A Shein representative declined to provide a direct answer when asked by a British parliamentary committee on Tuesday whether the online fast-fashion retailer uses cotton from China, a key issue for potential investors concerned about its

US e-commerce spending rose 9 percent to a record $241 billion over the holiday period, sparked by widespread discounts, according to data from Adobe. More than half of the total spent during the last two months

The luxury tights and lingerie brand Wolford has apologised after heavy criticism from customers over delays to orders and refunds, admitting its delivery services were overstretched. Shoppers have taken to the reviews site Trustpilot to warn

Prices for the most sought-after used watch models from top Swiss brands Rolex, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet fell again in 2024, hitting fresh three-year lows. The Bloomberg Subdial Watch Index, which tracks prices for the

Next has said it will increase prices by 1 percent this year to help offset a £67 million rise in wage costs driven by tax changes announced in the government’s autumn budget. The fashion and homewares

Beauty conglomerates may have seen sales soften last year, but shoppers’ continued appetite for newness will drive product trends into 2025. Inspired by influencers and celebrities like Hailey Bieber and Sabrina Carpenter, shoppers have been building

Pratibha Syntex claims to be India’s largest sustainable apparel manufacturer. It works with thousands of farmers growing cotton promoted under organic and ethical standards. Its customers include some of the world’s largest brands like Zara-owner Inditex,

In December, Teodora Nicolae, a seasoned marketing executive, most recently at a fashion trade show group, took to LinkedIn to share a popular year-end refrain: “Today is my last day … I am simultaneously very excited

Cosmetics retailer Ulta Beauty said on Monday insider Kecia Steelman will replace retiring CEO Dave Kimbell in the top role, and forecast a strong fourth quarter, sending its shares up about 2 percent in extended trading.

Artificial intelligence-powered chatbots helped consumers purchase and return products during the 2024 holiday season, boosting online sales in the United States by nearly 4 percent year-over-year, according to a report by Salesforce. Retailers turned to nifty

Selfridges creative director Laura Weir is set to take over from Caroline Rush as chief executive of the British Fashion Council at the end of April, the organisation said Monday. Rush has led the nonprofit that

Welcome back to Haul of Fame, your must-read beauty roundup for new products, new ideas, and a renewed rush for sparkly lip gloss. (Exciting times.) Included in today’s issue: Amika, Ceremonia, Clinique, Covergirl, E.l.f., Fenty, Fine’ry,

Investors and founders are hoping that 2025 is the year that the beauty deal pipeline starts to unclog. Last year, an expected wave of acquisitions failed to materialise, even as attractive brands like Kosas and Rare

Many fashion and beauty founders see scaling their brand from zero to $100 million as the hard part. But as more start-ups hit that milestone, they’re discovering their real challenges are just beginning. Adding that next

Opens in new window When thinking about challenger brands in the sneaker market, New Balance might not be the first name that comes to mind. The 117-year-old company predates upstarts like Swiss running brand On and

Lush, Uniqlo and Gymshark have stopped using freelance retail workers hired through apps such as YoungOnes and Temper, after unions criticised the gig economy companies. The TUC wrote to the retailers urging them to stop using

Kapital, a 30-year-old Japanese brand known for handcrafted and elevated denim, has recently taken majority investment from the LVMH-affiliated PE firm L Catterton. Neither party officially announced the deal; the investment became widely known only after

The luxury industry is in a deep funk, with brands battling a backlash to soaring prices and a perceived slip in quality. Marketing budgets face the axe, as do creative directors and CEOs whose jobs looked

Ralph Lauren is adding another milestone to his repository of Americana: the US Presidential Medal of Freedom. The New York-based designer will be honoured by outgoing US President Joe Biden in a ceremony at the White

TikTok has long known that its popular video livestreams encourage sexual content, including streams exploiting and “grooming” minors, according to a lawsuit from the state of Utah that was unredacted on Friday. TikTok also discovered through

Competition from online resale players has never been a concern for Crossroads Trading, which entered its 34th year in business in October and today operates 39 stores across the US. According to the company’s director of

A huge fire swept through Ghana’s Kantamanto used clothing market late Wednesday, destroying over 100 shops and causing thousands of dollars in damage, according to media reports. The market in the Ghanaian capital of Accra is

This week, BoF hand-selects the most exciting opportunities from 200+ companies and nearly 2,000 live jobs on the BoF Careers platform. Jobs in PR & Communications Senior Social Media Coordinator, Marfa Stance — London, United Kingdom

Discover the most relevant industry news and insights for fashion’s e-commerce and technology professionals, updated each month to enable you to excel in job interviews, promotion conversations or perform better in the workplace by increasing your

Laura Ashley has been acquired by New York-based Marquee Brands, the owner of 17 businesses including Ben Sherman and Martha Stewart. The clothing and home furnishings brand, best known for its floaty floral frocks, has been

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