#futura

May 26, 2020
3 min

The Future of Luxury Is Freedom

Beyond goods, services and experiences, freedom will become the ultimate signifier of status. In essence, luxury is about status, playing to that fundamentally human need to communicate who you are and how you fit into the social hierarchy. Through the ages and across cultures, status has been expressed in a multitude of ways, from the tone of one’s complexion to the size of one’s kingdom. But fundamentally, signalling status has long been about possessing something that is w

May 26, 2020
4 min

Direct-to-Consumer Brands’ Average Sales Revenue is To Soar 85% by 2020

Direct-to-consumer upstarts like Dollar Shave Club and Kylie Cosmetics sold stakes in their businesses to Unilever and Coty, respectively, but most DTC brands are not seeking billion-dollar valuations or quick flips to bigger incumbents, new research from the Interactive Advertising Bureau found. According to the research from the IAB, digital advertising’s biggest trade group, an overwhelming majority of DTC disruptors (90%) report they are profitable, are looking to expand

May 26, 2020
5 min

‘Squad Shopping’: Share, Ask, Interact – Shop Online With Your Friends

A new platform developed by a former L’Oréal brand manager wants to make e-commerce social by letting users shop online in groups. Key takeaways: More than $413 billion of goods will be sold through social e-commerce in China by 2022, an almost fivefold increase from $90 billion in 2017. Squadded Shopping Party hopes to bring this concept to the West by letting its users go shopping together on fashion e-commerce sites, as if inside a virtual mall. Online group activities lik

May 26, 2020
5 min

What Comes After Legacy Mid-Market Retail

J.Crew, Neiman Marcus, JCPenney. In May, the whispered demise of some of America’s most storied retailers abruptly became a reality with a final push from Covid-19. With the coronavirus pandemic ravaging US apparel and accessories retail sales (in April revenues fell 88 per cent according to the US Census Bureau) and traditional bricks-and-mortar retail already struggling with too many stores, heavy debt loads and little digital presence, the future of the middle market is li

May 26, 2020
3 min

What Will Post Pandemic Progression Look Like?

There’s no denying the Covid-19 pandemic has caused huge disruption, devastation and uncertainty about our future. Daily routines have shifted as everyone and everything tries to adjust, but we wanted to know if this really is the dawn of something different or just a momentary blip before it all goes back to business as usual? So we asked our community, what are you really going to change? This report explores the long-term attitudes – not short term reactions – that brands

May 26, 2020
11 min

After Covid-19: What Changed For (the) Good?

Sales could fall up to 35% this year, but companies can still emerge stronger, more innovative, and more purposeful. From the earliest stages of the pandemic, the luxury industry has been highly attuned to the spread of the coronavirus—and its massive implications for the sector. Luxury brand owners felt the first rumblings of the storm when Covid-19 spread through China, the country whose citizens accounted for 90% of global luxury market growth in 2019. When the virus reach

May 21, 2020
2 min

Knix Expands Shade and Size Ranges With the Launch of its Groundbreaking New Knix Nudes Collection

The Canadian brand is the first brand to ever make period-proof underwear in neutral colours. Canadian intimates brand Knix is extending its shade range today with the launch of Knix Nudes. The new collection features three of the brand’s best-sellers – the Wing Woman Contour Bra, Leakproof Underwear and Thigh Saver – in five beautiful nude shades, inspired by feedback from its customers. In fact, the brand worked with a diverse group of women to finalize the inclusive five s

May 20, 2020
3 min

Menswear: Will The Momentum Last?

The last few years have seen an explosion in men’s fashion, both in a monetary and cultural sense. The menswear market as a whole has been growing faster than women’s, though it remains smaller overall. In 2018, Balenciaga said millennial men are among its biggest sales drivers and Euromonitor estimated that men’s would continue to outpace women’s at least until 2022. And thanks to the flourishing crossover between streetwear and luxury led by designers like Virgil Abloh and

May 20, 2020
7 min

Every £1 Spent Is A Vote For How Consumers Want to Live

Many shops will be destroyed by the pandemic’s impact on business. But, says the shopping guru, those who did the right thing will reap the benefits When the UK fully emerges from the coronavirus lockdown and shoppers are allowed out again for non-essential purchases, their local high street could be a very different place from the one they left in March. Since the pandemic gripped the nation, a string of big-name retailers have fallen into administration or announced store c

May 20, 2020
17 min

7 Brands That Got Inclusive Marketing Right

Inclusive marketing describes campaigns that embrace diversity by including people from different backgrounds or stories that unique audiences can relate to. While some inclusive campaigns make an effort to break stereotypes, others simply aim to reflect or embrace people in the real world. Have you ever had trouble relating to ads, TV, or other media because it told stories of people with lives that were vastly different from your own? If so, you’re not alone. Growing up in

May 20, 2020
2 min

Miley Cyrus Talks The Talk On The Digital-Only Cover Of WSJ

WSJ. Magazine to Skip August Print Issue Due to the Coronavirus WSJ. Magazine to Skip August Print Issue Due to the Coronavirus WSJ. Magazine is the latest print publication adjusting its summer plans due to the coronavirus. The monthly fashion and luxury-focused insert for the weekend edition of The Wall Street Journal will skip an August print issue this summer. Instead, some planned content will be included in an expanded summer digital issue, which made its debut last ye

May 20, 2020
7 min

Gamified Experiences: Can Playful Moments Stop Your Customers in Their Tracks?

Marketers and business leaders have been talking about gamification for years now. But what does gamification mean, and how can you use gamification to drive loyalty, increase sales, and engage your retail customers? In this guide, we’re exploring the benefits of gamification and examining how playful experiences can engage customers on a deeper level and re-energise your stores. As well as considering how gamified experiences encourage greater engagement than passive ads, we

May 20, 2020
2 min

It’s Hard To Sell Clothes, Other Than Leggings And Sweatpants

While the shutdowns immediately altered how people spent their money, the patterns have continued to shift as the weeks have gone on, new data shows, shaped by waves of panic buying and even payouts of government aid. The latest bump in online spending came after the government sent out stimulus payments to tens of millions of American households beginning on April 11. Beyond what might be temporary shifts, consumer habits appear to be changing in ways that may well endure be

May 19, 2020
9 min

Luxury’s Livestreaming Gamble

‘Live commerce’ can sound intimidating to luxury brands, but a few brave players have recently rolled the dice. Will live streaming be a big pay-out or a bad bat in the world’s largest luxury market? An impeccably groomed Chinese woman in a crisp white shirt weaves her way around Burberry’s flagship store in downtown Shanghai, swinging handbags over her shoulder to try them on for size and asking questions of the attentive sales assistant by her side. “How much is it? Can you

May 17, 2020
6 min

Can Virtual Influencers and Avatars Change the Face of Chinese Ecommerce?

From private WeChat groups to Shanghai Fashion Week, the next generation of online influencers may not even be real. But do Chinese consumers care? In The United States, Lil Mikela, a digital influencer was created in 2016 by Trevor McFredies & Sara Decou On December 31, one of China’s biggest pop stars took the stage for Bilibili’s New Year’s Eve Gala. Before millions of mostly post ’90s-born viewers, Luo Tianyi played the guzheng, a classical Chinese stringed instrument, li

May 17, 2020
4 min

Dining Booking Platforms Are Expanding Beyond Restaurants

With no one dining in restaurants, reservation platforms are in the midst of a pivot. As retail reopening looms, questions remain about how best to mitigate overcrowding and waiting lines. Now, booking apps typically used by restaurants to run dining reservations — such as Resy, OpenTable and Tock — are offering new services to try and solve these problems. This month, each company unveiled new services to help with appointments and takeout — in turn resulting in them wooing

May 15, 2020
3 min

China Designers: 8 Menswear Labels We Love

Like many modern nations, China has a wide spectrum of masculine expression — and its menswear is no different. From soft and nostalgic to edgy and future-facing, no two labels have the same read on what it means to be a sartorial man in today’s world. Here are eight independent Chinese labels specializing in menswear that we think you need to know. Fabric Porn Cheeky and a touch nationalistic, Fabric Porn’s first two collections — and possibly his upcoming third — stem from

May 15, 2020
9 min

The Fitness Fashion Frenzy That Just Got Bigger

As health and wellness spikes in post-quarantine China, some consumers are likely to prioritise posh gym gear over traditional luxury goods. At least for a little while. SHANGHAI, China — In the darkest days of China’s coronavirus outbreak, the streets of major cities, normally teaming with tens of millions of inhabitants, lay eerily empty. As people in many other countries are now doing, China’s vast population retreated inside their homes in late January. Every day, people

May 14, 2020
3 min

No Sweat: How Tracksuit Bottoms Became The Height of Lockdown Fashion

Sales of sweatpants soar as fashionistas embrace the joys of an elasticated waistline in their working-from-home outfits Traditionally, tracksuit bottoms have been the enemy of fashion. Karl Lagerfeld’s withering, oft-quoted maxim – “Sweatpants are a sign of defeat. You lost control of your life so you bought some sweatpants” – summed up an attitude, certainly in some luxury fashion circles. But lockdown has brought change. Last week, Anna Wintour, Vogue editor in chief, stun

May 14, 2020
2 min

In a Bathrobe and Downing a Martini, Meryl Streep Pulls Off the Perfect #WFH Look

Once it finally got started, there were many great moments during Sunday night’s livestreamed Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration, in honor of the Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim. Tony Award–winning actress Donna Murphy delivered a majestic rendition of “Send in the Clowns,” and longtime Sondheim collaborator Bernadette Peters closed the event with a quietly powerful a cappella version of “No One Is Alone” from Into the Woods that surely had many vie