Discussions about the fashion industry thread

[Gus]

Is there an IG aesthetic that you think would work for a J. Crew crowd?

Easy to say but hard to maintain the discipline to execute well: creating aspirational lifestyle stories with a look/style that can endure for more than one season. But, if you want to build a new audience you must offer them something fresh so that they feel they are getting in on something they can call their own. In addition to a line of regular apparel and accessories have an entire line that borrows the smart, styled look of Arc'teryx (with its own spin and more affordable) which mixes urban tech, activewear, outdoorwear and can be combined with many classic apparel pieces(jeans, knits,etc).

 

[cb200]

Entire world is wrapping things up. Had hoped that they'd do well with their angle on things as it was interesting to me as business trying to go their own way.

https://manage.kmail-lists.com/subscriptions/web-view?a=XPXYy4&c=01EGKE4676PKKPNRM4DB90CYMR&k=1df306357afd73a0645a7a30e2260007&g=XViU9Z&m=TKs5t4&r=C3gHLqt

 

[double00]

Amazon copied products and rigged search results, documents show

A trove of Amazon documents reveals how the company ran a campaign in India of creating knockoff goods and manipulating search results to boost its own products.

www.reuters.com

knocking off + massaging search

 

[Zamb]

Amazon copied products and rigged search results, documents show

A trove of Amazon documents reveals how the company ran a campaign in India of creating knockoff goods and manipulating search results to boost its own products.

www.reuters.com

knocking off + massaging search

so is amazon gonna challenge Reuters or is the Us gonna arrest Bezos for lying under oath?

 

[jah786]

Entire world is wrapping things up. Had hoped that they'd do well with their angle on things as it was interesting to me as business trying to go their own way.

https://manage.kmail-lists.com/subscriptions/web-view?a=XPXYy4&c=01EGKE4676PKKPNRM4DB90CYMR&k=1df306357afd73a0645a7a30e2260007&g=XViU9Z&m=TKs5t4&r=C3gHLqt

I loved Sternberg's quirky marketing and point of view. It was fun and light-hearted. That NYT article last summer shed some light on things, it looked like he was going to run out of money early last year and then COVID and sweatpants gave him a lifeline. I feel for anyone running a brand, it's not easy.

 

[gdl203]

If a brand that sells basic sweats at a rate of 1,000 per day and at prices that look like very comfortable margins, can’t find capital to keep going, I just don’t know what to say. Something doesn’t compute. Did the supply chain implode because of Covid shutdowns and logistics issues? I’d love to understand because the NYT article seemed to imply it was selling sweats like hot cakes. ?

 

[Zamb]

If a brand that sells basic sweats at a rate of 1,000 per day and at prices that look like very comfortable margins, can’t find capital to keep going, I just don’t know what to say. Something doesn’t compute. Did the supply chain implode because of Covid shutdowns and logistics issues? I’d love to understand because the NYT article seemed to imply it was selling sweats like hot cakes. ?

Articles can say anything…. Sophistry is the order of the day…..

 

[cb200]

I think the articles in the past on Entireworld mentioned going from 50ish to 1,000 sales a day over not a very long period of time. While that 1k units a day might have been at a high point, it sounded like it was rapid growth for that one category specifically. Having that kind of scale of change, if true, could easily break a small team's systems. The cash flow to support that kind of growth of inventory and the changes necessary to meet demands could easily eat up all free cashflow and put you in hole. Even "good problems" are a problem.

I do wonder if the DTC nature of the model, with no pre-booking by retailers might cause issues with scaling up as predictability and cash flow projections could be "noisy" and lead to issues in inventory levels and cashflow if company didn't do things just right. For sure there's more to their story than we'll know other than apparel is a tough business.

 

[London]

I think the articles in the past on Entireworld mentioned going from 50ish to 1,000 sales a day over not a very long period of time. While that 1k units a day might have been at a high point, it sounded like it was rapid growth for that one category specifically. Having that kind of scale of change, if true, could easily break a small team's systems. The cash flow to support that kind of growth of inventory and the changes necessary to meet demands could easily eat up all free cashflow and put you in hole. Even "good problems" are a problem.

I do wonder if the DTC nature of the model, with no pre-booking by retailers might cause issues with scaling up as predictability and cash flow projections could be "noisy" and lead to issues in inventory levels and cashflow if company didn't do things just right. For sure there's more to their story than we'll know other than apparel is a tough business.

He may have just needed a savvy operator on his side. He obviously is a great marketer, but business management takes a different skill set.

 

[Zamb]

I think the articles in the past on Entireworld mentioned going from 50ish to 1,000 sales a day over not a very long period of time. While that 1k units a day might have been at a high point, it sounded like it was rapid growth for that one category specifically. Having that kind of scale of change, if true, could easily break a small team's systems. The cash flow to support that kind of growth of inventory and the changes necessary to meet demands could easily eat up all free cashflow and put you in hole. Even "good problems" are a problem.

I do wonder if the DTC nature of the model, with no pre-booking by retailers might cause issues with scaling up as predictability and cash flow projections could be "noisy" and lead to issues in inventory levels and cashflow if company didn't do things just right. For sure there's more to their story than we'll know other than apparel is a tough business.

To me there are two basic business models and these businesses need to figure out which one they want to employ.

1. you can run a business where you grow slowly, focus on being profitable as soon as possible and grow slowly from the profits you make. It’s not a glamorous model but a sustainable one if you take good care of your customers needs.

2. you can run a business where you don’t worry about being profitable but expanding rapidly by offering a ton of bells and whistles and seeking funding to expand as big as you can as soon as you can. In this case the objective is to get the business to be “valuable “ in order to either sell it or go public. I see these business all the time that borrow a lot or seek “rounds of funding” in order to continue growing, only to be sold for billions, with the founders cashing out..
They go bust very often…..Theranos was a good example of that

 

[happyriverz]

Can't have revenue guys:

 

[cb200]

" 2x dog"...classic

 

[Zamb]

Can't have revenue guys:

How goes?
Was wondering where have you been!

 

[jah786]

If a brand that sells basic sweats at a rate of 1,000 per day and at prices that look like very comfortable margins, can’t find capital to keep going, I just don’t know what to say. Something doesn’t compute. Did the supply chain implode because of Covid shutdowns and logistics issues? I’d love to understand because the NYT article seemed to imply it was selling sweats like hot cakes. ?

I don't quite understand it either. I'd love to know more though, what went right and what went wrong.

 

[gdl203]

Growth cash flow is the easiest thing to fund (everyone and their mother wants to lend you money for inventory and AR funding because of the collateral nature and visibility) so that cannot be as simple as saying that they were growing so fast they ran out of cash. It would be enlightening to understand better