The Debrief

The beauty industry has witnessed a wave of disruptors rise and fall. Brands like Anastasia Beverly Hills, Glossier and Morphe leveraged social media and influencer marketing to achieve rapid success and unicorn valuations. But maintaining momentum has proven challenging, and some of these disruptor brands have seen sales fall and financial hurdles mount. As Glossier proves, there is the possibility of a second chance, but it requires radical changes to the business to pull off. As beauty correspondent Daniela Morosini points out, “The barriers to entry have been removed. You can get a critical mass of fans and build an aesthetic for your brand quite quickly. Making it stick is more difficult.” In today’s crowded market, sustainable growth and a deliberate strategy are essential for standing out.Key Insights: Slower growth in a crowded market can ensure longevity. “It’s the ones that are maybe growing a little bit slower, not having this initial huge rush and then a massive drop-off,” says Morosini. While brands can gain a critical mass of fans and build an aesthetic quickly, sustaining that momentum is much harder in today’s saturated market. “You go on TikTok, and there are 50 brands fighting for your attention. You go to Sephora, there's another 50,” Morosini adds. By focusing on steady, intentional growth, brands are better equipped to stand out and thrive in an environment where consumer choices are overwhelmingly abundant.In a saturated market, having a knowledgeable and authentic founder can differentiate a brand and build trust with consumers. “Brands that had a founder with expertise as a makeup artist or some other kind of professional qualifications helped bear out the brand and add a little bit more credence to it,” says Morosini. These founders often bring a personal approach to their brand, which resonates with consumers.Glossier’s success shows the value of balancing adaptation with staying true to a brand’s core mission. Despite being digital-first, the brand quickly established a physical presence, which “helped enmesh them and establish themselves with more the kind of quote unquote, middle-American consumer, just like a general shopper versus someone who is like a die-hard beauty fan,” explains Morosini. By moving away from an exclusively direct-to-consumer model, Glossier also refocused on its product assortment and customer needs. “Giving up on the DTC-only thing probably allowed them to take a hard look at their product assortment and build out more products that people were really interested in,” Morosini adds.A key lesson for emerging beauty brands is to prepare for both boom and bust cycles. As Morosini explains, “You’re probably going to be getting your most attention both from consumers and investors or acquirers during your fat years. And you need to be ready for the lean years because they're going to come.” She emphasises the importance of hedging strategies, noting, “No matter how well things are going, there will be a competitor snapping at your heels around the corner. Making sure that you’re keeping your strategy and product assortment broad enough to weather that.” Flexibility and foresight are essential to navigating inevitable market shifts.Additional Resources:How Anastasia Beverly Hills Lost Its Footing | BoFUrban Decay’s ‘Naked’ Relaunch Is a Hit. Now Comes the Hard Part. | BoF Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For nearly a decade, the luxury sector has experienced what seemed like limitless growth, with brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Chanel pushing product prices higher — and seeing consumers pay up. However, recent quarterly reports have marked a sudden shift, with even industry giants reporting disappointing revenue. As luxury editor Robert Willliams explains, “These brands are omnipresent and people are seeing them everywhere. Whether consumers finally pull the trigger is so much about their economic confidence, this feel-good factor. Are things going to be better for me next month than they are today?”This week, BoF executive editor Brian Baskin and luxury editor Robert Williams discuss the forces contributing to this downturn, the implications for top brands and potential strategies luxury players are exploring to reignite growth.Key Insights: Global economic uncertainty has hit U.S. and European luxury spending hard. “Whether they finally pull the trigger [on a big purchase] is about economic confidence,” explains Williams, noting that factors like inflation, wage stagnation, and election cycles have consumers second-guessing expensive purchases. There are similar issues in Europe, with proximity to conflicts in the Middle East, Ukraine and Russia additionally impacting consumer sentiment and spending power.However, according to Williams, the biggest issue is China pulling back on this type of spending. China’s luxury market has always been a growth engine, but changing economic sentiments and less travel due to COVID are affecting luxury sales. “[Chinese consumers] are really holding out for when they feel better about the economy. … They’re holding out for when they can feel like they can get a deal because prices are higher in China than most of the world for luxury brands,” says Williams. Many consumers are frustrated with steep price increases, as seen with Dior’s Lady Dior bag, which has jumped 76% in price since 2019. “Customers are quite fed up with how dramatic the price increases have been often for like for like products,” Williams states, adding that consumers often feel they’re “spending a lot more for something that’s not necessarily as good.” Even if quality hasn’t declined, the perception has, especially with social media spotlighting any issues. “With the way our Internet culture works, if someone has an issue with the product, they can make that so public in a way and really disenchant a lot of people and their audience and make them question, is this high price worth it?”Facing a saturated market after years of rapid growth and price hikes, many forecast that 2025 and 2026 are to be similarly stagnant or negative periods for sales.” Even if it wasn't just a question of the prices or if there weren't these other macroeconomic factors, there could be a sense of having saturated the market, of people needing to be bored with fashion a bit so that then they can rediscover it. I'm not sure that it's the right time to introduce the next big idea if you were the one who had it,” says Williams. “Because if you're among the brands whose sales are quite negative … then how much can you really invest in telling the world that you're the one who has the next big idea?”.Additional Resources:Inside Luxury’s Slowdown | BoFWhy Some Luxury Groups Are Doing Better Than Others | BoF Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In recent years, sports has provided a rich ground for fashion partnerships. Where even three years ago Dior’s tie-up with Paris Saint-Germain was relatively novel, today it’s harder to find luxury brands that aren’t at least dabbling in football, Formula 1 or other sports. These deals are also getting increasingly elaborate, with brands outfitting athletes, teams and even entire leagues on and off the field. This new wave of partnerships is about more than just looks or finding new audiences — it’s about cultural relevance. “Fashion brands have looked to [sports] to market their products to groups of consumers who maybe weren’t targeted by these brands previously, and athletes themselves have become major brands and media businesses in their own right,” says BoF sports correspondent Daniel-Yaw Miller.This week on The Debrief, Executive Editor Brian Baskin and Senior Correspondent Sheena Butler-Young sit down with Daniel-Yaw Miller to explore how the worlds of fashion and sports are colliding like never before.Key Insights: For a partnership to be successful, it must feel authentic. Arsenal's collaboration with London-based brand Labrum, which presented a runway show at Arsenal's stadium is a prime example. The jersey colours draw influence from the Pan-African flag and hint to the histories of the players and the club. "That partnership makes sense on a cultural level and fans can buy into that authentic messaging rather than just a logo swap,” he says.As individual athletes gain larger followings, brands see more appeal in creating tailored partnerships with rising stars like Coco Gauff and Angel Reese. “Athletes now have a direct bond with fans that the previous generation of stars never had,” Miller notes. “Sports fans have had insights into Coco Gauff and Naomi Osaka’s lives since they were teenagers. They’ve grown with them, and that’s at the very essence of their appeal to these brands.”The rise of women’s sports has opened doors for fashion brands that previously overlooked the sector. "And that's really opened up the sports industry, which has traditionally been extremely male dominated. So a whole range of luxury womenswear brands that previously never really had an entry point into the sports industry,” Miller explains. Some sports struggle to find traction in the fashion world. While Formula 1 has embraced luxury, baseball remains on the sidelines. “Baseball has never quite broken out to have true global appeal in a sense that fashion could leverage,” Miller says. “I think baseball is very similar to where Formula One was before the Liberty Media acquisition, where there was a strict atmosphere around showing an interest in things that are outside the direct line of business for a baseball organisation that's hampered how much the sport and the athletes have been able to be in fashion.”Additional Resources:Fashion’s Sports Obsession Is No Accident | BoF How Athletes Became Fashion Week Royalty | BoF.Inside the Big Business of Styling Athletes | BoF Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Online shopping promises convenience, but finding the right product among thousands – or hundreds of thousands – of options can often feel like a chore. To address this, retailers are experimenting with AI tools that aim to cut through the clutter with improved search capabilities and personalised shopping experiences. These models don’t just match keywords; they understand user intent and interpret complex search terms, moving closer to a more personal shopping experience online.“Search works really well when you know specifically what you're looking for,” senior technology correspondent Marc Bain notes, “but there’s potential for AI to bridge that gap when you don’t.”This week on The Debrief, BoF executive editor Brian Baskin and senior correspondent Sheena Butler-Young sit down with Bain to explore how AI is transforming e-commerce.Key Insights: New AI search tools are evolving past traditional keyword searches, enhancing users’ ability to find what they’re looking for online with greater ease. “These large language models could change search in a way that you can interact with it more naturally,” explains Bain. With AI’s advanced understanding of nuanced searches like “what should I wear to Burning Man?”, these systems can now deliver results based on context, location, and style preferences, making online shopping a more seamless, intuitive experience.AI in e-commerce aims to serve as an attentive, personalised assistant, but brands face the challenge of enhancing the customer experience while maintaining a respectful distance in the digital space. AI must fall on “the right side of the line between concierge and creepy,” Baskin explains. "The ideal is having an online sales associate … where it doesn’t feel like … it’s just throwing products at you to see what sticks,” continues Bain. The goal of AI in e-commerce is to make shopping more intuitive by simplifying search. As Bain notes, “search is notoriously terrible on retail e-commerce sites,” highlighting the need for improvement. However, despite these advancements, consumers may remain hesitant to fully trust AI-driven recommendations. Bain reflects this sentiment, adding, “I would probably look at what it says and then still go do my own research because I don’t fully trust it.” Additional Resources:The E-Commerce Search Bar Gets an AI Makeover | BoF How AI Could Change Online Product Search and Discovery | BoFCase Study | How to Create the Perfect E-Commerce Site | BoF Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.