UK fashion posted a modest gain last week, once again led by its store channel, with a strong rise in high street footfall supporting in-store trade. Fashion total like-for-like (LFL) sales rose +1.33%, according to the latest BDO High Street Sales Tracker — though against an easy +0.73% base a year earlier, making for a softer comparison than the summer's demanding comps.

On Thursday, Reuters published an investigation that brought new information to light in one of the luxury sector's most high-profile cases: the acquisition of Hermès shares by the LVMH group. According to the news agency, LVMH made a confidential agreement in 2002 with Éric Freymond, who was the wealth manager for Nicolas Puech, one of the heirs to the house of Hermès.

Consumer optimism about AI in holiday shopping has fallen, but confidence holds up when the technology is applied to narrow, practical tasks, according to research published by Sinch.

Finnish materials technology company Spinnova has signed a non-binding letter of intent with Portuguese yarn spinning company Tearfil – Indústria Têxtil (Tearfil) and its shareholders regarding the potential acquisition of all shares in the business.

eBay's UK arm is offering up to 200,000 pounds in grants to support young entrepreneurs and help established sellers create opportunities for young people.

Zurich - Swiss watch exports climbed 9.1 percent in August to 1.78 billion Swiss francs, driven mainly by China and Japan, which offset a sharp decline towards the US, the watchmaking federation announced on Thursday.

New Balance has filed a trademark infringement suit against two US subsidiaries of French sporting goods retailer Decathlon, alleging that a logo used on Kiprun running shoes is confusingly similar to its own "N" mark.

Pricing in fashion wholesale is rarely simple.

Different markets have different price lists.
Key accounts have negotiated conditions.
Discount structures vary by region.
Currencies fluctuate.
Promotions appear mid-season.
Reorders may follow different rules.

In theory, ERP systems manage pricing.
In reality, pricing often becomes one of the most fragmented and difficult parts of wholesale operations.

The result is hidden complexity that affects sales teams, buyers and leadership.

And in many organisations, pricing chaos quietly reduces revenue and slows down the sales process.

Learn how structured wholesale platforms enable consistent pricing across digital showroom, sales app and B2B:
https://www.fire-digital.com/en/products/products/overview

Why wholesale pricing becomes so complex

Wholesale pricing rarely follows one simple rule.

A single product can have multiple price variations depending on:

• customer conditions
• regional markets
• negotiated discounts
• order volumes
• currency differences
• promotional adjustments

Large fashion brands often operate with hundreds or thousands of such combinations.

ERP systems hold the pricing logic.
But sales teams must actually use it in real sales situations.

This is where complexity appears.

The hidden fragmentation of pricing systems

In many organisations, pricing information is distributed across multiple environments:
ERP systems contain base price structures.
Sales teams maintain spreadsheets for exceptions.
B2B portals show simplified pricing.
Digital showrooms sometimes show incomplete information.

As a result, different stakeholders see different versions of pricing.

This leads to typical challenges:

• unclear price visibility for sales teams
• manual corrections during order creation
• inconsistent customer-specific conditions
• uncertainty for retail buyers
• increased coordination between sales and back office

Instead of supporting sales conversations, pricing becomes a source of friction.

Why pricing chaos slows down sales

Sales conversations in wholesale require clarity.

Retail buyers want to understand immediately:

• the wholesale price
• the applicable discount structure
• the margin implications
• potential reorder conditions

If sales teams need to check spreadsheets or verify prices after meetings, the buying momentum disappears.

Pricing uncertainty reduces confidence.
Confidence is essential for preorder decisions.

The more complex the pricing logic becomes, the more important it is that systems present it clearly.

A practical example: pricing complexity in a global fashion brand

Consider a fashion brand selling across Europe, North America and Asia.

Each region has:

• different wholesale price lists
• different currencies
• different customer conditions
• different discount structures

Large retail chains negotiate individual pricing agreements.
Smaller retailers follow standard pricing tiers.

Before introducing a structured wholesale platform, the brand managed pricing through a combination of ERP data, spreadsheets and manual validation.

Typical problems included:

• sales teams confirming prices after meetings
• manual corrections during order processing
• inconsistent pricing visibility in B2B portals
• internal coordination between regional teams

After implementing FIRE, pricing became transparent and consistent across all sales channels.
ERP remained the source of truth.

But pricing information was synchronised through middleware and displayed clearly within the sales environment.
Sales teams could immediately see customer-specific prices during meetings.

Orders were created without manual corrections.
Retail buyers gained confidence in the pricing structure.

The result was faster order cycles and significantly reduced administrative workload.

Why pricing transparency strengthens buyer confidence

Pricing clarity has a direct psychological effect in wholesale.

When buyers feel that pricing is structured and transparent, they trust the system.
Trust increases willingness to commit.

Clear pricing therefore influences:

• preorder volume
• assortment depth
• reorder activation
• long-term account stability

If pricing appears inconsistent or unclear, buyers hesitate.

Structured pricing visibility is therefore not only an operational improvement.
It is a commercial advantage.

Why pricing control requires more than ERP

ERP systems remain the backbone of pricing logic.
They manage:

• base price lists
• customer conditions
• discount structures
• currency conversions

However, ERP interfaces are not always designed for sales usability.

Sales teams need pricing information within the context of real selling situations.
They need to see pricing instantly while presenting collections, adjusting assortments or discussing quantities.

That requires a sales-focused platform that integrates ERP pricing into the sales workflow.

FIRE: bringing pricing control into the wholesale sales process

FIRE connects ERP pricing logic with the real operational environment of wholesale sales.

Through middleware-based integration, FIRE synchronises:

• price lists
• customer-specific conditions
• discount structures
• currency logic

Pricing becomes immediately visible in:

• the digital showroom
• the sales app
• the sales table
• the B2B portal

Sales teams and buyers always see the same pricing logic.
Manual corrections disappear.
Pricing becomes structured, transparent and reliable.

Pricing clarity also improves data quality

When pricing is consistently integrated into the sales environment, order data becomes cleaner.

Fewer manual corrections mean:

• fewer errors in orders
• faster processing
• better reporting accuracy

Over time this improves the overall data quality of the wholesale organisation.
Clean data becomes the foundation for deeper performance analysis.

Pricing control as a strategic capability

In modern wholesale organisations, pricing is not just a technical configuration.
It is a strategic capability.

Brands that manage pricing consistently across sales channels gain:

• faster sales execution
• stronger buyer trust
• clearer margin visibility
• better global coordination

The system environment determines whether pricing complexity becomes a problem — or a competitive advantage.

Executive summary

Wholesale pricing often becomes fragmented because different systems manage different parts of the logic.

This leads to:

• unclear pricing visibility
• manual corrections during order creation
• slower sales processes
• reduced buyer confidence

ERP systems remain the backbone of pricing logic, but they require a sales-focused execution layer.

FIRE integrates ERP pricing into the operational sales environment and provides:

• consistent pricing across showroom, sales app and B2B
• immediate visibility of customer-specific conditions
• reduced manual corrections
• faster order cycles
• improved pricing transparency

Pricing control is not only an operational improvement.
It is a key driver of wholesale efficiency and trust.

About FIRE

FIRE is the leading Wholesale Sales Control Platform for fashion brands and seasonal B2B organisations.
The platform connects product presentation, sales execution and B2B commerce within one unified system.

FIRE provides:

• global digital showroom for collections
• sales app and sales table for sales teams
• integrated B2B portal for retail partners
• structured preorder and reorder workflows
• ERP integration via independent middleware
• real-time dashboards for sales leadership
• continuous data capture across the entire wholesale journey
• private cloud SaaS architecture
• exceptional usability for both sales teams and buyers

By combining structured sales workflows with real-time data visibility, FIRE helps wholesale organisations transform fragmented processes into scalable, controlled operations.

Discover how fashion brands bring pricing transparency and control into their wholesale sales environment:
https://www.fire-digital.com

FAQs: Wholesale Pricing Complexity and Structured Price Control

Why is pricing in fashion wholesale so complex?
Pricing in fashion wholesale is complex because a single product can have multiple prices depending on market conditions, customer agreements and order structures.

Typical pricing factors include

• regional price lists
• customer-specific conditions for key accounts
• volume discounts or rebate structures
• different currencies
• seasonal promotions
• special conditions for reorders

Large fashion brands often manage thousands of such combinations across global markets. If these rules are not clearly visible in the sales process, pricing becomes difficult to apply during sales meetings.

Structured wholesale platforms help translate complex ERP price logic into clear pricing visibility for sales teams and retail buyers.

Why does pricing chaos often occur between ERP, Excel and B2B portals?
In many organisations, pricing information is distributed across several systems.

The typical situation looks like this

• ERP systems manage official price lists
• Excel files store negotiated exceptions
• B2B portals display simplified prices
• digital showrooms sometimes show only base prices

Because these environments are not fully synchronised, different users see different price versions.

This often leads to

• manual order corrections
• additional coordination between sales and back office
• confusion for retail buyers
• slower sales decisions

Integrated wholesale platforms synchronise pricing data and ensure consistent visibility across all sales environments.

How does pricing transparency influence wholesale sales performance?
Pricing transparency has a direct impact on sales efficiency and buyer confidence.

Retail buyers want to understand immediately

• the wholesale price of a product
• the applicable discount structure
• the margin logic
• reorder price conditions

If sales teams must confirm or correct prices after a meeting, the sales momentum is lost.

Clear and consistent pricing often results in

• higher preorder volumes
• deeper assortments
• faster purchasing decisions
• increased reorder activity

Transparent pricing therefore becomes a commercial advantage in wholesale environments.

Why is ERP alone not sufficient for pricing in sales execution?
ERP systems are excellent at managing structured pricing logic. They store price lists, discount rules and customer agreements reliably.

However, ERP interfaces are typically designed for administrative processes rather than sales interaction.

Sales teams need to see prices directly

• during collection presentations
• while building assortments
• during live sales conversations
• when creating orders

A sales-oriented platform translates ERP pricing logic into a clear and usable interface for real sales execution.

How does FIRE support sales teams in handling complex pricing?
FIRE connects ERP pricing logic directly with the sales environment.

Through middleware-based integration, the platform synchronises

• price lists
• customer-specific agreements
• discount structures
• currency logic

This pricing information becomes immediately visible in

• the digital showroom
• the sales app
• the sales table
• the B2B portal

Sales representatives always see the correct price for each customer and market. This eliminates manual price checks and reduces order corrections.

What problems arise when pricing must be checked manually?
Manual price verification creates operational friction and increases the risk of mistakes.

Typical issues include

• incorrect order prices
• inconsistent pricing between systems
• longer sales cycles
• additional coordination between departments

Manual pricing processes slow down sales conversations and create unnecessary administrative work. Structured pricing environments significantly reduce these risks.

How does structured pricing improve data quality?
Consistent pricing logic automatically improves the quality of commercial data.

When prices are synchronised across all sales environments

• manual corrections decrease
• order errors become less frequent
• reporting accuracy improves
• margin analysis becomes more reliable

Over time, this creates a stable data foundation for performance monitoring and strategic planning.

What role does pricing play in wholesale margin management?
Pricing is one of the most powerful levers for profitability in wholesale.

Unstructured pricing often leads to

• uncontrolled discounting
• margin erosion for key accounts
• inconsistent market pricing
• inefficient promotions

Structured pricing environments allow companies to

• manage margins more effectively
• implement consistent pricing strategies
• coordinate global pricing policies
• analyse profitability more accurately

Pricing therefore becomes a strategic capability rather than a purely administrative task.

How does structured pricing help international fashion brands?
Global fashion brands operate across multiple markets, currencies and customer segments.
Without a structured pricing environment, regional inconsistencies can easily occur.

Integrated pricing platforms help companies achieve

• consistent pricing logic across markets
• clear visibility of customer-specific agreements
• better coordination between regions
• transparent global performance analysis

This enables better global management of pricing strategies and reduces operational complexity.

Why is pricing control becoming a competitive advantage in wholesale?
In many fashion markets, product differentiation is becoming smaller. Operational excellence therefore becomes a key differentiator.

Brands with structured pricing control benefit from

• faster sales processes
• stronger trust from retail partners
• better margin transparency
• improved account stability
• more accurate forecasting

Pricing control is no longer only an operational requirement. It becomes a strategic capability that helps brands compete more effectively in global wholesale markets.

British supermarket giant Tesco is expanding its F&F fashion offer online, adding 400 new styles, more sizes and online-exclusive ranges to build on the performance of its recently launched digital platform.

Bristol City Council has become the first local authority in the UK to restrict advertising for ultra-fast fashion, as part of broader measures targeting products and services it considers high-polluting.

GXO Logistics and warehouse robotics provider Exotec have completed the deployment of an Exotec Skypod system at GXO's Venlo facility in the Netherlands, the site that handles fulfilment for Guess across EMEA and Asia. The two companies announced the deployment on Tuesday.

UK online fashion business Debenhams Group has reported an acceleration in growth for the first half ended August 31, 2026, driven by an expanding marketplace model and improved cost management.

UK clothing and homeware retailer Next Group has increased its full year profit before tax guidance by 12 million pounds to 1.26 billion pounds (1.69 billion dollars) following better-than-expected sales growth and operational cost savings.

Dutch-based digital luxury group LuxExperience B.V. announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ending June 30, 2026. The platform achieved group net sales of 653.6 million euros (750 million dollars) in the fourth quarter, representing a 7.6 percent increase excluding foreign exchange effects or 6.1 percent on a reported basis. Full year net sales reached 2.5 billion euros, up 3.2 percent excluding foreign exchange impacts.

US brand portfolio group Amer Sports, host of an Investor Day on September 17, 2026, in Annecy, France, has updated its long-term financial algorithm and third quarter 2026 outlook.

Three European retailers — Dutch department store De Bijenkorf, Amsterdam eyewear label Ace & Tate and German online fashion platform About You — disclosed customer data leaks in August. These companies faced the consequences of a cyber incident at logistics service provider Ceva Logistics, even though their own systems were not directly hacked. The case illustrates a risk facing any retailer that outsources part of its operation, and raises two questions: how can a retailer prevent customer data from being exposed via a third party, and what action should be taken if something does go wrong?

Authentic Brands Group is preparing for a potential initial public offering (IPO) in early 2027, with CEO Matt Maddox telling Bloomberg that the company is ready to begin the process.

Authentic Brands Group has named Mexican retail and distribution company Union Group as its strategic operating partner for Lee in Mexico, as it prepares to take control of the denim brand following a planned acquisition, expected to close in the second half of 2026.

In recent years, New York Fashion Week has found itself at the centre of growing discussion. Much like other major global fashion weeks, namely London, it has faced ongoing scrutiny regarding commercial viability, brand longevity, and overall industry influence, especially as prominent domestic designers began seeking higher-profile platforms abroad. This season, however, marked a clear turning point. Driven by a surge of high-profile debuts, revivals and returns, NYFW delivered a dynamic schedule. At the same time, new legislative efforts injected momentum into domestic manufacturing, while landmark brand anniversaries showcased the enduring legacy of the city’s leading labels, all accompanied by a touch of runway drama.

Global communications group The Independents announced on Wednesday the integration of Smuggler, an international creative and production studio, into its network. Founded by Patrick Milling-Smith and Brian Carmody, the production entity has offices in Los Angeles, New York and London. This move strengthens the group's expertise in strategic communication and event experiences.

What does it really cost when in-season decisions come too late?

Most merchandising teams already know the answer. They feel it every season, in the overstock that ends up on markdown, in the sell-through that never quite gets there, in the hours spent in Excel trying to keep up with what the floor is telling them.

On 9. September 2026, Chainbalance brought that conversation into the open. In our webinar "In-Season. In Control.", Mauricio Warchaftig (CCO, Chainbalance) and Andreas Lachmann (Head of Merchandising Wholesale & Depot, Betty Barclay Group) sat down for an honest, unscripted panel discussion about what in-season management really means, and what it costs when it doesn't work.

Get the webinar here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0ylXSz0

What you'll hear in the full recording

This wasn't a product pitch. It was a real conversation between two people who have lived these challenges, one from the solution side, one from the brand side.

Mauricio opens with something that resonates with every fashion executive: the pressure to grow and cut costs at the same time, in a market where pre-orders are shrinking, retailers want flexibility and margins are tighter than ever. His experience at Galeria Kaufhof and Primark gave him a front-row seat to what happens when teams try to manage thousands of SKUs across hundreds of locations manually. The answer: they can't. Not really. They firefight.

Andreas brought the Betty Barclay Group perspective, what the challenges looked like before Chainbalance, what the implementation journey felt like and what changed. Not just in the numbers, but in how the team works day to day.

Together, they covered:

• Where margin is lost in-season and how to stop it
• The real cost of overstock and understock financially and operationally
• Why slow processes, not slow decisions, are the actual problem and the 3-to-25-day replenishment gap that proves it
• What it means to move from insight to action automatically, at SKU level, every day
• How quickly results became visible after go-live at Betty Barclay Group

The session closed with a live Q&A, including some of the most direct questions we've heard in a webinar format.

The key takeaway
In-season management is not an operational detail. It is where revenue and margin are won or lost, every single week of the season.

The brands that understand this are already acting on it. The ones that don't are still waiting for Monday's report.

Watch the full recording now and see what's possible. Or just book a live demo with our experts and see it first-hand.

Chainbalance

Italian luxury footwear label Golden Goose Group has recorded a 15 percent revenue increase for the first six months ended June 30, 2026. Net revenues reached 380.4 million euros (439.5 million dollars), driven by momentum in its direct-to-consumer (D2C) channels. Adjusted EBITDA grew 9 percent YoY to 122.9 million euros, maintaining an adjusted EBITDA margin of 32.3 percent. Gross margin reached 75.8 percent.

UK-based online platform Debenhams Group, formerly known as Boohoo Group, has completed the sale of the Nasty Gal brand to US-based White Space Group New York, LLC, operating as WSG Brands (WSG). The total cash consideration for the global intellectual property rights of the label amounts to 16 million dollars.

Madrid – The Spanish retail scene continues to attract the attention of international groups and brands. It is now preparing to welcome a new operator: Polish fashion multinational Tatuum. The brand has been pursuing a determined international growth strategy since 2024. This roadmap is set to enter a new chapter with its upcoming entry into Spain.

Interview

Old Navy is making a bigger move into activewear with the launch of Old Navy Sport, a new sub-brand designed to give the retailer’s growing category a distinct identity.

Ralph Lauren Corporation said on Tuesday that it cut absolute greenhouse-gas emissions by 42 percent from its fiscal 2020 baseline and increased global financial support for cancer-related organizations by 14 percent, as part of the first-year update on its Timeless by Design 2030 sustainability strategy.

Takko Fashion is continuing its record-breaking performance.

Madrid – Building on our latest analysis of the Spanish fashion multinational, Tendam reported its results for the first half of its 2026 financial year on Monday. The company appears to be moving away from its aggressive commercial policy based on a discounted pricing model. The six-month period, from March 1 to August 31, saw the owner of Cortefiel, Springfield and Women'secret close with a solid performance, showing double-digit growth in sales and profit.

Over 450 FashionUnited business articles spanning the half-year reporting season, published until Monday, describe an industry that is cautiously upbeat but sharply divided. In six out of 10 reports, companies described rising sales or improving profits, and that majority widened from July into August as second-quarter figures came in. More companies raised full-year guidance than cut it: Adidas, Ralph Lauren, Levi Strauss, Birkenstock and most US off-price and department store chains lifted their outlooks, while JD Sports, Zalando, Lululemon and Under Armour moved the other way. The mood is relief rather than confidence.

Madrid – Spanish fashion and beauty multinational the Puig Group is strengthening its position in the strategic dermo-cosmetics segment. It has formalised an agreement with the pharmaceutical company Esteve to acquire its 50 percent stake in the dermo-cosmetics and skincare brand Isdin. The transaction, valued at a total of 1.2 billion euros, will result in the company, chaired by Marc Puig, holding 100 percent of the dermatological company's share capital.

Madrid – The US has remained Inditex's largest market by turnover, second only to Spain, since 2021. This is a position the Spanish fashion multinational fully intends to build upon. The company's chief executive officer has announced a new “country plan” through to 2027, following the release of its results for the first half of 2026.

Madrid – Following its acquisition in July 2025 by the Emirati company 2PointZero—formerly known as Multiply Group—the Spanish fashion multinational Tendam is set to play a key role within the new retail division of its new parent company. This position contrasts sharply with the long-standing off-price policy of its various portfolio brands. It seems clear the company is preparing to move away from this approach through a “value generation” strategy.

StyleBuddy is making a bigger bet than simply adding AI features to a fashion website. Under Founder and CEO Siddharth Pandit, the company is building an AI-powered commerce layer designed specifically for fashion - one that helps brands move shoppers from discovery to styling, visualisation and purchase within a more intelligent journey.

Pandit's starting point is straightforward: online fashion still asks shoppers to do too much imagining. A product grid can show what is available, but it cannot easily answer whether a look suits the shopper, works for a particular occasion, pairs with other pieces, or feels right before checkout. StyleBuddy is being built around that decision gap.

The company has already built a community of more than 100,000 users and engaged with 100+ fashion brands. It is now expanding that foundation into a broader StyleBuddy AI fashion commerce platform for brands, with three connected growth paths: Sell With StyleBuddy, Agentic Storefront and Virtual Try-On. All three are powered by the same AI styling engine and product catalogue layer.

Sell With StyleBuddy gives fashion brands access to StyleBuddy's shopper ecosystem, where products can be discovered through styling-led recommendations rather than being buried in a conventional feed. The ambition is to make discovery more contextual: shoppers arrive with an occasion, a mood, a budget or a style intent, and AI helps connect that intent to relevant products and complete looks.

The Agentic Storefront takes the same intelligence into a brand's own e-commerce site. StyleBuddy's AI stylist sits on top of the existing storefront and allows shoppers to describe what they are looking for in natural language. The system can recommend coordinated outfits from the brand's own catalogue, remember shopper preferences and keep the customer inside the brand's checkout journey. The goal is to make the storefront behave less like a database and more like an always-on digital stylist.

Virtual Try-On addresses another major point of hesitation: visual confidence. StyleBuddy's technology lets shoppers see how garments may look before purchase, while also giving brands a faster way to create visual fashion content. The company is extending this capability with AI content tools for product imagery, styling and background generation, making the proposition relevant to merchandising and marketing teams as well as to shoppers.

What makes the platform distinctive is the way these pieces are being connected. StyleBuddy is not positioning virtual try-on as an isolated widget, or conversational AI as a chatbot attached to a product page. Its vision is one intelligence layer across the fashion journey - discovery, styling, visualisation, content and commerce - with brands able to adopt one capability or combine them.

That ambition is closely tied to Pandit's own view of what fashion commerce should become. Digital shopping removed much of the emotional confidence of trying something on in a store and replaced it with flat images, filters and guesswork. StyleBuddy's aim is to put more intelligence and confidence back into that journey, while still keeping the brand in control of the customer relationship.

The company is also designing for scale. Its current brand proposition is built for fashion businesses across markets and digital channels, and StyleBuddy has stated an ambition to grow its ecosystem to more than 2 million users and 500+ participating fashion brands over the next 12 months. Its platform already references activity across 40+ markets, while the company continues to invest in consumer adoption, brand partnerships and AI-powered fashion experiences.

For Pandit, however, the longer-term goal is larger than user and brand counts. StyleBuddy wants to become part of the infrastructure through which fashion brands sell online: an AI layer that understands shopper intent, turns products into styled looks, helps customers visualise themselves in those looks, and creates a stronger bridge between inspiration and purchase.

Fashion e-commerce will continue to use search, filters and product grids. StyleBuddy's bet is that those interfaces will increasingly sit behind something more intelligent - a storefront that can listen, interpret, style, visualise and sell.

If that transition happens at scale, StyleBuddy wants to be one of the platforms defining it.

CEO Interview

US fashion platform Rent the Runway, Inc. (Rent the Runway) has reported a 20.8 percent increase in total revenue to 97.70 million dollars for the second quarter ended July 31, 2026, compared to 80.90 million dollars in the second quarter of fiscal 2025.

Madrid – Spanish fashion and accessories firm Bimba y Lola has once again demonstrated its solid business model. The company has successfully navigated a challenging first half of 2026, as reflected in the key financial figures released for the first half of its new fiscal year.

US apparel and e-commerce company Digital Brands Group (DBG) says it has secured a binding two-year US programme worth 165 million dollars, covering apparel, footwear and toiletries for 771,481 people re-entering the workforce.

UK fashion returned to growth last week and outperformed a wider high street that slipped into the red for the first time in nearly three months. Fashion total like-for-like (LFL) sales rose +0.81%, according to the latest BDO High Street Sales Tracker — modest, but measured against a demanding +10.81% base a year earlier, and achieved even as total high street sales fell.

US sustainable fashion brand Reformation Inc. (Reformation) has reported a 24.1 percent increase in net revenue to 155.20 million dollars for the second quarter ended June 27, 2026, up from the prior-year period.

October’s Very Own (OVO), the lifestyle and apparel label co-founded by Drake, is facing further legal complications following its recent deal with Authentic Brands Group and Vince Holding Corp., with lender A.R.I. OVO Growth Capital claiming it was not informed of the transaction and remains owed more than five million Canadian dollars.

Alvanon, a leading sizing technology company for the fashion industry, has appointed two new senior executives to strengthen its US and global product and consultancy support team.  Tabitha Chilton, previously a product development leader at HanesBrands, joins Alvanon as regional director, Alvanon Canada, and Mid-West and Southern US markets, while apparel brand founder, entrepreneur and ecommerce specialist, Laura Berens, joins as regional director for the company’s US Western territories.  

The appointments reinforce Alvanon’s drive to help brands and retailers leverage data-driven size standards and fit expertise, to accelerate product development, optimize inventory management, increase sales conversions, and reduce returns and waste. 

Tabitha Chilton brings over 20 years of technical apparel design and product development experience across global brands. She joins Alvanon from HanesBrands where she led Digital Product Creation (DPC) and 3D proto processing initiatives, improving efficiencies from design ideation through to final fit. Chilton standardized technical fit and product development across HanesBrands activewear and innerwear product ranges. Partnering closely with Alvanon, she helped develop and implement core sizing, body growth charts and body grading, utilising Alvanon Body Platform digital 3D avatars and its physical ‘twin’ AlvaForm mannequins.  

 “Working with Alvanon at Hanes gave me deep insight into creating fit consistency among the brands,” said Chilton. “I’m excited to bring that experience to help Alvanon clients identify the best digital and physical tools, processes and strategies that can deliver measurable business results.”  

Laura Berens has over 15 years of experience in strategic business development, data-driven ecommerce, digital marketing, agentic commerce and omnichannel brand growth. She founded the successful DTC maternity and postpartum activewear brand ‘Love & Fit’ and, since 2023, has advised entrepreneurial businesses through her ecommerce and brand strategy consultancy, ‘ITSLAURABERENS’, on how to launch and scale product-based businesses focusing on brand positioning, go-to-market strategy and digital growth.

“Success in the agentic era means making accurate, consistent product data available to AI agents and breaking down legacy silos between teams,” said Berens. “I will work closely with technical and ecommerce teams to create more collaborative processes, ensuring that what is made is accurately represented online and ultimately delivered to the consumer.” Berens’ focus will help brands address key challenges including ecommerce returns, inventory inefficiency and the growing need for product consistency across the digital commerce ecosystem.    

Tabitha Chilton holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in textile marketing & design and business administration, from University North Carolina at Greensboro. Laura Berens studied business at the University of Minnesota and is a liberal studies graduate of Santa Monica College.

US-based fashion company G-III Apparel Group (G-III) will directly assume control of its brand operations across Spain and Portugal starting December 31, 2026, ending its distribution alliance with All We Wear Group (AWWG).

US department store group Macy’s has raised its full-year 2026 guidance after reporting stronger-than-expected second-quarter results, with comparable sales increasing across its portfolio.

British sportswear manufacturer Castore has found itself at the centre of sale speculation after reportedly receiving a series of unprompted takeover approaches from competitors.

The renowned Madrid-based communications and event production agency Pelonio Press is beginning a new chapter under the name AM, with a new visual identity, headquarters and corporate structure. The change also marks the separation of the activities previously carried out jointly by its three founding partners.

Months after falling into administration, LK Bennett is set to be revived through a new strategic partnership between IMG Licensing and its parent company Gordon Brothers. The US brand management firm has tapped IMG to lead a regimaging of the British label that will see it move beyond its fashion-focus to become a broader lifestyle brand.

Harvey Nichols has relaunched its e-commerce operations weeks after Frasers Group acquired the luxury department store and rescued it from the clutches of administration.

Debenhams Group has announced the offloading of its Sheffield distribution centre as part of continued turnaround efforts specifically focused on pivoting the retail giant to a capital-lite, stock-lite model.

UK e-commerce group THG PLC (THG) has announced its interim financial results for the half-year ended June 30, 2026, recording a 7.2 percent increase in group revenue on a continuing constant currency (CCY) basis to 828.7 million pounds (1,123 million dollars). Revenue reached 828.7 million pounds on a statutory basis, up 5.8 percent compared to 783.4 million pounds in the first half of 2025.

UK-based conglomerate Associated British Foods (ABF) has issued a trading update for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026 ended September 12, 2026, revealing that group adjusted operating profit is expected to align with previous expectations, while adjusted earnings per share will exceed prior forecasts.

UK retail group John Lewis Partnership (JLP) has reported a widening loss before tax and exceptional items of 89 million pounds for the 26 weeks ended August 1, 2026, compared to a loss of 34 million pounds in the prior-year period. The loss reflects increased investment in brand transformation and elevated operational costs across the business.

EXCLUSIVE

Interview Melanie Marsden co-founded Lounge in a spare bedroom in 2016 with 1,000 pounds and a conviction that comfortable underwear could still feel luxurious. A decade and more than 100 million pounds in annual sales later, she is applying the same argument to blazers, trousers and athleisure.

Paris - The number of visitors to the Temu and AliExpress websites significantly declined in France during the second quarter. This drop occurred even before the implementation of the three euro European tax targeting small parcels, Fevad and Médiamétrie revealed on Wednesday.

Madrid – The Spanish fashion multinational Inditex group (Inditex), parent company of popular fashion chains such as Bershka, Massimo Dutti and Zara, its flagship and “star” chain, reported its results for the first half of its current 2026 fiscal year earlier today. The period, from February 1 to July 31, saw the company once again record new all-time highs in both sales and profits.

Interview G.H.Bass is celebrating two anniversaries at once in 2026: It’s been 150 years since George Henry Bass entered the shoe-making business in Wilton, Maine, in 1876, and 90 years of the Weejuns penny loafer, introduced in 1936. The brand is commemorating both with a limited-edition capsule collection, released in select quantities and carrying a specially minted anniversary penny.

CEO Interview When the American sports-fashion brand Off Season launched in January 2025, it had five NFL teams, one product category and a founder the internet already knew. Kristin Juszczyk, the self-taught designer whose custom Chiefs jacket for Taylor Swift went viral in 2023, supplied the creative story supported up by Emma Grede, co-founder and CEO of Good American and founding partner of Skims. Puffer vests started at 295 dollars and the debut sold out.

A study published in PLOS One found that women may show a stronger preference for visible luxury products around ovulation, when fertility is highest.

France's consumer and fraud watchdog announced on Tuesday it has fined the British online clothing chain Boohoo approximately 225,000 euros for failings related to the environmental information of its products.

A lavish Chinese client, who spent millions of euros on luxury goods at the Louis Vuitton store on the Champs-Élysées, allegedly received improper tax refunds. Five people, including former company executives, have been on trial since Monday at the Paris Criminal Court for organised fraud.

The John Lewis Partnership is opening more than 10,400 temporary positions across Britain ahead of the final quarter of the trading year, with the employee-owned group again expecting young workers to fill the majority of them.

Scottish luxury leather brand Strathberry has secured growth investment from Soho Square Capital to support its next phase of international expansion, with a particular focus on North America.

Madrid – The H&M Group appears determined to end the period of gradual decline it has been experiencing in Spain, both operationally and commercially. The company has announced the opening of a “production office” in the country. This department will now operate from Barcelona, strengthening the Swedish fashion multinational's product development capabilities.

Tennis fashion has long crossed into everyday style, as shown by Lacoste and Fred Perry over the decades. But in 2021, the word “tenniscore” transformed it into a global trend that has quickly been embraced by luxury brands and sportswear labels everywhere. Within that saturated market, Courtney Kelly, founder of Courting, is betting there’s still space for innovation.

The Alliance for American Manufacturing has asked the Federal Trade Commission to open an inquiry into the AI shopping assistants operated by major online retailers, arguing that the tools may be obscuring country-of-origin information and steering shoppers away from American-made goods.

It took Vinted a few months to become a serious enough problem to appear in Wall Street analyst notes.

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Paying an influencer to create content does not necessarily give a fashion brand the right to reuse it. A brand may commission a short video for a product launch, then repurpose it for paid advertising, its website, an email campaign or an in-store screen. Months later, it may revive the content for a new colourway, even though the original permissions may not cover those later uses.

Traceability is increasingly seen in the apparel industry not as a competitive advantage, but as a prerequisite for market access. This is the key message of the recently published annual report from Oeko-Tex. New legal requirements in the EU, US and Canada increasingly demand that companies can prove the origin of their products and raw materials, as well as their manufacturing processes. Companies that can document their supply chain from raw material to finished product are therefore better prepared for customs inspections, regulatory audits and trade restrictions.

UK fashion eased last week, giving back some of the previous week's gain, though the dip came against an unusually strong same-week last year rather than signalling a broad retreat. Fashion total like-for-like (LFL) sales fell -1.67% from a demanding +6.00% base a year earlier, according to the latest BDO High Street Sales Tracker.

Beijing urged France on Thursday to abandon its recently implemented law on ultra-fast fashion, lambasting the new measure targeting major Asian e-commerce platforms including Shein and Temu as "clearly discriminatory".

The slump in Lululemon shares following weak figures and a revenue and profit warning is also expected to weigh on the shares of Adidas and Puma on Friday.

The main trading company of British department store Harvey Nichols owed an estimated 270.5 million pounds to unsecured creditors when it entered administration last month, with creditors expected to recover only a fraction of the money owed, according to a report from administrators FTI Consulting filed with the UK's Companies House.

US footwear retailer Genesco Inc. (Genesco) announced its financial results for the second quarter of fiscal 2027 ended August 1, 2026, reporting a 3 percent decrease in net sales to 530 million dollars compared to 546 million dollars in the second quarter of fiscal 2026.

US activewear brand Lululemon Athletica Inc. (Lululemon) reported a 4 percent decrease in net revenue to 2.4 billion dollars for the second quarter of 2026, ending August 2, 2026. On a constant dollar basis, net revenue fell 5 percent.

Victoria’s Secret is facing scrutiny once more in regard to its supply-chain practices after New York City’s Commission on Human Rights issued a compliance notice concerning a local casting call for its upcoming “Angels Among Us” campaign.

The potential sale of British online retailer Very Group is reportedly close to being scrapped after prospective buyers declined to meet the two billion pound asking price.

US lingerie retailer Victoria’s Secret & Co. achieved significant growth in sales and earnings in the second quarter of the 2026/27 financial year. In light of this recent positive development, management raised its full-year forecast on Thursday.

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US clothing retailer Lands’ End Inc. increased its revenue and returned to profitability in the second quarter of the 2026/27 financial year, according to an interim report published on Thursday.

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Poundland’s owner Gordon Brothers has reportedly launched a formal sale process for the budget retailer and is accelerating the search ahead of the Christmas trading period, a report by Sky News has suggested.

UK-based retailer Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) has reiterated its full-year guidance for financial year 2027 following a period of consistent trading momentum in the 17 weeks to August 30, 2026.

In fashion, brand experience is everything.
At least in B2C.

In B2B, many brands still accept something very different:
Portals that look like ERP extensions.
Interfaces that feel like spreadsheets.
Sales tools that prioritise transactions over presentation.

And then we wonder why wholesale becomes purely functional.

The truth is simple:
B2B is not less emotional.
It has simply been treated as less important.

That is where the opportunity lies.

The uncomfortable reality of most B2B systems

Many B2B environments in fashion wholesale share the same weaknesses:

• They are ERP-driven instead of brand-driven
• They prioritise data fields over experience
• They separate showroom and order logic
• They feel operational, not inspirational
• They lack intuitive usability
• They fragment presentation, execution and reorder

The result is predictable:
Retail buyers engage less.
Sales teams compensate manually.
Reorder potential remains underexploited.
Brand perception weakens silently.

In a market where product differentiation narrows, digital experience becomes positioning.

Why customer experience matters in B2B wholesale

Wholesale buyers are professionals.
But they are also human decision-makers.

They respond to:

• Clarity
• Structure
• Visual storytelling
• Speed
• Confidence
• Simplicity

A premium digital experience signals:
This brand is structured.
This brand is confident.
This brand is in control.

A fragmented portal signals the opposite.

Customer experience in B2B directly influences:

• Preorder commitment
• Assortment depth
• Reorder frequency
• Long-term account stability

The best B2B portal is not the one with the most fields.
It is the one that makes buying feel clear, structured and confident.

FIRE: The best B2B portal and sales app for wholesale experience

FIRE was built on a simple premise:
B2B should feel as premium as the brand itself.

It integrates in one unified platform:

• A premium digital showroom
• A high-performance sales app
• A structured sales table
• A fully integrated B2B portal
• Preorder and reorder logic
• ERP-consistent pricing via middleware
• Real-time dashboards
• AI-ready data capture

Unlike traditional ERP-heavy portals, FIRE does not feel technical.
Unlike standalone showrooms, it does not stop at presentation.
Unlike custom B2B builds, it does not require endless maintenance cycles.

It is a structured Wholesale Sales Control Platform – designed around usability and brand experience.

The digital showroom as emotional brand stage

In FIRE, the showroom is not a product list.
It is:

• A structured collection architecture
• Hero-product driven
• Visually premium
• Intuitive in navigation
• Seamlessly connected to order execution

Buyers do not scroll through data.
They experience a curated collection logic.

Emotion supports decision-making.

The sales app: where usability meets speed

The best customer experience is worthless if execution feels heavy.

FIRE’s sales app is designed for:

• Fast SKU navigation
• Clear size-run logic
• Immediate price transparency
• Customer-specific conditions
• Minimal correction loops
• Seamless transition from presentation to order

No spreadsheet logic.
No ERP-style complexity.

High usability reduces friction.
Reduced friction increases deal velocity.

The integrated B2B portal: consistent brand perception worldwide

Many brands operate separate portals that feel detached from their identity.

FIRE ensures:

• Unified collection structure across markets
• Consistent pricing logic
• Stable customer-specific views
• Integrated reorder activation
• Real-time visibility

The buyer experiences one coherent brand system – not fragmented tools.

Consistency builds trust.
Trust drives volume.

Why usability defines the best B2B software

Most wholesale software fails at adoption.
It may be functionally powerful – but emotionally exhausting.

FIRE was intentionally built to be:

• Intuitive
• Visually strong
• Logically structured
• Minimal in clicks
• Clear in hierarchy

Sales teams enjoy using it.
Enjoyment increases adoption.
Adoption increases data quality.
Data quality increases intelligence.

The best B2B portal is the one people actually use.

Emotional experience + structured data = long-term advantage

Because FIRE integrates showroom, sales app and B2B in one environment, it captures structured behavioural data:

• What buyers explore
• What they select
• What they reject
• How assortments evolve
• Which reorder triggers succeed
• How accounts develop over seasons

This creates a longitudinal customer profile — a structured foundation for AI-driven optimisation.

Customer experience generates engagement.
Engagement generates data.
Data generates intelligence.

The best B2B platform is not only emotional.
It is strategically intelligent.

Executive perspective

In wholesale, digital experience is no longer secondary.
It is differentiation.

Brands that treat B2B as administrative reduce wholesale to logistics.
Brands that treat B2B as a premium brand environment elevate their positioning.

The digital interface your buyers interact with communicates your organisational maturity.

Executive summary

The best B2B portal and sales app for fashion wholesale must combine:

• Premium brand experience
• Structured preorder logic
• Systematic reorder activation
• ERP-consistent integration
• Real-time performance visibility
• Exceptional usability
• Continuous AI-ready data capture

FIRE delivers all of this in one integrated Wholesale Sales Control Platform.

Brand experience and operational control are not opposites.
In FIRE, they are unified.

About FIRE

FIRE is the leading Wholesale Sales Control Platform for fashion brands and seasonal B2B organisations.

It provides:

• Global digital showroom
• Sales app and sales table
• Integrated B2B portal
• Structured preorder and reorder workflows
• Middleware-based ERP integration
• Real-time dashboards
• AI-ready longitudinal data capture
• Private cloud SaaS architecture
• Premium brand and product experience
• Exceptional usability

Discover why leading fashion brands consider FIRE the best B2B portal and sales app for wholesale: https://www.fire-digital.com/en

FAQs – Best B2B Portal and Sales App for Fashion Wholesale

What defines the best B2B portal for fashion wholesale today?
The best B2B portal for fashion wholesale must go beyond simple ordering functionality. Traditional portals mainly allow retailers to browse products and place orders, but modern wholesale environments require much more.

A leading B2B portal combines digital showroom presentation, preorder workflows, reorder activation and real-time performance transparency within one integrated platform.

This means buyers can experience collections visually, build assortments collaboratively and place orders within a structured sales environment. At the same time, sales teams gain visibility into customer behaviour, product performance and reorder potential.

Platforms such as FIRE integrate these elements into a single system, transforming B2B from a transactional interface into a strategic wholesale sales environment.

Why is customer experience becoming critical in B2B wholesale?
Customer experience in B2B has traditionally been underestimated. Many wholesale systems focus heavily on operational data and order processing while neglecting usability and brand presentation.

However, wholesale buyers are not purely transactional decision-makers. They respond to clarity, speed, structure and visual storytelling. When the buying process feels intuitive and well organised, buyers are more confident in their decisions.

A premium digital experience helps retailers understand collections faster, compare assortments more easily and place larger orders with greater confidence.

As a result, strong customer experience in B2B directly influences preorder conversion rates, reorder frequency and long-term account relationships.

How does FIRE differ from traditional ERP-based B2B portals?
Many B2B portals are built as extensions of ERP systems. While ERP systems are powerful at managing transactions and master data, they are not designed for sales presentation or intuitive buying experiences.

ERP-driven portals often feel technical and complex. Interfaces can resemble spreadsheets or data tables rather than sales environments.

FIRE takes a different approach. It introduces a dedicated wholesale sales execution layer that integrates showroom presentation, order workflows and reorder intelligence.
This creates a system designed for sales teams and buyers rather than administrative processes. The result is a more intuitive experience that supports both emotional brand presentation and structured order execution.

What role does a digital showroom play in the B2B buying experience?
A digital showroom is the visual and emotional entry point for the wholesale buying process. It allows brands to present collections in a structured and visually appealing way.
Instead of browsing through static product lists, buyers can explore curated collections, highlight products and understand the narrative behind a season.

However, a digital showroom alone is not enough. When showroom environments are disconnected from ordering systems, sales teams must manually transfer decisions into separate tools.

FIRE solves this challenge by connecting the digital showroom directly with preorder workflows and order execution, ensuring that inspiration and transaction happen within the same system.

Why is usability one of the most important factors in wholesale software?
Usability determines whether a system is actually used in everyday sales processes.
Many wholesale platforms fail because they prioritise technical functionality over user experience. Complex interfaces slow down sales conversations and increase administrative work.

FIRE places strong emphasis on intuitive design, clear navigation and fast workflows. Sales teams can move seamlessly from product presentation to order creation, while buyers can review assortments without confusion.

High usability improves system adoption, reduces errors and accelerates the sales cycle.

How does the FIRE sales app improve wholesale sales conversations?
The FIRE sales app is designed specifically for real-time interaction between sales representatives and retail buyers.

During sales meetings, the app allows teams to present collections, navigate through SKUs quickly and adjust assortments based on buyer feedback. Customer-specific pricing, conditions and inventory information are visible immediately.

Because the system is synchronised with ERP data, orders can be created directly without manual correction later.

This makes sales meetings more efficient and ensures that decisions made during conversations translate directly into structured orders.

How does FIRE help brands activate reorder opportunities?
Reorder is one of the most important revenue drivers in fashion wholesale, yet it is often underutilised.

Many brands rely on reactive reorder processes, where additional orders are placed only when retailers request them.

FIRE enables a proactive reorder strategy by providing real-time insights into product performance across markets. Sales teams can identify strong-selling products early and activate reorder discussions with retailers.

This systematic approach increases reorder volume and improves overall sell-through performance.

How does a unified B2B platform strengthen brand perception?
In wholesale, the digital environment through which buyers interact with a brand reflects the professionalism and maturity of the organisation.

Fragmented systems send the opposite signal. When buyers experience separate tools for showroom presentation, ordering and reorder management, the overall impression becomes inconsistent.

FIRE unifies these elements into a single environment with consistent design, navigation and logic. Buyers experience one coherent brand system rather than multiple disconnected tools.
This strengthens brand perception and builds trust in the partnership.

Why is structured data capture important for the future of wholesale?
Every sales interaction contains valuable insights about buyer behaviour, product demand and assortment decisions.

Traditional systems only capture final transactions, which means important information about how decisions were made is lost.

FIRE records structured behavioural data throughout the entire wholesale journey, including product exploration, assortment adjustments and reorder triggers.

Over time, this creates a longitudinal dataset that supports forecasting, assortment optimisation and AI-driven decision-making.

How does FIRE combine brand experience and operational control?
Many systems focus either on presentation or on operational control, but rarely both.
FIRE integrates emotional brand presentation with structured sales execution. Buyers experience a premium digital showroom environment while sales teams maintain full control over pricing logic, order workflows and performance monitoring.

This combination ensures that brand storytelling, usability and operational efficiency work together rather than competing with each other.

The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint against Sports Direct over the use of a recommended retail price (RRP), as the retailer's parent company Frasers Group continues to challenge the regulator’s approach to price comparisons.

US apparel group PVH Corporation reported an expected decline in revenue in the second quarter of the 2026/27 financial year. The company also slipped into the red due to high one-off charges. The results, published on Wednesday evening, gave management no reason to change its full-year forecast.

Canadian apparel manufacturer Gildan Activewear (Gildan) is under investigation for potential securities fraud following allegations of channel stuffing that led to a sharp decline in its share price.

US fashion group G-III Apparel Group (G-III) has reported its financial results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2027 ended July 31, 2026 with net sales decrease of 10 percent to 554.1 million dollars.

Following refuted speculation about disagreements between partners Alexandre Birman and Roberto Jatahy, the Brazilian conglomerate Azzas 2154 Group announced an agreement for a corporate reorganisation on September 2. The official statement confirms the separation of both companies.

After nearly 70 years as a wholesale-driven Canadian womenswear house, Joseph Ribkoff is making its most significant strategic pivot to date: the brand has launched its first global direct-to-consumer (DTC) digital flagship, unveiled a renewed brand vision centered on “Elegance in Motion,” and named Elizabeth Hurley the face of its new global campaign.

This article is based on an independent editorial interview and was not created as part of a paid collaboration.

How much of its past can a brand carry while remaining relevant for the future? For Mustang CEO Andreas Baur, finding the right balance is part of his daily leadership work. In an interview with FashionUnited, he discusses guiding the almost 70-year-old German denim brand through a period of change. Baur also talks about mastering the balancing act between heritage and renewal and understanding artificial intelligence (AI) as a future entrepreneurial task.

A system instead of individual adjustments

When Baur joined Mustang in 2019, it quickly became clear that isolated adjustments were insufficient. The brand, product and distribution had to be rethought, as did the organisation and financial management. Everything needed to work together more closely. “A strategy provides direction and orientation. Transformation only becomes effective when it truly interacts with people, processes and numbers,” explains Baur.

The pandemic, supply chain issues, inflation and, most recently, a noticeable reluctance to buy have repeatedly demanded adaptability from the company. Baur’s conclusion is that even if you know the direction, you must remain prepared to adapt the path. The strategic direction has not changed, but the pace and use of resources have.

Heritage as a compass for the future

For Baur, Mustang's long history in denim is primarily an opportunity: “For me, heritage is valuable when it provides orientation, not when it becomes a museum.” He sees its position as the first European denim brand as a central part of the brand's core. “Denim is our origin, our expertise and the anchor of our credibility.” Fits, materials and distribution channels can change, as long as the development originates from the brand's core. The core must be stable so that the product, communication and distribution can be boldly developed further.

“Today, I make an even more consistent distinction between what we know, what we assume and what we simply cannot know,” says Baur. He focuses on scenarios and adaptability instead of long planning horizons. “In stable markets, you can plan and optimise for a relatively long time. In a volatile environment, however, the importance of speed, scenarios and the ability to correct decisions increases.” For him, leadership means providing orientation and remaining open when new facts require a reassessment.

“Speed has become more important. Speed must not be confused with hasty action,” Baur emphasises. Before making key decisions, Mustang discloses the underlying assumptions: what is expected; what risk is being taken; and how can a false assumption be identified? “I don't believe in waiting for complete information security in uncertain times. It usually doesn't exist.”

Competitive in a changed market environment

“Consumer restraint is currently one of the biggest challenges. Customer footfall and sales are under pressure, while costs continue to rise,” says Baur. Geopolitical uncertainty and regulatory requirements add to this. For him, this raises a fundamental question: “How must we structure our business models so they remain sustainably profitable, even in a lower-growth environment?”

Compared to younger, digitally native competitors, Baur sees different strengths rather than a superior model: speed on one side, trust and a credible history on the other. “I don't believe in the question of analogue versus digital. The winners will be those who bring together the strengths of both worlds.”

Baur rejects prioritising between brand, product and distribution, as the three areas are interdependent. A strong brand without a compelling product fizzles out; a good product without distribution reaches no one; and distribution without brand power remains interchangeable. The greatest leverage lies in thinking of all three as a system.

Artificial intelligence as a leadership task

For Baur, digitalisation is a cross-functional issue that extends into almost every company process. He believes artificial intelligence, in particular, offers great potential for a data-intensive industry. The decisive factor is not the most spectacular application, but the measurable benefit. In the long term, the technology is also likely to change the organisation of companies as a whole. “It will become exciting where companies begin to fundamentally rethink processes, decisions and collaboration.” This makes the development an entrepreneurial transformation task for Baur, not a question for the IT department.

In the coming years, Baur wants to strengthen Mustang's role as a European denim brand, especially outside its German home market. He is not aiming for growth at any price. “We want to grow where we can be relevant as a brand and where this growth makes economic sense.” The focus is on internationalising the wholesale business, the digital business and, above all, a compelling product.

This article is based on an independent editorial interview and was not created as part of a paid collaboration.

The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) has rejected a non-use cancellation action brought by Alo Yoga against the Chinese trademark registrations for jewelry held by Alo jewelry CZ, s.r.o., the Prague-based jeweller announced on Tuesday.