Fashion

Ralph Lauren forewarns betting on wrong horse

2 Feb 2017

The $6.3 bln U.S. clothier is parting ways with CEO Stefan Larsson after just 15 months, citing creative clashes with its namesake founder. A poor holiday season couldn't have helped either. The episode provides investors a fresh lesson about pinning too much hope on a new boss.

Under Armour’s founder-led approach wears thin

31 Jan 2017

The $12 bln athletic-wear maker reported its slowest top-line growth in eight years. Its CFO is also bailing out. The news wiped a quarter off the company's market value. Founder Kevin Plank's argument for keeping power through non-voting stock looks increasingly threadbare.

H&M’s new sales target could fray quickly

31 Jan 2017

The Swedish fast-fashion chain is now targeting annual sales growth rather than how many new stores it opens. Its new goal of 10-15 percent growth is ambitious. With margins under pressure, an unexpected increase in pretax profit in the fourth quarter may be a passing fad.

Losing Luxottica could be strangely good for Italy

16 Jan 2017

The sunglasses-maker will lose its Milan listing in merging with France's Essilor. It follows the sale of other Italian icons like Italcementi and Pirelli, and may fuel angst over Gallic takeovers. In reality, it shows Italy is open for business, and cleans up a messy situation.

Eyewear megadeal more corrective than visionary

16 Jan 2017

Luxottica's founder is backing a 50 bln euro merger with French lens-maker Essilor, and is willing to cede control and some value to get the deal done. For the Italian group's other shareholders, that's a fair price for fixing governance issues and perhaps selling more specs.

Coach passes Burberry’s new CEO heavy baggage

5 Dec 2016

The UK trenchcoat maker has reportedly spurned takeover approaches from its U.S. rival. Burberry could fetch 8.1 bln pounds with a premium. New boss Marco Gobbetti doesn’t start until next year. His first task will now be to show why going it alone is the better option.

Burberry shares priced a size too big

18 Oct 2016

The UK luxury label said sales in its home market grew over 30 percent as tourists cashed in on the weak pound. Demand in the U.S. is deteriorating, however. Burberry is tackling its problems head on, but there are few green shoots yet to justify a recent rally in the shares.

Hugo Boss offers preview of luxury retrenchment

5 Aug 2016

The German brand's new CEO is cutting 20 stores and 50 million euros of costs to deal with falling sales. While second-quarter revenue beat expectations, net profit fell 84 percent. Hugo Boss's peers will also face a painful reckoning after their own rapid expansions.

LVMH hints at timely wardrobe edit

25 Jul 2016

Selling Donna Karan to U.S. fashion company G-III for $650 million is a rare fashion cast-off for the French luxury group. More underperforming brands may be sold as global sales of designer goods slow. That presents opportunities for smaller but ambitious luxury players.

Profit upgrade puts Zalando back in fashion

19 Jul 2016

The German online fashion retailer has calmed worries about competition from Amazon by raising full-year operating profit margin guidance by around a quarter and forecasting strong revenue growth. While shares are up by a fifth in a day, valuations can grow richer still.

ASOS makeover will get fresh lift from weak pound

12 Jul 2016

The online fashion retailer beat expectations with 30 pct sales growth. Sterling's Brexit-induced weakness will help it keep prices low and grab market share. With lots of room to grow, and solid execution, ASOS might be able to live up to its sky-high valuation.

Burberry finally owns up to ill-fitting C-suite

11 Jul 2016

Marco Gobbetti will succeed Christopher Bailey as the UK brand’s CEO, with the latter staying on as design chief. Investors cheered, as it could improve Burberry’s below-par sales performance. The risk is Bailey sees what looks like a demotion as a demotivation.

Yoox Net-a-Porter can dodge luxury doldrums

6 Jul 2016

Federico Marchetti snapped up rival luxury site Net-a-Porter on the cheap last year. Shares have fallen of late and the luxury sector as a whole is struggling. But with revenue at the merged group set to grow 20 percent annually, the online bit of the market looks healthier.

Models are a surprising face for cartel economics

2 Jun 2016

UK competition authorities are investigating price-fixing at London’s top model agencies. Creating a cartel from a market that has apparently low barriers to entry sounds tricky. But setting up a new entrant isn’t that easy – and antitrust tsars only need to prove intention.