2026 JULY ISSUE
MARKET INTELLIGENCE
SHORT READ
| PART 1
Contents
Shein, the Disruptor
A Case Study of Shein and Its Fashion Disruption
Walmart is Launching Its Fashion Brand — Scenario
What is Happening with the Fragrance Business
China’s Sports Business Has Brought Out Hyrox
Luxury Brands Are Reinventing Themselves
What Was Our Fashion Business Known Before
La Perla: When Craftsmanship is Not Enough
The Struggle of the U.S. Luxury Brands
Written by Andrew Sia
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From the Desk of the Publisher
In this writeup, we would like to bring out to your attention for Walmart’s new fashion brand—Scenario, then we will tell the story of the old fashion world, and finally the reincarnation of La Perla.
For Walmart to sell clothing in its store is nothing new. In 2018, they launched Time and Tru, which was a $2 billion business already. It has also collaborated with celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres and Sofia Vergara. Then Scoop and Free Assembly in 2019 and 2020 respectively. In their signage they used “fashion” to promote the clothing business.
A report about Hyrox is telling us that people are more aware to lead a healthier life by taking up exercises. We have seen a lot of mini marathons and cycling groups in the neighborhood than before.
Edikted, a company with its headquarters in Los Angeles, started as a brand for Gen Z. You will find that their business model is very much like Shein.
In fact, we have found that a lot of these reports are closely related to the using of AI and algorithms for manufacturing, and these are all playing into what we are trying to bring the industry to be aware of the arriving of Industry 4.0 which we will bring out more reports in the issues to come.
Shein, the Disruptor – FT, August 25, 2026
Back in 2022, Shein was appraised at $100 billion, today it is a total $27 billion valuation in an upcoming Hong Kong public offering. Shein is known as an ultra-speed clothing company undercutting every corner and for some reason it gained its favor from the younger generation. Lately it has been plagued by counterfeiting issues. Its sales growth was only 8% last year compared with 20% in 2024. Its earnings dropped to 4.9% which was almost half of what it was a year before.
The de minimis rules, allowing low-value packages to slip through customs to avoid import taxes has also been cancelled a year ago.
Its $27 billion valuation represents about 25 times forward earnings. Shein claimed that the online fashion market will grow at an annual rate of roughly 5.5% until 2030. If it can manage this, it can then turn 2.5% of its sales into earnings. The company ought to be able to make $1.1 billion profit this year.
Compare with its $27 billion valuation at about 25 times forward earnings, Inditex trades at 26 times and H&M at 22 times. Both of them are growing their earnings faster than Shein.
Shein is without any physical-store network. It works with a network of small suppliers concentrating in one region which allows products to be produced in small batches to gauge demand. Its success is its quick turnaround and use algorithms to offer a limitless range with almost negligible inventory. By using this operating model, it allows Shein to introduce approximately 4.700 new apparel styles a day, compare with Zara’s 20,000 styles a year. Shein’s model that is worth for us to explore more.
Shein was founded in 2012 under the name Sheinside by Sky Xu Yangtian and his three colleagues at a marketing company that helped Chinese exporters to sell products online. In 2015, it shortened its name to Shein. During the Covid-19 pandemic, online shopping exploded, and Shein’s popularity soared. Shein saturated the internet with advertisements aimed at younger customers, especially the Gen Z, enticing them with extreme low prices and constantly changing designs. And by 2022, Shein became the world’s biggest online fashion retailer. That year, it was valued at $98.2 billion, and the company was backed by big-name venture capital investors.
It was in 2019, Shein established its headquarters in Singapore for the company to prepare for offshore listing to navigate away from Chinese rules governing company’s listing. It began its possible New York public listing in June/July 2023 with both NYSE and Nasdaq. In November 2023, it announced for seeking a U.S. IPO for the valuation of $90 billion. After a lot of hassles, the U.S. IPO was stalled in May 2024. In June of the same year, it filed for a London listing. Again, the attempt failed and Shein finally began to turn to Hong Kong for its IPO.
On September 1, 2026, Shein began trading publicly in Hong Kong raising around $1.7 billion at a valuation of roughly $26.5 billion. It is dramatically below the valuations it had in 2022. At its first day of its IPO, it priced its shares at HK$48.56 ($6.19) at the middle of its range, raising HK$13.6 billion, just over valuing Shein at $26 billion. The day closed at HK$39, down around 18% from the offer price.
At this time Shein chose to go for public at around 73% to its 2022 private valuation. Shein may have to pay to the private investors in previous fund raising for as much as $3.5 billion in cash and shares to those previous investors for compensation.
Going forward, Shein doesn’t have the same luster as before as it can’t continue to use the de minimis to gain advantage with the other fast fashion companies.
Shein publicly claimed Guangdong to be its root. Its listing in Hong Kong has been recalibrating its relationship with China. It is a very fundamental problem that has to overcome for any potential listing.
Through its attempt for listing, Shein encountered intense, bipartisan scrutiny from lawmakers over its supply chain and labor practices. Trump’s decision to stop the de minimis rules is a major blow to Shein’s single biggest market. Shein was forced to raise its prices for the U.S. market in May 2025. In its first quarter of 2026, the U.S. net revenue dropped 14.3% to $2 billion.
In July 2026, Europe announced a flat €3 flat fee on e-commerce parcels that had previously been allowed to enter EU duty-free.
When we look back, in April 2022 during the lockdown of pandemic, Shein was drawn to the young consumers from the social media hype for its super-fast fashion, cheap and trendy, made it the largest apparel retailer in the U.S. by sales. At that time, it was valued at $100 billion if it could successfully list on the stock market would place itself as one of the most successful global consumer brands.
With the diminishing de minimis ruling of package below $700 for the zero-duty, the labor practice, and the sustainability in its supply chain, Shein is no longer the company four years ago. The investors would be hesitant to put their investments in this company. Also, it is not without competition as Temu of PDD is following Shein very closely.
We have to know that Shein has developed the thought of nearshoring productions. They think about Turkey, a production closer to the European market. They consider Brazil, where the production is closer to the Latin American market.
Shein claimed that they serve customers in about 160 markets. They are not selling anything in China. In a nutshell, I can say that: “Shein was born in China, headquartered in Singapore, manufacturing in China, and built its customer base predominantly outside China. It sought public listings first in New York and then London, but both stalled amid regulatory, and geopolitical complications before it finally turned to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. It has been going through a hard experience of going public.”
Going forward, we will create a case study for the industry to consider. We hope that it will benefit the people in this business.
A Case Study of Shein and Its Fashion Disruptions
First Disruption – Before Covid-19 Pandemic – Reinventing Fast Fashion
– How Sein developed its digital-first, data-driven mode, shortened the fashion cycle, use small-batch production, test consumer
demand rapidly, and build a supply chain very different from traditional fashion retailers.
Second Disruption – During Covid-19 Pandemic: Turn Crisis into Opportunities
– While conventional retailers suffered from store closures and disrupted operations, Shein’s online-only model became an
enormous advantage. This could be the period when we examine how the pandemic accelerated a business model that was
already taking shape.
Third Disruption – After Covid-19 Pandemic: From Challenge to Global Powerhouse
– Once the world reopened, Shein faced a different question. Could the extraordinary pandemic-era growth be sustained? Here
we can study international expansion, competition, localization, supply-chain diversification and the challenge of becoming
a global company.
Fourth Disruption – Geopolitical Challenges: When Business Meets Politics
– This is where the story becomes much larger than fashion. The U.S.—China tensions, tariffs and de minimis rules, scrutiny of
sourcing and labor practices, European regulations, sustainability concerns, and Shein’s unusual identity—Chinese origins,
Singapore headquarters, China-centered manufacturing, but overwhelmingly international customers.
Fifth Disruption – Looking for Public Listing: From New York to London to Hong Kon
– The attempted IPO becomes almost a case study within the case study. We should investigate why
Shein wanted a listing, why New York became difficult, why London emerged as an alternative, what obstacles appeared there,
and what the eventual Hong Kong route tells us about the changing relationship between capital markets and geopolitics?
Future: Under the Crystal Ball – Looking at Shein’s Future Strategically
– Can Shein continue to disrupt the fashion world?
– Can the ultra-low-price model coexist with sustainability?
– Can Shein diversify manufacturing without losing its speed and cost advantage?
– Can Shein become truly global while remaining so dependent upon China?
– Can Shein deal with all the competitions?
These are all the questions waiting to be answered.
Walmart is Launching Its Fashion Brand—Scenario – WSJ, August 24, 2026
Walmart has been faring slower growth and it has decided to launch a new clothing brand for it stores called Scenario. Its attraction is its price which will cost less than $25 to appeal to discount shoppers. This is a change for Walmart as normally its customers are buying their groceries at the chain, but this time Walmart wants to attract them to buy their basics from them.
Walmart has just reported its weakest quarterly comparable sales growth in over six years. This time it is hoping that fashion category can help to boost sales. Its new brand—Scenario—is launching hundreds of items, such as blouses with embroidered sleeves, pintuck denim shirts, and faked leather bags. Scenario will share space with the store’s brand for women—Time and Tru—a brand they launched in 2018, selling women’s line for basic items like cardigans and jeans, which are appealed to shoppers 55 years or older. This has been bringing $2 billion in annual sales.
Walmart has been known for selling lower-price jeans and socks. Over the last decade it has gradually adding the slightly higher-price items to appeal to customers who would also shop at Gap, J. Crew, and Nordstrom.
Walmart has also introduced fashion-brand partnerships with celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres and Sofia Vergara. In the first instance, they were sold mostly online. Now Walmart is trying to sell more trendy items at higher price points in stores.
Scoop, a trendy women’s fashion brand was introduced in 2019, followed by Free Assembly, the following year.
On its signage of the newly renovated stores, Walmart is using “fashion” to promote this business. It has also opened a fashion design office in New York City that hired around 165 designers, brand managers, and digital managers.
It is planning to sell its first store-brand cashmere sweaters this fall.
Scenario is placed to offer more affordable items to attract women around 35 years old. It is differentiating from Time and Tru traditional offers.
Walmart fashion design office is located at the garment district. It is known as:
Walmart — Fashion Design
45 West 25th Street
New York, NY 10010
What is Happening with the Fragrances Business? – FT, June 27, 2026
The global beauty market is expected to grow at 5% annually and fragrance is expected to grow most consistently. It is driven by a trend for layering scents and for body mists. The origin came from those luxury perfume and the fragrance will continue to be the third biggest segment, following its number one rival, the skincare and haircare, but ahead of color cosmetics.
Fragrances are having its challenges as well, perhaps it is because its tickets are too small.
For instance, Dior whose fortunes depends far more on handbags. Estée Lauders is in the middle of a major restructuring. Puig who expanded significantly in its fragrance portfolio, failed. Coty, licensees of Hugo Boss and Burberry among others, is also undergoing a turnaround after its shares halved last year.
Interparfums, US-listed and Paris based company who outperformed everyone with their extensive brands, covering Jimmy Choo, Montblanc, Coach, Lacoste, Kate Spade, Lanvin, Boucheron, Van Cleef & Arpels, Moncler, Rochas, Guess Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister, MCM, Anna Sui, Oscar de le Renta, and Roberto Cavalli.
Company was founded in 1988 and don’t have their own factories, instead they design and market using third-party suppliers for manufacturing. Their products are sold in 120 countries.
Its last year’s profit growth of 2.5% was in comparison against the flat or falling earnings reported by LVMH and L’Oréal, Estée Lauder and Coty.
China’s Sports Business Has brought Out Hyrox – WSJ, July 25, 2026
According to the Chinese Athlete Association, the office workers from the Chinese big cities have taken up sports to train themselves. They have shown more concerns over health than only focusing on work and income. This has made the business of exercise one of the few new areas in the Chinese consumer’s economy.
Hyrox, a hybrid race founded in Hamburg, Germany in 2017, has repurchased its majority control of its Chinese ownership which was held by Dalian Wanda Group. It is now experiencing a massive fitness craze and rapid expansion across mainland China, Hong Kong, and other Asian markets.
Hyrox is involved in strenuous fitness competition that includes 1-kilometer runs and multiple strength competitions like hauling weights, and various others. It helped to spread 1,600 pickleball courts and in China there are roughly 300,000 pickleball players.
Marathon runners double since 2017 to more than a million runners now.
This fitness boom has brought hiking shoes, yoga pants, and other types of athletic gear to become aspirational fashion for China’s middle class, even those who don’t workout.
Sports brands like Lululemon, Hoka, Adidas, On, are all reporting a surge in sales.
Brand like On, organized training meetups in many cities ahead of the autumn marathon season. It tailors its products to Asian body sizes and sells shirts and hats that protect against ultraviolet rays.
Hyrox-affiliated gym—Temporary Humans, or TH, offers $300 a month to take classes attended by instructors, which has a waiting-list.
On’s Asian-Pacific regional growth was 44%. Amer Sports, parent company of outdoor sports brands like Salomon and Arc’teryx, has a growth of 45% year-over-year in its latest quarter.
Lululemon is struggling in the U.S., but it is growing its popularity where yoga and Pilates have become popular among affluent urban women. China accounts for more than 50% of Lululemon’s international store openings and it expects double-figure revenue growth to continue.
Alo, Los Angeles-based brand, also one of the Lululemon competitions, has gain recognition in China market through social media.
Puma, the Hyrox’s official and footwear partner, reported a 9% jump in its revenue in the first quarter.
Homegrown Chinese brands are cashing in as well. Maia Active, a brand owned by Chinese sporting conglomerate, and Anta is quickly expanding. Li-Ning is still one of the country’s biggest sports shoe brands, worn by many top marathon runners. Not to forget Xtep, another Chinese shoe brand, owns also the Chinese business of Saucony, an elite American shoe brand.
Nike used to be the dominating athletics retail brand in China, loss 29% over the last fiscal year from its peak five years ago. It is partnering with Hyrox for a training camp for athletes to prepare for competitions.
This sporting business looks promising in China.
The last I read that LVMH put serious money into Hyrox, the German fitness training center. Obviously, Bernard Arnault sensed that the company is doing so well in the direction it is pushing based on the facts and findings of:
– Revenue up from €40 million to €140 million in two years
– 4 million participants in a single season Nearly 100% annual growth
– About 20% EBITDA margin
– It is becoming an international brand
This really tells us something as the fitness is become a lifestyle for going forward.
Luxury Brands Are Reinventing Themselves – FT, April 18, 2026
If you say that the post-pandemic has been the catalyst for the luxury brands, then the war in Iran is the inhibitor. Now the sector is thinking to increase the allure to contend with a market facing the slowing of Chinese demand, diminishing cultural cachet, and economic consequences of the Iran war.
Imagine that from the beginning of 2026, data had shown us that nine leading European luxury brands have lost at least €140 billion in a collective market capitalization. They were all high-fliers during the first half of the decade. There are signs of recovery which has to do with a lot of work from creative and renewal of products, pricing, scaling back of categories and shop locations.
During the time of the pandemic, between 2022 and 2024, the luxury market was filled with the aspirational shoppers. These middle-class shoppers have exhausted their Covid-era savings and the rise of the living cost they restrained from the market. Many of them were the first-time luxury shoppers and it is very likely that they would not return. Its spending will remain weak because of the economy back home, and shoppers are more selective.
The Chinese market was also the growth until 2023 when it was hit by relatively weak demand.
We have seen Kering and its flagship, Gucci, with its profits slide two-thirds in two years, with its new models of spray-on skinny jeans and seamless mini dresses on the catwalk to reinvent its brand.
We can talk about the performance of their Q1 and Q2, and each of the luxury brands are performing quite differently. We can read from the three major brands, LVMH, Kering and Hermès and come to know their different positions they have taken.
LVMH – Q1 revenue €38.6 billion, Its organic growth in Q2 was +3%
Kering – Q1 revenue €7.22 billion, Its organic growth in Q2 was +2%
Hermès – Q1 revenue €8.16 billion, Its organic growth in Q2 was +41%
We have noticed each of their different scenarios and would like to make the following report:
LVMH – Its U.S. market and Asia excluding Japan shows a strong growth, despite of the Middle East’s distuption. Its growth in 2025 and brought the first half of 2026’s recurring profit of €8.7 billion with a 22.5% margin. LVMH has a diversified business in brands like Louis Vuitton, Dior, Tiffany, Bulgari, and Sephora, an omnichannel of cosmetics, skincare, and fragrance, and wines and spirits. But its strength lies in fashion and leather goods.
Kering – Its first-half of 2026 revenue was €7.22 billion, up 1%, while its Q2 returned to a 2% comparable growth. Improvement at Gucci retail has been encouraging. Its recurring operating margin was 12.8%, while its net debt had fallen to €3.3 billion. It is important to watch closely the growth of Gucci.
Hermès – It remains remarkably profitable. Its Q1 revenue reached €8.16 billion, a growth of 6.1%. Its Q2 grew slightly to 7%. Its operating profitability remains at 41% which is remarkable. Hermès business model is very different than the others, its smaller collections, controlled distribution and exceptionally wealthy clientele give it the characteristics of those quite different from more volume-dependent luxury houses.
Having said that, it is important to see the war in Iran to be subsided before we can really count on the growth for the luxury market.
Introducing Edikted, A Clothing Company – New York Times, July 26, 2026
Edikted, pronounced roughly as “addicted “is a Gen-Z focused fast-fashion company which was created around 2020-2021 by Dedy Shwartzberg and a team that had previously built the Israeli online-fashion company Adika. Its headquarters is now in Los Angeles and focused on the U.S. market. It emphasized on affordable, trend-led fashion influenced by pop culture, streetwear, runway trends and technology.
Its operating model is what Edikted introduced as “try and repeat” model. It is a practice of producing controlled quantities, seeing what consumers want, and then responding to demand rather than committing immediately to enormous inventories.
It was known in our business days as we have to meet the minimum quantity in fabric and accessories, the color minimum, and production minimum. When this minimum quantity hit the store and when it was not selling as quickly than it was first planned, but very often the second and the following orders were following. Then it created an inventory that would be hard to dispose.
But today with the AI, we can work out the demand forecasting, inventory management and the changing of the supply chain.
Edikted is using data and proprietary technology to monitor social media, influencers and customer behavior, enable it to respond rapidly to trends. Edikted was doing $460 million in its 2025 sales and was producing 300 new styles per month, that is ten styles a day. Productions are all done in China. Edikted is still privately owned.
Edikted is no longer only an internet company, as it is moving into physical retail. It is currently located at The Grove in Los Angeles, SoHo in New York, Garden State Plaza in New Jersey, Mall of America in Bloomington, Minneapolis, Miami and other major shopping malls.
We may compare Edikted with Shein for our study as the following:
Shein – Digital platform, globally over 150 countries, data and algorithm-driven demand, outsourced manufacturing, predominantly online. Shein owns Everlane, a popular millennial brand.
Edikted – Social-media-driven fashion, rapid trend identification, algorithm-designer, controlled initial production, chase after successful products, combined e-commence with physical stores.
In fact, this is a very good material that we can use in our Industry 4.0 — Fashion & Industry Study.
What Was Our Fashion Business Known Before
Decades ago, our fashion world was smaller but more energetic. It was dominated by eccentric, visionary designers, trying to express themselves. They were driven by money and fame, who else wasn’t in those days? They wanted to create fashion that would become popular and sought after by the celebrities and important people. They were not marketeers.
The idea of a fashion brand represented a cult of personality. Most of the time it was like shooting in the dark. In many instances, designers would also bring in their fiery characters.
Fashion started to become more corporate in the 1980s. Luxury groups like LVMH, Richemont, Kering and Hermès also emerged.
LVMH was created in 1987, and Richemont in 1988. Kering was founded in 1962 as a timber business and didn’t begin its move into luxury until the late 1990s. Hermès was founded in 1837, and it remained as an independent family-controlled house, unlike LVMH and Kering.
LVMH and Kering snatched the fashion brands and consolidate them in their groups. But when brands are being consolidated, they lost their creativity, their individuality, and become blur.
It was in the early 1970s, Karl Lagerfeld was locked in a feud with Yves Saint Laurent over a French socialite, Jacques de Bascher. This liaison led to a lifelong professional and personal rivalry between the two designers.
Saint Laurent always approached fashion as a high form of art, while Lagerfeld would treat clothes as wearables, and their rivalry dragged on for decades. Lagerfeld said something like, “People buy your dresses to be happy, not to know about the dramas of a crying alcoholic” right after Saint Laurent’s last show in 2002. Saint Laurent countered by saying, “The problem with Karl is that he has terrible taste.”
You don’t find this kind of situation nowadays as everything can be taken over when we are entering the age of algorithms. The fashion world has lost its luster, and we don’t know if it is a good thing or a bad thing.
But those were the days when fashion was driven by personalities. Designers argued, competed, provoked one another and sometimes behaved outrageous. Their personalities became inseparable from their creations.
Today we are entering a very different fashion world. Data can tell us what consumers are searching for. Social media can reveal a trend before it reaches the street. Algorithms can identify what teenagers are responding to, while companies can test products in small quantity and repeat only what sells.
Fashion is therefore moving from the age of the designer’s intuition toward the age of algorithm. Something may have been gained: speed efficiency, responsiveness and less independence on guesswork. But something may also have been lost individuality, eccentricity, surprise and perhaps some of fashion’s old luster.
Is this progressive? I am not sure. Perhaps that is precisely the question industry 4.0 is asking us.
(Note: This piece will appear in the Industrial Revolution 4: Case #2 – Fashion Textile & Industry.)
La Perla: When Craftmanship Is Not Enough – WSJ, April 20. 2026
La Perla was founded in 1954 in Bologna by an Italian corsetry maker named Ada Masotti. It remained in the hand of Masotti family for decades and was being expanded into an international high-end lingerie company with shops opened in major cities before it sold a major stake of the company in 2008.
It was known for using fine Leaver laces, silk and chiffon and artisanal components. Its typical bra would price in the range of $225 to $650 which made it out of the range of many consumers. Perhaps it was meant for only the celebrities and movie stars. At its peak, it reached €250 million annual sales. But the shops were in prime locations, and the stores were too big for the business it was doing.
In 2007, its insolvency led to the investment of several private equity owners over the year: including JH Partners acquired it in late 2007. Silvio Scaglia subsequently bought La Perla at an auction in 2013 for €69 million, and Sapinda Group renamed it Tennor after acquired La Perla Manufacturing but declared insolvency in 2024. In the end none of them were able to revive the business and any chance to grow the company.
The workers ganged up and lobbied the European Parliament and vowed to bring the company back to work. The campaign lasted more than a year, the “Perlines,” as the seamstresses of La Perla called themselves, got their success as the Italian government brokered a sale of the Bologna company to an American couple, Peter and Kristen Kern of Luxury Holdings for an initial investment of €25 million, while committed to keep the brand in Italy and rehiring 200 employees, including the 100 seamstresses were reinstated. They have determined to run La Perla as an artisanal business and will continue to use the people for their skilled craftsmanship which require years of training and can only achieved at high cost. It is how they build the allure of this business.
The company will invest into stores again and also hosting trunk shows. They will showcase their collection in particular stores, like Bergdorf Goodman and Saks, and will bring their seamstresses to work directly with the customers. This could also mean some kind of tailoring work.
It began its global relaunch in May 2026 at Harrods in London to revive La Perla for a private invitation-only atelier experience where they work directly with customers on fit. It positioned as lingerie haute couture rather than trying to compete as conventional premium lingerie. It is trying to maintain its prestige and sustain its complicate sewing tasks by putting the most deliciated Leavers laces on the smooth silk satin fabric. They are talking about spending 240 minutes per garment.
It is in contrary to what the marketing is reacting now under the current economic climate. The demands from the wealthiest clients have been tampered, not to say the aspiring shoppers are withdrawn from the persistent price increases. Especially when we are reading luxury spending fell 2% to the $1.44 trillion globally last year from a year before. We have not to take the impact of the war in Iran lightly.
In our old days, we would apply eight different types of sewing machines, many of those were installed with special sewing attachments, and it could well cover 30-job steps to complete a bra. The time for one complete bra would mean 25 minutes to finish. The business was built on a minimum order of 3,000 pieces in various styles. It could well cover 30 different sizes, including the cup/band size combinations, dedicated and specialized machines and attachments, and an affordable customer.
Our business model at the time was: craftsmanship with engineering, specialization, a reasonable volume and affordability.
With La Perla’s revival business model, we are looking at: craftmanship, extremely high labor content, exclusivity, personalization, scarcity, and very high price.
For the industry to go forward, the market is saturated with those low-price vendors, and they have disrupted the market rules. It is trading down in the last fifteen years.
We are in the midst of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and we can lay our hand in artificial intelligence to produce better products and not necessary to emphasize to produce them cheaper. We have a lot of things to share here and sorry to say that the business of La Perla is one of a kind and it doesn’t need to dress everybody. Perhaps it can be used for wedding or some very special occasions. Lingerie can be used as a very delicate outerwear if it can be designed in good taste. A little fun, sexiness and seduction, can lighten up our life in this very boring world.
At this time of Industry 4.0 we have found the quote from Pierre Cardin’s “Talent and taste are not enough. Only style counts.” It is still very relevant.
The Struggle of the U.S. Luxury Brands – WSJ, August 18, 2026
We have seen the ups and downs of the European luxury brands and the American luxury brands. This time we have observed that the shares of LVMH is 3% less than Ralph Lauren. The last time when this happened was more than a decade ago when Louis Vuitton’s sales were sluggish because consumers had grown tired of logo designs. LVMH gave the brand a fresh look to gain back its strong growth.
At this time the aspirational shoppers especially the U.S. market has reacted to the market inflation and brands like Ralph Lauren and Coach have been able to move in according to the market trend.
Ralph Lauren’s sales rose 13% in the three months through June, compared with the same period last year. The brand has grown by 10% or more for seven quarters in a row.
Coach, the main handbag brand of Tapestry, increased sales by 14% in last quarter. Most of the brand’s growth is coming from younger customers who make their first luxury handbag purchase.
Gucci and Burberry, the two European brands who are more reliant on middle-class shoppers have cut their prices. A handbag from Generation Gucci was launched in April at €1,750 which is 27% lower than the brand’s older handbag design. But Coach and Ralph Lauren’s handbags are priced around $1,000 only.
Burberry, the British luxury trenchcoat brand had increased its sales by 4% in the last quarter after some price adjustments.
Reducing price is a bit tricky for luxury brands as it could have been perceived as to admit that the goods were never worth the prices the brands were charging before. That is why LVMH still holds to its price and dare not to damage the brand image it has been building. The best is perhaps to release new products at lower price points.
