Nicole Miller’s Post

Macy's takes 3-pronged approach to private-label growth: Macy's plan to introduce four new private-label apparel and accessories brands over the next couple of years is one part of a -More-  #TopStory

Planned scarcity works for some fashion brands, but others are at the mercy of consumers that view bargain-hunting as a competitive sport... #fashionretail #pricingstrategy #plannedscarcity #inventorymanagement #consumerbehavior #discounts

Casual clothing retailer Lands' End expects to swing to a profit this year, by pushing customers to buy items early and at full price, rather than wait for discounts, its CFO tells Kristin Broughton The company is on track to swing to an annual profit for the first time in three years, following a pandemic slump. A key reason why: It’s carrying less stock and updating its offerings frequently with new fabrics and fits. That means it can charge full price, or close to it, for popular items such as tummy-shaping swimwear or lightweight jackets. But customers can no longer assume that the items they want will be available if they wait for a better price, said Bernie McCracken, the company’s chief financial officer. “We’ve increased the profitability of everything we sell,” he said. What do you think of retailers prompting more customers to pay full price? Join the conversation below.

I became a Lands’ End customer because of an ad from Lands’ End in a textbook. The ad was on pants, pants the way Lands’ End made them. Lands’ End made high-quality clothes, they backed those clothes, and they would tell us in their catalogs why and how they made great clothes. I even bought custom-made shirts from them until they discontinued them. I have no idea why they did, but if it was because they didn’t make enough margin, charge me more. I loved their shirt service. All of their catalogs had stories about some aspects of how their clothes were made. At the time, they never hired professional models; their catalogs were filled with real people. Over the years, the people in Dodgevile have made some big mistakes, but their product was so good that they stayed in business. Please bring back some of the company's original virtues, charge me a fair price, and don’t go out of business. Please!

Interesting turn of events. Curious as to how it will unfold and what the company needs to make its financial goals happen. While H&M is based in Sweden, their retail locations exist all over the world and thus the customer base is culturally diverse. That impacts colors, prints, trends, etc. This article states that the biggest competition is SHEIN and Zara. Zara holds a watered down wannabe runway kind of aesthetic with less expensive materials. SHEIN is doing a kind of cheapest of the cheap if it had ADD while promoting pretend sustainable initiatives thing. (They write in their web presentation that it’s important but don’t have evidence that they are actually doing anything about it.) H&M seems like a budget friendly basics company with bad press about green washing and illusions of sustainability. (Articles can be found about how thier recycling old garments program led to a number of those recycled garments being tracked to trash dumps or in markets for resale that couldn’t handle them in plaves with little legislation around recycling after traveling all over the world.) From a stock market perspective, none of these companys seem like solid or smart investments. Each could be *collectively cancelled* at any moment or have been already more than once.

Want some Wednesday Wisdom? Get informed with the latest insight in the industry. From The Business of Fashion - breaking news for fashion retailer H&M. Read below!

Personally I think that they should really pay more attention to their design department as H&M designs have gotten progressively worse. Have you been to H&M lately? With the exception of the collab collections, honestly the regular collections are just uninspiring and unappealing.  Within the same price point, customers would rather shop at Zara or Shein for more 'relevant' clothes. Perhaps It's the Swedish 'Jantelagen' that makes it somewhat taboo to speak up or looking like One is trying to stand out, appear superior or act above their station. So most people would rather just ignore the elephant in the room. However, this is the reality. Numbers don't lie. It's not rocket science, it's clothes. It doesn't matter whatever business strategy being implemented, at the end of the day customers want beautiful cool clothes with decent quality. Don't take my words for it, just do a market research; a simple questionnaire within the targeted demographic, see if people resonate with my opinion. Anyway, good for Helena Helmersson for stepping down, knowing that she has sustainability background, she might have been under a lot of pressure. She deserved a very good vacation.

Levi Strauss & Co.'s reported a steady net revenue of $1.5 billion in Q3 FY23, despite a 2 per cent drop on a constant-currency basis from Q3 FY22. Direct-to-consumer sales surged, offsetting a decline in wholesale revenues. The operating margin fell sharply to 2.3 per cent, with net income dropping to $10 million from the previous year's $173 million. Tap on the image to read more. Repost to update your community. #Fibre2Fashion #f2f #apparel #textile #fashion #TexPro #textileindustry #f2fnews #revenue #annualreport

The thing about H&M is that they’re in that middle phase between not being a great high quality brand and when you’re that you attract a different type of customer base. But they’re also not as stylish and edgy in their products like what Zara is. People (referring to regular people) especially in this tight economy would rather skip quality and get a piece of clothing lower in price that in their eyes looks just as good. I think H&M would need to do some collaborating with some streetwear brands who are popping right now or with a luxury brand to allow them to stand out from the pack and offer something new and exciting to their target audience and in the process attract new customers and boost sales. 💋🤘🏽

Personally I think that they should really pay more attention to their design department as H&M designs have gotten progressively worse. Have you been to H&M lately? With the exception of the collab collections,  honestly the regular collections are just uninspiring and unappealing.  Within the same price point, Customers would rather shop at Zara or Shein for more 'relevant' clothes. Perhaps It's the Swedish 'Jantelagen' that makes it somewhat taboo to speak up or looking like One is trying to stand out, appear superior or act above their station. So most people would rather just ignore the elephant in the room. However, this is the reality. Numbers don't lie. It's not rocket science, it's clothes. It doesn't matter whatever business strategy being implemented, at the end of the day customers want beautiful cool clothes with decent quality. Don't take my words for it, just do a market research; a simple questionnaire within the targeted demographic, see if people resonate with my opinion. Anyway, good for Helena Helmersson for stepping down, knowing that she has sustainability background, she might have been a lot of pressure. She deserved a very good vacation.