Retailers

Retailers Praise Creativity of Italian Designers at Milan Fashion Week for Fall 2021

By Keisha P. Crabtree 5 days ago

MILAN — While Milan Fashion Week was a mostly digital event, designers went out of their way to find new ways to present their collections, making do with the digital medium and coming to terms with social distancing. This didn’t stop their creative juices, however, and retailers showed appreciation for the strong outerwear offer and highly crafted designs.

“There was an overall sentiment of hope and optimism seen throughout the collections,” said Joseph Tang, fashion director at Holt Renfrew. “While we are all impacted by the pandemic, designers are showcasing new versions of the traditional runway collections. As we anticipate what the world will look like when fall hits, there will be no shortage of fashionable pieces that we’ll want to wear.”

“This has been one of the most energetic fashion weeks so far. And there is also still buzz around the fashion week despite it being digital, which is

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Men’s Wearhouse Intros Contactless Tech to Measure Customers: Will More Retailers Follow?

By Keisha P. Crabtree 2 weeks ago

Retail, once the mainstay of malls, can’t effectively exist anymore without a web presence. But to be really effective, retail stores should also maintain a brick-and-mortar location or locations. Men’s Wearhouse has embraced this business model with two new types of stores called “next-gen” stores — retail stores that give customers a combination of the online and in-store shopping experience.

Anyone who watches retail (a form of commercial real estate) has seen the rise of the omnichannel customer experience. Take clothes shopping. An example: Customers browse for apparel on their phone or computer, read about the product and its reviews, and order the item for pickup, where they can try it on at a brick-and-mortar store to ensure it’s what they want.

Why the need?

Once people started ordering products online, there was no going back. Some online product ordering works better than others, though. And with

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How Black-Owned Beauty Retailers Are Shaking Up the Beauty Industry

By Keisha P. Crabtree 8 months ago

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As consumers become increasingly conscious of their purchasing power, some are placing greater emphasis on buying from Black-owned businesses.

In June, social media users began circulating lists of dozens — and in some cases, hundreds — of Black-owned beauty brands in the wake of the George Floyd protests. The lists signified a desire from supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement to align their spending habits with their core values. Less common, though, than the widely shared lists of Black-owned beauty brands were posts raising awareness of Black-owned beauty retailers.

The past few years have given rise to a number of beauty retailers nationwide that are self-funded and owned by Black women. WWD Beauty Inc spoke to six Black-owned beauty retailers — five of which have not yet taken on investment — about their business models and causes for launch. Despite each unique

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