Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 23, 2011

All the world's apparel manufacturers and retailers have joined the race to clothe China. The Chinese are also becoming more aware of fashion. survey, only 12% of consumers said they keep abreast of the latest fashions. Unsurprisingly, apparel spending in China has been growing by a robust 16% per annum.

Apparel 13

Apparel Franchising Retail Fashion 13

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 4, 2017

Luxury brand Burberry maintains microsites where customers share snapshots of themselves in their own Burberry coats, and streams exclusive fashion shows for younger users of its mobile app. Retailer relationships can impose varying levels of constraint in D2C selling — less for apparel, perhaps, and more for CPG.

Retail 8

Retail Brand Apparel Discount 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 5, 2012

With the Winter holiday shopping season, fashion apparel retailer Zara has been the focus of media attention — the New York Times recently profiled the innovative fast fashion business model pioneered by Zara, while Elizabeth Cline's book on the costs of fast fashion has climbed up the sales charts.

Business Model 9

Business Model Innovation First-mover Advantage Apparel 9

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

The company offers a subscription clothing and styling service that delivers apparel to its customers’ doors. The fashion industry is no stranger to fast cycles of learning. From this seemingly simple data, the team has been able to uncover which trends change with the seasons and which fashions are going out of style.

Company 8

Company Fashion Apparel Trends 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 8, 2016

If I asked you to picture the consumer luxury market, you might imagine jewels, sports cars, watches, premium drinks, high-end shoes and apparel, and so on. Harry Potter star Emma Watson is a vocal advocate on gender equality while also appearing regularly in fashion magazines.

Brand 8

Brand Supply Chain Apparel Tourism 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 1, 2015

” So in 2010, after a successful 18-year-career in high-tech PR, she quit her job to launch Stripedshirt , a company selling fashionable, feminine shirts in team colors. The first was about inventory, which is especially hard in apparel. I’d given away tons of shirts to fashion bloggers, to events, to charity.

PR 8

PR Career Apparel Video 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 12, 2012

Reportedly some fifty percent of Prada's sales to people from China occur in the fashion house's stores outside of that country. Just 1 percent of consumers are millionaires, and they take 20 percent of our sales," a senior executive for Chanel, the French high-fashion house, told us. There are other factors, too.

Marketing 9

Marketing Apparel Short-term Brand 9

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 24, 2014

Since then, leaders from business, government, and civil society organizations have come together to address fire and building-safety issues in the apparel factories. Ultimately, the true measure of a productive and safe apparel sector in Bangladesh will not be reduced incidences of fires and building collapses.

Supply Chain 8

Supply Chain Apparel Bottom-up Globalization 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 25, 2013

Founded in 1998, Lululemon produces sports apparel for women that is fashionable, environmentally friendly, and as technically advanced as sports apparel for men. Research by Millward Brown finds that brands with a meaningful difference command a price premium 13 percent higher than weaker category alternatives.

Apparel 8

Apparel Brand Sports Advertising 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 22, 2015

For example, the Spanish apparel retailer Inditex, known for its clothing brand Zara, has turned the fashion industry on its head by perfecting its capabilities in fast, fashion-forward design and rapid-response manufacturing. Then they bring those capabilities to scale in their own distinctive ways.

Execution 8

Execution Strategy Fashion Apparel 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 25, 2015

Will they once again fall out of fashion at the first sign of softness in the market? Outdoor and apparel retailer L.L.Bean says it is experimenting with the page count of the catalogs it sends to regular website shoppers. The recent resurgence in the popularity of catalogs raises questions about their value and long-term viability.

Retail 8

Retail Brand Fashion Apparel 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 2, 2015

Fashion apparel is an excellent example. Instead of having to guess the next season’s fashion trends, Zara could study what was hot and then make it, thus offering many collections each year rather than just one. New operations. Moving down the value chain can lead to the invention of entirely new operations.

Supply Chain 8

Supply Chain Contract Manufacturing Outsourcing Operations 8

Great Leadership By Dan

MAY 12, 2016

Judith Goldhaft employed the assistance of fabric designer and fellow hippie gal, Jodi Palladini, to create an apparel design that would permit San Francisco’s homeless women to sell their very own fabric creations. billion men’s accessory fashion industry. Third, the hippies were masters of re-invention and continuous innovation.

Apparel 120

Apparel Innovation Advertising Industry 120

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 3, 2017

The experience of a European discount apparel retailer illustrates the power of a disciplined price-perception program. Data on the factors influencing perception is the foundation of a plan to build an effective price image, a plan that will likely include a mix of direct price changes and indirect tactics like rewards programs.

Price 14

Price Retail Discount Tactics 14

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 14, 2011

The emphasis was on increasing "foot traffic" in the store and "crossing the aisle."

Organization 13

Organization Apparel Retail Fashion 13

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 23, 2014

Brands in categories from apparel to automotive to sporting goods to spirits are licensed. Another risk is old-fashioned over-exposure. Disney alone reported $39.3 billion in retail sales of licensed merchandise worldwide in 2012, fueled by the popularity of its Marvel Comics properties. Licensing’s popularity makes sense.

Brand 8

Brand Licensing Apparel Merchandising 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 17, 2016

Consider the sports apparel company Under Armour. If you start with your own capability-based growth engine, you’ll tend to move outward from your core in a deliberate fashion. Its goals are extremely ambitious; it is not just a pioneer in developing new fabrics for active wear, but in developing wearable electronics.

Company 8

Company Engineering Apparel Survey 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 7, 2017

Just a few weeks ago, the world’s largest fund, the Norwegian pension fund, partnered with UNICEF, to set up a network with some of the top fashion companies to improve children’s rights in the supply chain.

Supply Chain 8

Supply Chain Asset Management Chemicals Long-term 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 15, 2016

In Brazil and India , small apparel shops use messaging to alert recurring customers when a new collection has arrived and to share pictures and videos of their products. Texting is one-to-one; it is exclusive and personalized. In other words, it presents a great opportunity for businesses to provide premium sales experiences.

Brand 8

Brand Real Estate Apparel Content 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 28, 2014

He will be “on trend,” as they say in fashion — in recent months, leaders from the new Mayor of New York to the Pope have also been vocal on the subject. This evening, President Obama will deliver his State of the Union Address, and it is widely reported that it will focus on the issue of income inequality. Take an Interest.

Golden Parachute 11

Golden Parachute Apparel Trends Short-term 11

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 3, 2016

In the apparel industry, the benchmark for inventory accuracy is somewhere between 60% and 70%. This would allow it to uniquely identify every product, even distinguishing fashion items by size and color, as well as proving information on its location. Consider an IT investment that one European retailer was pondering.

Tools 8

Tools Supply Chain CRM Technology 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 17, 2014

Disruptors typically start in somewhat innocent fashion away from your mainstream customers. So following the money is one good way to identify possibly potent threats. Are entrants winning at the low-end or fringes of your market with offerings that look inferior to your best customers?

Innovation 9

Innovation Company Venture Capitalist Business Model 9

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 6, 2018

Apparel brands are investing especially heavily in online shopping capabilities and introducing interactive features that complement apps and websites. Retailers and manufacturers are rushing out new products to keep pace with the leaders of fast fashion such as Zara, H&M, and Forever 21, which launch new fashions every week or so.

Apparel 11

Apparel Retail Fashion Brand 11

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 26, 2017

She’d joined the company six weeks before, following a long stint as CMO of Atawear, a high-end sports apparel company. “MMC isn’t a fashion trend. Erica looked down at the MMC logo on her water bottle, remembered putting on the matching hat, and knew she was outed. It’s a way of life, an addiction even.

Case Study 8

Case Study Brand Proposal Chief Operating Officer 8

Strategy Driven

JULY 21, 2020

Pick an influencer of your niche – for instance, if you have an apparel brand, look for influencers who follow fashion. Micro-influencers act like role models for many people and have a potential reach of 10,000 to 100,000 followers. Inspect Programmatic Audio.

Marketing Strategy 67

Marketing Strategy Marketing Strategy Audience 67

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 16, 2018

Recent analysis for a leading apparel retailer showed elasticity of customer response to promotional discounts was up to three times higher during holiday periods than during non-holiday periods and two times higher during weekends than on weekdays. Does the promotion work best in-store or online?

Retail 10

Retail Discount Apparel Price 10

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 3, 2015

The size of the apparel market only in the U.S. Hsieh recognized that it would take further innovation to reach more customers in other segments of the vast apparel market. The next time the problem presents itself, another team decides to hire a fashion expert to give that advice. is around $225 billion.

Apparel 8

Apparel Strategy Insourcing Efficiency 8

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 21, 2011

Take apparel: who would have thought ten years ago that Zappos could build an online business which prides itself on delivering not just low prices but an excellent customer experience, including service? Or the self-deluding rationalization of a 1970s gas station attendant? Perhaps they already do.

Retail 15

Retail Apparel Price Consensus 15

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 8, 2018

” Little did they know that the business they founded, Vineyard Vines, would become a darling of the fashion industry and a household brand name around the country. Like many competitors in the apparel industry, Vineyard Vines has kept their operations lean in order to preserve operating margins.

Retail 8

Retail Apparel Engineering Audience 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 1, 2016

An apparel manufacturer kicked off its hackathon with the telephone game, the one where a spoken phrase inevitably gets distorted as a series of players whisper it to each other. A short team activity can help participants loosen up, think boldly and open their minds to their colleagues’ ideas.

Supply Chain 8

Supply Chain Banking Brainstorming Participative 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 15, 2010

Target's way to play emphasizes design-forward apparel and home decor for image-conscious consumers. At Target, you know you'll get fashionable products at prices that feel reasonable. Everything from store layout to advertising to inventory conveys an eye for style. Yet, that definition could describe just about any retailer.

Succession 15

Succession Retail Merchandising Supply Chain 15

Harvard Business Review

MAY 24, 2013

As company that markets fashion apparel, accessories, and home goods (at its namesake stores as well via its other brands, like Anthropologie and Free People), it seems reasonable to think that the perspectives of women could be useful to its board.

Diversity 8

Diversity Proposal Apparel Benchmarking 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 27, 2012

While GILT and its rivals sell across verticals (apparel, home, travel, kids, local), OKL deals in just one big one: home. Access over Purchase: Rent The Runway makes couture fashion available to shoppers who lack deep pockets to buy couture. Talk about the democratization of high fashion.

Retail 15

Retail Fashion Merchandising Apparel 15

Harvard Business Review

JULY 30, 2014

It’s easy to scan headlines and see undisciplined for-profit companies (take GM, American Apparel). Bad Reason #5: Nonprofits are “old-fashioned” and only for-profits earn respect in their sectors. In fact, according to the National Philanthropic Trust, when the S&P 500 fell by 45% after the 2007 recession, U.S.

Entrepreneur 10

Entrepreneur Apparel Transportation Fashion 10

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 19, 2014

And citizens, using new social media tools and old-fashioned marches, rose up to drive change. This kind of innovation around food waste is part of the larger discussion going on in many sectors, from apparel to electronics and metals, about how we can build a more circular economy with zero waste.

Chemicals 13

Chemicals Short-term Energy Report 13

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 18, 2012

Later in the year, tragedy struck Dhaka, Bangladesh when a fire at the Tazreen Fashion factory killed or injured hundreds of people. Keeping the apparel theme, um, running, check out Nike's new shoe with FlyKnit technology. Remanufacturing has been around a long time, but closing loops is getting more popular every year.

Supply Chain 10

Supply Chain Constraint P&L Energy 10

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 20, 2016

In this case, Levi’s had spent a decade identifying great ways to cut water use in the apparel value chain. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation and Kering both created curricula in circular thinking for fashion and design students. Big themes are great, but periodically a specific example of leadership seems worthy of extra attention.

Energy 8

Energy Banking Chemicals Globalization 8