Retail Diary - Week of August 7th, 2023
This Week's Topics:
Tapestry acquires Capri Holding
More Corporate Notables
New Collabs & Investments
Newsletters and Facebook are the new Magazines
What else I ❤️️
Tapestry acquires Capri Holding
This move is to help Tapestry compete with the European major conglomerates (think LVMH and Richemont.)
This acquisition makes it larger than other US groups. Tapestry will now be worth $12 Billion, VF Corp is at $11.6 Billion, PVH at $9 Billion and Ralph Lauren at $6.4 Billion. (And read more from WWD here.)
More Corporate Notables
Amazon to retire 27 of its 30 Private Label fashion labels to streamline the business and quiet competitors/antitrust regulations.
Neiman Marcus makes moves to its Exec Suite and pivoting the buying approach. Saks also announced that their corporate structure is changing to be a pod structure to reduce silos.
ThirdLove is launching on Amazon. An opportunity to expand their e-commerce footprint quickly and provide faster delivery.
Nordstrom just completed their Anniversary Sale - I enjoyed this Nordy Podcast episode with the history of the event.
Dufry, a duty free retailer, surpasses pre-pandemic sales. Makes sense during a summer where it seems everyone is traveling (and shopping) abroad.
Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Barbie and now Phoebe Philo is the latest female powerhouse bringing back the economy and spending. WSJ outlined how Philophiles are ready to spend again on her new line about to launch this Fall.
Zimmerman, Australian fashion label, has sold a majority stake to Advent International. I believe this is just the start of some strong investments coming for impressive Australian brands. There are so many! (Aje., SIR the label, Matteau, Christopher Esber, etc.)
Farfetch announces they will stop selling Violet Grey (the beauty commerce company they had acquired.) I was surprised to hear this literally the same week I listened this great podcast interview with the founder Cassandra Grey on how she launched and grew the brand. Farfetch will not stop operating Violet Grey completely, they will just not focus on beauty on Farfetch (which was the initial plan.)
My place for fashion retail news - the juicy good stuff that is well researched and validated. The Line Sheet by Lauren Sherman at Puck News. I want to link to everything she shares.
New Collabs & Investments
Collabed
LoveShackFancy collabs!
LoveShackFancy x Gap and on Refinery29 and see the collection/landing page here (and the negative comments)
Stylist Molly Dickson partners with Madewell on a denim capsule collection.
Invested
Trove (Branded fashion resale) raises $30 Million in a Series E. They work with brands/retailers like Lululemon, Patagonia and REI.
Jewelry line Aurate raises as Series B
Tamara Mellon is partnering with the footwear company Titan Industries for licensing.
Newsletters and Facebook are the new Magazines
This article in the NYTimes about how since many Women’s magazines and Fashion magazines have shuttered (or gone to digital only) the audience is engaging and going to Facebook Groups and Newsletters for fashion and beauty content. The article highlights a few of my favorite newsletters.
Examples of recent favorites:
What else I ❤️️
This interview with Founder Amy Smilovic on founding fashion label Tibi.
Great conversation on personal and corporate brands with Aliza Licht on The Safari Podcast.
Just finished reading the book The Guest.
What's Next?
Vogue shared the famous September Issue cover. I’m seeing Barbie again and have a ton of thoughts I still want to do a deep dive on. Enjoy the last few weeks of summer - soak it all up.
Thanks for reading Edition 138.
Sarah Shapiro