Fashion, luxury and lifestyle news aggregator - September 2024

Posted: 30/09/2024

Fashion brands go for gold at Paris 2024

The Olympic and Paralympic Games were held in Paris this summer and, as predicted, saw a fusion between the worlds of sport and luxury fashion. French fashion group LVMH was described as ‘dominating’ the 2024 Games in a ‘multifaceted’ deal worth approximately USD $163 million that saw several of its ‘iconic Maisons’ taking on high profile roles during the festivities, including Berluti, Chaumet, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Moët Hennessy and Sephora, the official partner of the Olympic and Paralympic opening ceremony torch relays.

The Olympic medals were crafted by LVMH’s luxury jewellery brand Chaumet and were presented on trays handmade in Louis Vuitton’s workshops that featured its iconic Damier canvas. The 515 volunteer medal bearers also wore unisex outfits designed by LVMH that paid homage to the 1920s, a pivotal era in fashion characterised by the rise of sportswear, the empowerment of feminism, and the advent of unisex styles. The garments embodied LVMH’s dedication to sustainability with polo shirts and gavroche caps being crafted from recycled textiles, using offcuts sourced from various LVMH Maisons upcycled by Weturn – a French start-up that transforms unsold textile inventory into new fabrics.

The 2024 Games illustrate a significant expansion in the focus of luxury brands beyond traditionally exclusive sporting events such as tennis, polo, Formula One, and regatta racing. This is perhaps reflective of the statistics: aspirational luxury consumers now contribute to half of all luxury brand sales.

Other luxury brands that introduced Olympics-inspired sport collaborations included Balenciaga, Polo Ralph Lauren and Gucci. High street retailers, including Gap and Nike, also got caught in the excitement. Nike boasted the largest number of athlete sponsorships among its peers, including US flag bearer LeBron James and French footballer Kylian Mbappe. Japanese skateboarder Yuto Horigome also won gold in his Nike-collaborated sneakers. Beyond sponsorships, Nike partnered with designer brand Jacquemus to create tracksuits inspired by athletes' warm-up sets featuring a French-inspired colour palette.

The Olympics serves as a unique opportunity for athletic labels like Nike to showcase goods and engage in a form of direct competition with peers in different events, and to dress those representing their countries. They also provide a platform for more specialist retailers, such as swimwear brand Speedo and gymnastics apparel brand GK Elite, to gain exposure on a world stage.

Summer sales surge as athleisure takes centre stage

Olympics aside, there has been wider growth in the world of sport retail. UK retail sales rose by 0.5% in July, with sporting goods specialists and department stores crediting the boost to this summer’s sporting events. Forbes predicts that the global athleisurewear market is projected to reach USD $517.48 billion by 2025.

JD Sports saw its global sales increase with a 2.4% rise in underlying sales in the second quarter, after falling 0.7% in the first quarter. This comes after the retailer opened its flagship store on the Avenue des Champs-Elysees in Paris ahead of the Olympics and acquired the US sportswear brand Hibbett for £899 million.

With consumers proving to be partial to sportswear, luxury fashion brands are also capitalising on the sporty fashion trend. Hugo Boss sponsors the VCARB Formula One team and designs its looks, as well as ‘limited-edition capsules of bold styles’ and ‘fashion-forward performance wear’. Boss has signed American tennis-player, Taylor Fritz, to dress him for the court, brand events, and social media campaigns.

Fritz himself commented that ‘…while performance is a huge part of [tennis], lifestyle and fashion brands are realizing how much impact the sport has’. The trend of combining fashion and tennis has been termed ‘tenniscore’, as exemplified by Zendaya’s looks during the Challengers press tour. The Guardian reported that searches for tennis skirts on second-hand fashion resale app Depop were up 52%. Buy-now, pay-later platform, Clearpay, has reported that sales of court dresses are up 35%, skorts 134%, and pleated mini-skirts 109% year-on-year.

LFW 2024: celebrating 40 years with sustainable and second-hand style

London Fashion Week (LFW), held 12-17 September 2024, celebrated its 40th anniversary in style - second-hand, ‘pre-loved’ style, to be more accurate. Alongside the traditional catwalk shows from all the top designers and emerging talent, there was a real focus on sustainable fashion. For the first time, eBay partnered with the British Fashion Council to present a live, shoppable second-hand catwalk to spread awareness of pre-loved fashion. Fashion Frenzee closed LFW with a showcase of pre-loved designer items from brands such as Prada and Louis Vuitton, which were then sold in a charity auction.

The event closed with a panel discussion, educating and inspiring attendees on the importance of sustainable fashion and how consumers can join the movement. It also showcased examples of pre-loved fashion such as the world’s first sustainable sari, made from recycled plastic bottles. LFW 2024’s focus on sustainability highlights how the world of fashion is adapting to address the sector’s impact on climate change.

This follows a recent upsurge in the popularity of second-hand clothes, following eBay’s sponsorship of reality dating show Love Island in 2022 and the ‘explosive increase’ in the UK user base of second-hand selling platform, Vinted, which has seen 75% year-on-year growth in transactions. The benefits of pre-loved clothing are clear: reducing carbon emissions and energy resources and preventing wastage. Recent increases in inflation and the impact of the cost-of-living crisis mean that for most consumers, single-wear, high-end fashion items are simply no longer affordable.

The trend towards cheaper items was also apparent during LFW when the budget supermarket Lidl announced a pop-up store selling croissant handbags, after collaborating with designer Nikolas Bentel. Patisserie Lidl sold a limited number of croissant handbags for £50 each, after high demand followed the initial drop.

Greenwashing crackdown: the CMA’s new guide

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has recently published a compliance guide to help fashion retail businesses comply with consumer protection law when making environmental claims. The practical guide is based on the CMA's Green Claims Code and aims to help consumers trust the 'green' claims of these businesses. It includes practical tips on how fashion brands should be clear and accurate about the information on their green products and the criteria used to determine which items are included in these ranges. The CMA has also written to 17 well-known fashion brands, advising them to review their business practices where there are areas of concern regarding their 'green' claims.

The CMA will be getting strengthened consumer powers under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, enabling it to fine businesses up to 10% of their worldwide turnover for breaking consumer law. This follows its investigation into 'greenwashing' in the fashion industry in 2022, which revealed concerns about the number of misleading green claims on the rise and, following which, the CMA secured undertakings from Asos, Boohoo and George at Asda not to make misleading environmental claims in their sales and marketing.

Businesses in the UK should be aware of these changes and the CMA's increasing powers and take steps to ensure that they are not making such misleading claims about their 'green' products.

Asos sells 75% stake in Topshop for £135 million

On 5 September 2024 online fashion retailer Asos announced that it would offload a 75% stake in its Topshop and Topman brands for £135 million, to form a joint venture with Heartland. The news comes only a few years after Asos acquired Topshop, Topman and other brands when Philip Green’s Arcadia collapsed into administration for £265 million in 2021.

The transaction, which is due to complete in Q4 2024, will see Heartland hold a majority stake in the Topshop and Topman brands. Asos will retain 22.5% in the joint venture. This follows a previous deal with Nordstrom which enabled the US department chain to sell Topshop clothes in its stores. Nordstrom will now own the remaining 2.5%.

It is indicated that Topshop could return to stores and that a dedicated Topshop website will be launched by next summer. The sale should help Asos to repay debts after a disappointing start to the year in respect of sales. Interestingly, Asos recently rejected a much higher joint bid of £215 million for the Topshop and Topman brands from ultra-fast fashion retailer, Shein and US company, ABG. Asos chief executive José Antonio Ramos Calamonte commented that the joint venture with Heartland will help Asos to ‘accelerate our strategy to both offer customers the best and most relevant product and to turn Asos into a company that delivers sustainable, profitable growth’.

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