15+ years of solid experience in the Retail Industry. Specializes in Business Strategy, Merchandise Planning, Omnichannel and Retail. Entrepreneur. Consultant and Apparel advisor. Founder of The Fashion Retailer. I´m a Sociologist, IESE Executive MBA and Retail Passionate. I’m always interested in hearing from new people and learning new things, so feel free to contact me.
Despite the overall boost in e-commerce driven by Covid, retail companies are returning to a focus on growth based on physical stores. Thousands of unprofitable stores have been closed, and omnichannel capabilities have been optimized. New challenges are on the horizon, such as the economic impact in some areas of the world… … More Retail Zoom: Middle East
Continuing with previous examples of sustainable initiatives, Shein established in 2021, a 629,150 sq. ft. Innovation Center, a destination for the research and development of new waste-saving and efficiency-optimizing technologies necessary for scaling among their supplier partners.
Shein is moving forward with the circular economy and alliances. In 2022, Shein became a signatory of World Circular Textiles Day, a coalition of brands, suppliers and other organizations who share a mission to drive the fashion and textiles industry toward full circularity by 2050. Through such initiative they expect to continue to measure and mitigate their own textile waste and collaborate with other industry leaders. … More Sustainable Fashion case study: SHEIN. 2
I hope you enjoyed the holidays! Vacations are a good time for reading, staying updated, or continuing our education. In my case, I wanted to recommend the Sustainable Fashion course organized by Copenhagen Business School. Taking advantage of the work done, I’m sharing a portion of my final essay about SHEIN sustainability strategy…
In April 2022, it was reported that Shein was seeking over $1 billion in funding at a $100 billion valuation, according to Bloomberg report. It was a surprise for many people specializing in the fashion industry because the valuation was slightly higher than the one combining the leading global players: Inditex and H&M. More surprising because it was the first time a pure-player, fashion marketplace was competing directly with retailers that had thousands of stores worldwide combined to online presence. In fact, I would say that Inditex has developed the more advanced omnichannel structure in fashion, and probably in the retail business. According to Modaes, Shein revenues were around €22,7 Billion in 2022. In the case of confirming these data, it would mean Shein is the second largest fashion retailer after Inditex. … More Sustainable Fashion case study: SHEIN. 1
These are some notes from a zoom call organized this month by RBC Capital Markets with Reyhan Benzes, Board member of APS Textiles. Based in Turkey, APS is a leading manufacturer of woven apparels specializing in different variations of woven bottoms, mainly trousers, jackets, dresses and overcoats with overall sales volume exceeding 4million pieces annually … More Sourcing Trends: How suppliers are adapting to volatility
A few months ago, many of us were surprised to see the best CEO of the decade leave Inditex when the results were still brilliant and the Covid period had been overcome. Pablo Isla is a genius, and the constant transformation he advocated for has turned Inditex into the most prepared fashion and retail company … More Thoughts on Zara
It is a pleasure to publish my latest contribution in the RBC Capital Markets Expert Call, a collaboration that started years ago. I talked to Richard Chamberlain, Retail Director at RBC, about the latest trends in Supply Chain, which have been impacted by the recent events of COVID and the war in Ukraine. The global … More Fashion Retail: Supply Chain Trends
Latest expert speaker call with Miya Knights and hosted by RBC contained interesting thoughts on how Amazon’s strategy has progressed and on current trends in Retail. Miya is a proven domain expert and leader, with extensive industry knowledge and networks built over 25 years’ experience as a journalist, editor, publisher, analyst, research director, head of … More Amazon and the Retail outlook x Miya Knights
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
My collaboration with Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) started a few years ago and this is an interesting interview about trends in retail. Ethan Chernofsky is the VP of Marketing at Placer.ai and is giving fresh insights around consumer behavior, omnichannel, retail formats or loyalty. Placer.ai collects geolocation and proximity data from devices that are … More Retail Trends, by Placer.ai
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
It seems Covid-19 pandemic is ending but uncertainty is the new norm and adapting to it is essential. Fashion, like other industries, is adapting to digital transformation by redefining customer engagement and optimizing operations across new business models with a new approach to product development where sustainability and traceability are mandatory. This article is the … More Fashion Goes Tech: Digital Transformation in Fashion (4) – part 2/2
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
I’m very excited to announce my latest collaboration with Drapers magazine, a leading authority on fashion retailing that has been covering this sector since 1887! The article “What area the essential ingredients for successful store retail?” by Emma Sheppard, explores the five key elements that make a store a success today: This is a brief … More Physical Stores are back: key elements for success
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
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)
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
Last March, Paco Underhill was guest speaker during the Retail and Luxury Outlook organized by RBC Capital Markets. By the way, I will be speaking to RBC on the same topic in a few days. Paco Underhill is an environmental psychologist, consumer expert and best-selling author (ie Why we Buy; Call of the Mall), and … More Retail and Luxury Outlook by Paco Underhill
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
Vadim Rogovskiy is CEO and co-founder of 3DLOOK, the global leader in AI-first mobile body measuring and fit solutions. Vadim is an angel investor and partner at Geek Ventures, an advisor and mentor at 500 Startups, and a Forbes “30 Under 30” alumni. I discovered 3DLOOK when writing about the fashion technology ecosystem. Then, in … More A few words with Vadim Rogovskiy, 3DLOOK CEO
RBC hosted a very interesting and insightful call last week with Retail Expert Miya Knights, to discuss Amazon and the growth of omnichannel retailing. Miya is co-author of the books “Amazon: How the World’s Most Relentless Retailer will Continue to Revolutionize Commerce” and “Omnichannel Retail: How to Build Winning Stores in a Digital World.” RBC: … More “Amazon and the growth of omnichannel retailing” with RBC x Miya Knights
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! For a 2022 in which life and brotherhood thrive! Thanks for reading and supporting The Fashion Retailer! The blog was created in 2017 and already passed 500,000 all time views. Great news and energy to keep writing about the business of fashion retail, digital transformation and circularity! See below … More Happy Holidays and Happy Reading!
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
I met Jérôme 8 years ago, when PLM solutions were not a usual piece in the fashion retail tech ecosystem. I was then in Accenture Strategy and Operations, working in a project to implement integrated planning processes for a fashion retailer. Since then, technology has changed retail for ever. Jérôme Cabanès is 42 years old, … More A few words with Jérôme Cabanès, Director at Centric Software
The Merchandise Life Cycle In Fashion, products tend to have a short product lifecycle due to fast changes in trends and demand. Fast Fashion accelerated the traditional business model (e.g. usually 2 collection per year), creating a perceived obsolescence and making supply chains even more complex in a context of trade liberalization that started in … More Fashion Goes Tech: Digitization in Retail (2)
Covid-19 restrictions are being eased while vaccination rates are rising (e.g. 76.8% of the population in Spain is fully vaccinated). Stores are re-opening and shoppers are returning to brick-and-mortar stores (also to restaurants, bars and discos). Retail sales are expected to grow between 10.5% and 13.5% to an estimated total of $4.44 trillion to $4.56 … More In-Store Transformation
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)
TFR: What is GFAIVE? Maria Makarova: At its core, GFAIVE is a company focused on simplifying the life of fashion brands and retailers. We built an AI SaaS Platform that combines elements of assortment planning, demand forecasting, and new model sales performance predictions. With the help of our solution, companies can grow their revenue steadily, … More A few words with Maria Makarova, Co-Founder and Strategy Director of GFAIVE
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
A few weeks ago, I received a new order confirmation mail from Sweden. While checking the delivery address, I found that someone from WorkShop purchased Fashion Goes Tech, my latest book. I didn’t hesitate to connect to Johannes and know more about the award-winning agency. So, I’m very excited to introduce you to the Creative … More A few words with Johannes Lagerås, Creative Director at WorkShop
In Strategic Acquisitions: Amazon vs Walmart (2017), I described how both retail giants were investing in digital capabilities in order to give an omnichannel customer experience while growing (keep growing and adapting) a successfull and sustainable business. Today, retail is more dynamic than ever due to the impact of technology and new types of communication … More Walmart: How to Survive Disruption in Retail
A few words with Nina Brener-Hellmund, Founder & CEO of Cult Mia Nina Brener-Hellmund (Nina): Raised between Mexico, Texas, and Switzerland, I was a global nomad growing up, always feeling like I could adapt to anything. I’ve always been happiest in environments that foster diversity and value an international perspective. Now 29 years-old and a … More A few words with Nina Brener-Hellmund, founder of Cult Mia
Last week, I listened to an interesting podcast from Business of Fashion: 10 Retail Archetypes of the Future featuring Dough Stephens. Stephens is a Canadian futurist, keynote speaker, author and business advisor on the future of retailing and consumerism. He also founded Retail Prophet. These are some compelling insights from the podcast: SHORT VERSUS LONG TERM Last year, during the … More Retailtainment and Enterprise Ecosystems
The Fashion Retailer‘s collaborations and network is growing! Since the blog was founded in 2017, we met, talked or chatted with amazing people, mostly executives and founders of fashion technology companies like Nextail, Heuritech or Zliide. Those essential conversations broaden my perspective on how technologies are making businesses more effective and were key when writing … More The Fashion Retailer Tech Ecosystem is growing
As described in Fashion Goes Tech, my latest book, retail hasn’t changed much in the last century but, over the last 20 years, digitization has drastically transformed the way companies do business and how customers shop. Retail was already facing the digital challenge when Covid-19 unexpectedly forced a shortening of the “adaption deadline” (Fashion Goes … More How to deal with Planning Volatility in Fashion: New Marketing Merchandise Calendar
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