Weekly News Brief

PRIME TIME

Step aside, Black Friday. Amazon's Prime Day has set new company records, besting last year's combined Black Friday and Cyber Monday results. For those who missed it, RetailDive sums up the five key takeaways from Prime Day. We also tried out Prime Day shopping for kicks, and came away with a few candid things to say about their fashion offerings.

While Prime Day goes to show how Amazon can drive small business revenue, the benefits of fashion brands selling on Amazon still remains a matter of debate. This article by Glossy lays out the considerations of Amazon's wholesale model and third-party seller model.

THE LITTLE PEOPLE

How do you compete with titans like Zara, H&M and Amazon? No small feat indeed, but it is taking place. Business of Fashion talks about small and scaling new entrants capturing their share of the fashion market, "David vs. Goliath" style. How have they been successful? By building genuine communities, offering more room for customization, and delivering consistently high quality products.

A FAILED PLAN

No words rang truer than "never settle" when Abercrombie & Fitch announced on Monday that the company is no longer for sale. The company has decided to focus on its own turnaround strategy, which was met by a 21% tumble in its share price. Not much confidence there. This article on the New York Times talks about how difficult it is for fashion to pull off an M&A strategy, particularly under mounting pressure from fast fashion and e-commerce giants.

On a side note, all turnaround strategies require a close examination of root causes and symptoms. One of the most obvious symptoms of a product-market mismatch? Over-use of promotions. Check out our guide to putting the promotional market in perspective.

RUNAWAY SEASON

Vetements always has a surprise up their sleeves, and this time Demna Gvasalia has revealed that the fashion house will no longer spend dough staging elaborate runway shows during the Fashion Week calendar. Also shaking things up is Altuzarra, who will be moving their biannual runway shows from NYC to Paris, starting with the upcoming Spring 2018 collection. Altuzarra joins the ranks of Proenza Schouler, Rodarte and Thom Browne in this exodus. Don't feel too bad for the Big Apple though, as Rihanna is bringing back Fenty to the NYC runway.

☀️ THIS WEEK'S BRIGHT SPOT ☀️

Exciting times are ahead whenever companies expand their offerings into a brand new space. Lululemon's youth brand, ivivva, has launched a capsule collaboration with PBteen, consisting of home decor and furniture that brings the ethos of athleisure into teen girl bedrooms. Also keen on helping females maintain a fit lifestyle is Adidas, who has launched its very own "All Day" app for #fitspiration and fitness techniques.

On the luxury side of things, Louis Vuitton is jumping on the wearable tech ship by introducing the Tambour Horizon, the company's first ever smartwatch created with Google’s Android Wear 2.0 platform. We really want wearables to win, don't you? We'll be staying tuned.