1. ‘Angels’ in Hell: The Culture of Misogyny Inside Victoria’s Secret. A Times investigation found widespread bullying and harassment of employees and models for decades by one of the top executives at L Brands, the parent company of Victoria’s Secret, who “tried to kiss models, asked them to sit on his lap,  touched one’s crotch ahead of the 2018 Victoria’s Secret fashion show.” – Read More on the New York Times 

2. Brexit is here. What’s next for fashion? The fashion sector in the UK, built on duty-free access to the EU, is facing the risk of export tariffs into its biggest trading partner from 2021 onward. – Read More on Vogue Biz 

3. Moda Operandi, an online marketplace for high-end fashion, raises $100M led by NEA and Apax: Moda Operandi, an online marketplace that specializes in right-off-the-runway luxury fashion, accessories and home decor, is today announcing a high-priced event of its own: it’s raised $100 million. – Read More on TechCrunch 

4. Nike prototype Vaporfly shoe banned but current version going to Olympics: Nike Vaporfly shoes used to run the world’s first sub-two hour marathon will be banned from professional sport under a landmark decision on Friday that also allows currently sold versions of the high-tech shoes to be used in the Olympics. – Read More on Reuters

5. RETRO READ: Nike’s Move in the “Race for a Breakthrough Foam?” The Vaporfly 4%, a Sneaker that Makes Athletes Run “Too Fast.” – Read More on TFL

6. Underground Designers Thriving in Iran’s Fashion Market: In the past ten years or so, with the advent of social media that allowed underground designers to showcase their creations and share them with others, underground fashion has experienced a boom. – Read More on Radio Farda 

7. Luxury Brands Fear Sales Hit as Chinese Shoppers Stay Home: The industry’s most important clientele, Chinese consumers are quarantining themselves at home and canceling trips abroad, where they often splurge on Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Cartier and other high-end brands. In Paris, luxury boutique staff are reporting a sharp drop in Chinese shoppers. 

1. Will We Buy Mostly Vintage Clothes in the Future? The already thriving resale market is expected to more than double, from $24 billion in 2018 to $51 billion by 2023. “When I started nine years ago, people didn’t want you to know they had bought resale. That stigma is completely gone. People buy to resell afterward.” – Read More on the WSJ 

2. H&M delivers first annual profit rise since 2015: Big investments in logistics, digital technology, new store concepts and independent brands to meet changing shopping habits and tougher competition have “contributed to continued positive sales development with more full-price sales, lower markdowns and increased market share.” – Read More on CNBC 

3. Fast Fashion Isn’t Dead Yet — And Could Find Retail Rebirth: Fast fashion is certainly not dead yet, even if reports of it dying are easy to find. In 2018 alone fast fashion as a segment of the apparel industry brought in over $35 billion. – Read More on PYMNTS

4. RETRO READ: The rise and success of entities like Boohoo is significant as it shows that despite increased attention to the social and environmental hazards that come with the fast fashion model and a rise in cause-conscious consumers, sluggish growth by the former fast fashion pioneers – from Forever 21 and H&M to Topshop and Primark – is not representative of a movement away from fast fashion altogether. – Read More on TFL 

5. Fashion’s dirty microplastics secret: No one knows exactly how much microplastic pollution comes from fashion, but the $167 billion athleisure category and polyester-fueled fast fashion are some key contributors. – Read More on Vogue Biz 

6. Forever 21 Proposes Auction to Keep Fashion Chain in Business: Bankrupt retailer Forever 21 asked a bankruptcy court to approve plans to sell “substantially all” of its assets to a buyer who might keep the chain in business. Authentic Brands Group  and Simon Property Group were mulling a plan to acquire the retail chain, but that there was no guarantee the various sides would agree on terms. – Read More on Bloomberg

1. Victoria’s Secret Needs a Different Kind of Angel: The tired lingerie chain is weighing down its parent and badly needs a revamp. Victoria’s Secret accounted for nearly half of L Brands’ $13.24 billion revenue in 2019. But analysts say that profitability is close to zero. – Read More on Bloomberg

2. Christian Siriano has garnered quite the reputation for his willingness to be inclusive with his line. The designer says size inclusivity in fashion is “not that hard, a lot of brands just don’t want to do it.” – Read More on Yahoo 

3. Old clothes, new customers: Nordstrom becomes latest big retailer to sell secondhand items. Starting Friday, racks of secondhand clothing will find a home in the company’s Manhattan store. Nordstrom will also begin allowing customers to drop off used clothing, handbags, shoes, jewelry and watches there in exchange for gift cards. Those items will be cleaned and repaired as necessary before being resold. Nordstrom said it will soon begin accepting merchandise by mail as well. – Read More on the Washington Post

4. RETRO READ: The Most Exciting Segment in Fashion Right Now is the Resale Market. Thredup, projects that the total resale retail market will reach $41 billion in revenue by 2022 and $64 billion by 2028 – that is more than the sales in the fast fashion segment of the market. – Read More on TFL 

5. Big spenders: Africa’s luxury goods market. Africa’s robust economic growth and booming population have given rise to an ever-expanding affluent class that underpins the growing demand for luxury goods. And it is only expected to grow, as Africa is currently the world’s second-fastest growing region for the consumption of luxury goods, trailing only the Middle East. – Read More on ABM

1. In the online shopping era bricks-and-mortar beauty stores aren’t going down without a fight: The art of the retail experience isn’t dead – in fact, it’s becoming a way to stand out. “There are many facets to buying beauty that can’t be replicated online.” – Read More on SCMP 

2. Amazon is Readying Major Disruption for the Fashion Industry: As the e-commerce giant reportedly readies a luxury platform, apparel and footwear have already topped the list of the most purchased product category on Amazon, rising from fourth place in 2017 when it trailed books, beauty and electronics. – Read More on Forbes 

3. Louis Vuitton’s Dip Doesn’t Herald End of Luxury Boom, but the bumps aren’t over: The emergence of a deadly coronavirus in China is likely to be another temporary blow to designer brands. At the time of the 2003 SARS outbreak, Chinese consumers were buying less than 10% of all luxury goods sold world-wide. Most brands have more than tripled their exposure to China’s wealthy shoppers (who now buy one-third of all such goods globally) since then. – Read More on WSJ 

4. Can Harry and Meghan Make Canada an International Style Destination? Experts predict the move to Canada by Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle could serve as a major boost to Canada’s $23.3 billion fashion industry, as it could shine a spotlight on local brands that often miss international exposure. – Read More on PYMNTS 

5. Revolve is the Future of Fashion Retail: From its profitable “fashion technology” business, which sees it partnering with a network of influencers and celebrities to sell apparel to its excellent profit margins due to its premium branding and efficient sourcing processes. – Read More on Seeking AlphaShare

1. Coronavirus exposes luxury goods to how important China is: The deadly virus and its impact on sales is an unwanted reminder of just how dependent luxury goods brands are on Chinese consumers. – Read More on Business Day 

2. In the DTC era, Target is gunning to be the swimwear leader: According to the retailer and The NPD Group, Target has been the No. 1 men’s and women’s swimwear retailer in the U.S., based on sales, above both mass and specialty retailers, since 2015. The company does not break out swim sales, but it shared in its 2018 annual report that apparel and accessories accounted for 20% of the companies $74.4 billion in sales for the year. – Read More on Glossy

3. Cannabis brands look to fashion PR for luxury treatment: Cannabis companies are hiring luxury fashion veterans and communications firms as they look to market themselves in an attractive way to a desirable audience given that growing industry for legal marijuana in the U.S., which is expected to be worth $29.7 billion by 2025, up from $13.6 billion in 2019. – Read More on Vogue Business

4. The Magical Thinking of “the Goop Lab.” Lowbrow TV with high production values is the most unsettling kind of sponcon—the soulful kind. A disclaimer prefacing each episode reads, “The following series is designed to entertain and inform—not provide medical advice.” – Read More on the New Yorker

5. Fashion has a misinformation problem. That’s bad for the environment: Questionable facts plague the conversation around sustainability and fashion, and that makes the industry harder to regulate. – Read More on Vox

1. The founders of Dollar Shave Club, Warby Parker and other billion-dollar companies exploited giant rivals’ weaknesses (i.e., high prices or inconvenience or a stodgy image) and changed the way you buy your basics: The decline in brand loyalty has helped power the rise of the new direct-to-consumer brands, as has the fact that “it’s never been cheaper to start a business, although I think it’s never been harder to scale a business.” – Read More on the NY Times 

2. Luxury brands accuse their fast fashion counterparts of being polluters, but high-end brands are just as bad: Hot Hollywood label Rhude made its Paris debut with a collection complete with an eco narrative. “When Rhude designer Rhuigi Villasenor was questioned backstage, he admitted there was nothing sustainable about his collection.”  – Read More on SCMP

3. Distressed Clothing: Offensive or Just Fashion? Search “distressed” on e-commerce site Net-a-Porter and hundreds of jeans, shoes, sweaters and T-shirts pop up. Yet, at least some critics find it unseemly to co-opt the look of poverty. – Read More on the WSJ 

4. The leggings war heats up, as more fashion brands move into activewear: As the global activewear industry continues to grow, more companies are moving into the space to rival incumbents. But as more fashion brands cross over into the space and new sportswear brands pop up, the threat of leggings fatigue looms. – Read More on Glossy 

5. Have We Reached Peak Globalization? ”The next wave of globalization will be structurally changed by the effects of technology. Products that were previously physical have now become apps, many are of which are free. Technology, data, and AI are also disrupting the rhythm and cadence of the globalization cycle, inasmuch as they are borderless and therefore drive interconnectivity.” – Read More on Bloomberg

1. Bottega Veneta is growing faster than its sister brands including Saint Laurent and even Kering’s crown jewel, Gucci. Meanwhile, discounts on Bottega products also fell dramatically around November of last year, coinciding with creative director Daniel Lee’s first collections and signaling that sell-through is likely higher. – Read More on Glossy

2. The $100 Billion Man: How LVMH’s Bernard Arnault stitched together a giant fortune.  “If you compare us to Microsoft, [we are] small,” he says. Indeed, LVMH’s market value of $214 billion lags far behind the software giant’s $1.1 trillion. “It’s just the beginning.” – Read More on Forbes

3. RETRO READ: Are indigenous textile makers fashion’s latest victims? The lack of a concrete international legal framework protecting the artistic rights of communities means that “you can put a [fashion brand’s] label on a traditional design.” – Read More on Equal Times

4. Software ate the world. Now it’s design’s turn. To have any chance of competing, products and services need to be easily understood, compelling, and even beautiful. With the internet now providing the most potent means of distribution, design has become the most potent means of differentiation. – Read More on Fast Co.

5. ASOS says that it sold a black dress a second on Black Friday: The British fashion chain sold one black dress every second and one wedding dress every minute during record trade on Black Friday last year. – Read More on BBC

1. It’s time to regulate fashion the way we regulate the oil industry: When the EPA was established in 1970, the global fashion industry was far smaller than it is today; fast fashion didn’t yet exist. But as brands focused on making clothing as inexpensively as possible—effectively transforming clothes into disposable objects—the sector ballooned. – Read More on Fast Co.

2. Fashion’s Chinese New Year quandary: Can rats ever be luxury? With Chinese consumers spending more than a trillion yuan ($150 billion) across the holiday week last year, there’s ample motivation to indulge in the pursuit of disposable Chinese income via zodiac-themed capsule collections. Everyone from Fendi and Gucci to Burberry and Marc Jacobs want in. – Read More on CNN

3. RETRO READ: Chinese Teens Are Spending More Than $7,000 per Year on Luxury Goods, Outshining Their Western Peers. Chinese natives born in 1998 and after are demonstrating remarkable spending power, in some cases, shelling out more than $7,000 per year for luxury goods even before they reach age 21. – Read More on TFL

4. Away luggage saw healthy holiday sales growth despite a scorching exposé on its allegedly “toxic” workplace culture: It’s possible that everyday consumers are unaware of what’s going on, or simply don’t care about these corporate issues. – Read More on Fast Co.

5. A $20 billion to $30 billion per year fix: It’s going to cost $20 billion to $30 billion a year to live out the fashion industry’s sustainability promises. That’s the amount needed to be deployed per year toward the development and scaling of disruptive innovations and business models in the fashion industry in order to see a significant “step change” by 2030. – Read More on WWD

1. China buys, produces and exports most of the world’s clothing, but most Western consumers would struggle to name a Chinese fashion brand: “Marketing to Western audiences is another challenge. Helping an international audience understand the cultural references and craftsmanship behind your work is the first step toward that success.” – Read More on SCMP 

2. Luxury stocks hit by fears over Chinese coronavirus outbreak: Burberry, Hermes and Givenchy parent LVMH were among those most affected by growing worries over the virus, which has killed six people and infected almost 300. Gucci owner Kering was also hit. – Read More on the Telegraph 

3. The US needs a national privacy law for personal data, Salesforce co-CEO says: In the United States, there is no single federal law that gives protection to citizens over their data. Instead, the issue is currently dealt with under different sets of legislation at the state and federal levels. – Read More on CNBC 

4.  Louis Vuitton and the NBA confirmed they have entered a multi-year partnership: The tie-up includes a trophy travel case and a capsule collection designed by Vuitton men’s wear creative director Virgil Abloh. – Read More on WWD

5. As Payless tries to re-open in the US, it faces an uphill battle: In the last three years, Payless ShoeSource has filed for bankruptcy twice. Each time, it’s emerged with fewer financial obligations and a promise to rise from the ashes. This time it comes with plans to implement a sweeping strategy to rejuvenate the ailing brand. – Read More on Modern Retail 

6. RETRO READ: Retail Woes – A Running List of Fashion Bankruptcies. From Barneys and Forever 21 to True Religion and Wet Seal … a look at some of the most recent fashion-related filings, as well as some significant ones dating back a bit further. – Read More on TFL

1. France’s Unofficial Minister for Fashion Isn’t Afraid of a Redesign: First, Brune Poirson spearheaded a law banning destruction of unsold goods. Now she’s part of negotiations regarding President Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on handbags and other luxury goods, also known as the “handbag war.” – Read More on the NY Times

2. Inside Kanye West’s struggle to build a Yeezy sneaker empire: Recently, some of the excitement has turned to skepticism. Many are wondering aloud whether Yeezys “are dead.” Certain Yeezy models cost a lot less on the resale market than they used to. It turns out, this is all part of West’s grand plan for his sneaker empire. – See More on CNBC

3. Kanye West’s Yeezy Venture is Worth $1 Billion and Growing. Fast forward 6 years, and West and adidas have the $3 billion-earning Jordan empire “in [their] sights, in terms of both cultural clout and commercial prowess.” – Read More on TFL

4. Prada and LVMH to Drop Leases as Hong Kong’s Retail Sparkle Fades: Rents on what was recently the world’s most-expensive shopping street fell 15% in the second half of 2019. – Read More on WSJ

5. What Beyoncé’s Ivy Park x Adidas launch means for the new age of celebrity brands: Given its hype and Beyoncé’s unwavering longevity as a cultural powerhouse, Ivy Park x Adidas may become the standard bearer for the new age of endorsement, one that goes far beyond the broken, transactional hold-the-product-and-smile model and into something much more authentic: ownership. – Read More on Fast Co.