Services like clothing repair or electronics recycling can boost a retailer's image as sustainable and customer-centric. "L.L.Bean is a place I can go when my shoes are worn through, that might repair the soles for me,” said our analyst Sara Lebow. “And then I also associate them with being a more sustainable brand.". What it means for marketers.

“The brand lost a lot of market share to brands like SKIMS and Fenty, and I don't think the fashion show is going to bring today’s consumer back.”. 4. Abercrombie & Fitch. This is another 2000s brand revamping its image to be more inclusive.

It’s hard to deny social media’s influence on how consumers discover and even sometimes purchase products. But there are other platforms out there besides Instagram and TikTok that can help brands engage with consumers, especially when it comes to fashion.

Credit sales were also spread across industries. 32% of credit sales came from travel and entertainment (T&E) cards. 24% came from specialty apparel cards. And 19% came from health and beauty cards. Why this matters: Bread was known for its focus on specialty apparel and department stores. But with T&E now its largest spend category, its diversification push is paying off.

The news: Nordstrom hopes to capitalize on Gen Alpha’s voracious appetite for beauty products with young-adult-focused beauty kiosks located in its teen apparel departments and a “Youth Adult Beauty” category on its website, per Business of Fashion. The kiosks—which showcase popular brands like Kiramoon and Kaja—are available at six locations, including Chicago, Seattle, and Tampa.

The most popular categories consumers bought in were household essentials (24%), apparel and shoes (22%), home goods (22%), and beauty/cosmetics (21%). That said, the event does appear to be priming (pun intended) consumers to buy at Amazon later this year: 88% of shoppers expect to shop on Amazon again in the next three months for gifts, decorations, and other items.

For example, it rolled out shoes featuring its LightSpray technology, which are running shoes that feature a thin, lightweight upper that has no laces.

Sales of athletic clothing and footwear are forecast to grow 10.1% this year, and 10.4% in 2025, per a report by iiMedia Research. Sportswear sales are expected to grow 7% this year to $59 billion, compared with just 0.8% growth for the non-sportswear apparel and footwear category, per Euromonitor data cited by Reuters.

Apparel, footwear, and accessories will see stronger growth than other discretionary categories. While it is already Amazon’s second-largest product category, apparel, footwear, and accessories will become a slightly bigger piece of the pie this year and next.

Makeup sales jumped 54% YoY, and fashion and accessories sales rose 32% YoY. Flipkart’s flagship event, The Big Billion Days—which launched September 27—attracted more than 330 million user visits across its Early Access phase and Day 1. Online marketplace Meesho roughly doubled last year’s order volume in the first day of its “Mega Blockbuster Sale” that began the same day, per Indian Retailer.

Reese Witherspoon’s Draper James clothing line set up shop inside Hilton’s Graduate Hotels in college towns during football weekends. Womenswear brand Amir Taghi hosted trunk shows in top clients’ homes across the country to land wholesale accounts.

Fashion-focused online resale platforms are set to outpace total resale growth. Apparel is one of the most frequently purchased secondhand categories. Although it makes up less than a quarter of total dollars spent in resale, apparel is one of the most frequently purchased categories, according to a June 2023 survey from OfferUp.

Shein still dominates fast fashion in Western Europe. In 2023, the company reached online net sales of $8.8 billion, according to ECDB data, ahead of H&M ($4.1 billion) and Zara ($2.9 billion). Shein and Temu accounted for all the growth in fast-fashion mobile app downloads in 2023, per Sensor Tower. It has faced a backlash over its environmental and social credentials.

Even less traditional luxury players, like fashion ecomm Revolve, are considering tapping the potential of strategically located brick-and-mortar retail. Many of the new or potential high-end retail stores are cropping up in established (and often European) destinations as growth in China continues to soften.

And as a result, its iconic fashion show went away for many years because it was associated with exclusivity. It just brought its fashion show back this year with slightly more body inclusive approach than it has in the past and even had iconic model Tyra Banks once again walking in that fashion show, so it also brought in the nostalgia aspect. And it's just expanded its image. Sarah Marzano (11:01):.

But broadly speaking, demand continues to be patchy, especially as more Chinese consumers prioritize spending on services like travel and dining out over physical goods such as apparel and alcohol.

How we got here: The Dockers brand was meant to help Levi’s appeal to a broader audience and capitalize on demand for non-denim clothing like khakis, but its value to the overall business is shrinking as consumer tastes change. Dockers “has underperformed for some time,” CEO Michelle Gass said on the company’s earnings call.

For Gen Z, physical stores were the top awareness drivers in all nine product categories we track, including clothing, shoes, and accessories. The physical store is the most common way for Gen Z to convert, over websites, mobile apps, and social media.

Creators are most likely to inspire fashion and beauty purchases. But there is a long tail of other purchase categories. And there are differences between what men and women buy. The top categories were no surprise. Fashion and beauty have long been popular creator industries.

Brands are creating immersive environments and selling virtual goods in digital spaces like Roblox, ranging from pop-up experiences in popular games to avatar clothing and limited-edition collectibles, with some virtual items even translating into real-world products. Hochberg shared success stories from Barbie and Forever 21.

By leveraging AI, Shein can rapidly detect emerging fashion trends across the internet and send orders to its tightly integrated network of suppliers for quick production. Often, these orders are produced in small batches to test the market's response before scaling.

The big takeaway: Inditex is well-positioned to outperform the broader apparel industry given its quick speed to market, ongoing investments in stores and logistics, and its popularity among higher-income consumers.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss how Walmart plans to use AI to enhance the customer shopping experience, Instacart pushing smart carts into in-store retail media, why consumers are dissatisfied with their in-store shopping experience, how best to reduce clothing returns, the rise—and potential fall—of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our vice president of content Suzy Davidkhanian and analysts Blake Droesch and Carina Perkins.

Positive online ratings or reviews are the most influential part of the path to purchase for clothing and shoes shoppers, according to our June 2024 survey. If shoppers trust reviews on retailers’ sites less, they will look elsewhere. “People are looking for conversational platforms to get ideas or read product reviews,” Strickland said.