Disha Solanki MSc MBA

An industry-backed white paper has urged the government to introduce variable Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) fees to drive sustainability in the UK fashion and textiles sector. Read more below. #EPR #fashion #fashionnews #retail #textile

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It can if consumers who want it to put their money where their mouth is. It’s going to be more expensive if it’s UK made…at least relative to the sort of prices being achieved currently in the market. As consumers and producers if we are serious about scaling UK manufacture significantly then we have to embrace this fact instead of sidestepping or apologising for it …in the end it comes down to economic reality and while prices may well come down over time it’s going to mean digging deeper into our pockets …we need to start by accepting this. Decades of cheap foreign manufacture has addled our brains and we have little conception of actual value any more…and next to no knowledge of the economics of manufacture beyond looking at a price and making assumptions. No one wants to hear this but sadly if there’s to be any serious prospect of reviving the UK manufacturing base we need to collectively pull our heads out of are a***s and face the facts…then change our buying behaviour.

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Despite criticism from some quarters, UK politicians have been keen to welcome SHEIN's upcoming listing on the London Stock Exchange. This includes the Labour Party - highly likely to form the next government - which wants to showcase its business-friendly and pro-growth policies. There will be minimal impact on UK clothing brands and retailers from the IPO itself. Most retailers and brands already compete with Shein for customers and that won't change. The real danger comes from continued pushback from other European markets. While the EU does not have the power to prevent Shein from listing in London, it can place more restrictions around imports and the operations of Chinese marketplaces. As these kinds of things have the potential to damage sales and disrupt profit, they can impact a share price, or the IPO offer price. Thanks to Just Style for including more of my thoughts in the article linked in the comments... #retail #retailnews #marketplaces #IPO #apparel #fashion

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Here are some interesting stories from the world of retail for Thursday, June 13: 👕 Shares of Oxford Industries fell after the owner of the Tommy Bahama and Lilly Pulitzer clothing lines cut its full-year sales and profit outlook, saying that consumers have become more cautious than originally anticipated. 👟 Nike suffered a setback in its bid to trademark the capitalized version of the word “footware” for tech-related products after a European Union court upheld a complaint from German rival PUMA Group. 🛠️ Lowe's Companies, Inc. names chief marketing officer: Jennifer Wilson was promoted to the role and oversees a number of initiatives including the company’s retail media network. 🍋 Amazon Fresh is trying to remind customers it's not just a fancy returns point. The stores are offering a series of grocery coupons for patrons who use the stores to drop off items that they ordered on Amazon. 💍 Kohl's plans to boost sales by expanding its jewelry options.The retailer had previously reduced space for jewelry to make room for Sephora, but now aims to re-establish its presence. 🎯 In an interview with the WSJ, Gretchen McCarthy - Target's supply chain chief - said that a focus on using consumer aisles as fulfillment centers for same-day delivery helped streamline the flow of consumer goods. 🥫 Grocery prices stayed flat in May, after ticking down the month before. But menu prices, a source of frustration for budget-conscious consumers, are still going up — even as restaurants brag about their discounted meals. 🏭 Nordstrom expects to complete the transition of operations from its fulfillment center in San Bernardino, California, to its West Coast omnichannel center in Riverside, California, during its second fiscal quarter. 🍟 California’s new $20-an-hour minimum wage law for fast food workers plunged visits to popular chains as restaurants like McDonald's, Wendy's and Burger King hiked prices to offset higher costs, according to a study. 🇨🇦 Canadian discount retailer Dollarama L.P. reported lower-than-expected first-quarter sales growth as consumer demand begins to level off. Rrevenue for the three months reached C$1.4bn ($1bn), up from C$1.29bn a year earlier. 📉 The chairman of the Federal Reserve Board has warned the battle to tame inflation is not over as policymakers signalled the central bank would cut rates only once this year. 🎮 A selloff in GameStop shares on Wednesday corresponded with a surge in volume for call options believed to be owned by Keith Gill, better known by his online handle Roaring Kitty. 📸 Creating another artificial intelligence tool for its sellers, eBay has introduced a photo background enhancement feature to improve product images, the e-commerce veteran announced. 🪧 About 6,000 grocery store workers are set to vote on strike action after the expiration of their union contract with the Kroger-owned Food 4 Less chain. #retail #retailnews #economy #DailyRetailNews

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Victoria Ward has written an interesting article here about the difference between a Merchandise Strategy and a Merchandise Plan and why retailers need both to succeed https://lnkd.in/eR5dPH9U

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Great to see this article by Kati Chitrakorn in the #financialtimes considering that this company #johnsmedley gave my students a great case to solve in class #luxurymarketing #business #school #mba NYU Stern School of Business

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The UK 2024 election could be a pivotal moment for British fashion and technology innovation! As the UK gears up for this important election, the apparel industry stands at a critical juncture. Despite contributing a staggering £62bn to the economy (UKFT Association), our sector faces immense challenges—from the collapse of Matches Fashion to sustainability and skills shortages. Industry leaders are calling for robust policy commitments to: 🔹 Restore tax-free shopping 🔹 Support SMEs 🔹 Integrate the arts into education With the right governmental support, the UK could become a global leader in innovative, sustainable fashion. Without it, we risk a steep decline. This election will determine whether British fashion and technology can rival global powerhouses or face an uncertain future. 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲? The apparel sector isn't just about products; they're about fostering creativity, driving economic growth, and leading in sustainability. By investing in sustainable practices, we can ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of global fashion and innovation. #UKElection #FashionIndustry #Sustainability #PolicyMatters #Innovation

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What Retailers and Brands Need to Do to Address Challenges in the Footwear Market Interesting read ..

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Whilst we recommend switching to paid returns, there are plenty of other ways to cut returns & their associated costs. ZigZag Founder & CEO Al Gerrie spoke with #FashionCapital to help guide retailers with some top tips to reduce the impact of returns without alienating their customers. https://lnkd.in/enPDkjqx #eCommerce #Retail #ReverseLogistics #Returns #ReduceReturns #CutReturns #ReturnsPolicy #RetailTech

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"A week after the end of China’s largest online shopping bonanza, one issue is starting to rear its head: The rise of product returns, with some womenswear shopowners seeing return rates of up to 90 per cent." It is bad enough that fashion industry has a long carbon footprint. Now, with the high return rates, it is increasingly becoming non-sustainable not only on environment sense but also financially. No wonder many fashion e-retailers are still non-profitable. The industry clearly needs to disrupt itself to improve. Why the high return rates? Two reasons were cited, bad quality and customer abuse. Both need to be solved at the same time, unfortunately, which make it much tougher. Any other possible reason? Challenging times. Increasingly, the fashion industry has to disrupt itself and go on-demand production/manufacturing. Fast-Fashion maybe at its last leg. With Climate Crisis depleting materials and water resources, carbon credit would soon be enforced on the industry forcing it to cut down mass production and wastes. Connect with me and stay tuned. On-demand production is the future. Walk into a fashion store where you pick your design and materials from the digital screen. Come back in a hour or less, the dress would be put together at the back room of the store where automated sewing machines start working on the dress. Will do a separate post on this with video for better sharing. #Fashion #Disruption #CarbonFootprint #Retail #OnDemandFashion

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Retail sales fell 1.2% in June, while textile, clothing and footwear sales fell by 1.6%, according to figures by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Read more here. #fashion #fashionnews #retail #retailnews #retailsales

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Retail investor Alteri Investors is reportedly in talks to snap up Kurt Geiger from private equity firm Cinven, Sky News reported on Saturday (28 September). Click here to read more. #fashion #fashionnews #retail #retailnews #KurtGeiger

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Nearly every job role in the apparel industry will need new skills for a decarbonised future. Possibly with the exception on the fit model! There are 2 questions I have around this; 1️⃣ who is going to fund this reskilling? 2️⃣ how will we know what new skills we need given that there is no standardisation of job roles anyway?! I’ve been around long enough now to see multiple cycles occur through the industry where job roles are moved around and readapted. But there are always some that never fail to surprise me. Like a friend who told me about her interview for a garment tech role that also covered fabric tech and sourcing. She sent me the presentation on fabric sourcing she was supposed to give as part of the interview process. The brief demonstrated a lack of understanding around the role of both fabric and garment techs, as well as those within supply chain management. Supply chain management is an area that’s going to need considerable reskilling. This is something that is evidently explained in Hakan Karaosman and Donna Marshall’s paper “Introducing Just Transition to Supply Chain Management”. If just transition is something you are new to, I’ll link the paper in the comments below. It’s a brilliant insight and gives a great platform to start you off. With many other interesting papers that are going to start coming through. Including one on Zara’s supply chain and the repeated demands for pluralism. One thing is becoming apparent; with new legislation businesses are going to need to address who and how supply chains are managed and recorded. Which then brings us to the important question: who is going to pay for it? #supplychain #scope3 #ethicalsupplychain

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BRITISH HOME STORES ( BHS ) It was the age of outsourcing... and it most certainly is back again. Everything from NHS services, to IT, to strategic fashion trend forecasting! It was the days before Sir Philip Green owned BHS. It was a business that competed with M&S, Burton Group (Arcadia), Debenhams, and House of Fraser. It was known for its lighting (!) and other home decorations, women's, men's, kids', and lingerie. Perceived to be more accessible than M&S, not as fashionable as Burton Group brands, and very well priced. BDALondon was invited to join the in-house design managers to act as strategic partners and provide global insight into trends in colour, fabric, styling and range building across all trading departments. The in-house design managers acted as a conduit, facilitating workshops to develop innovative product developments that were market-right, value-appropriate, brand-focused, and delivered to customer expectations. We worked closely with all buying and merchandise teams. It was a partnership that lasted many years and delivered on corporate strategy, B&M needs, and brand authenticity... and it delivered in the most cost-effective way. Outsourcing does deliver access to expert knowledge, gets things done quicker and reduces cost. But remember find a strategic partner you can trust. #innovation #trendforecasting #productstrategy #brandauthenticity #outsourcing #strategicpartnership #bdalondon

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The Labour Party are you going to listen to the #fashion #Garment #manufacturing Sector? The garment manufacturing sector has been battered! Since 2019 there has been a steady decline of the number of #manufacturers within the UK. When Fashion-Enter Ltd/ FashionCapital started working in #Leicester there were 1500 garment factories employing the best part of 15,000 skilled workers. Today there are 96 factories left. How on earth could we have let this happen. We once proudly proclaimed that we could make 30,000 #garments a week from our sites in Haringey and Wales. Today, Wales is closed as a manufacturing unit of excellence and it's being transformed into a Fashion Academy with Newtown College. At least there a successful outcome but it hurts! It hurts to close down a fantastic unit with such talented #stitchers that had all worked together at Laura Ashley for over 30 years. How on earth could we have let that skilled workforce just disappear! It's criminal when they could have been making #ppe instead of Lady Mone grabbing contracts of £200m! But there is hope! #Repairs and #reprocessing is now a major sector for garment manufacturers and this requires the machinists to upskill and diversify their skills. We are all for this new segment as we have our own Fashion Technology Academy. The new Labour government needs to ensure that their new Skills England has a budget for adults to learn "real" skills for "real" jobs! For the first time we are being approached by overseas manufactures that want to test and repeat in the UK. Trying to compete with Bangladesh where labour prices are 150BTD per hour (eh that's just 99p per hour!) compared to the UK £11.44 NMW is near on impossible so let's look at the options that labour could provide!  - R&D research grants  - Engagement with funding bodies for ALL sizes of SMEs - Training grants to upskill workforce - Acknowledgement for factories that are ethical and audited. - The urgent need of an independent #adjudicator that will prevent abuse of power from retailers to factories - Preferential loans for expansion/purchase of capital equipment/new software   - A review of apprenticeships; make the apprenticeship scheme easy again for employers of all sizes - For designated areas, such as Leicester, there is a need for special intervention. If the Conservative Government found the funds to support Tata Steel to the tune of £500m to save 5,000 jobs why can't they invest in Leicester? - Use of export fairs to promote Made in the UK. The event at Number10 Downing Street was fantastic but then there was no follow up. I get they were busy at the time however!!!    - Hold more direct CEO roundtables - the one with @MP Catherine West  with six CEO's was so HONEST! Conversations that were direct and essential for the wellbeing of our sector. Well, lets see what happens next. I just hope Labour is prepared to listen to industry and see a new dawn for manufacturing!

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Want a piece of the women’s athleisurewear market? Want to know what’s on women’s minds? Take a look at my report for StrategiQ on ‘What Women Want’ and let me know what you think!

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Bespoke jewellery should ALWAYS be your first choice when considering a fine jewellery purchase… “But why?” I hear you ask, well… Bespoke says - “I made the effort” it makes the receiver feel extra special, it says resoundingly “I care about you, you are loved” Bespoke done right should maximise your budget to it’s potential & not compromise on quality. My services offer higher quality diamonds & gemstones as standard than the big high street brands! Bespoke makes the entire experience personalised to you. No hard selling, no pushy tactics. Just well informed advice that allows you to choose what is right for you. Bespoke to me means unrivalled aftercare. You are remembered, you are important & ensuring the longevity of your piece is just as crucial to me as maintaining a relationship with you. So if you’re considering your next big jewellery piece, whether it’s an engagement ring, wedding ring or remodelling a precious sentimental piece. Why not get in touch here to find out more - https://lnkd.in/es-vJxp5

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Ask any lingerie business owner what the hardest part of their job is and the chances are it will be one of 2 answers: recruitment or buying ! Luckily there are lots of great recruitment agencies out there to help – but lingerie buying is a niche skill, so where do lingerie buyers turn to if they need an extra pair of hands or some expert advice and training? The answer - Pudding! At Pudding, we regularly help new stores work out what to buy; plus we work with established chains and department stores to improve their range and stockturn. The results are impressive and the client testimonials speak for themselves: ‘Helen’s training is incredibly in-depth and her approach to guiding you through her thought process is open and mindful of the resources that are available to your business. Helen is on hand to answer any questions/queries you might have and can also adapt her training to suit your needs. Helen covered everything and more in the training. She is extremely helpful and nothing is ever too much trouble for her. For instance, we had conversations late in the evening on more than one occasion, and in my opinion this is over and above what I was expecting with regards to communication. I have a much clearer view on size scales required per bra style. I know which bra styles per brand work best for our business and I also have a view on newness to add to the business that will cover our target customer segments to the correct % of sales. ' Laura Magee , Lingerie Buyer, Ulster Stores Group ‘I am just over one-year into my first lingerie boutique in Kansas City (heart of America) and inventory purchasing is the only part of the business I do not have any experience with, so I've literally just been going on gut-feel right now. I just read your A-Z buying buying guide and found it incredibly helpful. This was exactly what I needed.’ Emily Elizabeth, Circadian Intimates We have a range of tools, all of which can be delivered remotely to our clients all over the world – so whether you want our ultimate A-Z Guide to Buying; a deep dive into your stock and buying processes to increase your bang for bucks; or you are a start-up lingerie store who needs help selecting their range, talk to us today. And if you ever wondered what a buyer does all day – here’s a BTS action clip from a consultation with a client opening a revolutionary new store in Singapore -opening soon so watch this space ! #lingeriebuyerguide #swimwearbuyerguide #A-Zbuyingguide #lingeriebuyer #swimwearbuyer #intimateapparelbuyer #lingeriebusinessconsultancy #swimwearbusinessconsultancy #lingeriebuying

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