Category: News

Sourcing Trends: How suppliers are adapting to volatility

July 25, 2023

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

Thoughts on Zara

June 13, 2023

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

cash inside a tiny shopping cart

Amazon and the Retail outlook x Miya Knights

April 24, 2023

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

people walking near buildings during night time

Physical Stores are back: key elements for success

September 6, 2022

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

Inditex, the Bigger Picture by RBC

March 28, 2022

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

“Amazon and the growth of omnichannel retailing” with RBC x Miya Knights

February 9, 2022

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

Apparel Brands Report 2021

December 13, 2021

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

In-Store Transformation

November 8, 2021

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

woman holding green and red leather handbag

Inditex Retail Space Turnaround: adapting to omnichannel

August 16, 2021

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

Retailtainment and Enterprise Ecosystems

April 27, 2021

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

Digital Fashion Platforms: Zara meets Netflix

February 15, 2021

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

Values-led collaborations in fashion

October 12, 2020

Coronavirus is impacting our democracies, our economies, our individual and social behaviors… When it comes to fashion, the virus is showing how difficult is to manage a seasonal business in such volatile and uncertain environment. Covid is killing cash flows in one of the most inventory-intensive businesses. Values-led collaborations in the sustainable era When it … More Values-led collaborations in fashion

COVID-19 Tracker for the Retail Industry

May 18, 2020

A few months ago, I interviewed AJ Mak, founder of Chain of Demand, a predictive analytics company that empowers the retail industry to maximize sales and minimize inventory waste with AI-driven sales predictions. Chain of Demand just launched COVID19 Retail Response Tracker that is meant to help businesses better prepare for the upcoming quarters. Retail … More COVID-19 Tracker for the Retail Industry

Hyper-customization

February 3, 2020

As introduced in the previous post Co-Design: Innovation at the intersection, hyper-consumption and hyper-individualism enabled by technology in the phygital arena are offering customers infinite choices. It´s the long tail of brands and products that create the long tail of customers (from a mass/cebra target to YOU). Nowadays, some leading companies are already segmenting their … More Hyper-customization

Why Nike and Amazon are breaking up

January 14, 2020

As reported by Bloomberg (November 2019), Nike is breaking up with Amazon and will stop selling its apparel and sneakers directly from Amazon’s site. “As part of Nike’s focus on elevating consumer experiences through more direct, personal relationships, we have made the decision to complete our current pilot with Amazon Retail,” the company said in … More Why Nike and Amazon are breaking up

Body Scanning in Fashion

December 16, 2019

Last May, the startup 3DLOOK won the third edition of LVMH Innovation awards. The benefits of artificial intelligence and augmented reality were discussed in previous posts, but technology is constantly improving and there is still a very important restriction when buying online: finding the right size. The goal is driving up conversions and reduce ecommerce … More Body Scanning in Fashion

Fashion Retail Safari on Amazon

December 2, 2019

Proud to announce my first publication: FASHION RETAIL SAFARI, a personally curated selection on industry trends, insights and conversations with key opinion leaders that have been posted during 2019 on The Fashion Retail Blog. Fashion Retail Safari focuses on the following trending topics: General Thoughts about the Fashion Industry Customer Experience and Segmentation Fashion and … More Fashion Retail Safari on Amazon

The Strategy behind Banky´s Merchandising

November 11, 2019

“The urge to destroy is also a creative urge” as Bakunin said. Consumerism in the liquid era is fast, compulsive and ephemeral. It´s more experiential. I already illustrated this idea using Banksy´s self-destructing painting The Girl With Balloon (October 2018) in The New Fashion Retail Paradigm .  Bansky, the  anonymous satirical street artist, activist and film director, opened … More The Strategy behind Banky´s Merchandising

Legacy brands embrace fashion resale

October 28, 2019

Burberry announced recently a partnership with luxury resale site The RealReal, to promote circular economy in fashion and sustainability. Resale is a rising trend within the Fashion as a Service landscape. It’s about nownership and environmental consumption, contributing to increase product lifespan. Many legacy retailers are supporting circular economy, even fast-fashion brands selling to mass-market … More Legacy brands embrace fashion resale

Resale Fashion goes mainstream

September 9, 2019

As Coresight Research commented on July, Recommerce and thrift shopping are going mainstream as consumers increasingly seek out value (both economic and ethics-based), clothing that expresses individuality and that is Instagrammable. Consumers are on both sides of the transaction, donating and consigning as well as purchasing. The desire to simplify and de-clutter is contributing to … More Resale Fashion goes mainstream

Sustainable Jeans

September 2, 2019

ITMA, the world’s largest international textile and garment technology exhibition, took place in Barcelona in June 2019. One of Europe’s largest denim producer, Candiani SpA has won the ITMA Sustainable Innovation Award, held in conjunction with ITMA 2019. Its innovative product, Candiani Re-Gen is a ‘circular denim’ fabric created from regenerated and recycled raw materials. … More Sustainable Jeans

Adidas, walking for sustainability

May 20, 2019

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

2019 Top 100 Omnichannel Retailers by Total Retail

May 13, 2019

Total Retail announced the 2019 top 100 Omnichannel Retailers ranking that reveals the list of publicly traded retailers and brands at the forefront of delivering the seamless cross-channel shopping experiences that consumers have come to expect. The top performers according to the report were Department Stores, with an average score of 7.35 for the brands within … More 2019 Top 100 Omnichannel Retailers by Total Retail

Macy´s to launch new Story concept stores across the US

May 6, 2019

A retail love story: Macy´s embraces ephemeral experiences as part of their value proposition According to Coresight Research, in the US, year-to-date announced closures have exceeded the total recorded for the full year 2018. So far this year, US retailers have announced 5,994 store closures and 2,641 store openings. This compares to 5,864 closures and 3,239 openings for the full year 2018. Even … More Macy´s to launch new Story concept stores across the US

What if sustainability starts in your closet?

April 15, 2019

Reviewing a list of hot topics and trends from 2015 onwards, fashion technology and sustainability are amongst the most popular ones. As commented in The Fashtech Ecosystem: Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, 3D Printing Augmented and Virtual Reality and Internet of Things are some of the technologies that are changing the way customers shop, interact with the product and brands. Sustainable and Meaningful Fashion Brands … More What if sustainability starts in your closet?

Fashion Connect: Bonprix Omnichannel concept

March 18, 2019

If you think about what retailers are “reinventing” the fashion retail business and also leading the omnichannel era, you will probably mention Zara, Nike, H&M… and a few niche players like Everlane, Bonobos, Goop or Rent the Runway. Some might mention Amazon, but Amazon Fashion has room for improvement yet… Those companies are going beyond … More Fashion Connect: Bonprix Omnichannel concept