A round-up of everything you might have missed in relevant fashion business, digital comms and tech industry news over the past fortnight.
TOP STORIES
- Burberry turns to Apple for augmented-reality fashion app [Bloomberg]
- AI will transform every retailer, says Shop Direct boss [Drapers]
- Stella McCartney wants you to resell her goods in new partnership with The RealReal [Fashionista]
- Could kelp be the future of sustainable fashion? [Observer]
BUSINESS
- Direct to consumer brands vs commodities: who will prevail? [LooseThreads]
- Decoding Chanel’s Gen-Z strategy [BoF]
- More luxury stores closed in China over the last year than in any other country [Jing Daily]
SOCIAL MEDIA
- Target will begin incorporating Pinterest’s Lens visual search technology [AdWeek]
- John Lewis pioneers Facebook’s 360 shoppable ad [Campaign]
- Dior debuts Weibo story, stays in lead with Chinese millennials [Jing Daily]
- Inside Birchbox’s 40-person social media war room [Glossy]
- Snapchat debuts Sponsored 3D World Lenses at Advertising Week New York [The Drum]
MARKETING
- Gant to launch ‘Couple Thinkers’ TV show on YouTube [Fashion Network]
- Nas brings street cred to effortlessly cool animated ads for Timberland [AdWeek]
- Why United Colors of Benetton is parting with catwalk convention to showcase its brand DNA [The Drum]
- Fashion brands still succumbing to the high-priced artsy film [Glossy]
RETAIL & E-COMMERCE
- Patagonia has launched its own online thrift store [PSFK]
- New Macy’s loyalty program nudges customers to spend more [Retail Dive]
- Uniqlo’s retail empire embarks on a digital revolution [Nikkei]
TECHNOLOGY
- AR is now a must-have in retail [Business Insider]
- A way to repeatedly recycle polyester has just been discovered [Eco-Business]
- These high-tech knitting machines will soon be making car parts [Bloomberg]
- Fashion’s future may rest on an old technology: glue [Fast Company]
- Modiface is becoming the go-to provider of augmented reality to beauty brands [Glossy]
PRODUCT
- Google and Levi’s ‘connected’ jacket is now on sale [TechCrunch]
- To make a new kind of shoe, adidas had to change everything [Wired]
- How these female engineers reinvented the bra [Fast Company]
START-UPS
- With lab-grown leather, Modern Meadow is engineering a fashion revolution [BoF]
- Amazon has acquired 3D body model startup, Body Labs, for $50M-$70M [TechCrunch]