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Reselling returned apparel is a major opportunity to turn a loss-maker (that could end up in a landfill) into a money-maker. Returns usually come back with minor wear and tear — ranging from a slightly snagged thread to armpit stains or even the lingering scents of the people who may have worn the garments. What’s more, warehouse workers are usually trained to pick, pack and ship out orders, not survey dresses and pants for visible signs of wear and determine how they can be resold. At 26 percent, apparel, footwear and accessories face a higher return rate than any other category, according to the return management platform Loop Returns. That number is only likely to increase — in 2023, 18 percent of all online orders in the US were returned, up from 17 percent in 2022, according to the National Retail Federation. Convince consumers of the defined value proposition through effective brand communication.

Diesel’s Comeback Reignites Ambitions to Build an Italian Fashion Empire

President Donald Trump pointed to South Korea as a country with more unfair tariffs against American products than China, while slamming the handing out of subsidies for foreign chipmakers like Samsung Electronics Co. The Spanish company extended its partnership with the eponymous founder of Charlotte Tilbury, who will retain a minority stake in the brand until 2031. At the same time, this year Shein has faced growing competition from other ascendent ultra-cheap product purveyors — most notably, Temu. Temu’s rise, accented by its “shop like a billionaire” themed-Super Bowl ads in February, has been pervasive, though not without its own problems.

It is a network of fashion creatives, business professionals and entrepreneurs around the world, delivering fashion business intelligence on emerging designers, disruptive technologies and global brands that are making their mark on the industry. He realised that he had a unique opportunity to break down the barriers by providing rigorous business journalism befitting an estimated $2.5 trillion fashion industry employing millions of people around the world. By bringing them together as one global community, he and his team could share and learn from each other as the industry was being disrupted by technology, shifting consumer values and globalisation.

Canada’s export-driven beauty startup scene is responding to the threat of tariffs with a newfound product patriotism. Sign up to The Business of Beauty newsletter, your complimentary, must-read source for the day’s most important beauty and wellness news and analysis. Coast is comfortable, affordable and has a Bof casino range of features that will benefit employee well-being and productivity.

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Viral microtrends have mostly become a useful tool to help brands and retailers market to younger shoppers. But with the apparent slowdown underway and TikTok’s fate in question, Herren has been encouraging brands to test more on Instagram and focus on longer-term strategies, rather than going viral. It’s also likely because people are increasingly aware that these microtrends don’t usually last. Microtrends have become “meme-like abstractions,” said Michael Appler, communications director at analytics firm Trendalytics.

The Great Luxury E-Commerce Re-Commerce

By 2025, secondhand sales will account for 10 percent of the global apparel market, and the segment is expected to grow at a 12 percent compound annual growth rate to reach $350 billion by 2028. An “inflation overhang,” the idea that customers take time to adjust to higher prices, is not the only dynamic at play. Even customers with growing discretionary spend are prioritising experiences and travel over fashion. In the third quarter of 2024, the top category that US and European customers splurged on was eating out, followed by travel and buying groceries.

Nike slowed down, suffering from a lack of innovation in product and marketing, culminating in the departure of CEO John Donahoe in September. At the lowest end of the pricing spectrum, competition has ramped up with the advances of Temu and TikTok Shop, while Shein continues to fight for its initial public offering in London. As luxury consumers steadily gravitated away from streetwear, Our Legacy’s minimalist assortment of denim, soft tailoring and knitwear was a major beneficiary of the “quiet luxury” trend where shoppers valued a more elevated, logo-free style of dressing. Top-selling SKUs today include its $600 Camion leather boot, along with its trompe l’oiel distressed jeans made with its signature “digital denim” print technique. The brand also has a nascent womenswear business, which launched back in 2018. The luxury conglomerate’s venture arm—dedicated to investing in small creative companies—has taken an undisclosed minority stake in the brand, The Business of Fashion can reveal.

Luxury e-commerce, too, had a major year of upheaval, as several of the one-time retailers of tomorrow found new owners, including Farfetch and Net-a-Porter, or shuttered altogether, as was the fate for Matchesfashion. Plus, they specialise in reselling fashion products, while other platforms work across categories and have less of an expertise in reselling apparel and other fashion products specifically. These companies are still small — Bazar, for example, is generating over $1 million, while Revive estimates revenue will hit north of $3 million this year — but they’re growing quickly. Bazar plans to triple revenue year over year in 2024; Revive expects the volume of goods it refurbishes by the end of the year to jump 25x from January. Traditional retailers including department stores and even big box chains have become new champions of luxury resale in recent years, said Charles Gorra, founder and chief executive of Rebag.