The New York Times has curated a list of the 100 best books of the 21st century, with a nice graphics package to go with it. As luxury continues to straggle (see Burberry story below), Swatch (which owns Omega) saw a significant slump in sales due to weak demand in China. On and Hellen Obiri have launched the innovative 'Spray-on Sneakers'; I still do not quite know how these work, but they look cool. J.Crew and Maryam Nassir Zadeh have collaborated to create the "Ideal Travel Wardrobe for Summer", a real winner of a collab.
Reuters: Amazon Prime Day sales to hit record $14 billion
Reuters estimated that Amazon Prime Day would hit a record $14 billion this year, and Amazon is claiming it was their best Prime Day ever without releasing any metrics. For Amazon, it’s not just about the sales (though they highlighted Sol de Janeiro, Apple, Dyson, and Ring as winners) but also about their Prime membership sign ups. The event was so big this year that many competitors had to do their own promo’s to help comp sales. It’s incredibly impressive that Amazon has been able to create its own holiday season during the summer slowdown period, and it’s only continuing to grow.
Town & Country: The Secret to Sézane’s Success
T&C put the spotlight on Morgane Sézalory, the cool brain behind the hip French brand, Sézane. She's taken them from a tiny start up to a retail powerhouse of affordable, French-girl style that stars like Kate Middleton and Taylor Swift adore. Sézalory started by selling vintage from Paris flea markets on Facebook, eBay, and her website in curated drops of 100 items. She then started adding in her own pieces to the mix, and has seen sales grow to $100M in 2018. Though she does have outside investors (General Atlantic), she was able to self-fund much of the early growth through her vintage pieces.
BBC News: Burberry boss ousted as sales continue to fall
It’s tough to be a luxury brand right now. BBC News reports the boss of Burberry, the leading British designer brand, got canned due to the slow down in sales. Joshua Schulman, who previously oversaw Michael Kors’s US operations, is taking over immediately. Sales have been in free fall with Burburry attempting to move up market and compete with the likes of Chanel and Louis Vuitton. It has not worked, and Schulman will have to back track. It all makes you wonder how safe Daniel Lee’s job is now…
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From Team TT
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