This Week's Topics:

New Years Resolutions Round-Up
Retail Shuffles
New Launches, Collabs (and a bit of Partnerships) & Investments
Wardrobe Investments
What else I ❤️️

New Years Resolutions Round-Up

January 13th is known as "Quitters Day" as it is the day that many people give up on their New Years Resolutions. So congrats if you are still hanging in there! This year I saw more companies using this as a marketing angle and promotion opportunity. Here Cassandra Daily wrote about the trend.
Every year companies build out their New Year, New You strategy just like Black Friday/Cyber Monday, Mother's Day, Back to School etc etc. Round up of a few:
- LoveShackFancy and Reese Witherspoon's Draper James launched activewear. LSF tested the waters first with partnerships with Bandier and Beach Riot (in 2020 and 2021 - both of which I wrote about it as a way to test the space before investing further.)
- FitOn, an at home fitness app, has partnered with H&M on an activewear collection.
A bunch of my favorite fashion focused newsletters have also shared resolutions related to improving the quality of your wardrobe (sustainable!), a no new things challenge - and in the "Wardrobe Investments" section below I'll outline all the hero items that editorial is focusing on.
- The Great Closet Cleanout from The Love List
- Wardrobe Icons on how to care for your winter woolens (love the elevated and edited items here.)
- Would you do a No New Things Challenge? Not sure I could....
- This NPR (not fashion focused but so good it needs to be listed here) resolution guide is fantastic and so engaging. It has everything.

Retail Shuffles

A bunch of New Year, New Job announcements:
- Lululemon names a new Chief Merchandising Officer, Elizabeth Binder, arriving from UK clothing brand Boden.
- Stefanie Tsen Ward was named Chief Retail Officer at Neiman Marcus Group. Nabil Aliffi, former Global Chief Creative Officer at Soho House, as NMG new Chief Brand Officer.
- Retailer Farfetch has a whole roster of newness including Elizabeth von der Goltz who has held roles at other luxury retailers like Matchesfashion and Net-a-Porter. Goltz will be the Chief Fashion and Merchandising Officer at Farfetch and the CEO at Browns.
- Jewelry Brand Stephanie Gottlieb announced Morgan P. Richardson as President and Chief Commercial Officer.
- Trish Donnelly joined The Row as President she was previously at PVH Americas and Calvin Klein Global.
- LVMH announces shuffles including Delphine Arnault's new role as Dior CEO.
- And Nordstrom announces that the retailer's Chief Merchant, Teri Bariquit, will retire after almost 40 years at the company.
For a deeper dive into the Fashion/Retail CEO focus and needs check out this article from Business of Fashion and this article from Vogue Business on what to expect with the fashion/retail job market.

New Launches, Collabs (and a bit of Partnerships) & Investments

Launched
- As noted above, check out LoveShackFancy Activewear here
- As noted above, check out Draper James Activewear here (along with a Bala Bangles collab)
- Moda Operandi is the latest retailer to launch a beauty category. Check it out here. Other recent notable retailers that have launched beauty include Shopbop (fall 2022) and Farfetch acquired luxury beauty retailer Violet Grey (January 2022). For a deeper dive on why retailers are taking the leap into beauty check out this article from Business of Fashion. (My notes, lower price point - but still luxury - to acquire new customers who aren't ready to spend $1K on an outfit, recurring revenue, drive repeat purchases and increase the basket size/AOV.)
- Aerosoles launches kids shoes.
- Menswear Clothing brand Bode is launching Womenswear.
Collabed
- More LoveShackFancy news - they are partnering with Pottery Barn Kids & Teen on a collection. (Noting for a possible future launch of the LSF Home Collection??? Let's watch and see.)
- Not a traditional collab - more of a partnership...Amazon and Rent the Runway link up. Amazon will sell pre-loved merchandise from RTR rental offering. A way for more consumers (who aren't RTR members or users) to discover and purchase the merchandise.
- Another similar partnership, Thred-Up will be powering J.Crew's resale efforts.
- H&M x FitOn for activewear.
- The Yayoi Kusama Loius Vuitton takeover at Harrod's looks like it is worth traveling to London to see (quick, it comes down February 13th.)
Invested
- Thirteen Lune, an ecommerce beauty brand founded to carry brands from Black and Brown founders, has raised $8M in a seed round to grow their omnichannel business.

Wardrobe Investments

If your new years resolution was a focus on your wardrobe, a bunch of articles have you covered. Here are the hero items to check out:
- Designer handbag, but logo free. Classic investment piece.
- On the hunt for a perfect white shirt
- Too cold? Time to invest in a winter coat.

What else I ❤️️

If I was the handbag buyer this sku would cause me to be overstocked. If you know me, you know my love of Diet Coke.
What to expect at the next Met Gala. Dress Code to honor Karl Lagerfeld. (I think the Diet Coke purse charm would be a strong fit here too.)
Gathering up my friends to see this - Are You There G-d, It's Me, Margaret.
Your resale analysis and predictions for 2023 brought to you by the Retail Brew.
André Leon Talley Christie's Auction you can read more about it here from the NYTimes along with the details of the proceeds benefitting Black churches. Other auction news this week, Kim K buying Princess Diana's Attallah Cross. I'm sure we will be graced with a selfie soon.
Love this WSJ article on an influx of older models - in their 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. My favorite quote from the article: "Ninety-year-old Frances Dunscombe only began modeling at age 82 after the death of her husband. When her daughter, a model in her 60s, suggested Ms. Dunscombe join her to visit her agency, she scoffed, “You must be joking.” Now, she realizes, “Actually, I think it was quite a good time to start modeling, because it wasn’t going to go to my head.”"
This is so accurate and funny! Did the Jetsons cartoon predict life in the 2020's
Thom Browne can keep his stripes. via NYTimes and the Fashion Law.
I enjoyed this podcast listen - Susan Alexandra designer/founder Susan Korn interviewed on Second Life.
NRF was this week and the recap can be found here.
Paying attention to ChatGPT and wondering if it is the future of Customer Service for ecommerce and online?

Anya Hindmarch's Diet Coke® coin purse. If I was the handbag buyer this SKU would cause me to be overstocked. via net-a-porter

What's Next?

This week felt like a big announcement news week for fashion & retail. I'll be paying attention to how the strategies shake out. Of course I'll keep track of my predictions and exciting news here. Also, are we enjoying the fashion of awards season so far?

Thanks for reading Edition 126.
Sarah Shapiro