The Fashion Retailer has not accepted promotional or guest post since it was created in 2017. If it mentions fashion retailers, startups, or tech solutions, the main reason is describing best practices based on research and also more than 15 years of experience working for leading apparel brands. Today, I’m excited to introduce a collaboration … More Why nobody speaks about Inditex growth levers? (part 1)
A few years ago, in a conference in Barcelona, I described how growing global uncertainties were impacting businesses and, as a consequence, how important was to invest in digitization and become a data-driven company. Examples of uncertainties included social riots (eg Yellow vests riots in France, Peruvian protests), weather extremes due to climate change or … More Inditex, the Bigger Picture by RBC
According to RBC Capital Markets Insights, European General Retail Apparel space reductions easing. We perceive early signs of space reductions in the sector easing off, as rentals reduce and stores remain an integral part of retailers’ omnichannel offers. RBC thinks this could be helpful for valuation multiples in the sector. Retailers continue to improve the … More Inditex Retail Space Turnaround: adapting to omnichannel
Following last post about Inditex 2018 financial results, the aim of this post is understanding the leading fashion retailer performance in a deepest level. Retail Physical Footprint If we analyse the chart below we can make two deductions: Inditex is reducing its physical footprint growth from an average of +5% to approximately 0% from the … More Inditex 2018 Financial Results (2)
Inditex is one of the world’s largest fashion retailers. It has eight retail formats or brands (Zara & Zara Home, Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho and Uterqüe) which sell their collections in 202 markets over an integrated offline-online store network. As of year-end 2018, it had a network of 7,490 stores and was selling … More Inditex 2018 Financial Results (1)
This is a very interesting article from RBC Capital Markets about the current status of the apparel industry in relation to different variables impacting the value chain, specially the ones affecting COGS and OpEx (March 06, 2023 RBC Elements™: European General Retail Profit is sanity…). Great article for anyone interested in retail and strategy: economics, … More Apparel Industry General Update – Q1 2023
Part II of Supply Chain in Fashion The Rubik Model Today, retail is not only about the “what” (product) but about the “how” (experience). It’s a configuration model like the Rubik cube, a flexible model with many possibilities: standard collections, capsules, customization, renting, resale, subscription boxes, and so on. The customer is at the center … More Fashion Goes Tech: The Rubik Model and Patagonia
This article is the continuation of Planning in Fashion, where design meets operations, described in Fashion Goes Tech. According to Gartner, a supply chain is a group of functions and processes focused on optimizing the flow of products, services and related information from sources of supply to customers or points of demand. It stretches across multiple tiers … More Fashion Goes Tech: Supply Chain
I’ve been following RBC Capital Markets, specially their retail insights, for a while. During my last expert call with their European team, we discussed about how important is to be agile in such uncertain times. Fast and agile from design to delivery, implementing new processes boosted by digital assets and developing a new corporate culture. … More Fashion Industry Update Q4 2022
Following with Fashion business strategy and operations insights from Fashion Goes Tech, my latest book on how technology is empowering retail businesses. Today, we move forward across the value chain phases within the business of fashion: Planning. Charles Higgins Kepner said that successful merchandising incorporates the 5Bs: “the right product, in the right place, at … More Fashion Goes Tech: Digital Transformation in Fashion (4) – part 1/2
A few months ago, TFR commented about the merchandise lifecycle and how retailers, specially apparel ones, deal with stock managament. Following the value chain process, this article aims to describe one of the main areas within the business of fashion: Designing. Designing (part 1/2) The Design Department is probably the most creative area within the … More Fashion Goes Tech: Digitization in Retail (3)
Pau Almar is an expert in fashion and apparel retailing that has held several senior management positions in Mango and Zara menswear for the last 10 years in commercial areas optimizing decision-taking, stock efficiency and in-store operations. Additionally, Pau is the editor of Very Good Retail a LinkedIn weekly newsletter about retail and the author … More A guide for potential double digit long-term growth in a mature environment
This is the second part of my latest call with Richard Chamberlain, Head of Consumer Discretionary research at RBC Capital Markets Europe. The live session was exclusive to RBC clients, but these are the notes from the meeting. You can read the first part here RBC: How have supply chain bottlenecks changed the way fashion … More Fashion Retail Outlook: Expert Call with Alfonso Segura x RBC Capital Markets (part 2)
I’m excited to have participated again to an expert call with Richard Chamberlain, Head of Consumer Discretionary research at RBC Capital Markets Europe. Richard covers the General Retail sector and oversee the Luxury Goods and Internet sectors. We started our collaboration a few years ago and I really appreciate RBC Capital Markets insights which give me deep … More Fashion Retail Outlook: Expert Call with Alfonso Segura x RBC Capital Markets
A few weeks ago, I was guest speaker during RBC exclusive expert call. Richard Chamberlain and myself discussed about supply chain disruptions and constraints, sustainability, casualization or retail transformation. Last week, Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets published European General Retail primer; the strong to get stronger, a report that presents latest market trends, financial … More Apparel Brands Report 2021
When I published Fashion Goes Tech, retail was suffering the worst crisis ever: covid-19. Empty streets, no traffic, stores closed. In other words, no footfall, no conversion, no inventory turnover, frozen cash flows, no business. In a business like fashion, it also means that you are increasing inventories and reducing the probabilities of selling it … More Fashion Goes Tech: Digitalization in retail (1)
BCOME is a powerful team led by two young female entrepreneurs. Alba Garcia-Betorz (right) has more than 12 years of experience in the retail industry as Product Director. Alba’s experience in global supply chains inpired her to create a solution to solve the most complex issues affecting traceability and sustainability in Fashion. Companies such as … More A few words with Alba García and Anna Cañadell, founders of BCOME
FASHION SUSTAINABILITY IS THE NEW COOL Last week, during a talk with investors, suppliers and retailers, I was asked if Fast Fashion can really be sustainable. We could include other business segments like luxury in this question. Fashion sustainability is the New Cool and is going mainstream, but some brands are still destroying products as a … More How Cool is Sustainability in Fashion
Last week, Brooke Roberts-Islam wrote “Zara Meets Netflix” (Forbes). In others words, a business model based on “speed-to-market (fast-fashion), customer centricity and excellent operations” meets the “platform economy”. The article mentions FINESSE, a startup that replaces designers and buyers with data, describing itself as “Zara meets Netflix”. The startup, that raised $4.5 million for AI … More Digital Fashion Platforms: Zara meets Netflix
Retail had already been changing but Covid-19 accelerated the digital transformation. Difficult times, are often also times for opportunities and learnings.
Fashion Goes Tech started as a short article about how to fight Covid-19 from a strategical business perspective. What was supposed to keep me busy during a night or two, became my hobby during the next few months. The result is a book about how digitization can reinforce each phase in the fashion supply chain cycle, from concept to design to retailing, from a business strategy perspective.
Featuring stories and insights from best-in-class brands and startups including Zara, Nike, Patagonia, Stella McCartney, Heuritech, Nextail, Provenance, amongst others.
I recently wrote a post published in Fibre2Fashion with the following title “2021: Fashion Retail Diagnosis and Action Plan“. This is a brief overview of it: 2020 is probably the worst year ever for many people: Covid-19, social movements, terrorism, populism, hurricanes, wildfires… You may have lost a close friend or a family member, have … More 2021: Fashion Industry Diagnosis and Action Plan
I usually prefer to mention niche players success stories because writing about big players making the right moves is not big surprise. But, when you are an elephant, adapting to changes is not easy neither fast. Even though, a few big apparel companies are dominating the industry showing no weaknesses. In my opinion, two apparel … More Global is boring, retail goes local
This article is the continuation of Coronavirus and Fashion (1/2), an overview of the short term strategy to overcome the Covid-19 crisis, the biggest challenge to face. Once the bleeding has stopped, companies will need to adapt their businesses for uncertain times. It will require anticipation, flexibility and agility. It’s time to breathe fresh air … More Coronavirus and Fashion (2/2)
Last March, I described how fashion retail will change its store format strategy. As an example, I explained how grocery retailers where segmenting their store formats (hypermarket, supermarket and neighborhood stores) to respond to different shopping occasions. In grocery, shopping area and assortment are aligned, from a wide and deep assortment in large stores, to … More New Retail: Curated Fashion Boutiques
On July, Custo Barcelona announced that will license its brand to Aeffe Group and move its activity to Italy. Custo was founded in the 80s as a result of an inspirational trip to USA by the Dalmau brothers. Two decades later, the company had revenues of 40 million euros and presented its collection during New … More Fashion Platforms and brands
In previous articles, we saw how companies are transforming the fashion business into a more sustainable ecosystem as new generations demand for sustainable products, including recycling and upcycling: Circular Economy in Fashion Sustainable Fashion Brands 3D Knitting in Fashion H&M Conscious Collection, Inditex Join Life or Green to Wear + and Adidas collab with Parley for the Oceans (trainers made from recycled ocean plastic) … More Adidas, walking for sustainability
Extending the review of luxury organizations, niche players from the long tail in fashion and sustainable brands, it´s time to talk about leading “fast-fashion” retailers. Mass-market fashion retailers are localized at the bottom of the Maslow´s pyramid of needs. Those brands´ business models are based on high traffic, high volume and low margin. But some … More Mass-market fashion retailers
Millennials are driving companies to sustainable practices even if their business model is based on volume, low margins. New generations demand for sustainable products and a visible and transparent value chain: from “sheep to shop”, something that blockchain is already enabling. Another interesting trend to mention is nownership, or the end of ownership as repair and rental … More Circular Economy in Fashion
Joaquin Villalba is the CEO and co-founder of Nextail, a smart platform for retail merchandising. A retail industry veteran, Joaquin has almost two decades of experience in innovation, retail and operations. Prior to Nextail, Joaquin was Head of European Logistics for Zara-Inditex, the world’s largest fashion retailer. In that capacity, he oversaw more than a … More A few words with Nextail Founder and CEO
Global volatility is the new normal and companies in all industries have to adapt and track external factors such as weather or social media. Climate change is not only impacting retail sales (revenues) but also other phases across the value chain like wool or cotton production (costs). Managing supply chain assets like fabrics and textiles … More Apparel Sourcing Trends
Headquarters relocation and global competition for talent In The New Fashion Retail Paradigm, I introduced the latest trends impacting the fashion retail industry. Headquarters location is an important one that deserves a deepest approach. Amazon announced in november 2018, after a year-long competition, that New York City and Northern Virginia will host its second headquarters. This … More Headquarters, cities and talent
The Fashion Retailer: Awarded Top 100 Retail Blog In March 2017, there was a conference at IESE on Fashion and Luxury Goods where, Patrizio di Marco (Dolce & Gabbana), Alessandro Varisco (TWINSET Simona Barbieri), Giorgio Presca (Golden Goose), Sian Keane (Farfetch), Luca Solca, amongst others, talked about how to manage talent in fashion and luxury companies. At … More Awarded Top 100 best retail blogs to Follow in 2018
A Few words with Alexander Yashin, Operations RFID expert at LPP Alexander Yashin is 31 years old, Russian, master degree in engineering of IT systems. He has joined fashion retail industry in 2007 as a cashier in a store. Since 2014 he has been working on RFID solutions in retail. The Fashion Retailer: What is … More A few words with LPP´s RFID Expert
Fashion Retail is adapting it´s business model at the pace of digitalization. As Darwin said, it is the most adaptable to change that will survive. After reading IESE insight “5 Building Blocks for Cyber-Physical Value Chains”, from Professor M. Sachon (Issue 33, Second Quarter 2017), I decided to start writing a series of articles about … More Artificial Intelligence in Fashion Retail
When people hear about fashion, they expect a guru or a designer wearing funny clothing. This is part of it, but some would argue that the main competitive advantage of international retailers, such as Zara, is Operations. In fact, Zara doesn´t have a best-in-class designer like Gucci has Alessandro Michele. Inditex best-in-class business model is … More A few words with a Master in Fashion Operations
Patagonia‘s famous ad in 2011. Don’t buy it if you don’t need it. Millennials are driving companies to sustainable practices even their business model is based on volume. An example is The Social and Labour Converge Project signed by leading fashion companies such as H&M, Gap, Nike, Adidas, Levi Strauss, amongst others. Also Primark joined … More Sustainable Fashion
A day in the life of Carlota, Kids Accessories Manager at Mango. Carlota Casals. Mango Kids Accessories Manager. 30 years old. Married and mother of a boy. Fashion fan. Enjoys traveling, exploring new restaurants and visiting fashion stores. The Fashion Retailer: Could you define what is Mango? Carlota Casals: Punto Fa S.L., trading as MANGO, … More A few words with a Kids Accessories Manager at Mango
Uniqlo, the fashtech (fashion technology) japanese retailer opens its first store in Barcelona, next Zara and H&M flagship stores. “For all major companies, starting point has to be Barcelona. We want to grow with this city of art”, has secured this Tuesday, founder of Uniqlo Tadashi Yanai (source: Turkey Telegraph). Therefore, the japanese retailer is positioned … More Uniqlo, the fashtech retailer, opens in Barcelona
Sports, Fashion and Society: A sociological approach Sport is as old as humanity. Cave paintings have been found in the Lascaux caves in France that have been suggested to depict sprinting and wrestling in the Upper Paleolithic around 15,300 years ago. Later on, it was predictably in Greece that sports were first instituted formally, with the first Olympic Games recorded in 776 BCE in … More Sports and Fashion in the ironman era
Louis Vuitton is one of the most prestigious luxury fashion houses in the World. In a previous post, I analysed diversification and segmentation in the fashion retail industry. Armani and Inditex are fashion retailers that have grown thru different diversification strategies. Armani is closing some of its brands due to some inconsistencies between brand, value … More Louis Vuitton, World of experiences