Research news and archive

Parcelhero predicts that Black Friday will “dazzle” this year

Home delivery firm Parcelhero is forecasting that following last year’s lacklustre Black Friday, dubbed “Beige Friday” after sales dropped by -1.9 percent, this year, the sales event will “regain its sparkle”. While Brits have been tightening their belts, Parcelhero’s research reveals that it expects UK sales to hit 7.5 billion pounds over the...

Fashion

Heriot-Watt University researchers develop system to combat microplastic pollution in fashion

A research team at Heriot-Watt University in Scotland, led by Lisa Macintyre, associate professor of textiles at Heriot-Watt’s School of Textiles has developed a grading system to help fight microplastic pollution in the fashion industry. More concretely, the researchers have developed ‘the world’s first visual fibre fragmentation scale’, as per...

RetailFeatured

Majority of US luxury shoppers to maintain spending levels this holiday season

Amidst economic instability and rising inflation, luxury consumers are set to maintain or increase their spending this holiday season, according to a new report from Saks. 75 percent of luxury shoppers plan to spend the same amount or more this holiday season compared to last year, reflecting a steady trend, as outlined in the Sakes Luxury Pulse...

Business

British Council and UAL looking for sustainable fashion and technology proposals from UK and India

The cultural and educational organisation British Council has partnered with the University of the Arts London (UAL) and announced an open call for designers, design entrepreneurs, and SMEs from the UK and India to apply for the New Landscapes Catalyst Grant Scheme, a collaborative research and development scheme. The aim is to create solutions...

RetailFeatured

Purpose more important than price for younger shoppers

According to new research from American Express, Gen Z and Millennial shoppers place purpose over price and are drawn towards lifestyle brands that align with life choices and preferences, such as sustainability. The findings reveal that one-third (33 percent) of 18-34-year-olds said they are more loyal to brands with a positive corporate...

Fashion

Dutch education inspectorate: fashion schools must do more to ensure social safety

Art and fashion colleges in higher education in the Netherlands need to work harder on creating social safety, the country's education inspectorate announced in a report released Monday June 5. The investigation revealed that college boards in the country have taken measures, but a structural approach is still lacking. "Adjustment of policy in...

Fashion Featured

New research project ‘Locating Menswear’ launches

A new international menswear research project ‘Locating Menswear’ is launching to investigate the connections between British and Italian Menswear. The international research network will investigate the cultural and industrial connections between London, Liverpool, Manchester, and Milan, Italy, and how they have influenced the production,...

RetailFeatured

UK shoppers to spend more this Black Friday despite dwindling appeal

Black Friday may be splitting opinion but UK shoppers are expected to spend more despite UK consumers finding the American shopping phenomenon less appealing. A survey conducted by PwC shows that UK consumers are increasingly cynical about Black Friday deals. Other countries tracked for data include the opinions of consumers in France, Germany,...

Business

Inditex and MIT sign agreement to promote research into sustainability

Spanish fast fashion giant Inditex (Zara, Pull & Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius) has announced a multi-year agreement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to conduct joint research on sustainability and recycling of textile materials, as well as new lines of research related to data analysis. Inditex will provide MIT with a total of...

Retail|STUDY Featured

Online apparel retailers struggle with the devil in the details

Online shopping for clothing has become a staple for the majority of European consumers which has brought on the rise of online pure-players such as Asos.com, Net-a-Porter.com, Very.co.uk, Zalando.de, Wehkamp.nl and LaRedoute.fr. Although these fashion e-tailers have managed to set themselves apart from the ever increasing number of competitors...

RetailFeatured

Personalised online shopping preferences vary for UK & US

AgilOne, a predictive creative cloud, has completed a survey of marketing personalisation preferences for shoppers in different territories. The company surveyed more than 3,000 adult consumers in the US and UK on their shopping personalization preferences using retail research agency Conlumino. Everyday marketers are searching for new ways to...

Fashion

Consumers open to personalised marketing

UK consumers are open to receiving personalised marketing messages on their smartphones, new research has revealed. In a study conducted by eDigitalResearch, 45 percent of UK smartphone users would be 'very willing' or 'somewhat willing' for retailers to send brand or shopping messages to their phones. Retailers send location-based messages via...