How the sharing economy became the height of fashion. With so much inventory moving through the closet-sharing economy, at Poshmark we recently partnered with the United States Postal Service to create the industry’s first-ever fashion-specific shipping label that makes shipping fashion as simple as possible. As American shopping behaviour continues to change, traditional marketplaces will keep trying to innovate to keep up with the rise of the closet-sharing economy.
E-commerce companies, like eBay and Amazon, have attempted to replicate the unique connection seen in this type of social environment by trying to create a community and discovery engine - and this will be the biggest challenge for these companies as consumers look for that connection because it was not initially built into the core of their business. -This is a guest blog and may not represent the views of Virgin.com. Please see virgin.com/terms for more details. Richemont Sales Growth Accelerates on Japanese, European Demand | News & Analysis. PARIS, France — Richemont, the world’s biggest jewellery maker, said five-month sales accelerated amid higher demand in Japan and Europe. Sales increased 4 percent excluding currency shifts in the five months through August, the Geneva-based company said in a statement Wednesday. Analysts expected a 1 percent gain, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.
Revenue rose 1 percent on that basis in its past financial year. The results mirror comments by peers in the luxury business, such as Hermes International SCA, which reported higher first-half sales, fueled by an acceleration in Japan. LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE in July posted strong revenue growth in Europe and the U.S., which helped offset a decline in China, Macau and Hong Kong. Richemont said sales in Japan rose 48 percent. In Europe, revenue gained 26 percent.
Richemont said sales in the Asia-Pacific region dropped 18 percent, compared with the median analyst estimate for an 11 percent decline. Migrants break through Croatian police lines at Tovarnik - BBC News. Amid chaotic scenes in Croatia, crowds of migrants briefly broke through riot police lines at the border with Serbia. People waiting for hours in blazing heat at Tovarnik grew frustrated, though the situation is quieter now.
Croatia is struggling to deal with at least 7,300 arrivals since Wednesday morning after Hungary closed its border with Serbia, blocking the previous route into the European Union. EU leaders will hold an emergency summit next week to discuss the crisis. Croatian officials say migrants must apply for asylum there or be treated as illegal immigrants. Authorities seem to be overwhelmed and surprised by the number of migrants - most of whom wish to travel on to other EU countries - and the Croatian interior minister has said the country is "absolutely full". Image copyright Reuters Croatian police eventually gave way under pressure. Many are exhausted with supplies of food and water running low.
At the scene: Fergal Keane in Tovarnik Scenes of chaos followed. Big banks consider using Bitcoin blockchain technology - BBC News. The basic technology underpinning the Bitcoin virtual currency could be used by some of the world's biggest banks. Nine banks, including Barclays and Goldman Sachs, may adopt the blockchain system that logs who spends which virtual coins in an ever-expanding computer equivalent of a ledger. The banks want to use the blockchain method because it is hard to fool - making fraud more difficult. It could also speed up trading systems and make deals more transparent. The project to test blockchain-like technology is being led by financial technology firm R3 which has signed nine banks up to the initiative. The other seven are JP Morgan, State Street, UBS, Royal Bank of Scotland, Credit Suisse, BBVA and Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
Technical meetings with the banks had prompted discussion of how it could be used within banks' trading arms, said David Rutter, head of R3 in an interview with Reuters. For Bitcoin, the blockchain acts as a globally-distributed ledger that logs transactions. Small designers don't need big retailers to find a market - Fortune. In January 2015, San Francisco-based custom clothing company JAKE debuted its capsule, ready-to-wear collection ROYGBIV, not in a boutique or in Bloomingdale’s, but on crowdfunding site Indiegogo. Backers could preorder from 10 essential clothing pieces, and production began after the campaign closed, beginning with the company reaching out to each backer for sizing and color preferences as well as demographic and psychographic data.
Although JAKE had already had some success—it was chosen to work with Macy’s Fashion Incubator San Francisco (FiSF)—the crowdfunding campaign helped the small designer to generate demand, avoiding the need for costly guesswork in sourcing the high-end textiles, and also to build relationships and a better understanding of its customers. JAKE’s story is a great example of how new digital platforms are reshaping the retail industry: Suddenly, makers and manufacturers don’t necessarily need bricks and mortar in order to have a market. Why do these models work?
How discount retailer Primark has evaded e-commerce. Affordable U.K. retailer Primark opened a new 77,000-square-foot department store last week in Boston, introducing the U.S. to its extremely low-cost apparel, accessories and home goods for the first time. It’s also introducing the U.S. to its unique approach to digital: Primark’s products are so deeply discounted, the company refuses to sell them online.
John Bason, the chief financial officer of Primark’s parent company, Associated British Foods, has said that e-commerce is “not a profitable avenue.” A rep confirmed that Primark has no plans to begin selling online; its current website displays recent product for men, women and kids, but not for purchase. Advertisement Any company opting out of the digital shopping experience in 2015 risks appearing clueless. “Primark has historically steered clear of e-commerce,” said Lucie Greene, worldwide director of the innovation group at J.
A product page on Primark.com. Via L2 and RichRelevance. Talent flow reverses as luxury groups get serious about digital. Why is the fashion industry ignoring the plus-size market? Bag Snob Launches Multi-Brand E-Commerce | Intelligence, BoF Exclusive. DALLAS, United States — When Tina Craig and Kelly Cook started their blog, Bag Snob, in September 2005, they were two Hermès-toting friends sharing stories via a Moveable Type account. “It was a hobby,” says Cook of their early posts. Or, as Craig puts it, “An elaborate pen pal system.” Ten years later, Bag Snob — which features reviews and news about the latest it-bags, accessories and other upscale fashion items — is a multifaceted business that encompasses advertising, consulting, affiliate partnerships, licensing and, now, e-commerce. This month marks the official launch of Bag Snob’s online shop, which, alongside the Cook and Craig's own Snob Essentials handbag line, will showcase a collection of designer pieces made exclusively for the site.
The 10-piece line, which spans in price from under $200 to more than $2,000, includes bags by Mark Cross and Valextra, accessories by Rag & Bone and Paul Andrew, a Derek Lam blouse, as well as jewellery designed by Cook and Craig. Behind the Glamour: What It Really Takes to Launch a Fashion Label | Mary Benson. Universal Channel's 100% Character Uncovered series is shining a light on people who inspire others through their extraordinary character. Introducing fashion designer, Mary Benson. Who would've thought that my parents buying me a sewing machine for Christmas when I was at school would one day lead to my designs appearing in Vogue alongside the likes of Gucci and Prada? I don't think anybody would have guessed I'd end up in the fashion industry. But I knew what I liked doing - even at that early age - and fashion fast became my number one passion. Armed with only that sewing machine and a few random cut-offs of materials I could scrap together, I started off messing around making cushions and bags to sell to my school friends.
I didn't really know what I was doing, except that fashion had set off a spark within me and it was something that I wanted to seriously pursue. This gave me a real confidence to pursue fashion seriously, and after school I managed to get into Leeds Art College. Can the world get richer for ever? - BBC News. 13 March 2015Last updated at 18:00 ET By Theo Leggett Business correspondent, BBC News Many in the world are getting richer, yet there are still billions of people living in poverty Since the dawn of the industrial age, the world has steadily been getting wealthier, despite setbacks such as the Great Depression and the more recent global financial crisis. We make more, sell more and consume more than ever before. Yet, according to the United Nations, nearly three billion people still live on less than $2.50 (£1.70) per day.
So, how can we raise living standards for those who still live in poverty? Growth is seen as a panacea for a great many ills. Journalists are complicit in this. 'Boiling the oceans' Yet there's a problem here. Continued growth could cause long-term damage to the planet So does this matter? These physical constraints, Prof Murphy says, will start to have an impact - for example, by creating cycles of boom and bust - and will make long-term growth impossible. The right growth. UK inflation rate falls back to 0% - BBC News.
Image copyright Getty Images The UK's inflation rate fell to 0% in August, down from July's rate of 0.1%, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said. Inflation, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index, fell due to a smaller rise in clothing prices from a year ago and cheaper fuel prices, the ONS said. CPI inflation has been almost flat for the past seven months. Inflation has failed to take off due to a sharp fall in oil prices and a continuing supermarket price war. Oil prices hit a six-and-a-half year low of around $42.50 per barrel in late August. The ONS figures also showed that the Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of inflation rose to 1.1% from 1.0% in July. Bank rate The rate of core inflation - which strips out the impact of changes in the price of energy, food, alcohol and tobacco - fell to 1.0% in August from the previous rate of 1.2%.
Many analysts expect the Bank of England to start to raise interest rates in the first quarter of 2016. 'Fragile recovery' Pay rise. Prada Profit Falls Less Than Expected as Cost Cuts Balance Asia | News & Analysis. PARIS, France — Prada SpA reported first-half profit that beat analysts’ estimates as efforts to contain costs helped mitigate declining sales in Asia. Net income fell 23 percent to 188.6 million euros ($213 million) in the six months through July, Milan-based Prada said Tuesday in a statement. Analysts predicted 175.4 million euros, according to the median of six estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Too many new stores and not enough new products have hurt Prada as demand for luxury goods slows in greater China following a clampdown on extravagance.
In a bid to reignite sales and reverse a slump in its share price, the company introduced the Inside bag in July, with prices starting at about 2,000 euros. Prada has also slowed this year’s expansion, pledging to open about half the number of stores it did last year. “The global economic environment is still volatile and recent instability in Asia has not helped ease the situation,” Prada said. H&M Sales Growth Slumps to Two-Year Low Amid Hot German Summer | News & Analysis. STOCKHOLM, Sweden — Hennes & Mauritz AB, Europe’s second-largest clothing retailer, reported its slowest monthly sales growth in more than two years as soaring August temperatures in countries such as Germany weighed on demand.
Revenue in August rose 1 percent expressed in local currencies, Stockholm-based H&M said in a statement Tuesday, the weakest performance since a 4 percent decline in March 2013. That missed the average analyst estimate for growth of 5.4 percent, according to an SME Direkt survey. H&M blamed “unseasonably warm weather” in many of its large European markets for the slowdown. Temperatures in Germany, H&M’s biggest market, reached record levels in August. H&M shares fell 0.7 percent to 314.4 kronor in early Stockholm trading. Inditex SA, Europe’s biggest fashion retailer, reports first-half earnings Wednesday. By: Paul Jarvis. 10 Influential Fashion Designers You’ve Probably Never Heard Of. It’s curious to wonder why some designer’s legacies are preserved and others fall to the wayside. Is it the lack of PR, no heir to the design house or were they just bad designers? While certain designers of the past are remembered today for their ingenuity or are attributed with the "invention" of a particular garment, such as Mary Quant and the miniskirt, scores of designers--like Redfern, Lucile or Mainbocher--who were widely influential in their time have seemingly been forgotten.
The task of resurrecting these legacies thus falls upon the fashion historian, so sit back for a mini fashion history lesson of 10 fashion designers you've probably never heard of but should definitely know. For more fashion history by Part Nouveau, click here. John Redfern - The Tailor Designer English designer John Redfern, operating predominately under the name John Redfern and Sons, was a widely influential designer in the late 19th century.
Jacques Doucet - The Art Collector Designer. Migrant crisis: Tough Hungarian laws take effect - BBC News. Robots Could Take 35 Per Cent Of UK Jobs In The Next 20 Years Says New Study. Robots taking jobs might seem like something out of science fiction but a number of key studies have revealed that nearly half of all US jobs could be at risk of being automated in the next 20 years. The dystopian film 'Elysium' shows a world where automation has become commonplace That massive figure reportedly drops for the UK down to 35 per cent according to a number of studies by Deloitte and Oxford University. As part of its Artificial Intelligence coverage, the BBC has combined the two studies to create a picture of what the job market would look like in the future, highlighting which jobs would be at risk.
Oxford Academics Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael A. Osborne's paper utilised a method which analysed each job in the US based on nine key skills required: Robots Taking 35% Of UK Jobs: 8 Roles Artificial Intelligence May Replace Social perceptivenessNegotiationPersuasionAssisting and caring for othersOriginalityFine artsFinger dexterityManual dexterity So what's the solution? Culture - Fashion victims: History’s most dangerous trends. 37 Facts About How Cruel This Economy Has Been To Millions Of Desperate American Families. First published in October 2012 Have you ever laid in bed awake at night with a knot in your stomach because you didn’t know how your family was possibly going to make it through the next month financially? Have you ever felt the desperation of not being able to provide the basic necessities for your family even though you tried as hard as you could? All over America tonight, there are millions of desperate families that are being ripped apart by this economy.
There aren’t nearly enough jobs, and millions of Americans that actually do have jobs aren’t making enough to even provide the basics for their families. When you have tried everything that you can think of and nothing works, it can be absolutely soul crushing. Today, one of my regular readers explained that he was not going to be online for a while because his power had been turned off. He has been out of work for quite a while, and eventually the money runs out. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. Refugee Crisis: 'One In 50 Could Be ISIS Radicals', David Cameron Warned. UK retail sales volumes dip in June - BBC News. Natalie Massenet Resigns from Net-a-Porter | News & Analysis.
Fashionomics: a study in the state of our economy and dress. Global Recession Impacts on Fashion Industry: Strategies for Survival. The fashion business - BBC News. Women's Clothing Industry Market Research & Statistics.