Vidhura Ralapanawe thought he had more time. The climate scientist, who heads sustainability and innovation for Epic Group, a Hong Kong-based apparel sourcing business, has spent years worrying about how to keep workers protected and factories

Fast-fashion online retailer Shein, which is hoping to list in London, faces a UK hearing on Jan. 7 where a British parliamentary committee plans to question the firm, founded in China in 2008, about the rights

Duty-free spending in China’s island province of Hainan, where global luxury players from LVMH to Kering have set up shop, slumped 29.3 percent last year as a weak economy saw a sharp drop in domestic visitors.

Three days in, and 2025 already has its first viral bag. In the lull between Christmas and New Year’s, TikTok was flooded with videos centred on a rectangular bag with a lock-and-key hardware and top handles

Opens in new window While inventory challenges are complex for most retail industries, the fashion industry faces distinct issues. The number of micro-trends has boomed, and trending styles fluctuate in search volume by up to 300

The churn of newness in beauty continued in 2024, with several brands hitting the market as both industry insiders and outsiders bet on the category’s long-term health. Luxury fashion brands brought new beauty lines to market,

Italian designer Rosita Missoni, co-founder of the eponymous fashion house known for its bright and patterned styles, died on Thursday at the age of 93, a company official said. She had launched the business in 1953

Rolex SA, the biggest luxury Swiss watch brand, raised prices on some of its most popular models after gold values surged in 2024. The Geneva-based company, controlled by a Swiss foundation named for its co-founder Hans

A new class of weight-loss drugs known as GLP-1s are proving to be game changers for people with obesity. They’re also minting billions for pharmaceutical companies, especially the companies that developed them, Eli Lilly & Co.

Leaders from a US dockworkers’ union and the group that represents their employers are set to resume contract talks on Jan. 7 as the threat of a strike looms, according to a person familiar with the

Ultra-fast-fashion giant Shein has been trying to go public for more than a year. But its ambitions have run up against a series of road blocks thrown up by an array of campaign groups, trade associations

Opens in new window For yet another year, the most common sentiment among fashion leaders for 2025 was “uncertainty,” according to the BoF-McKinsey State of Fashion 2025 Executive Survey. Just 20 percent of respondents expect conditions

This year’s expected wave of beauty deals was somewhat subdued. Despite an influx of hot brands, including Kosas, Rare Beauty and Makeup by Mario, exploring sales processes, buyers mainly chose to sit on the sidelines. The

AZ Operations, a sub-contractor of Manufactures Dior tasked with the production of leather items and based near Italy’s fashion capital Milan, was accused by Italian prosecutors in June of being a front for an operation that

Embraced by the beauty industry, wellness evolved in 2024 as brands bet on which new developments are overhyped fads versus long-term paradigm shifts. Beauty giants continued to invest in wellness, with retailers like Ulta Beauty ramping

In 2024, beauty marketing was of two worlds. While TikTok remains an advertising powerhouse, offering brands access to younger, more diverse audiences than ever before, there has also been a clear pivot back to old-school tactics

With the novelty of generative AI having worn off, many brands and retailers spent 2024 asking themselves the same question: What the heck can we do with this thing? Some of the earliest experiments with the

Luxury brands found themselves under pressure this year. Shifting priorities, slowing economies — particularly in China — fatigue with luxury brands and frustration with soaring prices all played a part. The exposure of abusive practices in

Did you bump into any teens when you were out buying your night cream this year? 2024 was the year of the Sephora tween, which saw members of Gen Alpha (those born in 2010 or younger)

Donald Trump’s victory in a bitterly fought election capped a year of rapid change and uncertainty in fashion workplaces. The decline of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that were widely adopted in 2020 accelerated amid legal

After the DTC shakeout in the past year, where flagging, unprofitable businesses such as Parade and Outdoor Voices were sold at fractions of their peak valuations, this year saw brands focus on finding the right balance

In 2024, fashion marketers got creative with their strategy and aligned themselves even more closely with culture to connect with cautious consumers who had moved on from the age of post-pandemic YOLO spending. It was the

This year, the corporate rumblings of beauty’s top firms often produced bigger headlines than the brands they own. A high-stakes succession saga played out at Estée Lauder Companies: longstanding chief executive officer Fabrizio Freda announced his

The author has shared a Podcast.You will need to accept and consent to the use of cookies and similar technologies by our third-party partners (including: YouTube, Instagram or Twitter), in order to view embedded content in

2024 may be remembered as the year that the “skinification” of hair went mainstream. While niche brands took scalpcare seriously early on, this was the year that everybody else decided to cash in. The launches came

Sustainability is falling down executive agendas, supplanted by concerns about the global economy, geopolitics and trade tensions. At the same time, the risks of inaction for fashion are growing. That tension was at the heart of

While makeup M&A fell flat this year — much-anticipated acquisitions for brands like Mario Dedianovic’s Makeup by Mario and Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty never quite materialised — it was still a solid year for cosmetics, and

Saks Global, the entity that controls Saks Fifth Avenue and off-price chain Saks Off Fifth, has wrapped up its $2.7 billion acquisition of Neiman Marcus Group, the company announced Monday. The company now oversees Neiman Marcus

While luxury fashion sales faltered and beauty’s previously rapid growth softened, fragrance thrived as 2024’s fastest-growing beauty category. The year saw a fashion fragrance revival, with multiple brands, Bottega Veneta and Balmain among them, re-entering the

After years of campaigning, New York has passed a law that will give models working in the state greater protection from exploitation, harassment and abuse and the growing use of Artificial Intelligence. The Fashion Workers Act

In 2024, fashion businesses across Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Latin America navigated a web of opportunities and challenges, adapting strategies to both seismic and subtle shifts in the global market. In China,

For retail operators, it’s been a tough 12 months. Years of sticker shock have pushed shoppers to be discerning — some would say fickle. Freight costs that leveled in 2023 significantly rose once more due to

Welcome back to Haul of Fame, your must-read beauty roundup for new products, new ideas and a drone-scented fragrance. (Sorry, but yes.) Included in today’s issue: Atmos, Beverly Nguyen, Dior, Divi, Dr. Few Skincare, ESW Beauty,

Walmart Inc., the world’s largest retailer, expects to miss short-term climate targets as issues including the availability of low-cost clean technologies slow the task of cutting emissions. Previous pledges to reduce operational greenhouse gas emissions by

Boohoo shareholders have blocked Mike Ashley and an associate from joining its board in a blow to the Sports Direct founder’s attempt to control the struggling online fashion retailer. Investors representing 64% of Boohoo’s stock voted

The author has shared a Podcast.You will need to accept and consent to the use of cookies and similar technologies by our third-party partners (including: YouTube, Instagram or Twitter), in order to view embedded content in

A human rights monitor has recommended Nike help compensate workers who were furloughed without pay by a supplier in Thailand early in the pandemic. Though the companies acted within the bounds of the law, the high-profile

Building on an existing twenty-year partnership, Prada Group and the Franco-Italian eyewear conglomerate EssilorLuxottica have renewed their licensing agreement for ten years. Prada chairman Patrizio Bertelli said EssilorLuxottica is “a trusted and long-standing partner” with whom

Eli Lilly & Co.’s diabetes and weight-loss drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound are no longer in short supply in the US, which means compounding pharmacies must stop making less expensive copycat versions in the coming months. “The

French luxury group LVMH has acquired a historic villa in Cannes, France, for around €50 million ($52.7 million), to showcase its brands during the city’s star-studded festivals, people familiar with the matter said. LVMH Moët Hennessy