Here is your industry brief of news I’ve collected from around the web over the last week. Sources can be found in the hyperlinked text after the headline.
Brand/Retailer
- Jet’s hipster shoppers get a taste of Wal-Mart in-house brands. Link
- Sources say Sycamore Partners wins bankruptcy auction for The Limited. Link
- Macy’s plans to stay afloat by making major changes to stores. Link
- Wall Street worries over Victoria’s Secret weakness. Link
- Celine to finally offer ecommerce. Link
- Amazon nabs the top spot for online cosmetic sales. Link
- Wal-Mart outperforms Amazon as the competition heats up. Link
- C. Penney is closing up to 140 stores as turnaround stalls. Link
- TJX is planning a new chain that could deliver another blow to department stores. Link
- How operators are giving new life to aging malls. Link
- The one brand rushing into the mall while others flee. Link
- Airbnb buys Tilt, signaling its growing interest in group travel. Link
- Reformation boutique brings ecommerce ease to SF shop. Link
- Is Airbnb on an acquisition spree? Link
- How Neiman Marcus is turning technology innovation into a ‘core value.’ Link
- BCBG prepares for bankruptcy. Link
- Gap CEO insists the company is neither sick nor dying. Link
Marketing/Social
- After 51 years, Vans is finally explaining what ‘Off the Wall’ means. Link
- Glossier uses Oscars as launchpad. Link
- Facebook’s virtual reality ambitions could be threatened by court order. Link
- Twitter debuts custom profiles for businesses’ agents, so people don’t think they’re talking to bots. Link
- How the subscription economy will change the price we pay. Link
- In four years, YouTube has gone from 100M hours of video viewed a day to 1B. Link
Startup/Emerging Tech
- UPS tests drone delivery. Link
- JackThreads lays off employees and puts self for sale. Link
- Wendy’s to install self-ordering machines in 1,000 stores. Link
- For IBM’s CTO for Watson, not a lot of value in replicating the human mind in a computer. Link
- AI can make us all dress better. SO why isn’t the fashion industry using it more? Link
- How Nordstrom’s new incubator will support young designers. Link
- Consumers don’t want robots to help them shop. Link
- How a former Vogue assistant created the first fashion search engine. Link
- Why payment companies are flocking to messaging apps. Link
International
- Australia’s General Pants Co. to open second US store. Link
- Flipkart-owned Myntra wins rights to be sole distributor for Mango in India. Link
- Xiaomi courts US interest while flirting with expansion. Link
- Inside India’s booming sportswear market. Link
- Why online retail growth in the UAE is different than the rest of the world. Link
Fashion. Retail. Tech. News. 