Out of the fashion leaders polled in the 2025 BoF-McKinsey State of Fashion Executive Survey, “uncertainty” was the most common sentiment. Just 20 percent of respondents expected market conditions from 2024 to improve, while 41 percent expected conditions to remain the same and 39 percent expected them to worsen. Consumer confidence and appetite to spend…
Seventeen councils are accommodating up to 10 times more asylum seekers than homeless people, analysis suggests. The biggest disparity was seemingly in Pendle, a borough inside Reform’s newly-gained Lancashire authority. Latest Government data shows 453 asylum seekers are being housed in Pendle. In contrast, only nine homeless households are in temporary accommodation. Critics of Britain’s…
Once the darling of the consumer goods market, the $441 billion global beauty industry is showing signs of cooling. For years, a seemingly limitless appetite for newness in beauty fuelled robust volume and even greater pricing growth — from 2022 to 2024, the sector grew 7 percent annually. Now, geopolitical and economic uncertainty, along with…
Dressing celebrities for the Met Gala is a high-stakes affair. Brands work for months and invest millions of dollars to design elaborate looks, which this year were linked to the exhibition’s theme, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” and the dress code, “Tailored for You.” As social media has boosted the visibility of the gala, brands must…
ADVERTISEMENT International arrivals to the United States are falling, with the biggest drops reported among western European, Central American and Caribbean travellers. Compared to 2024, the total number of global visitors by air, sea and land declined by 3.3% in 2025. March was particularly negative, with an 11.6% drop compared to the same month last…
Data is gold for fashion brands — and now, there’s more places than ever to get it. Shoppers’ journeys from interest piqued to purchase vary: They may find a product in a Substack newsletter, reach out to a fashion sourcer via Instagram DM to secure an in-demand item or tap their way to checkout after…
Hong Kong residents made 1.84 million outbound trips between Thursday and Saturday, the second day of the Easter long weekend, representing a 10 per cent increase from the same period last year. A catering industry representative forecast a potential 30 per cent decline in business during Easter compared with last year, attributing the fall to…
Hong Kong residents made 1.84 million departure trips between Thursday of last week and the second day of the Easter break, representing a 10 per cent increase from the same period last year. Figures from the Immigration Department highlighted the increase from 2024, when residents had made 1.68 million trips by the end of the…
Perplexity CEO and cofounder Aravind Srinivas. Associated Press In February, days before the Super Bowl, Aravind Srinivas, CEO of AI search startup Perplexity, gave users a sparkly incentive to install its app. He posted on X that instead of buying a Super Bowl ad, the company would give $1 million to one lucky user who…
Notes from a March 18 meeting, marked “Internal/Confidential,” show that a DOL lawyer presented colleagues with an overview of DOL’s interactions with DOGE. “So far,” the notes read, “they do not have write access. They have asked; we’ve held them at bay. We’ve tried to get them to tell us what they want & then…