Sustainable Fashion case study: SHEIN. 2

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

Sustainable Fashion case study: SHEIN. 1

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

Apparel Industry General Update – Q1 2023

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

Fashion Goes Tech: The Rubik Model and Patagonia

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

Fashion Goes Tech: Supply Chain

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

Fashion Goes Tech: Digital Transformation in Fashion (4) – part 2/2

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

Fashion Goes Tech: Digital Transformation in Fashion (4) – part 1/2

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

Fashion Goes Tech: Digitization in Retail (3)

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)

A guide for potential double digit long-term growth in a mature environment

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

Why nobody speaks about Inditex growth levers? (part 1)

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)

Fashion Goes Tech: Digitization in Retail (2)

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)

Fashion Goes Tech: Digitalization in retail (1)

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)

Walmart: How to Survive Disruption in Retail

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

How to deal with Planning Volatility in Fashion: New Marketing Merchandise Calendar

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

2021: Fashion Industry Diagnosis and Action Plan

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

Influencer Brands

Digital era, the long tail, streetwear, social media, pure players, business platforms, influencers, liquid design… these are some of the ingredients for cooking this article… Global volatility, from geopolitics to social instability, is the new normal. Companies in all industries need to adapt the way they manage their businesses in an ever changing landscape. Agility … More Influencer Brands

Urban Fashion Deserts?

Dollar Stores, Urban Deserts, Sustainability and Black Lives Matter I’ve been following Dollar Stores (Retail store that sells general merchandise, such as apparel, automotive parts, dry goods, hardware, home furnishings, and a selection of groceries. It usually sells them at discounted prices, sometimes at one or several fixed price points, such as one dollar – Wikipedia) … More Urban Fashion Deserts?

Tackling Fashion Industry’s Waste Problem

As mentioned in Fashion Retail Safari, New Retail is about new processes, new analytical capabilities, innovation, technology, new store formats, …, that respond to digital generation trends such as experience, sustainability and authenticity. We live in very volatile times – weather extremes, political distruptions (e.g. Brexit) and public health threats (e.g. COVID-19) – and today, … More Tackling Fashion Industry’s Waste Problem

Fashion Technology Platforms

Platforms or conglomerates business models excel at optimizing resources and reduce financial risks (everything impact on financials such as over-stocking, slower lead-times…). It’s the story of “a basket of eggs or eggs in baskets”. Understanding what is the value proposition and leveraging your key resources and partners is crucial to grow in a sustainable way. … More Fashion Technology Platforms

Co-Design: Innovation at the intersection

Last week, I met a friend that works at Istituto Europeo di Design (IED), a well-known design education center in Barcelona. We were discussing about how companies were redesigning their approach to customers’ journeys, and how students were helping them and the different collaboration projects in place. Design is not only about the functional aspect … More Co-Design: Innovation at the intersection

Redefining the way we shop and consume

Looking back to the latest retail news regarding sustainability and Fashion as a Service, and putting together the pieces of the puzzle, we could conclude that New Retail is a result of product-brand experience mixed by the changing patterns of consumption. Fresh could be different from new. Fashion customers are expecting products to be trendy … More Redefining the way we shop and consume

Fashion Retail Safari on Amazon

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

New Retail: Curated Fashion Boutiques

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

Resale Fashion

The Resale Fashion business should be considered in relation to the landscape of Fashion as a Service (FaaS), or how experience is getting over product ownership. In previous posts, TFR already introduced subscription boxes model and rental clothing including success cases such as The Trunk Club or Rent the Runway. When describing Circular Fashion, reuse … More Resale Fashion

Fashion as a Service (2)

Continuing Fashion as a Service – subscription boxes model previous post, the following article comments on rental clothing. Millennials are prioritizing experiences over tangible products. They want to feel the adrenaline but without ties, and the sharing economy is helping them to satisfy wider needs like sustainability. Millennial, born-digital companies, are understanding the Experience Economy, creating business … More Fashion as a Service (2)

Luxury and Fashion Corporations

The Fashion Luxury Industry, like other industries, has seen the rise of big corporations such as LVMH or Kering. Some luxury goods conglomerates are more diversified than others. LVMH portfolio, for example, includes high-end brands in the categories of wines & spirits, fashion & leather goods, perfumes & cosmetics, watches & jewelry, selective retailing (e.g. Sephora) … More Luxury and Fashion Corporations

Circular Economy in Fashion

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

The Fashion Pyramid of brands

Many fashion retailers define their strategy starting from their value proposition and key positioning levers (assortment, price, experience, speed, channels…) to differentiate themselves from competition. It’s part of their DNA but also define their purpose and business model. The segmentation of fashion brands is illustrated on a pyramid where the more expensive brands are on … More The Fashion Pyramid of brands