
A round-up of everything you might have missed in relevant fashion business, digital comms and tech industry news over the past week.
TOP STORIES
- ‘We’re at the onset of an industrial revolution’: The rise of robotics in retail [Glossy]
- Biotech gets the luxury nod with Bolt Threads x Stella McCartney tie-up [Forbes]
- Amazon launches Spark, a shoppable feed of stories and photos aimed at Prime members [TechCrunch]
BUSINESS
- Will the death of US retail be the next big short? [FT]
- 10 major retailers that could go bankrupt in 2017 [RetailDive]
- Miroslava Duma on the biggest sustainability problems facing the fashion industry [Marie Claire]
SOCIAL MEDIA
- Instagram encroaches on Snapchat’s turf of social media influencers, winning their hearts, minds and posts [CNBC]
- Snapchat’s e-commerce boss says World Lenses could transform how brands convert online shoppers [The Drum]
- Nordstrom hones Snapchat strategy for annual anniversary sale [MarketingDive]
MARKETING
- Adidas debuts lifestyle app All Day [Fashion United]
- Pharrell Williams powers Old Navy’s 2017 back to school musical [BrandChannel]
- Valentino integrates shoppable video for exclusive AW17 pre-launch on Mytheresa [Fashion United]
RETAIL & E-COMMERCE
- Legacy retailers define strategy in competitive terms. Retail upstarts define it in terms of their customer [LeanLuxe]
- Everlane to open first flagship store [RetailDive]
- LLBean rebrands to be more digital, less direct-mail [AdAge]
- CEO Matt Kaness on the future of ModCloth, post-Walmart [Glossy]
TECHNOLOGY
- The permanent future of conversational commerce: eBay’s RJ Pittman on AI and chatbots [Forbes]
- Researchers develop green method for artificial spider silk [Fashion United]
START-UPS
- Modern Meadow to unveil its creative materials platform at fall exhibition [Modern Meadow]
- NewStore raises $50 million for mobile commerce [TechCrunch]
- Meet Shopshops, an interactive, online retail experience for fashion-savvy Chinese consumers [Fashionista]
- Syte.ai, a visual search startup just for fashion, closes $8M Series A [TechCrunch]