
Brands are returning to wholesale, but not at the expense of their direct-to-consumer and retail offerings. “I think we're at a point where everybody has a more well-rounded business so that if things do go bad again in whichever channel, they can be agile and adapt very quickly,” said Chen.

Additional resources:

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In Activewear, Where Are the White Spaces? Jul 06, 2022

Show notes

BoF correspondents Chavie Lieber and Daniel-Yaw Miller discuss why fashion brands are making products for sports like pickleball, padel, rugby, boxing and skiing.

Background:

Two decades ago, Lululemon built its brand around yoga — then considered counter culture. Today, it’s a $6 billion behemoth that makes products for everything from running to swimming and tennis, becoming a model for upstarts like Gymshark and Nobull hoping to filch market share from giants like Nike and Adidas. Now, as sports like pickleball, padel and skiing are gaining traction, there’s yet another opportunity for start-ups to disrupt the activewear market.

“If you go niche and focus on a very specific customer base with a very specific niche following, that might be a better way to crack activewear as opposed to selling everything for the masses — then you’re going head to head with Lululemon and Nike,” said BoF correspondent Chavie Lieber.

Key Insights:

Instead of going after the activewear space in general, brands are serving underrepresented groups or making noise with differentiated products and price points.
A few brands, like Gymshark and District Vision have succeeded by identifying strong communities and putting themselves at the centre of them.
The activewear market represents a massive opportunity for brands: global sportswear is expected to grow to $395 billion by 2025, at an annual rate of 8 to 10 percent, according to McKinsey.
Brands are tapping into the desire to look good while playing sports like pickleball, rugby and boxing. They are poised to benefit from and buzz surrounding events like the 2028 Olympics and 2031 and 2033 Rugby World Cup, which will be held in the US.

Additional resources:

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Eva Chen on Meta’s Virtual Fashion Experiment Jun 29, 2022

Show notes

The vice president of fashion and shopping partnerships at Meta and BoF technology correspondent Marc Bain join Lauren Sherman to discuss the company’s new marketplace — which sells digital items from Thom Browne, Balenciaga and Prada — and the future of fashion on the platform.

Background:

Social-media company Meta has launched a virtual clothing store, and Balenciaga, Prada and Thom Browne are the first major designers to create looks fit for avatars in Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse.The designs, available for use on Instagram, Facebook and Messenger, include a Balenciaga motorcycle suit, Prada shorts and one of Thom Browne’s signature grey suits. The move marks Meta’s formal entry into the virtual high-fashion business after Zuckerberg declared his ambitions to build the metaverse in late 2021.

Key Insights:

Meta’s virtual goods represent an opportunity for consumers who may not be able to afford physical items from the labels, to own a piece of the iconic brands.
Chen said the designers already are masters of creating their own immersive worlds — whether through shows or clothes — so it wasn’t hard to get them interested in the experience. Translating real-world texture and detail to virtual items, however, was a challenge.
Right now, the metaverse doesn’t represent a huge revenue stream for fashion companies. But, being a first name to the nascent space has a branding advantage.
Eventually, when brands are able to make virtual items into NFTs, they’ll be able to create true ownership and scarcity, which could create the same dynamics of exclusivity and hype that drive fashion today.

Additional Resources:

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Gen-Z’s Great Expectations Jun 22, 2022

Show notes

BoF’s workplace and talent correspondent Sheena Butler-Young explains why managers in the fashion and beauty industries are struggling to balance their youngest employees’ expectations against the needs of their businesses.

Background:

The youth-obsessed fashion and beauty industries can’t get enough of Gen-Z talent: they believe they need to recruit more entry-level employees in order to maintain relevance and attract new customers. But the cohort is entering the workforce with big expectations — not only around salary, but remote working, too — that many companies feel unprepared to meet.

“Gen-Z is entering the workforce amid a labour shortage… So that’s real leverage behind the demands they’re making,” explained Sheena Butler Young, BoF’s workplace and talent correspondent.

Key Insights:

Gen-Z is the latest in a long line of generations accused of impatience entering the workforce.
A key difference between Gen-Z and its Millennial predecessors is that the job market currently favours job-seekers rather than employers — so their demands are more likely to be met.
Fashion is finding demands surrounding remote work particularly hard to deal with given the collaborative nature of most jobs.
Brands shouldn’t get caught up in stereotypes about young talent, but find ways to actually understand job-seekers’ desires.
Often, the generation that hates being sold to and just wants transparency, honesty and open lines of communication about career progression.

Additional Resources:

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Why Chanel Is Opening Private Boutiques Jun 15, 2022

Show notes

BoF’s luxury editor Robert Williams offers insight into the surprising news that the mega-label plans to open stores dedicated to serving top customers.

Background:

As traffic to stores soars, Chanel’s chief financial officer Philippe Blondiaux said the brand plans to open dedicated boutiques for top-spending clients starting in key Asian cities. It's a strategy that emphasises the importance of big-spenders to the in-demand French luxury brand’s future amid whispers of an impending recession — but one that risks alienating first time and occasional shoppers who are still dropping upwards of $10,000 for bags.

“Brands like Chanel, they’ve lived through lots of cycles of boom and bust in the economy… When there’s an economic crisis, they need to be ready to have a real focus on repeat business,” said BoF’s luxury editor Robert Williams.

Key Insights:

Chanel sells many items in-store only, and limits locations to the most luxurious places in the world’s most luxury cities — operating just around 250 stores compared with Louis Vuitton’s over 400 doors.
Chanel is not the first brand to open special stores for private clients; Brunello Cucinelli deployed a similar concept last December. Other brands like Zegna have dedicated spaces in-store for special items.
The brand’s growth in fashion, watches and jewellery last year was driven by its decision to raise prices and a flood of new clients and first-time buyers to luxury.
In addition to focusing on its physical footprint, Chanel is pushing its beauty business, which has been historically driven by department stores and beauty retailers like Sephora and Marionnaud, toward majority direct-to-consumer.

Additional Resources:

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Is This the Beginning of the End for Leather? Jun 08, 2022

Show notes

Brands including Stella McCartney, Balenciaga and Hermès are making products from mushroom-based material. BoF’s chief sustainability correspondent Sarah Kent details the forces pushing next-gen fabrics like mycelium leather forward — and whether the much-hyped sustainability solution has a future in fashion.

Background:

After years of experimentation and development, handbags, shoes and coats made of mycelium leather — created from the roots of mushrooms — are hitting the shelves from names like Stella McCartney, Balenciaga and Hermès. It’s a test of whether mycelium leather will make it in the mainstream. Made by start-ups like Bolt Threads and MycoWorks, mycelium is promising for fashion as brands seek out non-plastic, non-animal-based, less-energy-intensive leather alternatives and consumers demand more environmentally friendly products. But taking an idea from the lab to the store floor involves a lot of trial and error.

Key Insights:

Though the space is gaining momentum as brands bring products to market and start-ups attract investment, most items are still limited-edition or very expensive. To gain mainstream traction, companies need to scale up and prices need to go down. Much depends on how brands’ first experiments perform.
If all goes well, the market for alternative materials could be worth $2.2 billion by 2026.

Additional Resources:

Fashion’s Race for New Materials — Download the Case Study: Brands are pursuing a raft of initiatives to adopt recycled textiles, regeneratively farmed cotton and mushroom-based leather, but giving fashion’s major materials a sustainability makeover still requires billions of dollars worth of investments and deeper, longer-term commitments to scale.
Luxury’s Latest Battleground: Material Science: Armed with extensive patent portfolios, Bolt Threads, Modern Meadow, MycoWorks, Natural Fiber Welding and others are targeting luxury brands with alternative materials.

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The Decline of the Skinny Jean Jun 01, 2022

Show notes

After years of analyst anticipation that the leg-squeezing silhouette would soon go out of style, market research firm NPD Group found sales for the skinny jeans fell behind straight leg jeans in 2021. Skinny jeans are far from dead though — still accounting for 30 percent of sales. Retailers have already felt the effects of the shift: Pacsun pulled the style from its stores because no one was buying it.

“It really just speaks to the changing of the times and how styles are evolving within fashion,” said BoF correspondent Chavie Leiber.

Key Insights:

Skinny jeans are no longer the most popular denim silhouette, according to data from NPD Group. But, that doesn’t mean no one is buying them.
As consumers come out of the pandemic, they don’t just want comfort. Shoppers are either skewing toward raw denim with no stretch or athleisure and leggings — but jegging and stretch denim styles occupying the in-between have started to fall to the wayside.
The world is in the midst of a “denim Renaissance,” says Marie Pearson, senior vice president of denim at Madewell, who added she’s never seen so many different types of fits and shapes selling.

Additional Resources:

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How Luxury Woos the World’s Biggest Spenders May 25, 2022

Show notes

BoF’s Chavie Lieber dives into the elaborate and secretive way luxury brands court their high-spending clients with trips to exotic locales and entry to exclusive events.

Background:

In the midst of a post-Covid luxury boom, brands are going the extra mile to lavish top spenders — known as very important clients, or VICs. To court and keep VICs, who often account for the majority of their sales, names like Givenchy, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen and Chopard fly clients out to ritzy charity galas and film festivals, organise exclusive runway shows and extended stays in five-star hotels and even grant access to designers and executives.

“It's really about access to a designer, keeping them in the inner rings of the fashion world, so they feel seen and appreciated,” said BoF correspondent Chavie Lieber. “And then, obviously it leads back to more sales.”

This week on The Debrief, BoF’s Chavie Lieber takes Lauren Sherman inside the cloistered world of luxury clienteling.

Key Insights:

VICs, who can range from being very private to Insta-influencer status, are the engine powering luxury. Luxury e-commerce platform MyTheresa said 3 percent of its customers account for 30 percent of its business.
In response to consumer appetite in the wake of Covid, brands have upped the ante on experiences for VICs and potential new big spenders.
Much focus has been on the US, where spending in tertiary cities like Palm Beach and Austin — rather than New York and Los Angeles — is redirecting luxury’s attention.
In the midst of economic turbulence, VICs are becoming even more important to brands, as entry level consumers hold off on spending-up.

Additional Resources:

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Fashion’s Greenwashing Problem May 18, 2022

Show notes

In a sea of unsubstantiated claims about sustainability, BoF’s Sarah Kent explains why it's so hard to measure impact, and what sort of regulation could be coming for fashion.

Background:

Concern about the environmental impact of clothing has swelled in the past few years. So too, has the practice of greenwashing. Right now, fashion marketing is flooded with eco-conscious messaging as brands dub their products “sustainable” without doing the groundwork to back up declarations. Consumers and regulatory parties are starting to demand more.

Key Insights:

With little oversight outside voluntary inter-industry initiatives and no regulation, a sustainable marketing free-for-all has swept over fashion.
European policymakers looking to crackdown on greenwashing are currently considering legislation about how impact across various environmental areas can be measured.
Several snags have inhibited any real progress on measuring sustainability, including bad data, tangled methodologies, and the presence of complex social factors that go beyond ecological impact.

Additional resources:

Green or Greenwashing: Who Gets to Decide?: European efforts to introduce standardised rules governing how brands backup environmental claims are fuelling a heated debate that stands to create winners and losers.
The Sustainability Regulations That Could Reshape Fashion: Governments in Europe and the US are discussing regulations and policy proposals that could help steer the sector in a more sustainable direction.
Fashion's Greenwashing Problem Begins with Bad Data: Fashion is doubling down on ambitious promises to clean up its environmental impact, but bad and misleading data are complicating efforts to build a more sustainable industry.

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