Daily LInks
1. Hugo Boss staff to only work Tues-Thurs in office even after coronavirus: Hugo Boss will only require that many staff work in the office from Tuesday to Thursday even after the coronavirus pandemic, offering the option of remote working on Mondays and Fridays, the German fashion house said. “The future belongs to tailored combinations of office-based and off-site work.” – Read More on Reuters
2. Who’s wearing vinyl pants in quarantine? How the pandemic could kill fashion trends for good: Why do trends drive fashion in the first place? From the industry’s earliest origins, they’ve been a way to cultivate consumers’ desire for newness, which allows companies to sell us more clothes every season. – Read More on Fast Co.
3. Barneys’ savior Authentic Brands is sitting on about $1 billion in cash and on the hunt to buy more troubled retailers: “At a time when retail is under incredible pressure, we have the opportunity to leverage a fixed cost base,” says Authentic Brands head Jamie Salter, explaining that Sparc is able to spread expenses across its multiple brands. “There are scale advantages … sourcing power. You gain those kinds of economics.” – Read More on CNBC
4. RETRO READ: A Look at the Consolidation of the Luxury Industry. Such large-scale banding together “fortifies” big brands (even if the potential cost savings to be garnered from luxury mergers are not necessarily as sizable as those that abound in more down-market industries or segments), particularly in light of investor fears of a looming global recession, says Gross. And this is something that “has been reflected in stock prices.” – Read More on TFL
5. Selling luxury goods online is a ‘marathon’: Yoox Net-a-Porter’s CEO on life after the pandemic. “We have seen [falling sales] in the past in 2008 [during the Great Recession] … And it doesn’t matter how deep is the shock, because like after a couple of weeks, people wanted to shop.” – Read More on CNBC
6. How the strawberry dress took over the internet: In the space of a few months, a strawberry-patterned dress has all but taken on a life of its own online. First released in 2019, it was initially moderately successful, including being worn to the Grammys by the American model Tess Holliday in January 2020. But in the past weeks, it’s become almost omnipresent in certain corners of the internet, as a meme. – Read More on Modern Retail
7. Posh Watch Collectors Seize the Hour: Watches of Switzerland usually does one-third of its business with overseas visitors during the summer months, but their share of sales dropped to just 3 percent in the quarter. That meant less competition for Rolexes and Patek Philippes—watch brands so coveted that they usually have long waiting lists. As neither company sells online, only domestic collectors got in-person appointments to buy when Watches of Switzerland’s U.S. and U.K. stores began to reopen. – Read More on the WSJ
