Halfway through the year: News not to be forgotten from the past six months

The first half of 2023 is already over. Over the past few months plenty of newsworthy things happened, but some of these events should not be forgotten. FashionUnited has listed the big moments for you.

Adidas targeted by campaign alliance Yes Men - fake press release and guerilla show

The year began with confusion surrounding Adidas. A press release reached the media about a 'revolutionary plan' at Adidas. The indistinguishable press release spoke on the appointment of a co-CEO at Adidas, a former Cambodian garment worker and leader of a union. Soon Adidas responded that the press release was not sent out by the German sportswear company.

It was soon revealed that the release was linked to a guerrilla show during Berlin Fashion Week. The show was presented as an Adidas show, but was really a show by the New York-based action alliance The Yes Men. The event addressed accusations against Adidas that the company does not respect the rights of its suppliers' workers. Models at the show sported upcycled Adidas clothing and looked dishevelled.

Adidas rejected the allegations and claimed it had been taking measures to ensure fair and safe working conditions for workers in its supply chain for 25 years.

Fashion entrepreneur Myriam Ullens de Schooten Whetnall shot dead

The fashion world was rocked by sad news in March. Myriam Ullens de Schooten Whettnall, founder of luxury brand Maison Ullens, was shot dead outside her house.

The suspected perpetrator was believed to be stepson Nicolas U, who the fashion entrepreneur was in conflict with for years. Ullens de Schooten Whettnall’s husband Guy Ullens was also hit, but survived the incident.

The incident took place several months after Maison Ullens appointed a new creative director, Belgian Christian Wijnants. At the time, Wijnants said he had worked a lot with Myriam. The entrepreneur gave the designer input and spoke about her travels on which her collections are based on. Since the death of the founder, there has been no update on how Maison Ullens will continue.

Earthquakes in Turkey and Syria

At first glance, the violent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria seem to have had nothing to do with the fashion industry, but nothing could be further from the truth. Several of the affected areas are the very areas where part of the textile industry is located, with the various earthquakes resulting in thousands of victims.

Various initiatives emerged to support affected parties. For example, Amazon opened up its distribution centre in Istanbul for shipping donated items so that they could reach affected areas as soon as possible. Other companies donated funds; Inditex donated three million euros, Hugo Boss 250,000 euros and H&M 100,000 dollars. Other companies chose to donate products such as warm jackets and daily necessities. These included Bestseller, Inditex but also Hugo Boss.

Production times of workshops in the affected areas slowed down, if the sites were not already devastated. At denim fair Kingpins Levent Bozgeyik of Iskur Denim said that it was also difficult to find people willing to work. "The machinery was not damaged, the factories were not damaged (The company is based in Istanbul which was not affected by the earthquakes) but very few people can work: that is our biggest problem today. How do you expect them to think about working when they have no place to live, no place to sleep? They have other things on their minds. We don't need to fix our machines, we need to bring more people back."

In the name of art: The Metabirkin saga

The 'MetaBirkin': a digital artwork based on fashion house Hermès' iconic Birkin bag. The fluffy digital editions look cute, but do they infringe on Hermès' intellectual property rights? That was the big question in February when the creator of the artworks met the luxury fashion house in court. Digital creation against values of luxury fashion.

Hermès emerged as the winner. The court found that artist Mason Rothschild profited from the Hermès brand by creating the NFTs. Hermès will receive 133,000 dollars (just under 125,000 euros) in damages. In June the luxury fashion house and Rothschild met again in court. During the hearing, the judge ruled that the NFTs should no longer be sold due to the artist's marketing statements that could confuse consumers and harm Hermès.

Shockwaves: Scotch & Soda bankrupt, but continues under American party

Last, but certainly not least, there was the bankruptcy and relaunch of Scotch & Soda. As a stroke of luck, the Dutch fashion brand reported in mid-March that it was filing for bankruptcy. The application was made due to severe cash flow problems caused by covid-19 lockdowns and the subsequent energy crisis and high inflation.

The media was quick to sound the verdict that Scotch & Soda's positioning was flawed and the company had grown too fast and too hard. Despite this, a new owner is found within a week: the American Bluestar Alliance. The company ultimately paid 60 million euros for the Dutch firm. Scotch & Soda's wholesale and retail operations in the US were also taken over by Bluestar, and in France the brand remained active thanks to a takeover by Belgian group Alain Broekaert. In the UK however, stores are set to close.

One thing is certain: Scotch & Soda must move on without CEO Frederick Lukoff. In June, it emerged that the CEO left the Dutch brand and has since made the move to British fashion label Casablanca.

This article originally appeared on FashionUnited.NL. Translation and edit by: Rachel Douglass.