The Business of Fashion Podcast

Robert Williams, BOF's chief luxury correspondent, discusses the outcomes of major creative director changes at luxury fashion houses one year into their tenures. While Chanel's reset with Mathieu Blasi has been demonstrably successful with reported 16% sales growth, other brands like Gucci, Dior, Celine, and Loewe show more mixed results, with product quality and brand coherence still catching up to compelling creative visions.

Marc Jacobs discusses his transition away from LVMH and reflects on the fashion industry's structural problems, arguing that creative designers are not to blame for the sector's challenges. He emphasizes that hiring new designers cannot solve systemic issues like overproduction and poor retail distribution, and expresses optimism about creative voices finding opportunities through redefined measures of success.

Two years after investigations revealed exploitative labor conditions at Italian factories supplying major luxury brands like Armani and Dior, the industry has implemented audits and supply chain controls, but labor advocates argue fundamental business practices remain unchanged and worker conditions have not significantly improved.

Emily Sundberg, founder of Feed Me newsletter, discusses building an independent media business from scratch on Substack with a paywall from day one. She covers how she curates content about New York's business and cultural landscape, why fashion brands underestimate their consumers' intelligence, and the challenges of running a multi-revenue business while maintaining editorial integrity.

Fashion brands are increasingly partnering with gourmet grocery stores like Erewhon, Meadow Lane, and Happier Grocery to create experiential marketing activations that blend food, wellness, and lifestyle. These collaborations offer brands a way to engage consumers in sensory, tangible environments amid digital fatigue, though success requires authentic brand-store alignment and meaningful community connection rather than surface-level photo opportunities.

Christopher Kane discusses his return to fashion as Mulberry's creative director for womenswear after closing his independent label. He explains how he views Mulberry's heritage as a foundation rather than limitation, drawing inspiration from British subcultures, his Scottish upbringing, and the strong women who influenced him, while maintaining his signature approach of sourcing ideas from unexpected sources.

Fashion faces a critical shortage of skilled craftspeople as tailoring employment has dropped 30% in the U.S. over the past decade, with most artisans now in their 60s and 70s. While other industries are successfully attracting young workers to trade careers, fashion struggles to compete due to low starting salaries (~$45,000), the 20-30 year path to mastery, and lack of visibility around apprenticeship programs that remain largely regional and localized.

Colleen Allen, founder of a self-funded women's wear label launched in 2024, discusses her journey from learning to sew with her grandmother in the Midwest to studying menswear at Parsons and Central Saint Martins, working at The Row, and ultimately starting her own brand. She shares how she manages triple-digit growth through strict deposit-based retail terms and bootstrapping, while balancing creative expression with business fundamentals.