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Reebok is attempting to refresh its image and winning over critical young audiences like Gen Z and millennials. From its Stranger Things sneakers to its’90s themed collections and campaigns, Reebok is still trying to find a footing with young consumers. Its global campaign launched in March is a break from the athletic apparel maker’s typically sports- and performance-focused messaging. The campaign touched across digital, social and traditional media integrations. Reebok's prior digital strategy was seen as too focused on moodiness and hyper masculinity. Growth and sales have become a bigger priority versus traditional branding and creative ideas.
Reebok has in recent years had to grapple with a surge in athletic apparel and athleisure competition. The company has accordingly diversified its offerings to keep up with the category. It has for example introduced a maternity collection for new and expecting mothers.
Meanwhile Melanie Boulden is departing as Reebok’s chief global marketer and head of brand management after just over a year. Boulden’s sudden departure could sting Reebok. Chief marketing officers’ tenure at the top 100 US advertisers fallen by a month to 43 months compared to 2018. CMOs are also in some cases being replaced by chief growth officers or equivalent roles.
Polyester products net exports grew to a total of 69kt in May, With PET bottle chip and PET fiber chip contributing 55kt. PFY net exports increased 10kt plus, PET film export maintained steady, while PSF exports sustained negative growth.
For PET bottle chip, South Korea, India and Southeast Asia markets generally revised down export price in Apr, while China PET resin price was at high rates, hence the enlarging China-overseas spread led to poor order intakes. Afterward, as China materials retreated to low rates, export sales recovered somewhat. PFY and PSF exports didn't recover much in May, hence seems not entirely price to blame.
For the fourth quarter Nike’s revenue rose from nine per cent to ten per cent. In North America, sales growth accelerated from a decline of two per cent in fiscal 2018 to an increase of seven per cent in fiscal 2019. The acceleration was balanced across footwear and apparel, with footwear seeing the biggest jump in growth.
Product innovation drove more than 20 per cent growth in sportswear in the fourth quarter. Nike’s women's category grew in double digits in fiscal ’19 accelerating in the back half of the year. The Air Max Dia, a women's sneaker, helped drive double-digit growth in the women's category last quarter. As of now the category makes up less than a quarter of total revenue. The Nike app provides complete shopping experience on mobile for the brand, and growth has been strong here, too. Revenue increased at a triple-digit rate, and Nike is just starting to roll it out globally. The Nike app will launch in China in fiscal 2020, the fastest-growing region for Nike, with revenue climbing 24 per cent last year.
For the year ahead revenue is expected to be up in the high-single-digit range. Balanced growth is expected across all geographies.
Archroma’s new Diresul Smartdenim Blue is a liquid sulfur blue dye designed to mimic indigo. It has been especially designed to address the limitations of the Indicolors technology. The approach finds its origin in Archroma’s deep belief that it is possible to make the textile industry sustainable, economically and ecologically. Diresul Smartdenim Blue has a greener shade, better fastness to minimize back staining, and allows to create overall wash-downs much closer to actual indigo than any other dyestuff, whilst avoiding the greyish cast especially in bleaching with hypochlorite. It can be applied in all standard dyeing methods recommended for sulfur dyes, including pad-ox, pad-steam, exhaust, denim in all its variations (color denim, bottoming and topping of indigo), as well as in the Advanced Denim procedures (Denim-Ox, Pad-Sizing-Ox).
The new product will be the core of Archroma’s Indigo Reflection, a coloration system that behaves like indigo, with an even more sustainable and efficient application process compared to indigo. With this new innovation, Archroma completes its spectrum of eco-advanced denim coloration solutions, from this new indigo-mimicking Diresul Smartdenim Blue which is aniline-free and can be used in Archroma’s water-saving Advanced Denim technology, to its recent launch of the purest indigo, the aniline-free pre-reduced liquid Denisol Pure Indigo liquid.
The Nashville Fashion Alliance (NFA), which had formed in an attempt to elevate the city’s diverse industry and culture into a denim hub, has quietly dissolved after five years. Robert Antoshak, the Managing Director of Olah Inc., who was also the last chairman of the NFA, confirmed that the organisation’s board voted to dissolve NFA in March, but didn’t make a formal announcement. He elaborated his company’s inability to set up a Fashion Accelerator Innovation Resource Center as a reason for this.
However, Antoshak expects fashion entrepreneurs and specialists to implement the project successfully. He also expects a local university to incorporate elements of the fashion innovation center into its programming. The NFA was founded through a kickstarter campaign that raised $100,000. A report NFA published in 2017 indicated Nashville had the largest per capita concentration of independent fashion companies outside of New York and Los Angeles. The fashion industry contributed $5.9 billion to the city directly and indirectly and employed more than 16,200 people. Those numbers could reach $9.5 billion and 25,000 people by 2025 with the right investment.
A report by Reuters indicate, luxury fashion brands like Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton and Gucci are increasing their investments on social media, especially on Instagram, and pouring real money into efforts to court young shoppers. As social media influencers are reaching mainstream status, they are asking for over $22,546 per post. With cash to spend, luxury brands are racing ahead of their competitors.
Kering, the company that owns Gucci, spent 50 percent of its yearly media budget on digital advertising in 2018, which is up from 20 percent the year before. Kering’s rival LVMH upped its marketing spending dramatically as well, spending $5.3 billion. The only company to spend more was Chanel. Louis Vuitton, which drives LVMH’s sales, has half of its marketing costs earmarked for digital media.
Just three years ago, Valentino, a fashion brand that is about seven times smaller than Louis Vuitton, was the most popular brand on Instagram, ahead of many better-known rivals. The company paid attention to fans and mixed professional posts with personal engagement. Now, the company’s revenue has slowed, as Louis Vuitton has tripled its followers on Instagram to 32.1 million, with its revenues expanding rapidly.
Bangladesh has made a bag made of jute polymer that works, looks and feels like a polythene bag but without the negative environmental impact. It is biodegradable. Once it hits the market, it is believed that the massive use of environment-unfriendly polythene will be decreased drastically. Despite being biodegradable, this polymer is water- and air-resistant and is 1.5 times stronger than polythene. The eco-friendly polymer also decomposes in soil within five to six months as opposed to polythene, which could take several hundred years. Furthermore, the material is durable and can support more weight than the conventionally used polythene bags.
Jute is called the golden fiber of Bangladesh. It is in demand in around 60 countries. The country has taken special measures to produce quality jute and diversify jute products. Along with extending policy support, cash incentives have been increased for diversification of jute products. Thousands of jobs have been created by small and medium jute mills. The country has undertaken various projects such as conducting more research, formulating new regulations, reforming jute mills, and imposing an eco-tax on polythene to encourage people to use jute products. A rule has made jute use mandatory in goods packaging.
The Bangladesh Textile Mills Association has thanked the government for imposing Tk4 tax on sale of per kg yarn instead of the proposed 5 per cent value added tax (VAT) in the fiscal year (FY) 2019-20. The association had previously urged the government to keep locally produced yarn out of the VAT net, keeping 0.25 per cent source tax and 5 per cent advance tax (AT) on machinery, spare parts and raw materials unchanged. Currently, yarn manufacturers pay Tk3 as VAT on per kg yarn sale.
A pickup in H&M’s revenue growth at the start of the third quarter, helped by a heat wave in Europe, is boosting optimism that the retailer may have returned to a level of sales growth that could gradually put the inventory issue behind it. H&M has pledged to reduce discounts for a fourth consecutive quarter as it aims to reduce its buildup of unsold garments. Inventory dropped slightly as a proportion of sales, easing to 18.2 per cent at the end of May from a record 18.9 per cent as of last August.
The retailer’s composition of inventory has improved, implying it will become easier to sell garments. The family-controlled company has a goal of eventually reducing stock-in-trade to 12 per cent to 14 per cent of sales, a level last seen three years ago.
H&M has also cut this year’s store expansion plan by 26 per cent while pledging more investment in e-commerce. H&M now expects 130 net store openings, further decelerating from a rate that exceeded 400 in recent years. Most of the new H&M stores will be outside Europe and the US as the retailer seeks faster growing markets.
Cheryl Abel-Hodges is the new CEO of Calvin Klein. Calvin Klein is a part of PVH Corp. Abel-Hodges has previously served as group president, Calvin Klein North America and The Underwear Group. Since joining PVH in 2006, Abel-Hodges has held various leadership positions across the organisation. As group president for Calvin Klein North America, she helped set the strategic direction for the brand, driving a consumer-centric approach. Within The Underwear Group, Abel-Hodges led the development of PVH’s underwear platform, overseeing design, merchandising, product development and planning for all of PVH’s underwear and women’s intimates businesses.
Her strong management abilities, together with her consistent track record for operational excellence, are expected to provide strong direction for the Calvin Klein team. Calvin Klein is one of the leading fashion design and marketing studios in the world. It designs and markets women’s and men’s designer collection apparel and a range of other products that are manufactured and marketed through an extensive network of licensing agreements and other arrangements worldwide.
