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Extending the lifespan of clothes that already exist is one of the best things you can do to reduce the environmental

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News of major retailers going under seems commonplace but what does the future of retail in the UK actually look like?

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Not since 1939 have the worlds of fashion and luxury so completely ground to a halt. Stores are closed, orders cancelled, factories shut or repurposed to make PPE. The summer fashion shows have been called off, and it looks increasingly unlikely the September fashion weeks will go ahead - brands such as Saint Laurent and Tory Burch have already cancelled their shows.

No question, the Covid-19 pandemic has ushered in a reckoning for the £2.2tn fashion and luxury industries - much of it around sustainability (and fashion's lack thereof). What will emerge? Could a more responsible sector - one less damaging to the environment, that goes further to ensure the welfare of its workforce - materialise in its wake?

Environmentalists are certainly hoping so. The fashion industry has been making far too much for far too long. Clothing production has become so cost-effective at scale that brands would rather over-manufacture by 30 to 40 per cent than risk running out of stock. Much of that excess ends up incinerated or in landfills - Burberry famously burnt £28.6m in bags, clothes and perfume in 2017 to prevent them from being stolen or sold for too little (a practice it has since halted).

Since Europe went into lockdown, designers and executives from Giorgio Armani to Vetements' Guram Gvasalia have been calling for change. They want their peers to produce less and less often. They want customers to buy more at full-price, and are petitioning retailers to realign the sales calendar so that summer sandals and dresses are discounted at the end of the season, in late September, rather than June. (Right now, flush with excess inventory, they are holding sales earlier than ever.) They are asking for an end to retail contracts where designers are given no order deposits and no security, and which leave designers financially liable for what stores can't sell at full price.

Many of these demands are wishful thinking. Independent designers will not secure better terms with retailers, who will be more beholden to creditors and big brands - and less able to make risky bets on lesser-known names - than before. Nor will suppliers obtain better terms with designers - with so few orders coming in, brands will be asking for discounts, and they will get them. Garment workers will in turn find it even more difficult to secure a living wage.

Changes under way prior to the pandemic will accelerate. The big luxury brands, backed by even bigger conglomerates - namely LVMH and Kering - will rebound first and capture even more market share. The few globally recognised names that maintained their independence in the wake of the 2008 crisis - Prada, Ferragamo, Burberry, Tod's - may take a look at their balance sheets and reconsider. Department stores will continue to consolidate and disappear - not just in North America, but perhaps also in Europe, which is more dependent on tourists.

Chinese shoppers, who were already shopping more at home following VAT cuts and a crackdown on daigou (personal shoppers who import luxury goods into China without paying duties), will be more likely to buy an Hermès bag in Shanghai than Paris or Hong Kong. Brands will close stores in capital cities and tourist destinations as a result.

It won't be all doom and gloom. Fashion's impact on the environment - the amount of carbon it produces, the millions of litres of dye that pollute the world's waterways, its contributions to soil erosion and biodiversity loss - will drop sharply this year. Labels will produce fewer, smaller collections over the next few quarters, even years. Having seen the risks of a global supply chain, American brands will reinvest in local manufacturing, furnishing new jobs and skills.

Seasonal trends will continue to disappear as designers focus more on classic items that can be worn year-round - and stay on store shelves longer. The shift to more restrained, timeless pieces will ultimately give way to exuberance and excess - just as wartime fabric rationing paved the way for Dior's New Look in 1947, and the 2008 financial crisis set the stage for Alessandro Michele 's Gucci debut in 2015.

Fashion shows will get a much-needed overhaul. Already, the volume of resources poured into 10-minute shows - sometimes involving two full days of travel to see a single collection in Rio or Marrakesh - felt outrageous amid a climate crisis. They are also boring to watch online. Instead, brands will experiment with digital presentations and live interactions with designers. Storytelling around brands and collections will improve as a result. It already has.

Fashion weeks will be smaller. Many designers won't be able to afford to host them. Nor will magazines have the budgets to send editors to attend them. Deep-pocketed brands will fill seats with more influencers, exerting yet more control over third-party coverage. Unable to host showroom appointments, brands will invest in better showroom software, leaving buyers with less reason to travel in the long-term. This will be good for the industry's carbon footprint.

Shopping habits will change. With less disposable income, consumers will be more conscious of what they buy, treating luxury items as investment pieces that will serve them for years - or at least hold their resale value. The shift in spending from high-end handbags to health - skincare, supplements, boutique fitness classes - already on the rise pre-pandemic, will continue. Online shopping will become more of a habit. Similar to the 2008 recession, there will be more support for buying second-hand and directly from small businesses who manufacture responsibly. Others will turn to fast fashion for cheap thrills.

Ostentatious purchases will be out - athleisure, which was losing its appeal, will be back in. To quote GQ, we are living in the age of sweatpants and are never going back.
Lauren Indvik is the FT's fashion editor

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Light after the lockdown - the future of fashion

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Not since 1939 have the worlds of fashion and luxury so completely ground to a halt. Stores are closed, orders cancelled, factories shut or repurposed to make PPE. The summer fashion shows have been called off, and it looks increasingly unlikely the September fashion weeks will go ahead - brands such as Saint Laurent and Tory Burch have already cancelled their shows.

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Fashion retail is in a volatile state, especially in the U.S. Most recently, luxury store Barneys New York made headlines when it declared bankruptcy and closed all its major locations and flagships. Soon after, cult-favorite boutique Opening Ceremony was bought out by New Guards Group and announced it will shut down all locations starting with its Soho, NYC outpost. Amidst all this, the phrase "Retail Apocalypse" is still being thrown around with big box department stores such as Macy's and fast-fashion companies like the Gap and Forever 21 also preparing to close more brick-and-mortar destinations in 2020.

On the global front, the apparel industry in Asia continues to prosper as revenue for the sector is expected to grow 7.8% between 2020 and 2024. Luxury fashion has always been a hot target for the continent with Chinese consumers predicted to contribute almost two-thirds of global growth in luxury spending within the next five years. The region is not only a main focus for conglomerates like LVMH and Kering but also global department stores and smaller concept shops. However, the recent Coronavirus outbreak is already taking a toll on China's retail industry with store closings and falling sales. Europe and the UK's retail sector is at a crossroads too. Brexit has already stalled the U.K.'s retail growth in 2019 and with the move now being final, the future of the regions' fashion economy remains even more uncertain.

So what's next in retail's unpredictable landscape? For this retail roundtable, HYPEBEAST asked the founders/co-founders of some of the most forward-thinking concept stores questions about retail in 2020 and beyond. We asked Mac Hadar from H.LORENZO, Omar Quiambao from Commonwealth, Stavros Karelis of MACHINE-A and Simon Hogeman with Très Bien to share their insights on the future consumer, global market strategies and streetwear's lifespan.

What's your general feeling of the current fashion retail climate for stores both small and large?

Mac Hadar, H.LORENZO: I think it's getting a bit more interesting. Stores like [mine] are becoming much more focused on curation and in-store experiences. The bigger stores are able to provide a wider selection and commercial buys as they are catering to the masses. But in my opinion that loses the personal experience.

Omar Quiambao, Commonwealth: My general feeling is that brick and mortar fashion retail is feeling the effects of online and DTC shopping. But specifically for Commonwealth, we're excited as we're still able to grow and expand without corporate or venture capital investment.

Stavros Karelis, MACHINE-A: I think that retail at the moment is being re-evaluated. Evolving, adapting and changing. We the retailers, regardless of our size, are reflecting the sociopolitical context as well as the economic environment not only of the cities each one of us has a physical presence but that of the international stage. There are no simple codes to achieve success. Each one of us is facing their own challenges but overall I think that whoever can remain true to their customers, representing a community and has a clear vision but also flexible and open minded enough to adapt with the new perspectives that society is moving on, will survive and thrive.

Simon Hogeman, Très Bien: Honestly I'm quite bored most of the time. Very few stores inspire me these days, at least outside of Japan. I feel like everyone needs to step up and get more creative around the way they run their retail. Everything today has become so insane, it's just products, products, products. No one cares about the experience and personal relationship between staff and customer anymore.
"We need less products, and we need to care about the good ones."
What major changes do you see taking place in the retail industry this year?

Mac Hadar: I see a lot more focus on retailers branding themselves as a destination and not simply referred to as a "multibrand retailer."

Omar Quiambao: I think we're already seeing it. A lot of retailers are making the decision to throw in the towel on brick and mortar. It's happening in all demographics as well. From Barneys and Nordstrom to Active Ride Shop to Opening Ceremony. Newer establishments that have venture capital investment/backing will see it as an opportunity to expand. The smaller and more nimble will have the chance to pivot and hopefully make changes.

Stavros Karelis: There are too many parts for each one of us to take into consideration moving forward. Sustainability is the most important aspect to consider and implement to our business models. I absolutely believe in this. Others like "experience," positioning, digital developments, etc., are important aspects too. However these words cannot be used freely or as parts of a marketing report. They are generated in order to be able to captivate bigger audiences, more customers, more sales. How can we reach out to everyone? Firstly we have to consider: Do we want to? And then to consider can we? I always say I am not here to satisfy everyone. If I try to do this I will get lost.

Nowadays more than ever, customers are smart and knowledgeable as well as experienced and with vast information on their hands to be able and judge whether we are real. At the end of the day a customer needs to be able to shop and get what they want, in a friendly and welcoming environment, trusting the space they enter, and discover brands and merchandising that will bring that unexpected excitement to them.

Simon Hogeman: I see that happening actually. The people demanding more than just being able to buy stuff. We need to bring back the nice and inspiring retail. Everything seriously needs to calm down. We need less products, and we need to care about the good ones.

How much of a challenge is it to satisfy both local and global markets?

Mac Hadar: It is a challenge because we know we could cater to a broader audience by buying into a wider selection, however, what is important to us is to stick to our branding and making selections that myself and my team love which I think is beneficial for a long term strategy. I hate the word "short term."

Omar Quiambao: I think it would be challenging to try to satisfy both local and global markets at the same time. Commonwealth has stores in different countries and cities, but we've always understood and been a part of the local nuances of style in each city. Our POV still remains the same as when we opened in 2004. We always look forward to new customers, but we do so being ourselves, sharing what we feel is in good style and taste as we continue to grow, learn and evolve.

Stavros Karelis: For me it is one market. I don't tend to separate these two anymore. I love my city and where MACHINE-A is located but location cannot limit you or the customer. We have to be able to satisfy in the same way a customer that lives in London, to a customer that is travelling in different parts of the world or located somewhere far away. We have many tools to be able to do that. But again, not only growing in numbers, it's the quality of those relationships. To maintain them and grow deeper. To be returning ones. That demands a lot of effort, hard work and human capital who understand that those relationships need a lot to cater so they become loyal, real and grow with time.

Simon Hogeman: We've never really differed local from global really so I would say that it's an everyday struggle but at the same time super easy because our vision is the same as 14 years ago when we started. We're opening a store in London this spring and the plan is to work in the same way there, so hopefully people will like that there as well. Always curated and always personal.

What are your personal thoughts on the ever-evolving state of "streetwear"?

Mac Hadar: I think streetwear is a loose term that many great talented brands fall into due to their background, messages and taking a casual approach to silhouettes within their ranges. We have never followed the streetwear trend, we only buy into brands we believe are offering an intellectual point of difference.

A prime example is A-COLD-WALL* who we bought into from the very start. The brands' first collection included relaxed silhouettes but drew inspirations from architectural design and intelligent references that were conveyed in the details, treatments and colors. As Samuel [Ross] and the team evolved, the collection provided tailored and statement fashion-forward silhouettes but still carries the same essence.

Omar Quiambao: As the market has grown from being niche to mainstream the term "streetwear" has taken on different meanings to different people. I don't subscribe to it as a category of fashion, but more of a mindset where certain tones of DIY, blurring lines, and anti establishment exist in the creative process of different creative communities/subcultures. Outside of my viewpoint, now that the luxury and corporate market has sunk its teeth in to attract its next generation of customers, they will move on to recycle and promote their next "lifestyle trend."

Stavros Karelis: I think this term would go down in history of fashion as the term most used but never accurately defined with a universal accepted definition. It was given by the fashion industry to a phenomenon they couldn't box or describe. But that exact non-definition of the term gives a freedom to everyone to interpret it in their own way. For me streetwear is defining a youth culture and a subculture which became quite big and powerful to be ignored. But there is no term such as I like to wear streetwear. Or I sell streetwear. At least I never have used it in that way. Is tailoring streetwear? Are the men's tabi heels streetwear? Is Raf Simons, Alyx or Dior Streetwear? Luxury? I think that the term that reflects really how young people do shop and like to dress is new luxury: high quality, well made, unique, strong, and easy to wear on a daily basis. Price tag comes secondary however investment to fewer items because of sustainability, hence the ones they choose to buy will stay for them longer.

Simon Hogeman: Streetwear has always been a part of our business. It's cut of our business tends to vary through the years but I think it's been a little over represented in the fashion industry the last few years in general. For us it's not massive and never has been, but I think it's gonna decrease a bit in the coming years. But it'll always be there as it has too and it'll always be a part of Très Bien.
"I learn constantly from our young customers, I admire them for how smart, stylish, unafraid they are."
For specialty shops and boutiques like yourself, who is the customer of the future?

Mac Hadar: The millennial and Gen Z generation that are maturing and appreciating fashion as art. They are thoughtful of what they are purchasing and are coming to H.Lorenzo to take away something that not only looks great but has substance to the product, intelligent craftsmanship and branding. They want to be purchasing something unique and rare.

Omar Quiambao: There will always be the informed and uninformed customer. The customer of the future is the same as today; the one that buys.

Stavros Karelis: MACHINE-A has been identified as one of the stores most connected with youth culture. I really am grateful for this. I think the young generation of people is the future. I learn constantly from our young customers, I admire them for how smart, stylish, unafraid they are. Of how they are way more correct than we have been in many instances, with so many important matters like genderless approach and inclusivity. For me these are the customers of the future and am so happy to be doing something that feels relevant to them.

Simon Hogeman: Good question! We've never looked for patterns in customers really so I think for us it's gonna be someone who likes our way of doing business and our taste and style. And of course someone who's not looking to buy from one of the giants that has another idea of what retail should be.

What are some things that worry you about the retail industry at this moment? What are some things that excite you?

Mac Hadar: To be honest, I'm excited now more than ever. Customers' mindsets are changing and they are becoming mindful of what they are purchasing. Brands and evolving and changing their approach to manufacturing and towards the wholesale model. Even though we have been around for nearly 40 years, our team is made up of open minded individuals who want to push boundaries so we are ready for it!

Omar Quiambao: I wouldn't necessarily refer to it as worrying, but there are always challenges operating as a multi-brand retailer. One in particular that has grown over the last decade is our brand partners becoming our main competitors with their focus on their DTC online sales.

For us there is a lot to be excited about as Commonwealth expands retail and starts its journey as an apparel brand. Continuing to create in-store experiences and authentic relationships face to face with our patrons.

Stavros Karelis: There is nothing that particularly worries me. Of course I keep constantly thinking how we remain relevant, always on the front line of introducing some of the best emerging brands and maintain and grow our community. In that sense I think we have to believe in our instinct and look within our establishment vs. to looking what other entities are doing. My most important task for the future will be to build a business model that promotes sustainability and learning how we as retailers have an important and difficult mission to re-establish our business models from buy more to buy less but buy better.

All the above excites me too. But ultimately is my involvement with emerging talent which is a constant source of inspiration.

Simon Hogeman: I mean, apart from the fact that our industry is destroying our planet at a rapid pace right now, I feel like we've talked about this already. Brands, stores and consumers needs to care more for specific things and cherish and love them rather than keep consuming at the speed of light.

Are there any other brands out there, fashion or not, you feel are doing an exceptional job in the retail industry?

Mac Hadar: I feel Craig Green is doing an exceptional job. He never fails to disappoint in my opinion, every season he designs an innovative and futuristic collection and never follows trends. Raf Simons' approach to every collection is exceptional, you can really feel his soul through every offering. He truly is an artist.

Omar Quiambao: I think Aesop does an exceptional job with their unique build outs instilling a creative and elevated product in what basically is soap and lotion.

Stavros Karelis: I really admire my fellow peers in different cities in the world. Kubo the Founder of GR8 from Tokyo, Olga the Founder of KM20 in Moscow, Pascaline of SMETS, The Broken Arm founders. I feel we are in this all together. Doing our own thing but we are connected in so many ways. And we are friends which makes it even better. But ultimately I think that Adrian Joffe of Dover Street Market is the one that paved the way for all of us to exist and be able to do what we do. I have a huge admiration and respect for him.

Simon Hogeman: I really think it's a shame that Farfetch decided to discontinue the Opening Ceremony stores with their acquisition of the company. Carol and Humberto were a big inspiration for us when we first started so I'm really gonna miss going there. But that's how the industry works now, it's about margin and profit. Other than that, one of my favorite stores right now is Ware-Mo-Kou in Tokyo. Beautifully made, very personal staff and great selection and curation. Shoutout Taisuke!!

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How Your Favorite Stores Will Take On Fashion Retail's Unpredictable Future

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Fashion retail is in a volatile state, especially in the U.S. Most recently, luxury store Barneys New York made headlines when it declared bankruptcy and closed all its major locations and flagships. Soon after, cult-favorite boutique Opening Ceremony was bought out by New Guards Group and announced it will shut down all locations starting with its Soho, NYC outpost.

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As consumers increasingly make their purchases on the internet and physical stores shutter in record numbers, retailers desperate to increase foot traffic are fighting back. They are building stores of the future, a new format that provides consumers with a shopping experience they can't get online.

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William Shakespeare once wrote, " All that glitters is not gold", which is how I tend to think of fast fashion.

On the surface, that Missguided slogan top might look trendy and say "FEMINIST" in sequins, but deep down, it's part of a systemic problem in the clothing industry that harms the planet and makes you look like a virtue-signalling chump unless the profits benefit women's charities, which they probably don't.

So, for the most part, I think Shakespeare was right . But then he never went to & Other Stories.

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Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

This week, I somehow found myself wandering around the Scandinavian high street shop I love so dearly and lusting after a gold sequin pencil skirt that glitters in every sense of the word.

This skirt would be perfect for my best friend's birthday party this weekend. It would go very well with my black high-neck top. It would complement my eyes. It would... break my pledge.

It transpires that the skirt of my dreams is made entirely from polyester, meaning it is not biodegradable and relies on the petrochemical industries for its raw material, rendering it completely dependent on fossil fuel extraction.

In other words, it is terrible for the environment and most definitely counts as fast fashion. I shouldn't even be looking at it let alone thinking about buying it. But I am in a post-January plateau, where everything in my life - including my wardrobe - looks drab and in dire need of a pick me up. Something sparkly would really lift my sartorial spirits.

Unfortunately, I don't have any time to go rummaging through charity shops this week, nor can I be bothered to hunt in the corners of eBay for secondhand treasures. This is where rental fashion comes in.

You might have heard of companies like Hurr, Endless Wardrobe and By Rotation, because they're becoming increasingly popular among eco-conscious millennials like me, whose eyes are bigger than their wallets and so we wind up splurging half a month's rent on a Rixo dress that might be just about as sustainable as one from Pretty Little Thing, but we manage to convince ourselves otherwise because of the higher price tag.

The clothes on these apps and websites are from high-end brands like Fendi, Ganni and The Row, and are available to loan for astronomically cheaper amounts. On By Rotation, for example, you can pay £30 a day for a pair of Jimmy Choo boots that probably cost upwards of £600. After your rental period is up, you return your item and it gets washed and ready for another eager shopper to temporarily snap up.

It's a truly excellent and environmentally friendly way to shop, particularly if you're looking for a statement outfit you'd only wear a handful of times anyway.

"There are two sides to the problem of fast fashion: production (how we make items and what we make them from) and consumption," says Eshita Kabra-Davies, who launched By Rotation in October last year. "Rental fashion addresses both; on the consumption side, instead of buying a dress you wear once then having it sit unloved in your wardrobe, you can rent it just for a day.

"As for production, renting is so much more affordable so you can get a much higher-quality item for the same price as buying. This put more expensive ethically produced fashion within the reach of the everyday shopper."

Rental fashion is becoming increasingly popular among celebrities, too, with Laura Whitmore sporting items from Hurr on Love Island while By Rotation recently dressed actor Karla-Simone Spence in a Monique Lhuillier gown for the Baftas.

"It's a big step for a lot of stylists and stars, who are used to having everything tailor-made and designed to be worn once," says Kabra-Davies. "It also means that 'everyday' people can have access to these very same items, which is what we're all about."

And so let the record state that this "everyday" person did not buy that gold and glittering skirt from & Other Stories. Instead, she rented one from Burberry (Burberry!) for £68 that would have Shakespeare rolling in his grave.

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Renting clothes could be the trick to help me curb my fast fashion habits #20pledges

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William Shakespeare once wrote, "All that glitters is not gold", which is how I tend to think of fast fashion.

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Before the pandemic struck, renting clothes was seen as the ultimate solution to the damaging buy-once wear-once culture so many of us had become trapped in. Instead of purchasing a new dress for a wedding or holiday, you could borrow one instead (thereby preventing it from ending up in landfill once you no longer had use for it). The clothing rental market was also starting to change the high street. H&M and Ganni were among the first retailers to begin trialling a rental model back in 2019, while several new platforms including Hurr Collective and My Wardrobe HQ have launched pop-ups in department stores over the past year.

Read more: How Will Covid-19 Permanently Affect Our Shopping Habits?

But now that weddings have been put on hold and holidays seem like a distant dream, the future of rental - which was projected to be worth $2.5 billion (£2 billion) by 2023 - looks far from certain. In the US, Rent the Runway, the poster child for the fashion rental model, has already announced lay-offs, temporary pay cuts and furloughed staff in response to the pandemic. "Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, RTR's sales have dropped significantly," the company said in a statement on Twitter. "We therefore have had to make difficult decisions to sustain the business by cutting costs across the board."

The company has also faced allegations that it has not properly protected warehouse employees from coronavirus - claims that it has since strongly refuted in both a statement online and a letter from CEO Jennifer Hyman to staff. The brand says it has enacted a series of safety measures in its warehouses, as well as giving employees the option of choosing not to work, staying home and using paid benefits. "This pandemic is far from over," the company added in its statement. "We know that we will have to continue to make difficult decisions as we navigate forward, but we will always act with our values first."

No events? No renting

Rent the Runway is by no means the only rental company facing challenges as a result of the pandemic. Other platforms, including UK-based, peer-to-peer site Hurr Collective, have also seen a dramatic fall in the number of people renting. "The demand side has definitely been impacted for the simple reason of people not having events to go to," co-founder and CEO Victoria Prew tells Vogue.

While some sites have encouraged people to continue renting items for all those Zoom meetings we've been having, it's a difficult sell considering the price point. It costs up to £170 to rent a Ganni dress for one week for example, and £72 to rent four items a month from Rent the Runway. "A lot of the items are still fairly expensive even though you rent them, but the idea would be you're going to a wedding or event," says Chana Baram, senior retail analyst at market research firm Mintel. "Why would anyone be renting clothes right now?"

Tackling hygiene concerns

Hygiene is also another major concern during the current pandemic. Clear health and safety guidelines are essential, particularly when it comes to peer-to-peer platforms such as Hurr, where lenders send clothes directly to renters. "It's a requirement for any item that's listed on Hurr to be dry cleaned professionally by the lender," Prew explains, adding that Hurr directly manages the dry cleaning for items rented through its concierge service. "We are doing everything that we can [from a health and safety perspective] in tandem with government guidelines."

While it is not currently known what temperature kills coronavirus, the CDC says that flu viruses are killed by temperatures above 167 degrees; it recommends clothes are laundered at the highest-appropriate temperature setting.

Despite the strict protocols in place, customers may still be put off by the thought of sharing clothes with somebody else at the moment - a worry that rental sites will also have to address beyond the pandemic. "The hygiene factor will really need to be looked into," Baram comments. "There needs to be very clear signage on websites to explain why this is not an issue."

The long-term future of rental

While rental has been hit hard during international lockdowns, there are already positive signs that the sector is recovering. YCloset in China has seen the numbers of people renting increase since lockdown measures were eased at the end of March. "With the gradual return to work, [renting] is also gradually picking up," says founder and executive director Mengyuan Liu.

Some rental companies may also look at shifting their current models following the pandemic. YCloset, which is backed by e-commerce giant Alibaba, added resale to its services in September 2019, for example. "At present, the secondhand luxury trade is developing rapidly," Liu comments. Resale saw a huge uptick following the 2008 recession, as shoppers who were short on cash looked for more value for money - and the same is predicted amid the economic downturn caused by Covid-19.

It's hoped that rental could also become increasingly popular post-pandemic, particularly as it could provide an additional source of income for some users. Hurr Collective has already started encouraging people to list their garments online, considering so many of us are sorting through our closets right now. "People now have the time to detox their wardrobes," Prew explains. "For the past few weeks, we've financially incentivised people to list their wardrobes, where if you list three items you're given £15 credit, and if you list five verified items you're given £20 credit."

The stripped-back lifestyle we've all become accustomed to since the pandemic began is likely to have a long-term effect on our shopping habits. Sustainability is expected to remain a huge concern - meaning the rental model, as an alternative to buying new clothes outright, is unlikely to disappear anytime soon. "My personal view is that people are going to be more conscious than ever about their fashion footprint," Prew adds. "I'm hopeful rental will do well [after] this."
More from British Vogue:

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Will The Fashion Rental Market Ever Recover From Covid-19?

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The number of people renting clothes from the likes of Hurr Collective, YCloset, and Rent the Runway has decreased since the pandemic began. But will coronavirus change our long-term attitude towards sharing clothes? Vogue speaks to the experts to find out

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For decades, Americans have had an insatiable appetite for new clothing, spurred on by the fast-fashion industry, which cranked out cheap, disposable garments that helped global clothing production double from 50 billion items a year in 2000 to more than 100 billion today. (There are only 7.8 billion humans on the planet.) The environmental toll of this is steep: Apparel producers consume 108 million tons of nonrenewable resources every year and emit 1.2 billion tons of greenhouse gases, more than all international flights and maritime shipping trips combined. Meanwhile, a truckload of clothes is either sent to the landfill or incinerated every second.

But the tide is turning: Between 2017 and 2019, the number of items in American women's closets dropped for the first time, from 164 to 136-a trend that's been aided by several startups transforming the way clothing is bought and sold. Some of these companies, such as CaaStle, are creating clothing rental services that satisfy people's desire to be in style without having to shop. Others, like ThredUp and Trove, are building resale marketplaces that extend the life of everyday clothes. All of them are challenging the preconception-among shoppers and clothing brands alike-that newer is better.

CaaStle

"Clothing rentals have gone from something a couple of startups were doing to something being adopted by old-school retailers," says CaaStle founder and CEO Christine Hunsicker. She would know: In 2012, she launched Gwynnie Bee, a subscription service that now offers clothing rentals from more than 150 labels in sizes 0 to 32. But Hunsicker saw even more opportunity in helping retailers and clothing brands create their own rental services. Her two-year-old CaaStle logistics platform integrates with companies' inventory systems and manages the entire rental process on their behalf, from warehousing and cleaning garments to gathering feedback from customers about how an item fits.

Hunsicker's pitch is simple: "We help brands strengthen their relationship with the customer," she says. While most people typically buy only a handful of things from a label each year, CaaStle has found that, through rental, they'll wear up to 100 items from a brand-and are more inclined to remain loyal when they do make purchases. As CaaStle signs on customers, it's bringing the rental ethos to new demographics. In the past year, it partnered with American Eagle to power the first rental service aimed at Gen Z, Scotch & Soda to launch the first men's rental service, Bloomingdale's for the first rental service from a department store, and Banana Republic. (CaaStle also launched Haverdash, its own multibrand rental service for women and the most affordable one on the market, at $59 a month.) "It's not about moving the customer away from retail and into rental. It's about integrating the offerings," says Hunsicker, who is beginning to experiment with physical spaces: CaaStle-powered pop-ups will open next year in select Express stores.
WATCH: How data helped CaaStle break through in the difficult retail industry
ThredUp

Used-clothing platform ThredUp, which sells everything from Old Navy tees to Gucci heels, received roughly 100,000 items a day from would-be sellers in 2019 and processed its 100 millionth garment for the site. But the 10-year-old platform broke new ground last year as well, partnering with other retailers to find potential secondhand shoppers, wherever they may be. "People in their twenties and thirties were born into [the sharing economy]," says James Reinhart, ThredUp's founder and CEO. "For people in their forties and older, this consumption model requires training."

To reach them, the company set up special secondhand sections in nearly three dozen JCPenneys and worked with Macy's to create secondhand sections in 40 of its department stores. Cult denim brand Madewell now has ThredUp-sourced "archive collections" at several of its stores. ThredUp also partnered with companies such as Reformation and Amour Vert to enable fans of those brands to send ThredUp old clothes (from any label) in exchange for shopping credit at their stores. ThredUp even created its own digital storefront on eBay to woo that site's secondhand shoppers.

Meanwhile, the company is using the $175 million it raised last year to expand its network of warehouses, which are equipped with proprietary technology that can price, photograph, and efficiently distribute one-of-a-kind items. (Sellers make money from every item sold, and ThredUp takes a commission.) In 2019, the company added its fourth center, in Phoenix, staffed by 500 workers, and it recently broke ground on its fifth, which will be the largest, in Atlanta. "There are so many clothes out there that in order to make a [sustainable] dent in the universe, which is our vision, we need to build the infrastructure," Reinhart says.

Trove

If you're in the market for a used Patagonia fleece, Patagonia wants to be the one to sell it to you. Powered by the logistics startup Trove, Patagonia's Worn Wear website buys back items from customers, refurbishes and cleans them, and sells them at a fraction of their original price. It might seem counterproductive for a brand to want to sell lower-priced, secondhand merchandise to customers who might otherwise buy at full price, but Trove CEO Andy Ruben (who previously served as Walmart's chief sustainability officer) says that launching a resale marketplace allows clothing labels "to create a new revenue stream, get new customers, [and] capture their fair share of the secondary market." Within six months of Worn Wear's 2017 launch, Patagonia had generated $1 million in sales from the site, which has been profitable ever since.

Trove has gone on to build out its operations, so it can purchase, process, price, and photograph secondhand goods before putting them up for sale on each brand's dedicated resale website (Trove even takes care of returns and customer service). It has also attracted new customers, including REI and Eileen Fisher, which has brought in more than $4 million in revenue from its profitable ReNew resale site. Last year, Trove added Arc'teryx and Taylor Stitch to its portfolio, and it recently launched a secondhand marketplace for Nordstrom. By having their own resale sites, Ruben says, "these [companies] demonstrate their commitment to getting more out of the clothes they've already made."
Read more about Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies:
A version of this article appeared in the March/April 2020 issue of Fast Company magazine.

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The future of clothes: These 3 startups help you rent or resell everyday items

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For decades, Americans have had an insatiable appetite for new clothing, spurred on by the fast-fashion industry, which cranked out cheap, disposable garments that helped global clothing production double from 50 billion items a year in 2000 to more than 100 billion today. (There are only 7.8 billion humans on the planet.)

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The life span of fashion products is being stretched as preowned, refurbished, repaired, and rental business models continue to evolve. Across many categories consumers have demonstrated an appetite to shift away from traditional ownership to newer ways in which to access products.

In fashion, the shift to new ownership models is driven by growing consumer desire for variety, sustainability, and affordability, and sources suggest that the resale market, for instance, could be bigger than fast fashion within ten years. In recognition of this consumer shift, start-ups will not be the only players making their mark in these segments-established fashion brands will also accelerate the pace with which they embrace new ownership models to further their relevance to consumers.

In more and more categories, consumers are choosing to rent rather than own goods outright. Think of Spotify supplanting compact-disc sales and downloads, Netflix replacing video stores, and Zipcar standing in for car ownership among many young urbanites. This is a fundamental evolution in consumer behavior, and we expect it will have an impact in the fashion business in the years ahead-as we outline in our latest State of Fashion report, written in partnership with the Business of Fashion (BoF).

This trend is partly driven by the young generation's hunger for newness, while embracing sustainability. Research shows that average consumers today buy 60 percent more items of clothing than they did 15 years ago. But consumers keep that clothing for only half as long as they used to. For example, a survey done in Britain found that one in three young women consider clothes "old" after wearing them once or twice. One in seven consider it a fashion faux pas to be photographed in an outfit twice. Simply put, young people today crave newness, and these cohorts are much more likely to embrace churn in their wardrobes. At the same time, younger generations are more interested in sustainable clothing than older consumers. Rental, resale, and refurbishment models lengthen the product life cycle while offering the newness consumers desire.

Meanwhile, luxury brands are raising prices, significantly. Prices of fine watches and jewelry have nearly doubled since 2005. Tracking global prices of Louis Vuitton's Speedy 30 handbag suggests an increase of approximately 19 percent per year since 2016. So, even consumers with six-figure incomes are looking to discounts and alternative models of acquisition for relief.

These demands are catalyzing the successes of rental and preowned models. We expect that the ability of these players to satisfy a heightened desire for newness and an increased unattainability will bring them into the spotlight in 2019. That's reflected in survey data from our State of Fashion research (exhibit).

Luxury consumers can circumvent the price increases of the Speedy 30 bag, for example, through The RealReal, which was founded in 2011 and, as of May 2018, enjoys a $450 million valuation. It sells luxury brands, in gently used form, via a consignment model. The RealReal's hook: top fashion brands, up to 90 percent off. It recently raised $115 million in a Series G funding round and plans to expand its brick-and-mortar presence in the United States.

China's YCloset takes a different approach, using a subscription rental model to grant customers access to an array of clothing and accessories free of additional charges. Customers that like a particular piece have the option to buy it outright.

Although established brands have traditionally turned a blind or scorning eye toward secondhand retail, they are now wading into the preowned and rental markets. For example, Stella McCartney launched a partnership with The RealReal in 2017, offering a $100 credit to consumers consigning her products on the platform. This can create a circular flow that encourages footfall in Stella McCartney stores, while building confidence in the quality and longevity of Stella McCartney products. Additionally, because of the circular nature of this partnership, it bolsters the corporate and social responsibility of the fashion brand.

Other luxury players, such as Richemont, have purchased resale or rental businesses outright, to take control of how their products and brands are marketed on the secondary market.

Some players have ventured into refurbishment, taking advantage of its sustainability benefits. Eileen Fisher, through its program "Renew," takes back gently worn products and either refurbishes them or uses the materials to create new products all together. Patagonia pioneered an in-house repair and resale model by buying back their own products and selling those used items at a discount price. On its website, Patagonia asserts, "The single best thing we can do for the planet is keep our gear in use longer and cut down on consumption."

The company Express is betting on the rental market, launching "Express Style Trial," which allows consumers to rent up to three items at any given time for a monthly fee. In an interview with CNBC, Express's chief customer-experience officer, Jim Hilt, states, "The consumer who is more interested in access versus ownership is happening across many industries. We looked at this evolution and asked, 'How do we participate?'" In New York, French label Ba&sh is offering free rentals over a weekend period as part of its North America expansion strategy.

Turning to the months ahead, we expect 2019 will be known for three developments in particular. First, the number of brands getting into the rental, resale, and refurbishment business will increase markedly; established players will progressively regard alternative ownership as a force they need to embrace, or at least test, through new collaboration models with retailers or start-ups in the sector. This will require careful business-model considerations and a clear choice between partnerships, in-house development, or M&A. Second, we predict a notable increase in the number of "rental native" brands born exclusively for rental or subscription models. We would also not be surprised to see a unicorn in this space soon. Finally, more consumers will see a growing proportion of their wardrobes made up of preowned or rented products, especially for high-value items and accessories. While traditional players need not yet be alarmed, it will be essential to fully understand the emerging signals of what consumers prefer to own versus rent.
For more on all ten trends that will define the fashion agenda in 2019, see The State of Fashion 2019: A year of awakening.

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The end of ownership for fashion products?

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Fashion business models capitalizing on preowned, refurbished, or rented products have hit the industry. Brands and retailers need to pay attention as these models continue to evolve.

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NEW YORK, United States - Louis Shapero was a casual user of the resale platform before the pandemic. But with retail shut down across Europe and North America, his once-sleepy online storefront is suddenly buzzing.

The 22-year-old British university student says he's handled dozens of sales for Stone Island sweatshirts, Van X Supreme sneakers and other streetwear items in the last three weeks, more than he logged in the previous six months. He's doing some shopping as well on the platform, which targets Gen Z with its Instagram-like feed of used clothes and accessories.

Shapero isn't the only Depop seller who's red hot right now. The platform says US sales are up 150 percent from the same time last year in mid-April, and have doubled in the UK. At Poshmark, a rival resale site where sellers tend to list low-price fashion from brands like Anthropologie and Kate Spade, the third week of April was the company's best ever in terms of sales.

Resale sites are coming out big winners as the pandemic plunges the economy into a deep recession. They will have their pick of inventory, as brands look to shift clothes that went unsold during lockdowns. Soaring unemployment is good for the secondhand market too: analysts predict the newly jobless will turn to sites like Thredup and to clean out their closets for extra cash. And consumers, stuck at home and worried about their finances, may have stopped buying new clothes, but they're still hunting for bargains online.

"We aren't going out drinking or clubbing but still have leisure time," said Shapero. "People are now just spending money on clothes instead of going out."

People are now just spending money on clothes instead of going out.

Shoppers aren't quite as eager to splurge on used luxury goods, even at a discount. The RealReal, which sells $700 Louis Vuitton bags and $350 Prada pumps, saw sales plunge 40 percent the week of April 8, according to data compiled by Earnest Research, which monitors consumer spending habits. The company's stock is down 22 percent since late February.

Some expect secondhand luxury to take off as well, particularly if a deep recession forces even wealthy consumers to watch their spending. Vestiaire Collective, a luxury reseller with a mostly European clientele, saw sales jump 20 percent in late April, and Rebag sold more handbags in late April than it did over Black Friday. At StockX, which sells sneakers that can cost thousands of dollars, sales were up 75 percent the week of April 15 compared with last year, according to Earnest, though the average price of sneakers sold decreased.

"[Resale sites] are better off than retail, and they are way better off than department stores," said Sonia Lapinsky, a managing director in AlixPartners' retail practice. "This crisis will completely change shopping behaviours, and when every dollar counts, resale will be far more attractive."
New Opportunities
Before the pandemic hit, the resale market was on track to double from $24 billion in 2019 to $51 billion by 2024, according to a report from Thredup and GlobalData, a retail analytics firm.

This growth may very well accelerate. The 2008 financial crisis paved the way for "flash sale" sites like Gilt and Rue La La, where the pairing of discounts and a ticking clock proved irresistible to shoppers. Resale sites, with their ever-changing assortment, offer that same combination, said Chris Ventry, vice president of business solutions firm SSA & Company and a former Gilt Groupe executive.

Resale sites also add a feeling of community to the equation. Platforms like Poshmark and Depop allow buyers and sellers to comment on each other's listings and send direct messages (though Depop has also struggled with predatory messaging aimed at younger users). Fans have created Facebook groups to talk about their secondhand finds, while sneaker resale drama fills forums on Reddit.

This crisis will completely change shopping behaviors, and when every dollar counts, resale will be far more attractive.

"These shopping platforms are social networks," said Andrea Szasz, principal at global consulting firm Kearney. "Flash sale sites hooked consumers with scarcity and newness, but the needs of consumers today is that sense of community in the digital world."

On April 29, Poshmark added a short video feature similar to Instagram Stories. The platform moved up the launch from later this year in response to the platform's surging activity.

In the luxury market, a recession could steer fashion back toward a more muted aesthetic, analysts say. Shoppers could end up selling the ostentatious and logo-heavy items they purchased in better times.

Sasha Skoda, head of women's merchandising at The RealReal said searches for classic jewellery, such as Cartier earrings and gold necklaces, are up 40 percent and 72 percent, respectively, over the last month, as "people gravitate toward classic investment pieces."

Sales for investment watches like the Patek Philippe Nautilus and Rolex Daytona are up on the watch resale site Chrono24, said chief executive Tim Stracke.
Resale and the Excess Inventory Problem
Many brands offload their inventory to resale sites, whether it's luxury labels at The RealReal or Adidas dropping product on StockX. , Abercrombie & Fitch, Madewell and J.C. Penney have partnered with Thredup too. Still, they often see resale as competing with new clothing in their own stores.

That attitude seems to be shifting out of necessity, with entire spring collections gathering dust in warehouses and stores. Poshmark's Chandra said his company is in discussions with large brands about creating wholesale lines that would be sold by professional Poshmark sellers.

Depop Chief Operating Officer Dominic Rose said Depop is building a wholesale platform for brands to sell on the site too. Come mid-May, brands can start selling directly to Depop sellers.
New Challenges
As masks and social distancing become ingrained habits, consumers might become warier of allowing used clothing to be shipped to their homes.

"As the crisis goes on, concerns will be about what people touched, and this could create social resistance towards used products," said Szasz.

Peer-to-peer platforms like Poshmark have a dedicated landing page that addresses sanitary concerns during the coronavirus pandemic, pointing them to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's guidance, which says it's safe to receive packages.

Consignment sites, which store and ship sellers' items, can sanitise products directly, a potential selling point to customers. But they risk having to shut down warehouses if workers are exposed to the coronavirus. The RealReal had to close storefronts where sellers could have items appraised in person, and cited "limited warehouse operations" as a problem in the first quarter. Thredup is about a month behind in processing inventory due to low staffing at its warehouses, said chief executive James Reinhart.

Both consignment and peer-to-peer sites also need reliable shipping methods, which have become harder to secure with hundreds of millions of people shopping more online while under lockdown.

"This specific health crisis has brought vulnerabilities in the system," said Poshmark's Chandra. "We're keeping an eye on logistics."

Some resale start-ups operate at a loss, and could struggle to take advantage of the flood of merchandise hitting the market. Warehouses and appraisers are expensive, and margins on used goods are thin. StockX laid off over 100 employees earlier in April and is shifting "from a growth-focused mentality to one rooted in operational efficiency."

"Many don't have the working capital to make that kind of product acquisition," Ventry said.

Resale sites also aren't the only ones offering deep discounts. Fashion brands and retailers are increasingly resorting to sales, and the deals will only get better if the economy worsens further. More brands are launching resale on their own, including Patagonia, Eileen Fisher and .

"The competitive advantage resale has will be less when we come out of this," Ventry said. "If everything is on sale, customers will surely go to retail first."
Editor's note: This article was revised on 30 April, 2020 to reflect that searches for Cartier earrings and gold necklaces are up on The RealReal, not sales. We're tracking the latest on the coronavirus outbreak and its impact on the global fashion business. Visit our live blog for everything you need to know. Related Articles: Rental and Resale Were Supposed to Be the Future. Could Coronavirus Change That? As a Global Recession Looms, Quiet Luxury Returns Peer-to-Peer Rental Start-Ups Take on Rent the Runway

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NEW YORK, United States - Louis Shapero was a casual user of the resale platform before the pandemic. But with retail shut down across Europe and North America, his once-sleepy online storefront is suddenly buzzing.

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Lockdowns and shelter-in-place orders are still in effect all around the world but many retailers are starting to prepare for what happens after they can start to reopen. "Uncertainty" seemed to be the defining word for individuals, businesses and governments going into this crisis and it will remain that way while everyone adjusts to the new post-pandemic reality.

Undoubtedly, many retailers hope to quickly bounce back to their pre-COVID-19 business as usual. Some are even expecting a boost because of pent-up demand from many customers being stuck in their homes for weeks while stores were closed. For example, earlier in April, Hermès brought in $2.7 million on the first day that its flagship store reopened in Guangzhou.

But it is probably too optimistic to expect that things will go back to normal anytime soon. As a counterexample, last week Germany allowed stores of up to 800m2 to open again, including car dealers and bookstores, on the condition that they enforce social distancing and hygiene rules. However, according to the national retailers association, Germans chose to stay home and save their money instead of rushing to the reopened stores.

So with this uncertainty in mind, let's take a look at what retailers should be prepared for.

Enforcing social distancing

Many governments are expected to impose strict regulations on retail stores when allowing them to reopen to limit the spread of COVID-19. Stores will have to comply with these regulations to reopen and might even come up with additional voluntary initiatives.

As an example, IKEA in Germany is asking shoppers to keep a 1.5 m distance between each other. Luxury retail stores in China have been reported to only be letting a limited number of shoppers in at the same time. In Denmark, many stores voluntarily put coloured stickers on the floors to remind queuing customers to maintain distance. Restrictions and caps on the amount of customers in stores, whether imposed by regulation or voluntary, could have a significant impact on the turnover of retailers. This in turn might make it harder to justify the cost of rent to stay open and could eventually lead to downsizing or closing of locations.

COLOGNE, GERMANY - APRIL 22: Large yellow distance sticker indicates the minimum distance during ... [+]
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One proposed solution to maintain social distancing between customers and employees is for stores to use booking systems and offer appointments. A customer can book an appointment online or over the phone, show up at the store at the agreed upon time and spend their allotted 15-20 minutes browsing while avoiding crowds. But this will most likely only be an option for luxury and premium brands that have well staffed stores and make up for the low amount of customers with bigger individual sales and higher markups. Mass market and fast fashion brands will not be able to scale this solution to their customer base or justify the costs if it is to be implemented.

I imagine we might see a rise in technologies that measure how many people are in stores and how long they stay there, both to comply with regulations and to offer stores better metrics for strategic purposes. While such technology could be useful, it is important that we remain vigilant and critical of how it is developed and implemented, seeing as the societies we live in are already under increased levels of surveillance by governmental and private actors that infringe on our rights as citizens and consumers.

Managing the fear of infection

We have seen many hygienic measures become the new normal - like wearing a mask, relentless hand washing, avoiding handshakes etc. These are useful habits to develop and maintain when fighting a pandemic and hopefully something most people are doing. But what does that mean for retail stores?

According to Nikki Baird, VP of Retail Innovation at Aptos, the way non-essential retail stores have reopened in China could provide a template for other countries. She expects measures like wearing masks, a cap on customers in stores, daily or hourly deep cleanings to be adopted. She also cites Chinese consumer behaviour to predict that demand for contactless commerce will continue to grow, with initiatives like online orders before store visits, home delivery or curbside pickup becoming more popular even as stores reopen.

27 April 2020, North Rhine-Westphalia, Münster: Disinfectants, mouth and nose protection and small ... [+]
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There are already signs of changing consumer habits in new research. A whopping 87% of U.S. shoppers prefer to shop in stores with "touchless or robust self-checkout options", according to a survey sponsored by store automation company Shekel. In the same survey, more than two-thirds of respondents say they are using some form of self-checkout frequently. The move towards self-checkout and cashless payments has been underway for years, but I think it is safe to say that this pandemic has only accelerated the development.

Betting on omnichannel

Omnichannel has been a growing trend for some time. Now, in the midst of a pandemic, that trend is here to stay. Ecommerce traffic is growing as shoppers want to avoid crowds and might prefer to order online before coming to the store to try things out and pick them up. This could be a big boost for local corner stores, those that offer curbside pickups, and those that have focused on and invested in convenience shopping.

In my recent piece, How Fashion And Beauty Retailers Can Overcome The Lack Of Touch And Feel In The Time Of Social Distancing, I discussed the challenges facing fashion and beauty retailers when customers are unable to touch and feel the products they are buying or are hesitant to try on clothes others have tried. We might see more stores investing in virtual fitting solutions, for example digital mirrors that let customers see what items will look like on them without trying them on physically. There are also virtual reality solutions for beauty products to see how different shades will look like on a customer. Unfortunately it seems like these technologies are still in their infancy and are far from being accurate, scalable or even affordable for many retailers.

Reinventing packaging

Product packaging has long been an important aspect of the retail experience, because of the marketing, usability, and environmental dimensions and it seems like another facet is about to get a lot more attention than before: hygiene. It's not hard to imagine consumers preferring (and regulations demanding) packaging that is more resistant to germs and contamination while being easier to disinfect. Customers and employees alike of course want to avoid the risk of infection and it will be interesting to see how developers of packaging respond to this.

This could be problematic from an environmental and ecological perspective. The cheapest option might be to use plastic and a lot of it. Products that were not wrapped before might have to become wrapped, maybe even in multiple layers to signal their safety. This will unfortunately push the world in the wrong direction and be actively harmful to goals like lowering global carbon emissions, lowering our dependency on unsustainable plastics, and lowering the terrifying amounts of plastic waste in our countries and oceans.

The big question is whether the reusable and sustainable packaging that was becoming more popular will survive this pandemic. Hopefully retailers and their suppliers will invest in developing sustainable packaging solutions that are more ecologically and environmentally friendly, while still being easy to clean and disinfect.

New reality for retail staff

From the perspective of retail staff, working conditions might also change significantly, if not permanently then at least for the foreseeable future. We've already seen how some retailers, instead of firing or furloughing employees, have decided to repurpose them - for example to do virtual assistance sessions with customers or ask them to perform e-commerce related tasks.

I think this is something we are going to be seeing more of. As fewer retail workers are needed, many are likely to start performing other functions like helping with personal styling, shopping assistance or e-commerce related activities. For example, the Chinese department-store chain Intime had its employees sell products on the live streaming service Taboao Live. According to Fung Business Intelligence, this brought in $14,000 of revenue in one hour, all while its 27 retail stores remained closed due to the pandemic.

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It is not just changes to how employees work but also when. With limits on the amount of customers in the store and more time needed for cleaning, changes in working hours are to be expected. Similarly, better planning of staff shifts could help with limiting the risk of exposure and contact tracing in case of exposure. "In China, retailers started instituting controlled shifts so that they aren't mixing different workers on different shifts. That way, if one shift was exposed, it doesn't potentially require shutting down the entire store.", Nikki Baird explains.

Plan, prepare, and pray

The retail experience has been turned upside down for customers and employees alike, and stores should do everything they can to prepare for this new reality. The changes in consumer expectations and safety mandated restrictions and regulations are bound to stay for the near future and it will probably be a long time before a return to "normal". I haven't even touched on the long term consequences of a developing financial crisis, as millions of people have lost their jobs and incomes and are struggling to get by, which obviously lowers the demand for non-essential retail goods.

In the retail sector, this crisis is likely to lead to an increased interest in technological solutions for many of these challenges. Suppliers will rush to develop and sell solutions and stores will scramble to deploy and adapt. Anything that makes it easier to keep shoppers re-assured, build better and stronger customer relationships, and allow retailers to survive will be in high demand. But it's important to keep in mind that no technology can replace the need for proper planning and thinking ahead. Preparation is key for surviving this unprecedented crisis for retail.

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What Will The Post-Pandemic Future Of Fashion Retail Look Like?

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Lockdowns and shelter-in-place orders are still in effect all around the world but many retailers are starting to prepare for what happens after they can start to reopen. "Uncertainty" seemed to be the defining word for individuals, businesses and governments going into this crisis and it will remain that way while everyone adjusts to the new post-pandemic reality.

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The crisis created by the coronavirus pandemic hit the fashion industry especially hard. Online shopping surged, but not enough to erase the damage done by store closings and economic worries, which caused people to curtail spending on nonessential goods. Industry revenue this year could drop by more than one-third, the equivalent of up to $640 billion in lost sales.

Countries are now beginning to reopen their economies, and companies and people are gradually returning to work. But fashion won't-and shouldn't-return to what it was. The behaviors, preferences, and shifts in mindset that people have adopted during the pandemic will lead to permanent changes, including bifurcated spending, accelerated adoption of e-commerce, and increased demand for purpose-driven brands and sustainable fashion.

For brands, the trends and the dramatic drop in sales will contribute to substantial retail overcapacity. It will lead companies to adopt a new shape of P&L, accelerate the shift to digital and omnichannel distribution, embrace data analytics for decision making, and, for those with cash, pursue M&As when they have the opportunity. The sooner brands come to terms with this new reality, the sooner they can take the steps needed to rebound and succeed. It is time for a reset, not a restart.

The pandemic is reshaping the fashion industry. Consumer behaviors and sentiments in the US exemplify what's happening. Shelter-in-place orders affected 300 million people and led to a sharp decline in use of public transportation and an increase in nesting. According to BCG and other research, 81% of US consumers believe that the pandemic will lead to a recession, and more than half worry about their personal finances and plan to spend less on fashion as a result. An increased focus on value is already evident-more than four in ten US consumers say that they expect brands to offer discounts or other promotions once stores reopen.

Shifting consumer sentiments and behaviors have major implications for fashion brands:

Consumers will shop less, and be choosier when they do. Although overall spending will decline, interest will increase in casualwear, activewear, home categories, and beauty products, at the expense of such categories as handbags and formalwear. Instead of conspicuous consumption, think inconspicuous spending.

Channel shifts will accelerate. Sales through digital and social media-especially mobile-will hit overdrive, with digital channels in key markets accounting for a larger portion of total sales. To grab customers' attention, brands will need to strengthen their online presence through customization, community-building, and superior online-shopping interfaces and deliveries.

With more people shopping online, retail stores' role will change. Flagship locations will remain for brand image purposes, but the majority of physical locations are likely to be smaller, sell merchandise that's customized for the area, and be set up to fulfill online orders. Some will also serve as hubs for community activities.

Shifting preferences will squeeze midrange brands. In keeping with past economic contractions, more consumers worldwide will either trade down to lower-priced goods or trade up to premium brands they may perceive as providing more value than they did previously, leaving brands with midrange price points to feel the pinch.

Demand will accelerate for sustainability and purposeful brands. More than ever, consumers will favor brands with a purpose, and sustainability will become a minimum requirement. Brands must ensure that they operate in ways that are environmentally and socially responsible.

Consumers will expect more. People will want convenience, including an intuitive online shopping experience and fast deliveries. As consumers gravitate to social media and more individualized forms of communication over mass media, companies will need to provide shoppers with messaging that is more timely, relevant, and personalized.

Preparing for Fashion's New Reality

Like companies everywhere, fashion brands initially reacted to the COVID-19 crisis by taking quick steps to ensure employee safety and preserve cash. Now, as economies begin to reopen and consumer sentiments reflect a new reality, brands must act on two fronts. (See Exhibit 1.)

Declutter

There's no question that the shape of fashion P&L must change. In fact, we believe that if brands don't act, margins will collapse. (See Exhibit 2.) Our forecasts show fashion industry sales dropping 30% this year (compared with 2019) and up to 15% in 2021. That could lead to a 14% decrease in earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) over the same period if a company were to take no action to adapt its cost base to account for the lower sales.

Out of necessity, a company's short-term actions should center on right-sizing operations, including rethinking sales channels and adopting a new P&L and associated costs to address shifting preferences and behaviors.

Reset the distribution footprint. Brands must rethink their overall distribution footprint to account for department stores and other wholesale channels that are consolidating or closing, the reduced foot traffic in company-owned stores even as economies start to reopen, and the increase in online shopping. For brands, it's a chance to reset their wholesale and retail partnerships and streamline their sales organizations. If a brand's reset includes a stronger push into direct-to-consumer channels, the company needs to update or expand its website-which could now cost more because every other brand will be doing the same thing, increasing competition for the optimum e-tail experience. Companies also need to solidify ties with multibrand platforms, such as Asos and Zalando, that continue to accelerate, along with such e-commerce giants as Amazon and Alibaba's TMall, which have only gotten stronger during the pandemic.

Companies that own retail outlets need to conduct a thorough analysis of locations and close the low-performing ones. For remaining outlets, they may need to renegotiate rent and rethink layouts and staffing to improve profits from physical stores. That could include using more modular fixtures to make it easier to reconfigure merchandise displays and, if they haven't already, set aside an area of the store to fulfill online orders.

Scrutinize all costs in light of the new P&L. To adjust to lower revenue and preserve operating profits, brands need to review and adjust costs across the board, including cost of goods sold, rent, personnel, marketing, and the like. For example, an overcapacity of unsold merchandise will lead to higher markdowns, which will squeeze margins if brands aren't able to lower unit costs by renegotiating with suppliers. To preserve margins, brands also may need to consolidate materials sources and suppliers and be more vigilant about the timing and management of markdowns.

Reduce supplier costs and increase flexibility. Brands with a strong supply chain will be in a better position to take advantage of the recovery once economies start to rebound. Because the near-term future could still be unstable, they need to forge close supplier partnerships in order to remain as flexible as possible, reduce costs, decrease the time it takes to get inventory to market, and increase risk sharing. Brands and suppliers need to come up with mutually beneficial solutions to minimize cancellations and other adjustments to orders. As part of solidifying their supply chain, brands need to adopt agile in-season inventory management.

Adopt zero-based organization redesign and AI-powered decision making. Undertaking a zero-based organization redesign is another way that brands can make their operating model leaner and more agile. In this process, a company determines the systems it would put in place if it were launching today, often using data analytics to forecast and augment decision making and identify areas of cost savings. A reorganization could lead a company to adopt a bionic operating model, one that seamlessly integrates the capabilities of people and technology. A bionic operating model also gives brands the opportunity to digitize their product development and supply chain to make both of them more agile and effective.

Invest

Companies must invest in areas that allow them to create advantage in adversity, building the organization, capabilities, and processes that they need for the future and that they can use to capitalize on opportunities to expand and gain market share.

Build a strong AI and technology backbone to digitize core processes. Adoption of advanced analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) will be among the fashion industry's most significant changes in the coming decade, and one of its biggest challenges. Brands have been slow adopters for the most part, but laggards can take a page from companies that already use these technologies. Data will become an even more important competitive advantage: the brands with the most usable data will win. The biggest winners will be the brands that can codify data from all sales channels and consolidate it onto a single analytics platform to improve decision making on such core processes as planning, buying, promotions, markdowns, and in-season inventory management. Creating a market-leading e-commerce platform is another part of building out a more robust tech backbone.

Build brand online and digitize pathways. Digital commerce could increase to 35% to 55% of total sales in key markets, so brands must boost their digital presence to keep up. Purchases of all kinds-whether online or offline-are being influenced by digital, including mobile and social selling. Winning at digital is winning overall. Online platforms will continue to gain market share through acquisitions and organic growth. But significant opportunities remain for brands that can build community and engagement around what they offer. They can also take advantage of increasing consumer interest in the resale and re-commerce markets.

A key growth area over the next decade will be personalization at scale, one-on-one engagement with customers across multiple channels, including in stores, on social media, and through digital. We call this clienteling 2.0. A number of brands and retailers are already testing this concept; some found success during pandemic-generated lockdowns, after turning store associates into digital stylists and having them engage with consumers and sell merchandise directly through WeChat and Instagram.

Retain and cultivate talent with analytics and digital skills. Finding data scientists, data analysts, and other people with the digital skills brands need to remake their business will be a challenge. Although the COVID-19 crisis has brought widespread layoffs, it may not have increased the available supply of people with the needed skills. If a brand's efforts include expanding its tech backbone or e-commerce operations, the ramifications extend beyond new talent to the existing workforce as well. That could include deciding which people to bring back to work first, or how to upskill people to take on new duties. Brands that are scaling down sales channels or other operations also need to consider the feasibility of reskilling people from those functions for completely new roles.

Look for M&A opportunities. Although most brands will lose revenue through 2022, we believe some could be in a position to benefit from industry consolidation and bankruptcies. Companies with cash to spend can take advantage of industry valuations that have dropped by an average 33% year-to-date, to a near-recession-era low of 7.8 times enterprise value over EBITDA. (See Exhibit 3.)

The next two to three years could be the most tumultuous that most people in the fashion industry will ever know. Agile, decisive brands that can free up capital to invest can set themselves up to create advantage in adversity. They can right-size operations and adopt new business practices while continuing to give customers what they want. Make no mistake, though, these actions will not be easy, and the window for taking them will be brief. But brands that act quickly can give themselves a better chance of not just surviving the chaos but becoming stronger because of it.

About Boston Consulting Group

Boston Consulting Group partners with leaders in business and society to tackle their most important challenges and capture their greatest opportunities. BCG was the pioneer in business strategy when it was founded in 1963. Today, we help clients with total transformation-inspiring complex change, enabling organizations to grow, building competitive advantage, and driving bottom-line impact.

To succeed, organizations must blend digital and human capabilities. Our diverse, global teams bring deep industry and functional expertise and a range of perspectives to spark change. BCG delivers solutions through leading-edge management consulting along with technology and design, corporate and digital ventures-and business purpose. We work in a uniquely collaborative model across the firm and throughout all levels of the client organization, generating results that allow our clients to thrive.

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The crisis created by the coronavirus pandemic hit the fashion industry especially hard. Online shopping surged, but not enough to erase the damage done by store closings and economic worries, which caused people to curtail spending on nonessential goods. Industry revenue this year could drop by more than one-third, the equivalent of up to $640 billion in lost sales.

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Barcroft Media via Getty Images

'Sustainability' has sparked a gold rush among fashion industry players who recognise that the sector's business model, with all its excesses, is ripe for disruption. It's gone fully mainstream: sustainability dominated Davos, with the likes of Greta Thunberg and Prince Charles repeating their calls for urgent action to tackle the climate crisis.

Those calls are being heard pretty loudly in the fashion industry, a sector that is more self-conscious than others about it's dire eco credentials. But there's a problem: most of the focus, and money, is on just one part of the chain.

Fashion innovators have birthed countless brands, apps and sites that help us, the consumers, to buy more sustainably, track where our clothes are made, who they were made by, and what we can do with our garments once we've KonMari'd our way to a new wardrobe. And investors are responding positively to these startups-pouring in $2 billion worth venture capital into the fashion sector 2018.

Jennifer Hyman (right) CEO & Co-Founder, Rent The Runway
Getty Images for WeWork

But while tried and tested consumer-facing solutions to the industry's excesses- think Allbirds, Vinted, Rent The Runway-get the attention, companies innovating on the manufacturing and production side face huge gaps in financing, and at crucial stages. Companies developing raw materials out of hemp, fruit or nettle, for example, are not being funded as eagerly as consumer-facing startups, a report by Fashion for Good and Boston Consulting Group has found. In fact, innovations behind the scenes-at the manufacturing and processing end-are missing between $20 billion and $30 billion in financing every year, hampering their ability to make a lasting impact.

This matters because for all the recycling, reusing and renting of outfits we're capable of, the bigger footprint lies in the production process where waste, pollution and, at times, unethical labour conditions, are maximised.

These areas are largely overlooked by investors as the technologies require more time and research to develop. There's a long way to go before the $2 trillion fashion industry might fully comply with the UN's sustainable development goals by 2030.

Damning statistics make a decent enough case for why the fashion sector is ripe for disruption at the production stage. Globally, it contributes between 5% and 10% of carbon emissions, almost 20% of water pollution, and 4% of the world's waste. If the industry cleaned up its act, it would contribute to ticking off other sustainable development goals, too. Targets such as clean water and sanitation might be reached faster.

The Way Forward

You may have walked into an H&M store recently, a bastion of fast fashion, and been surprised to spot a garment collection box. Skeptical, you may have questioned whether the clothes end up among the pile of 100 billion other neglected items that end up in landfill each year.

Yet H&M Group, whose attempts at sustainable fashion have previously been slammed by regulators over misleading claims about its environmental benefits, a practice known as " greenwashing", seems to be moving in a hopeful direction. H&M claims on its website that the donated items are now either recycled, reworn or repurposed. The clothing giant has also been linked with Ambercycle, which converts masses of waste clothing into yarn for next year's fast fashion.

There's also some promising developments, in terms of financing, on the horizon. Sustainability linked loans is the latest trend to watch, where financing depends on how sustainably a business conducts itself.

Prada, last November, became the first luxury brand to sign an SSL, a five year-term loan of €50 million from Crédit Agricole. The market for these new loans rose from $5 billion in 2017 to $40 billion in 2018, according to BCG.

New funds have also emerged in recent years to meet that financing gap. The likes of Alante Capital and the Textile Innovation Fund invest in alternative raw materials, 3D printing and sustainable dyeing.

It's been a slow start but the future looks promising as long as fashion brands champion these new solutions. Supply chain players need to step up and make themselves-and the case for their existence-even more visible.

With trends changing season by season, fashion is constantly fickle. Sustainability was the talk of the town at Davos this year-with the fashion industry now taking note, it's one trend that's here to stay.

... Read More

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Rental And Resale Are Hot. But Sustainable Fashion Needs A $30 Billion Investment Behind The Scenes

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'Sustainability' has sparked a gold rush among fashion industry players who recognise that the sector's business model, with all its excesses, is ripe for disruption. It's gone fully mainstream: sustainability dominated Davos, with the likes of Greta Thunberg and Prince Charles repeating their calls for urgent action to tackle the climate crisis.

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Vogue Global Conversations: The Future of Brick and Mortar

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This article appeared first in The State of Fashion 2020 Coronavirus Update, an in-depth report focusing on the themes, issues and opportunities impacting the global fashion industry in the wake of the coronavirus, co-published by BoF and McKinsey & Company. To learn more and download your free copy of the report, click here.
NEW YORK, United States - It's true that the House of survived multiple world wars, the stock market crash of 1988, the Great Recession, and many other world-changing, life-altering events. So did , Louis Vuitton and Prada. But the modern luxury industry as we know it - where brands are multi-billion dollar powerhouses, employing hundreds of thousands of people across the globe, up and down the supply chain - has only really existed for the past 30 years, when LVMH's marquee brands began swelling in size, and competitors like Kering and began building their own formidable stables.

In many ways, the coronavirus pandemic is the first global crisis that will deeply impact the sector since the industry morphed into a virtual oligopoly. How will it fare? The short answer: expect the expected, and at lightning speed.

During the Great Recession from 2008 to 2009, the worst economic downturn in US history since the Great Depression of the 1930s, the luxury market was disproportionately impacted, contracting 8 percent globally compared to the overall apparel market's 5 percent shrinkage. Because personal luxury goods are discretionary purchases, consumers tend to abandon them first, especially from brands that have not developed an emotional reason for existing in the eyes of the consumer.

However, after that downturn, the luxury industry bounced back more strongly than perhaps anyone could have anticipated. At the end of 2019, LVMH, which owns brands including Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Celine, became the second most-valued company in Europe, following oil and gas giant Royal Dutch Shell, with a market capitalisation passing the €200 billion mark ($217.9 billion). That same year, the group, which now includes more than 70 brands across categories such as wine and spirits, jewellery and watches, travel and fashion, generated €53.7 billion ($58.5 billion) in revenue, up 15 percent year-over-year. Its closest rival, Kering, generated €15.9 billion ($17.3 billion), up 16 percent from a year earlier.

The coronavirus pandemic is the first global crisis that will deeply impact the sector since the industry morphed into a virtual oligopoly.

More than a decade after the Great Recession ravaged the global economy, the luxury industry is now facing an even greater threat: a pandemic that has halted nearly all trade in a large part of the world.

The next six months may be far more damaging to luxury than the previous downturn, with several struggling players - mostly debt-ridden multi-brand retailers and cash-poor independent brands - not making it out the other end. McKinsey estimates that the global industry for personal luxury goods will contract by 35 to 39 percent in 2020 compared to the previous year. However, by 2021, positive growth could return at 1 to 4 percent compared to the 2019 baseline. For companies that do make it through to see a return to growth, what will the new normal look like?

Post-downturn, the luxury industry had two levers of growth that cannot be exactly replicated this time around. For one, luxury brands started charging a lot more for the products they sold at full price. In 2000, the starting price for an Hermès Kelly bag was $4,800. By 2013, it was $7,600, reflecting a 58 percent increase in 13 years, 1.5 times the rate of inflation during that period.

While raising prices helped boost margins, the Chinese market, which, for most brands, only emerged as a significant source of revenue in the mid-2000s, became the engine of growth. Chinese consumers were responsible for more than half of global luxury growth between 2012 and 2018, and total spend by Chinese consumers is expected to make up 40 percent by 2025, according to a 2019 report by McKinsey.

But while both of those levers can still be pulled, the circumstances driving them are now different. "Over the past three or four years, the consumer's behaviour was changing regardless," said John Idol, chief executive of Capri, the American group that controls Michael Kors, Versace and Jimmy Choo.

The coronavirus pandemic will only accelerate that change.

For instance, while it's never been more important to win over China's growing middle class of brand-conscious shoppers, the focus will increasingly be on meeting them locally, not abroad. There was already a movement toward this, as price harmonisation at brands like Chanel made travel retail less attractive.

In 2019, Chinese consumers took more than 150 million trips abroad, with McKinsey estimating that purchases outside the mainland accounted for more than half of China's luxury spend that year. Now, with travel retail suspended due to international lockdowns, Chinese consumers have no other choice but to shop at home.

"Travelling shoppers will take significantly longer to return," said Pierre Mallevays, founder and managing partner of Savigny Partners LLP, a mergers and acquisitions advisory firm focusing on luxury brands and retail. "This means travel retail and tourist-dependent stores will continue to suffer into 2021."

Brands have never been more incentivised to nurture the local market while retail in other major regions is shut down completely, but that shift will continue once retail operations return to normal globally. "The Chinese will become even more important," said Luca Solca, an investment research analyst at Bernstein. "The Chinese economy should be the least damaged from the crisis." However, not all signs are necessarily pointing in that direction. The World Bank's latest forecast adjusted for Covid-19 impact reveals that China's economic growth is projected to decline from 6.1 percent in 2019 to 2.3 percent in 2020 (in the baseline) and 0.1 percent (in the lower-case scenario).

Self-isolation has also forced another change in behaviour that is likely to remain once the dust settles: more shopping online. "Digital will enjoy a step-up," Solca said. While e-commerce channels are likely to see a boost - as more consumers get comfortable with making high-price purchases online as they remain hesitant to visit crowded public spaces - other channels, like multi-brand retail, are primed for contraction even after lockdowns are lifted. Some luxury stores will not survive the lockdown, as constrained cash flow will make it impossible for them to pay their creditors and clients.

"Channel distribution will weigh even more heavily towards online - and further away from wholesale," he added.

Right now, even retailers specialising in discounted luxury goods are struggling. In the US, American off-price chain Ross, which is similar to TJ Maxx, told vendors it was cancelling orders for up to three months. But come autumn, the discount channel will inevitably get busy, as excess inventory from the first nine months of the year will flood the market. Whether or not the demand will be there remains to be seen.

Many consumers will be looking for so-called 'investment' pieces - minimalist, last-forever items.

That inventory glut will force brands to be more conservative about their autumn and spring production runs, if they are even able to produce the autumn season at all. What this will likely spur is a move further upstream for more companies, so that they can participate in "reactive" manufacturing, as one luxury executive called it. Companies like Hermès, Chanel, Gucci and Louis Vuitton own their own factories in Italy, France and beyond, which means they can more easily stop and start production.

Luxury consumers are also likely to, at least for the time being, adopt the "fewer, better things" mantra that environmentalists have been advocating over the past decade. While this could spur increased activity in the second-hand and rental channels once fear around the virus contagion subsides, it also means that many consumers will be looking for so-called "investment" pieces - minimalist, last-forever items - that feel more responsible given the state of the world. "Call it cautious consumption," said Mario Ortelli, managing partner of luxury advisors Ortelli & Co. "It will take more to justify a purchase."

There is also a contrary school of thought suggesting that consumers in some market geographies and segments will release pent-up demand once there is light at the end of the tunnel. Instead of restraint, some cohorts in the uber wealthy demographic may choose to spend like crazy on decadent, fun, outrageous and exuberant things.

With either scenario in mind, expect an uptick in bespoke shopping experiences both online and off, with customer relationship management tools that allow brands to keep up an ongoing dialogue with each client. "Consumers want their shopping experience to be a bit more tailored to them," Idol said. "As a part of that, they want their sales associates to really talk to them, think about the way they dress."

Consumers want their shopping experience to be a bit more tailored to them.

Of course, this new reality will only affect the companies that make it through the next six months. Some companies will go private in order to manage the situation without the pressure of public markets, as may be the case for supply chain giant Li & Fung. But the fallout signals an opportunity for strategic groups like LVMH and Kering, which will have the capital to make further acquisitions of targets that may well be more affordable than they once were when this is all over.

Independently run companies including and Prada, which have already been subject to takeover rumours for months, may suddenly be more amenable to such overtures. The same goes for the likes of Salvatore Ferragamo, Brunello Cucinelli and even Ralph Lauren, while mid-sized companies - those with annual revenues in the $100 to $500 million range - will struggle to compete against the groups, which control everything from the supply chain down to the retail real estate.

In the post-pandemic era, consolidation of the luxury market will only intensify. Likening the future rush of M&A activity to a possible "tsunami," Ortelli was quick to point out that the fallout from the coronavirus won't be a crisis for everyone. For some luxury players it will definitely be "a unique opportunity," he said.
Related Articles: The Next Wave of Luxury E-Commerce A Guide to Protecting Your Business During Coronavirus Rental and Resale Were Supposed to Be the Future. Could Coronavirus Change That?

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For Luxury, an Acceleration of the Inevitable

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This article appeared first in The State of Fashion 2020 Coronavirus Update, an in-depth report focusing on the themes, issues and opportunities impacting the global fashion industry in the wake of the coronavirus, co-published by BoF and McKinsey & Company. To learn more and download your free copy of the report, click here.

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As we enter a new decade, what will the retail 2020 landscape look like? Based on strong themes that have emerged this past year, we compiled the trends that will shape the next year, the digital and bricks & mortar strategies in place and upcoming openings and closures.

Want more 2020 vision? Stay tuned for our upcoming article covering next year's defining trends across womenswear, menswear, kidswear and beauty.

As always, our product specialists are on hand to show how to use EDITED's Retail Decision Platform to inform your strategies for 2020. Get in touch to see how it's done.

The stores of the future are immersive, but temporary

When imagining the store of the future, magic mirrors or robotic sales assistants may come to mind. While there have been new advancements in these areas, they are still yet to integrate fully within the retail landscape at the dawn of 2020.

Due to the financial crash and sky-high rental prices, the 2010s were described as the so-called 'retail apocalypse.' The efficiency of online shopping forced brick-and-mortar businesses to be fresh and innovative to survive in today's challenging climate. The pop-up model then emerged as the store of the future, and it's not going anywhere in 2020.

2019 hosted its fair share of brand activations, temporary installments and in-store sensory experiences. For inspiration, look to #revolvefest at Coachella and the Virgil Abloh x IKEA 'FITTING ROOMS' at London Fashion Week as two examples of themes to influence 2020 spaces. With Fall 2020 runway shows kicking off in January, designers will continue to explore and innovate with these concepts to generate hype alongside their latest collections. The now-iconic lavender fields from Jacquemus menswear show in June has raised the bar for designers opting for non-traditional catwalks. Live performances will continue to be ingrained into the runway setting, as designers look to keep the audience connected IRL. Rihanna's first Savage x Fenty show went a step further and had guests on a strict phone ban, bucking the live-streaming trend. Combining fashion with food was a notable trend to promote runway season with Saint Laurent and Jacquemus opening eateries, while Celine and Fendi created branded edible treats. Gucci also announced plans to open a branded restaurant in Los Angeles in the new year.

Jacquemus Spring Summer 2020 - Image via wwd.com

Advanced tech will still play a crucial role in future bricks-and-mortar businesses. However, a human element is required to focus on the customer. Chanel has already reported a positive impact on sales through its pilot digital innovation project with Farfetch. The Rue Cambon store in Paris introduced an app for customers and sales associates along with connected mirrors in the changing rooms.

Chanel's Rue Cambon Store - Image via wwd.com

The app allows clients to view content and create a wish list before coming to the store. There, they can access exclusive connected content via 30 small pads throughout the store, including a virtual tour of Chanel's private apartment and runway images as well as access to playlists and podcasts. The sales associate will then prepare the fitting room based on the information received by scanning the client's QR code and suggest additional or alternative products. Using the connected mirror, clients can see footage of the item on the runway or in a campaign.

Farfetch stated three more Chanel boutiques will adopt this technology with similar concepts planned for brands like Thom Browne and the upcoming Browns store on Brook Street in London in the coming year.

While innovations like these will continue to scale this trend into the future, a tailored approach is needed to create a unique experience for each brand and boutique.

Digital fashion comes full circle

With 2019 dubbed as the ' Year of Sustainability,' it is expected that sustainable innovation is a top priority for retailers in 2020. This creates several opportunities within the virtual and digital space. Taking a look at some initiatives from concept to creation at the forefront of this movement.
Digital sampling:
Overproduction is often first of mind concerning the fashion industry's negative environmental impact. However, even before goods are put into production, retailers need to consider the contribution to landfills from their sampling processes. Brooke Roberts-Islam, Co-director of materials innovation agency, BRIA, featured on episode 2 of the unEDITED podcast spoke of the role AI and digital can play in reducing the environmental impact caused by the fashion industry. BRIA works with brands to better source and develop materials, as well as look at more sustainable alternatives. Currently, digital materials are a key focus for the business, with factories concerned about the amount of raw material waste created by the process of traditional sampling.

While digital sampling exists in the market already with retailers like Hugo and adidas dabbling in the process, it is not yet perfected. Tommy Hilfiger currently leads the way with its plan to shift design to be 100% digital by 2022 with its Fall 2020 capsule range marking the first end-to-end digital collection. According to McKinsey & Co, 83% of CPO's surveyed in its recent report believed physical samples would be used less offered than virtual samples by 2025. As consumer demand for sustainable practices grows, retailers are continuing to innovate to reduce their environmental footprint. 2020 should see strides towards digitalizing sampling processes before mass retailers eventually adopt the practice.

Ethmode 3d Digital Bodysuit, BRIA - Image via eco-age.com

Concept stores:
Outside of the sustainable element, digital fashion is also making its way into the physical space bridging online and offline to create a new shopping experience. In November, the world's first circular economy store, A:HOT:SECOND, launched as a popup in London, allowing customers to test digital fashion in stores as if applying an Instagram filter. According to EDITED's interview with A:HOT:SECOND's founder Karinna Nobbs, there is "an appetite for novelty and innovation first" before sustainability. Through her research, she confirms this appetite is within the luxury market, stating the concept model would work best at high-end department stores. There is still an opportunity to scale within the mass market, as Nobbs foresees brands capitalizing on the ability to share a digital asset with multiple influencers, instead of the traditional exchange of sending free samples.

A:HOT:SECOND - Image via forbes.com

Virtual Influencers:
Building on from the vision of a future connecting digital clothing with real-life influencers is scaling the possibility of digital influencers wearing digital clothes. Over the years, virtual influencers have appeared in luxury campaigns for designers such as Balmain or have interacted with real models as per Bella Hadid with Lil Miquela for Calvin Klein. According to Cameron-James Wilson, CEO and Creative Director of The Diigitals, the world's first digital modeling agency, there is no doubt that any company regardless of industry will have at least considered creating a virtual ambassador by the end of 2020. As virtual avatars continue to engage audiences on social media, Wilson, creator of virtual model Shudu, tells EDITED that this concept will start to become more mainstream and resonate with commercial brands. Already focusing on digital design, Tommy Hilfiger also announced its investment in virtual influencers, with a program that will let creators design their own avatars and use them for marketing the brands' products.

@balmain

@immagram

@lilmiquela

Going digital is noted as a key concept in the future of sustainable design and we can expect to see it benefit other areas of the fashion industry. Wilson states, "the work that goes into creating traditional marketing media using real garments is extremely wasteful and becoming completely unnecessary. As physical items become more likely to be digitized, it only makes sense to have digital models wearing them. A 3D design pipeline that doesn't include the usage of virtual models isn't complete, and cannot be fully sustainable."

Future openings and expansions

The new year is shaping up to be huge for Inditex, which recently reported successful revenue and profit results for 2019. The retail giant has benchmarked 2020 to sell all brands worldwide online.

In Spring 2020, Kylie Skin will enter the European market, first stocked at German beauty chain Douglas.

Primark will open 19 new stores, as well as roll out new extensions and relocations.

Amazon is opening its first non-Whole Foods grocery store in Los Angeles, which will sit at a lower price point.

Ralph Lauren will open a flagship store at Via della Spiga in Italy in 2021.

Manolo Blahnik will open a new US flagship at 717 Madison Ave.

Gucci is launching a series of pop-ups called 'Pin' across Paris, Seoul and Hong Kong between January and March 2020. Pin will focus on augmented reality and interactive consumer experience.

Moncler's 'House of Genius' project in Paris, Tokyo and Milan will continue until the end of January 2020.

Gucci concept store - Image via kering.com

Future closures

Forever 21 announced it will be closing in Southern California, adding to the list of US locations shutting down in January. In the new year, the retailer will also close its UK locations.

Sports Direct announced House of Fraser will be closing more doors in 2020.

Although Chico's plans to close 250 US locations by early 2022, the brand is working to strengthen itself through new partnerships with Amazon, ShopRunner and QVC.

Sears will shutter 51 stores in the new year starting in February.

After its recent separation from Old Navy, Gap will continue its plan to close over 200 stores to 'revitalize the company.'

After falling into administration, Debenhams will close 22 locations in the new year.

Marks & Spencer will continue closing its bricks-and-mortar presence in 2020 including downsizing some of its largest flagship stores.

Gap Fifth Avenue - Image via footwearnews.com

As you approach the new year, make data your ally to tackle the challenges across the retail landscape. Get in touch to find out more and subscribe to our Insider Briefing for weekly news.

Already an EDITED user? Log in to read our full debrief of the retail landscape in 2020.

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Digital meets physical: defining the retail landscape in 2020 - EDITED

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Want more 2020 vision? Stay tuned for our upcoming article covering next year's defining trends across womenswear, menswear, kidswear and beauty. As always, our product specialists are on hand to show how to use EDITED's Retail Decision Platform to inform your strategies for 2020. Get in touch to see how it's done.

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LONDON, United Kingdom - In a brick-walled basement in Hackney, amidst rails hung with Balenciaga and clusters of technology developers, "The Store of the Future" was almost ready. Here, billion-dollar fashion "unicorn" has been staging a test run of the tech-powered retail experience the company is set to unveil later today at the debut FarfetchOS conference at London's new Design Museum in a move that further extends the platform into physical stores.

The announcement comes at a critical time for Farfetch, which is reportedly preparing for an IPO. The company, which connects consumers with a curated network of boutiques and brands, is now the world's top luxury e-commerce destination measured by traffic, outperforming competitors including Yoox Net-a Porter and Neiman Marcus, according to data from web analytics service Alexa. And though Farfetch is not yet profitable (market reports suggest it lost around $40 million last year), it surpassed gross sales of $800 million in 2016, up 60 percent from 2015, with estimated annual revenues in the region of $150 million. (Farfetch is said to take a 25 percent commission on net revenues from partners.)

But Store of the Future could prove to be one of the company's most important moves yet. While luxury e-commerce is growing fast, the portion of personal luxury goods purchases that happen online - now about 7 percent of total - is expected to plateau at about 20 percent by 2025. This means that, for the foreseeable future, the vast majority of sales will still take place in physical stores, which have yet to really benefit from the digital revolution.

From fitting rooms equipped with photo booths to mannequins with screens on their foreheads, most in-store technology has been gimmicky stuff that's more likely to drive short-term PR than actual sales. By contrast, Farfetch's Store of the Future aims to dramatically improve retail productivity by capturing invaluable customer data and enhancing human interactions between shoppers and sales associates.

The concept is also modular, meaning brand and boutique partners can pick and choose the components that make most sense for their businesses. And while Farfetch has developed the core operating system on which Store of the Future runs, the initiative is conceived as a platform, meaning the majority of innovation will ultimately come from third-parties, who build new services on top of it.

It's a bit like an operating system for a shop - you build the apps.

For the time being, Farfetch has developed a few key applications to demonstrate the power of the platform: a universal login that recognises a customer as she checks into the store; an RFID-enabled clothing rack that detects which products she is browsing and auto-populates her wishlist; a digital mirror that allows her to view her wishlist and summon items in different sizes and colours; a mobile payment experience similar to what exists in Apple Stores; and, of course, the underlying data layer that connects these services with each other and the Farfetch platform.

Store of the Future is still in beta. But the concept will launch this autumn with London-based boutique , which Farfetch acquired in 2015, and Thom Browne, which will join the Farfetch platform and deploy the technology in its New York flagship. A full commercial roll out is planned for 2018, although the business model has yet to be tightly defined.

Ahead of its official unveiling, BoF sat down with Farfetch founder and CEO to learn more about the vision and business logic behind Store of the Future - and get an exclusive sneak peek of the experience.
BoF: Why did you decide to launch Store of the Future?
JN: We started roughly two years ago and we were really thinking about: five years out, 10 years out, how are people going to shop for fashion? Today, over 90 percent of transactions take place in brick-and-mortar stores. By 2025, it will be around 80 percent, which is still eight out of 10 sales. Although digital is already influencing most consumption behaviour - and that's where the eyeballs are; it's the new TV, it's the new print, it's the new everything - when it comes to actually purchasing fashion, there will be a plateau in online sales. Fashion is not downloadable, which makes it very different from movies or music.

So, three key facts: number one, digital is completely influencing consumer behaviour and the creation of desire; number two, online is growing much faster than offline; but three, offline is still - and will be - where the vast majority of transactions take place. So how do you make sense of all of this?

It's really about creating the luxury experience of the future. We've been omnichannel from day one. From the very start, we essentially connected physical inventory to a digital platform. The first step is a single view of inventory. Then we launched more omnichannel propositions, like same-day delivery in 10 cities, click and collect in store. The Store of the Future is the next step, using the physical store as a service point. It's post-omnichannel, or what we call "augmented retail."

The physical store is going to survive and is going to remain the centre-stage of shopping, but it's not going to be a physical store as it exists today. The disconnected store - as opposed to the connected store - won't be around. Period. And the biggest evidence of this is actually Farfetch itself, because once we connect a boutique to the platform, we account for about 45 percent of sales. We're like OpenTable for boutiques - they know every empty table, we know every shoe that is sitting on every shelf unsold. We know how much offline is moving and how much online is moving. And just by making your physical inventory available 24-7 to a global audience, you massively boost your economics.
BoF: So what exactly are you unveiling?
JN: The store of the future's built on three principles. The first is human touch. If you go into a store today, the sales staff are doing things machines should do: they're checking if they have your pair of shoes in the backroom; or they're asking your name and looking you up in the database. Is this empowering human touch? Not at all. The store of the future is fundamentally about releasing customers and shop assistants to focus on the human side of the interaction. It's about empowering the staff in the shops to stop being inventory controllers and start being in-store influencers. Right now, they are inventory controllers.

The second principle is being modular. We absolutely do not believe there is one store of the future. There will be 1,000 stores of the future. Think about the way a brand commissions an interior designer and differentiates the space, the smell, the experience, the merchandising. What we do not want is cookie-cutter experiences. So some components will be suitable for some brands and not for others.

And the third is open architecture. We don't want to come up with all the innovation ourselves. The idea is to create a "Store of the Future" platform and then invite start-ups and brands themselves to come and build on top of it.
BoF: Are there core applications that you are developing yourself?
So, the core data layer is ours. That's the glue that glues all the bits together. All these systems should talk to each other. That is one of the big problems that you see with in-store technology today. It's all disconnected. The digital mirror doesn't talk to the checkout, which doesn't talk to the website. For example, take our digital mirror. The hardware itself was built by another company, but we built the software which pulls right from our database, so if you are shopping with a brand like Thom Browne [a client of Farfetch's white-label e-commerce solution Black & White] and you have something in your wish list on the Thom Browne website, it will be on your wish list on the mirror in the store.

We absolutely do not believe there is one store of the future. There will be 1,000 stores of the future.

Data is the common denominator. What's built on top of this can be built by Farfetch, by a cool startup or by a brand. We are working with RFID companies, we're working with hologram companies. It's not like we're going to build all this stuff ourselves. It's a bit like an operating system for a shop - you build the apps.

One essential component is what we call the "Shop Floor" app. That's the app that shop assistants will have. With this one, we will tend to do everything in-house, because it's what handles all the data from all the various points.
BoF: And what about on the customer side of the equation?
JN: On the customer side, we have the Farfetch app, which works with Store of the Future. But in the future, we will also create white-label apps for brands or just provide the API, so they can integrate this into their own apps themselves.
BoF: Of course, when Apple launched the iPhone, it was hard for anyone to imagine all the apps that people would build on the iOS platform. But what are the kinds of things that you think people might build on top of this?
JN: To your point, it's very hard to imagine. Who knew Shazam was going to let you recognise music on the spot and direct you to the iTunes Store, or that you'd have dating apps... What we are demonstrating is a few use cases, which for us are quite simple yet very powerful. Being recognised as you come into the store, which is either via Beacons or via a wallet like your Apple Wallet, scanning in like you would with a boarding pass for a flight. Then, there's what we call the "offline cookie," which is a technology that automatically adds products to your wish list on your app as you touch it in the store, without having to scan anything.
BoF: How does it work?
JN: It's basically RFID and your phone's radio frequency. It detects you as the person closest to a piece and that the piece has moved. And so just by moving it from the rail, you're adding to your wish list. Then there is the fitting room experience of the pieces you liked. Want to try them on in 5 minutes? They're there. Using the mirror, you can also request different colours, different sizes. You come out with the pieces you want. Then there's the payment part, which is completely mobile in the middle of the shopping floor, so you don't need to do it by the till. And by using your app to pay, you also connect with the assistant in the shop, which whom you can enter into dialogue and keep in touch. These days, it's very common you go into a store and connect on WhatsApp. Connecting with customers has become a major tool for shop assistants, but it's still a bit quirky and they ask you fill out bits of paper. Here, that becomes automatic.

It's all a very millennial-style negotiation: I'll give you my data if you give me something in return. That's what we do every time we open Instagram, every time we open Facebook. We know those guys are gathering all this data, but the exchange makes sense. Data is currency and I expect something back. This needs to be absolute practice for the "Store of the Future." But once you get a consumer to [share her data], it's gold dust... You've asked permission from the customer to drop a cookie. It's a brick-and-mortar cookie. And you will be able to know everything: how long the consumer was in the store, which products were picked up, what did she try, what were the sizes that fit and the sizes that didn't fit, what are her preferred payment methods, does she have it delivered to her house, her hotel... and that cookie will be linked to the online cookie as well. So then you have a real single view of a customer.

What you can do with that data is offer a super-personalised experience, both online and offline, it also makes your company much more efficient. Take marketing; imagine targeting a customer on Instagram because you know that five hours earlier they've been to your shop and they've picked up a certain bag. And let's remember, this is currently where 90 percent of the action is happening.
BoF: How are you charging for all this?
JN: The commercial model is not defined yet. The philosophy of Farfetch has always been win-win. Our platform is a pure revenue share model. There's no minimums, no set-up fee. Black & White is mostly a revenue share model as well. Store of the Future obviously involves physical hardware, which involves set-up costs and stuff like that. But we will never be a hardware company; we will never be a software licensing business. We're in the business of revolutionising retail and being a positive force for the industry. If we do that, there will be money to be made for everyone. And then how we split it needs to be win-win for both sides.
OUR THOUGHTS:
Expectations? Store of the Future has been in development for roughly two years, during which Farfetch has revealed few specifics about its plans. Yet the fashion "unicorn" (which, last May, closed a $110 million Series F round, valuing the company at around $1.5 billion) is very well capitalised and has dedicated significant resources to developing Store of the Future, hiring managing director Sandrine Deveaux, previously multichannel director of Harvey Nichols, to lead a unit dedicated to the strategy and acquiring London boutique Browns, at least in part, to function as a sort of petri dish for in-store innovation. With this level of commitment, it's fair to say expectations were high.

First impressions? In-store technology can often feel gimmicky, cheap and out of sync with luxury-level retail. What was most immediately striking about Farfetch's Store of the Future demonstration was the simplicity and elegance of the customer experience. The digital mirror, in particular, had the kind of high-touch gloss that would integrate seamlessly into a luxury flagship.

Most potential? The value of what Farfetch calls its "offline cookie" is extraordinary. But perhaps most promising is the open architecture that the company has embraced, inviting third-parties to build applications on top of its Store of the Future platform. The approach allows the company to tap a much wider range of ideas and expertise than it could effectively develop in-house. It also helps reduce the risks and costs of innovation. When Apple launched its iPhone App Store back in 2008, it was impossible to predict the universe of apps people would develop on top of the iOS platform. But the App Store gave birth to an explosion of innovation far greater than anything Apple could have achieved alone and, today, consumers use iOS apps to order taxis (Uber), listen to music (Spotify), share moments (Instagram) and shop (Amazon). To get this right, however, Farfetch will need to attract and nurture an ecosystem of partners - and make sure incentives are aligned. Like Apple, it will also need to strike the right balance between openness and control, enabling innovation while ensuring a seamless and high-quality experience.

What's missing? Today's consumers are used to sharing their personal data in exchange for services like Facebook and Instagram. But the transaction must deliver value on both sides. There's little doubt the data gathered by Store of the Future is incredibly powerful for brands and retailers. But does it offer enough value for the consumer? Of course, it remains to be seen what types of apps will be built, but a loyalty programme that gave consumers additional incentives to engage with Store of the Future in its first instance could certainly help to drive higher engagement. It could also get more people to download the Farfetch app.
This interview has been edited and condensed. Related Articles: Natalie Massenet Joins Farfetch as Co-Chairman Farfetch Appoints Chief Strategy Officer, En Route to Eventual IPO Who's Winning the Fashion E-Commerce Race? In-Store Tech, Sales Driver or Hype?

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LONDON, United Kingdom - In a brick-walled basement in Hackney, amidst rails hung with Balenciaga and clusters of technology developers, "The Store of the Future" was almost ready. Here, billion-dollar fashion "unicorn" has been staging a test run of the tech-powered retail experience the company is set to unveil later today at the debut FarfetchOS conference at London's new Design Museum in a move that further extends the platform into physical stores.

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Watch any recent science-fiction movie and you'll be struck by divergent visions of the future, as seen through the eyes of Hollywood costume departments. Follow the sartorial route of Ryan Coogler's Black Panther, for example, and we can expect to sheath our fortunately pneumatic bodies in reinforced scuba suits. Turn instead to the post-apocalyptic worlds of Blade Runner 2049 and the TV series The Expanse, and the offer is bastardised street wear, scavenged from the wardrobes of the past.

More like this:

- Is it the end for the suit?

- What does luxury mean now?

- The rise of guilt-free gems

Anything, apparently, is better than what we have now. From questions over modern slavery to the planet-levelling effects of over-consumption, fashion is under fire - and brands are having to adapt. According to a recent report shared at the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana's third international roundtable on sustainability in Milan, buyers at stores like Barneys and Saks in the US and Printemps in France expect to nearly double their total spending on sustainable products in the next five years, from 23% to 40%.

"The project hints at a future where we will be able to download content to our clothing, viewable through AR glasses, and present ourselves differently to everyone around us," says Drinkwater. "Our identities are constantly evolving and becoming more fluid by straddling both the digital and physical realms," adds Stott. "Digital fashion allows people to fully experiment with how they would like to be perceived - and push limitless creative boundaries. A hairstyle made from water, a dress that alters its shape according to sound: these are all possible."
Brave new world
But, if the thought of operating so completely online makes you jumpy, there are more concrete applications for the tech. According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, $500 billion is lost every year in clothing under-use and waste costs; 87% of all fashion made goes to landfill. So what would happen if we only made clothes people really wanted? This is the concept behind NY-based digital agency Neuro Studio's latest work, Solventus 2019, a collection for which human models were 3D-scanned to obtain precise measurements before the garments were designed directly onto digital avatars.

We are, says Stott, moving ever closer to consumer-designed clothing. "Fashion - the industry it once was - no longer holds the cultural imagination or kudos it once did," she says. "The hegemony of fashion influencers has shifted in recent years, from designers, creative directors and magazine editors to the people. The consumer wants creative input and hyper-personalised products, and technology is empowering them to do so."

At the same time, the technology that goes into clothes themselves is galloping ahead. Smart fabric companies are developing materials that can gather data such as, in the case of the Nike Adapt BB basketball shoe, whether a wearer needs to alter their strike in order to avoid injury. "In the future, with the roll out of 5G, clothes will function as a new interface, impacting on the way we communicate with the connected world and with each other," says Mano ten Napel, founder of digital magazine FashNerd.

Whether or not these technologies will available to all, as in the case of fast fashion , is another matter. "I look at social behaviours," reflects fashion forecaster Geraldine Wharry. "And I think supply scarcity - in terms of water and fabric shortages and costs going up, for example - is going to be a big one. When those things happen, people shift their budgets for what they really need to survive." And fast fashion? "It's an outdated model," says Wharry. "I just cannot see how it can continue. Brands without some kind of sustainability strategy are in trouble."

So where will the ordinary person turn for their fashion fix? As future tech evolves, parallel movements are showing a return to the hand made and the tactile. "There's a lot of interest in craft," says Wharry. "It's a different way of connecting with the clothes." Secondhand markets are exploding; according to fashion resale site ThredUP, sites like itself are growing 24 times faster than the retail industry as a whole. Meanwhile, the rental economy is gaining traction. "In fashion, rental can provide newness without the environmental cost," says Sara Arnold of Higher Studio.

"Humans still need to be clothed so we will see a shift in the way in which we access clothing in the future," says Stott. "Ownership is no longer the end goal. We outsource our music and film choices to digital subscription services, and we will see a similar movement with clothing powered by AI. People will subscribe to central fashion services, and borrow clothes on a short-term basis according to their needs and lifestyle changes, reducing the masses of clothing sitting unused in a closet."

However we get our clothes, fashion will retain its identity as a form of escapism and expression, particularly as planetary conditions get more difficult. "If you look at the Great Depression, there was a lot of glitz and glamour," says Wharry. "And if you look at the trends right now, there's a lot of colour. Fashion is always a mirror of what is going on in society. There could be so much difference between the haves and the have-nots in the future that it could create very extravagant fashion."

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What will fashion be like 20 years from now?

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Watch any recent science-fiction movie and you'll be struck by divergent visions of the future, as seen through the eyes of Hollywood costume departments. Follow the sartorial route of Ryan Coogler's Black Panther, for example, and we can expect to sheath our fortunately pneumatic bodies in reinforced scuba suits.

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As new-wave businesses such as fashion rental platforms cement their status in the online world, they are increasingly taking steps in offline, physical retail spaces. At the same time, existing retailers are seeking a slice of the success, and pop-ups from online leaders are finding a home in high-profile department stores.

In recent months, luxury retailer Liberty opened a pop-up from high-end rental brand MyWardrobe HQ, which is running through February and March, and Selfridges' Oxford Street store debuted a six month pop-up from rental site Hurr. This follows on from collaborations with peer-to-peer resale site Depop, which ran in September and October 2019, and joins the now-permanent section from resale site Vestiaire Collective in the store.

Brands are also beginning to introduce concepts beyond sale of new pieces into their own offers: Danish womenswear brand Ganni has launched a rental scheme, Ganni Repeat, in Denmark, and Sweden-based lifestyle brand Gant announced plans to launch rental at nine of its stores in May - including its London flagship.

For retailers and department stores, collaborating with these brands is a smart way to cater to the changing demands of shoppers, and test out new models in store to see the response from customers. The collaborations are beneficial for platform and retailer alike.

Customer connections

Hurr founder Victoria Prew says that her brand's space in Selfridges has already proved a huge success - introducing the concept to new market sectors as well as strengthening connections with existing customers. Online, Prew notes that the brand's main users are millennial women, but in-store renters have a wider demographic. Mother-of-the-bride rentals, for example, are a new category of shopper for Hurr.

Businesses founded on circular principals of resale and repair have the potential to permanent changes to the way we operate

Bosse Myhr, Selfridges

Prew explains that the Selfridges pop-up came about thanks to the success of the brand's first pop-up shop in Belgravia, which ran during November and December 2019.

"They came down and saw the success of the pop-up and wanted to get a piece of the brand," she says. "Selfridges is very forward thinking in terms of trialling new trends and new concepts. They are really focusing on the sharing and sustainability concept: investing in circular models."

Prew says Selfridges has been keen for the space to feature products with "stories" - such as a dress bought 15 years ago in Selfridges, which the owner is now renting out via Hurr.

Bosse Myhr, director of womenswear and menswear at Selfridges, adds: "Businesses like Hurr alongside others founded on circular prineiples of resale and repair - our long-term partners Vestaire Collective and [restoration service] The Restory, for example - have the potential to make positive, exciting and permanent changes to the way we operate."

The wider changes Myhr implies are beginning to emerge at Selfridges. Earlier this month, it announced the launch of "Resellfridges" - its own resale scheme. The project is part of a wider initiative running throughout 2020, in which the retailer will experiment with trials of sustainable retail models.

In the initial scheme, the London store's "most discerning customers [will] present their extensive and desirable archives", and it is currently seeking applications online for those interested in reselling their items.

Alongside encouraging rental, it encourages shoppers to buy the real thing - not the fast fashion copy

Sacha Newall, My Wardrobe HQ

A few minutes up the road from Selfridges, London department store Liberty is also embracing new business models in its Regent Street Store. Tucked within the womenswear section, a pop-up with fashion rental marketplace My Wardrobe HQ opened in February, running for six weeks.

"Liberty has really embraced the idea of sharing the wardrobe, and were keen to bring it into the store," Sacha Newall, co-founder and CEO of My Wardrobe HQ tells Drapers.

"It brings a new demographic of shoppers into the store and is great for our own vendor recruitment. Alongside encouraging rental, it encourages shoppers to buy the real thing - not the fast fashion copy. You can buy something in Liberty and then sell it on or rent it out through My Wardrobe HQ."

She continues: "The eclectic mix of styles works perfectly with Liberty's aesthetic, and it chimes with Liberty's ethos of heritage versus disruption."

Madeleine Macey, chief marketing officer at Liberty, agrees, and describes Liberty as "a retailer that has always championed the avant-garde": "At Liberty, we have always embraced quality craftsmanship over fast fashion, and believe in democratic luxury. This is a different way for new and existing customers to enjoy the Liberty edit."

As retailers begin to experiment with the concept, Jane Shepherdson, chair of MyWardrobe HQ, says it is developing a "white label" offer to fulfil the logistical demands and help retailers launch rental with ease.

"Offering rental on top of an already complex retail model could be too much for some businesses," she explains. "Organising the logistical side of things can be complex. Offering a white label service helps to overcome the perceived barriers to rental by providing a full service that ensures cleanliness, timeliness and authenticity."

High street hurdles

Although pop-ups and collaborations are proving to have appeal, not everyone sees potential in permanent, standalone rental and resale stores, because of high street headwinds and the convenience of online.

James Harford-Tyrer, founder of luxury resale platform Cudoni, explains that for growing businesses, online offers far greater potential scalability and speed: "Scalability goes hand in hand with globalisation: you can naturally reach a lot more people online rather than being dependent on footfall. There is always a huge demand worldwide [for luxury items] and a finite amount of supply."

[He also notes that the online offer better allows Cudoni to provide the kind of instant, luxury experiences that shoppers demand in the modern world - simultaneously making the consignment model more accessible to a wide audience and helping shoppers to satisfy sustainable shopping habits.

Cudoni is exploring the idea of pop-ups - to create what Harford-Tyrer describes as a "tangible, human touchpoint" for customers - but a permanent store is not on the horizon.

"Business rates are pretty hefty in the UK at the moment relative to footfall, so running bricks-and-mortar stores is an increasing challenge for retailers," he says. "Pop-ups are interesting, but running a store less so, because of the cost factors."

Do it yourself

The costs of bricks-and-mortar retail are less of an obstacle for brands with an existing store footprint. Sweden-based lifestyle retailer Gant announced in February that a rental trial would be launching in May 2020 across nine international stores - including on London's Regent Street.

Shoppers will be able to rent selected items from its shops for three days, at prices ranging from £10 for accessories to £25 for clothing. Jessica Cederberg-Wodmar, Gant's global sustainability director says that there are already plans to expand the scheme to other stores.

"We are embracing sustainability from all different angles - and circular fashion is one of those," she says. "This is a permanent project that we will be scaling up."

In contrast with the many online rental companies, Gant will only offer the service in stores to begin with. Products to hire will sit side-by-side with general products, featuring hang-tags highlighting that they are available to rent - integrating the offer cohesively onto the shop floor.

Gant says the scheme is both a business and sustainability opportunity - in addition to promoting a circular fashion system, the business hopes it will encourage purchases. Each piece will be cleaned by Gant between rentals, and if an item is not returned then shoppers will be charged a pre-determined fee for the item, which will donated to the charity WaterAid.

Cederberg-Wodmar explains that the rental concept heightens the experiential, physical nature of stores to help drive sales: "We believe that when they come into the store, people look at clothes and want to touch and try them on. If you're not certain about purchasing, then rental can be a way to continue that trial - to have the experience and decide for definite whether you want that item in your wardrobe."

As retailers and brands hunt for experiences that will drive shoppers into stores, and the new wave of circular start-ups seek to gain scale, an increase in in-store rental, resale and restoration services seems like a natural development.

However, to succeed, the services offered online must be equally seamless in stores - and start-ups should be mindful of the potential for retailers to launch their own versions of these models: disrupting the disruptors and winning market share. For now, however, collaboration is key and circular pop-ups are bringing benefits for all.

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As new-wave businesses such as fashion rental platforms cement their status in the online world, they are increasingly taking steps in offline, physical retail spaces. At the same time, existing retailers are seeking a slice of the success, and pop-ups from online leaders are finding a home in high-profile department stores.

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NEW YORK, United States - For her best friend's wedding in Miami earlier in March, Brooklyn-based magazine editor Margaret Abrams chose to rent her bridesmaid dress and a few other outfits from popular platform Rent the Runway.

Abrams, who is 30, now finds herself stuck in Florida, waiting for the spread of the novel coronavirus to stop so that she can head back to New York City. Luckily, she's from the area, so she is quarantined in her parents' home. While she's there, she'd like to pause her Rent the Runway subscription. But in order to do so, she must first go to a UPS office to drop off her rented items - something that she doesn't plan on doing out of safety concerns.

She has yet to reach out to Rent the Runway. "I guess I'll have to," Abrams said. "Although it would've been nice if they automatically [froze] accounts because no one is going outside these days."

(A Rent the Runway spokesperson told BoF that UPS can schedule at-home pickups.)

Across the country in Los Angeles, Gaby Loguercio is facing a similar customer service dilemma with luxury consignment platform The RealReal, from which she bought a white gown that she said turned out to be completely different from its description online. Normally, she would return the piece at The RealReal's West Hollywood store, but because of the virus, the 26-year-old marketing freelancer has no choice but to pay $12 to mail it back - a fee that The RealReal declined to waive.

Surely, Rent the Runway and The RealReal are not the only retailers to confront a deluge of customer service inquiries in recent days as retailers and consumers alike grapple with the effects of Covid-19. The entire apparel sector is disrupted severely: Retail sales dipped more than 30 percent in the second week of March compared to the same period last year, according to research firm Cowen. But rental and resale services, once primed to be the future of retail, may now be uniquely and disproportionately impacted by the ongoing crisis, industry sources say.

Shoppers that use rental and resale services may have less disposable income than those who purchase luxury fashion at retail.

On the rental side, demand for workwear and occasionwear is quickly drying up as conferences, weddings and other events are being canceled across the board. (, an evening wear rental service, saw its new rentals dip more than 90 percent last week, according to founder Silje Lübbe.) Resellers like The RealReal and Vestiaire Collective, meanwhile, may see supply affected as well as demand as consignment appointments with sellers are being cancelled and stores remain closed. The RealReal told customers Monday evening that consignment processing times may be delayed by up to four weeks, and while processed items are still for sale on the site, shipping may be delayed as well.

Vestiaire Collective has seen an increase in product deposits, according to chief executive Max Bittner. "People are spending more time at home, giving them time to clear out their wardrobes," he said in an email statement. "On the sales side, orders were initially decreasing but again as more people are spending time at home, we're seeing increased engagement on our app." The Paris-based company, nonetheless, has closed its New York warehouse over the weekend, per Governor Andrew Cuomo's executive order for all non-essential workers to stay home.

Shoppers that use rental and resale services, additionally, may have less disposable income than those who purchase luxury fashion at retail, according to Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail. This means that they are likely to cut non-essential purchases out of their spending habits if they feel a squeeze on their wallets.

"I don't see any scenario where [rental and resale] wouldn't be worse off than the rest of retail," said Sucharita Kodali, a retail analyst at Forrester. "The last thing people want right now is pre-owned merch - even if viruses don't survive on fabrics beyond a few hours...people want to minimise any risk."

So far, medical experts are not entirely sure how long the coronavirus can survive on soft surfaces. Transmitted through respiratory droplets, certain exposed surfaces could be infectious for hours and even days - according to Harvard Medical School's Coronavirus resource centre, the virus can survive on plastic for up to three days and on cardboard for 24 hours.

Rent the Runway, meanwhile, said its cleaning process after each rental "are designed to kill viruses such as the common cold and flu," as stated on its website's FAQ section. "Based on current guidance, we have no reason to believe that our processes are ineffective against COVID-19."

You can keep things going for a few weeks and ruin your company or you can rip off the bandaid and hopefully still have jobs for people when everything is over.

The New York City-based rental service - the largest of its kind - also told BoF last week that it has yet to see members pause and cancel the service en masse. But some of its competitors have said the opposite. Armoire, a Seattle-based rental startup, saw such a significant number of cancellations starting two weeks ago that Founder and Chief Executive Ambika Singh cut her pay to $1 to save cash. Now, she's asking her staff for voluntary salary cuts as well in exchange for equity in the company.

Soon after she closed its stores, Nova Octo's Lübbe said she began reducing staffing.

"We immediately decided to cut costs because the whole thing just went into a halt," she said. "You can keep things going for a few weeks and ruin your company or you can rip off the bandaid and hopefully still have jobs for people when everything is over."

Singh said since last week, cancellations began to stabilise. "We saw a lot of cancellations around the events evaporating but we're seeing a second group of customers with intent around 'let me now embrace that this is my new life' and 'let me build a routine that works for me,'" she said.

Customers, indeed, are sticking around. Online shopping overall may see a boost by work-from-home habits. According to retail customer service platform Hero, e-commerce purchases made between the hours of 9am and 6pm jumped 52 percent in the second week of March compared to the same period last year. Some rental users, in fact, are embracing dressing up at home rather than for the office.

Like Abrams, 39-year-old Miriam Shwartz from the Boston, Mass. area had rented a couple of dresses for her stepdaughter's wedding two weekends ago. The wedding didn't happen, but she's keeping the dresses for a few days and hanging on to her Rent the Runway subscription as well.

"I'd rather keep the money with Rent the Runway and keep their people working," she said. "I thought about wearing one of my gowns on my Zoom calls."
We're tracking the latest on the coronavirus outbreak and its impact on the global fashion business. Visit our live blog for everything you need to know. Related Articles: Everyone Is Launching Rental Services. Is There Enough Demand? Peer-to-Peer Rental Start-Ups Take on Rent the Runway Is Resale Actually Good for the Planet?

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Rental and Resale Were Supposed to Be the Future. Could Coronavirus Change That?

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NEW YORK, United States - For her best friend's wedding in Miami earlier in March, Brooklyn-based magazine editor Margaret Abrams chose to rent her bridesmaid dress and a few other outfits from popular platform Rent the Runway.

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By Sarah Kent February 10, 2020 05:20

LONDON, United Kingdom - Is "radical transparency" in fashion even possible?

McKinsey & Company has called out "a rising trust deficit" among consumers, putting pressure on brands to show there's depth to their claims about transparency and sustainability.

But there are some brands doing the work to show consumers they are serious about corporate responsibility.

Veja, Reformation, Eileen Fisher and others that have already taken steps to lift the curtain on their business practices, but perhaps no brand has been more vocal than San Francisco-based direct-to-consumer apparel company Everlane, which positioned itself as a leader in this wave, embedding the buzzy company slogan of "radical transparency" into its business model.

But radical transparency isn't easy. Critics say that the most radical thing about Everlane is its marketing - a charge the company vigorously denies.

And while the pressure is mounting on brands to provide consumers with more information to back up claims of ethical, sustainable or price-competitive practices, embedding transparency into a business presents key pain points:

Transparency doesn't scale well. Operating transparently means brands have to have a really solid understanding of their own internal operations, and that gets increasingly difficult as brands scale up; bigger supply chains mean more complexity.

Transparency is a moving target. A decade ago, simply talking about where clothes were made was considered a new frontier of transparency, now this is just a hygiene factor. But providing better and more granular information creates new challenges. For instance, growing demand for clarity on clothes' climate impact requires brands to not only understand their supply chains, but also master environmental accounting.

Getting transparent communications right is hard. From a sales and marketing perspective, how brands talk about transparency matters almost as much as actually doing the right thing. With call-out culture on the rise, it's a delicate balance: promise too much and risk a backlash that undercuts any good work that might be underway. On the other hand, if brands fail to really educate consumers, rivals doing less may benefit from a halo of greenwashing from which it is difficult to stand out.

Transparency isn't enough. Ultimately, most consumers still care more about price, quality and style than anything else when making purchasing decisions, which means many in the industry are choosing not to take on the additional burdens that come with more transparency.

BoF's latest case study explores what it takes to be a transparent and commercially successful brand - big or small - without being accused of "clearwashing."

Click below to read the case study now.
Created exclusively for BoF Professional members, case studies explore the important challenges facing the industry today. Discover more case studies and reports from The Business of Fashion here.

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Case Study: Lessons From Fashion's Journey to Radical Transparency

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Brands like Everlane, Reformation and Veja have grabbed the attention of coveted Millennial and Gen-Z consumers with promises of radical transparency on company ethics, sustainability and pricing. But following through is a delicate balancing act. Our latest in-depth case study investigates.

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The natural movement continues to shape the beauty industry as women become more conscientious of the ingredients in beauty products and seek out what is considered safe. However, efficacy is also top-of-mind, with more than one-third of women agreeing that they care more about the effectiveness of a product than the ingredients it uses. While women expect brands to use natural ingredients, they ultimately choose a product based on efficacy, making it increasingly important for brands to link ingredient safety with function.

COVID-19 is impacting the way consumers approach beauty and personal care (BPC) products, especially when they consider ingredient safety, cleanliness and shelf life.

COVID-19 is a catalyst for clean

Since its inception, clean beauty has consistently evolved to meet consumer needs and demands. What started out as a natural ingredient trend has snowballed into a movement incorporating elements such as safety, transparency, sourcing/manufacturing practices and a slew of other factors that play into the final product. According to Mintel research on ingredient trends in beauty, nearly half of women who use beauty products agree it's important to understand the ingredients used in their beauty products.

While clean beauty isn't going anywhere, the unprecedented impact of COVID-19 will have implications on the evolution of clean beauty. Prior to COVID-19, natural consumers avoided ingredients such as preservatives and artificial ingredients in their beauty products due to perceived health risks. With more concern surrounding shelf-stability and sanitation across consumer packaged goods (CPG) categories, consumers will be more willing to accept these ingredients as long as brands provide evidence of efficacy and safety, both from a health and environmental perspective.

COVID-19 impact on BPC formulation

The arrival of the novel coronavirus will further push the notion that natural isn't always better, especially when it comes to ingredient safety and shelf life. According to Mintel research on clean beauty, more than one in 10 adults agree clean products expire too quickly. More than ever, consumers will scrutinize ingredient safety and evaluate the risk of possible product contamination and expiration. The future of clean ingredient formulations will rely on safe synthetic ingredients, which may improve shelf life.

COVID-19 is a catalyst towards this movement, with brands facing more pressure to convey safety, longevity and efficacy. To avoid distrust, brands must educate consumers about the benefits and stability of synthetic ingredients, while providing evidence and certifications/seals of approval that denotes product safety.

Beauty and personal care products can also be formulated without water to appeal to consumers' safety and environmental concerns. By offering products in a powder form, consumers can control the shelf life on their own. Not only do waterless formulas reduce the need for preservatives, they also minimize waste.

COVID-19 impact on BPC packaging

As consumers become more aware about viruses and germs living on surfaces, BPC products packaged in ways that eliminate the need to touch one's face will stand out. Spray and stick formats in both cosmetics and facial skincare have been increasing in popularity, and with the arrival of COVID-19, "touchless" beauty products will see increased demand. Consumers will look to brands for guidance on how to keep their cosmetics clean and safe. In addition, while much attention is placed on the importance of cleaning makeup brushes and skincare devices, brands can support consumers by offering tips and tricks to cleanse auxiliary BPC products without compromising product efficacy and safety.

What we think

The anxiety and uncertainty caused by this pandemic leads to a greater need for reliable and safe BPC products. Products that mitigate risks of contamination by utilizing touchless formats and offer extended shelf life to consumers rationing supplies and/or unable to obtain alternatives will stand out as being safe and dependable. Brands that demonstrate their dependability, transparency and willingness to take action to ensure product safety will be rewarded by consumers.

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COVID-19 increases demand for safe BPC products

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The natural movement continues to shape the beauty industry as women become more conscientious of the ingredients in beauty products and seek out what is considered safe. However, efficacy is also top-of-mind, with more than one-third of women agreeing that they care more about the effectiveness of a product than the ingredients it uses.

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Walking into the skin care aisle at the pharmacy, stepping up to a counter at a department store, or stopping by a cosmetics shop can be an overwhelming experience. Everywhere you look, you see products touting the ideal skin care ingredient. Who knew buying a moisturizer could be so difficult?

Lately, the coverage of "clean" cosmetics is everywhere - on national television and in best-selling books. It's clear that clean is the newest beauty trend. But what is the clean cosmetics movement, and does the science support it?

Regulatory oversight of cosmetics: A brief history

The clean cosmetics movement seems to have arisen from frustration over regulatory oversight of cosmetics and personal care products (lotions, toothpastes, shampoos, etc). The FDA passed the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act back in 1938. Yet, ingredients used in cosmetics (with the exception of color additives) are exempt from FDA regulatory practices. This includes the need for approval or product recall if an ingredient is found to be dangerous. Instead, most regulation of cosmetics comes from the Personal Care Products Council, which is a self-regulating body supported by the cosmetics industry.

Some took issue with this perceived conflict of interest. Activist groups, including the Environmental Working Group and the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, took matters into their own hands by classifying certain ingredients found in commercial cosmetic and personal care products as harmful and not suitable for topical use. Online and retail stores followed suit; some sell only clean products, while others have developed specialty lines of clean products.

Each proponent of this movement has developed their own short list of "bad" ingredients. The majority of these chemicals fall into one or more of three major categories: irritants or allergens; potential endocrine disruptors (substances that may imitate our body's natural hormones and interfere with normal signaling of these chemical messengers); and potential carcinogens (cancer-causing agents).

Irritants and allergens

Commonly avoided in clean cosmetics: Methylisothiazolinone (MI), methylchloroisothiazolinone (MCI), vitamin A derivatives, fragrance, phenoxyethanol, petroleum distillates, and formaldehydes.

What does the science say? MI/MCI, fragrance, and formaldehyde are known causes of contact dermatitis, a poison ivy-like rash that can become chronic with repeated topical exposure. In fact, all three have been named "Allergen of the Year" by the American Contact Dermatitis Society, due to their prevalence in commonly used products and frequent association with contact dermatitis.

Potential endocrine disruptors

Commonly avoided in clean cosmetics: Triclosan and triclocarban, toluene, resorcinol, petroleum distillates, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), boric acid and sodium borate, phthalates, placenta extract, parabens, and phenoxyethanol.

What does the science say? The jury is still out. Many of the studies showing a direct relationship between these compounds and hormonal dysregulation have been performed in animals rather than in humans, and at higher doses than people would typically be exposed to through a cosmetic or personal care product. Some human studies have related an increase in urinary or blood levels of these chemicals to endocrine disruption; however, it is difficult to interpret if or how individual measurements of these chemicals in bodily fluids relate to exposure from cosmetics or personal care products.

Potential carcinogens

Commonly avoided in clean cosmetics: 1,4-dioxane, formaldehydes, coal tar ingredients, petroleum distillates, and placenta extract.

What does the science say? Formaldehyde has been named by the National Cancer Institute as a potential carcinogen, and for good reason: it has been linked to cancer formation in both animals and humans at high doses. As if that isn't enough reason to avoid this product, formaldehyde ranks among the top 10 most common contact allergens. Industrial use of coal tar products has been linked to cancer (for instance, in chimney sweeps); however, coal tar products have been used in dermatology topically, to treat psoriasis and eczema, for years without any increased rate of skin cancer or internal cancers. Petroleum distillates that are highly refined, like those in personal care products or cosmetics, do not appear to cause cancer. 1,4 dioxane has been linked to cancer in animals, while studies about placenta extract are lacking in both animals and humans.

The bottom line

The clean cosmetics movement definitely has us taking a closer look at what we put on our skin, which is a good thing. Scientific evidence appears to support avoiding at least a handful of ingredients that could be lurking in your personal care products, including MI/MCI, fragrance mix, and formaldehyde. Avoiding these ingredients is a good place to start, but you don't need to toss out your whole makeup bag quite yet: more studies are needed to back up associations between low-dose topical exposure to many of these chemicals and human health.

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Clean cosmetics: The science behind the trend - Harvard Health Blog

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Walking into the skin care aisle at the pharmacy, stepping up to a counter at a department store, or stopping by a cosmetics shop can be an overwhelming experience. Everywhere you look, you see products touting the ideal skin care ingredient. Who knew buying a moisturizer could be so difficult?

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Clean beauty is a popular skincare and makeup trend to follow. "Clean" is a term used to describe the state of your clothes, body, and, yes, even your beauty regimen.

From skincare to cosmetics, the beauty industry is changing the way products are made thanks to the #cleanbeauty movement, which exploded over the years with help from Instagram influencers and celebrities like actress and founder of Goop Gwyneth Paltrow. Visit any big-box store or browse Amazon, and you'll find countless product labels with buzzwords like "clean," "natural," and "organic."

To find out just how popular the phenomenon is, Harper's Bazaar polled more than 1,000 U.S. women in 2019, and found that nearly 50 percent of women were already using clean beauty products - and more than 60 percent of women were willing to try. But with the beauty industry being self-regulated, are products that claim to be clean really clean? Here's the dirt on clean beauty.

What does clean beauty really mean?

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While its definition tends to vary, most brands and experts consider a product "clean" when it's free of potentially toxic ingredients, whether they're natural or synthetic, like talc and parabens, as noted by Good Housekeeping.

Harper's Bazzar equated clean beauty to clean eating: An individual who consumes processed foods doesn't necessarily gain the nutrients necessary for a healthy body, and the same applies to the products we put on our skin. Speaking with Harper's Bazaar, holistic aesthetician Kristina Holey said, "If you're using conventional beauty products with a ton of preservatives, fragrances and stabilizers, you're going to damage the skin's microflora, which will impair your skin function and have the worst impact for skin quality and appearance."

There currently is no official definition for "clean" as it pertains to the beauty industry, and that's something Kopari chief marketing officer Jeremy Lowenstein said needs to change. He told The Hollywood Reporter, " There is a lot of confusion among consumers on product labeling, from 'green' to 'clean' to 'natural' and more, and a combination of regulations to better define these labels and education surrounding them would be helpful so consumers are able to make more educated choices based on their values."

What's behind the popularity of the clean beauty movement?

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Consumers are becoming more intentional with what beauty products they're using, as Victoria Buchanan, senior futures analyst at The Future Laboratory, told British Vogue. "An obsession with wellness and detoxification, both in terms of diet and products, is fuelling a demand for stripped-back, 'clean' ingredients." She explained, "Consumers are becoming more knowledgeable about possible irritations cause by synthetic ingredients in fragrances and preservatives and are reading labels more carefully..."

This clean beauty obsession may be fueled by celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow, the founder of Goop, and Jessica Alba, the founder of The Honest Company, who've both publicly praised clean living through their lifestyle brands.

Another factor, according to Mind Body Green, is the rise in sensitive skin conditions. According to Frontiers in Medicine, 60 to 70 percent of women and 50 to 60 percent of men have reported having some degree of sensitive skin. Why so many? It's possible people are "sensitizing" their skin with the use of too many products, dermatologist Whitney Bowe, M.D., told Mind Body Green. "It's a tricky balance: You want to remove dead skin cells so you get a nice glow but don't want to do it too much and thin out that layer," Bowe said.

What it takes for products to fall under the clean beauty branch

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The American beauty industry is self-regulated, which means brands can claim their products are considered "clean beauty" without inspection, and, according to Harper's Bazaar, cosmetic regulations in the United States are more than 80 years old, as the last federal regulation for safe products passed in 1938. As a result, the U.S. is lagging behind other countries, the Environmental Working Groupreported. A 2019 news release from EWG stated that more than 40 nations, including Germany and the United Kingdom, "have enacted regulations specifically targeting the safety and ingredients of cosmetics and personal care products." Many of those countries have "restricted" or "banned" over 1,400 chemicals from beauty products. By contrast, the U.S. "has only banned or restricted 11 chemicals from cosmetics," according to Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.

Under current regulations, Lauren Sucher, a press officer for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, told Today thatthe FDA has no authority to recall toxic beauty products and that the manufacturer would need to volunteer to do so. Sucher noted, "We can only take action within our legal authority, our limited information and our limited resources."

This is how to determine if a product counts as clean beauty

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It can prove difficult to determine how clean a product really is. Luckily, there are some third-party certification bodies like ECOCERT and EWG, which "brands can pay to have their products put through rigorous testing to make sure they are free of chemicals and toxins," according to a CNN report.

"Not only does ECOCERT regulate ingredients, but we must also comply with their sustainability and environmental standards in every aspect of manufacturing - from our equipment to our packaging, recycling program and the cleaning products we use in our facility," One Love Organics founder Suzanne LeRoux told CNN. But not all brands use a form of certification for clean beauty, the report stated, even though its products may be considered clean. So one of the best ways to ensure your product is clean is by reading the ingredients.

According to Harper's Bazaar, products claiming to be formulated with "clean" ingredients should never have parabens, fragrances, aluminum compounds, formaldehyde, silica, or refined petroleum, among others.

Women behind the clean beauty industry have pushed for transparency

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Women are behind many of the brands trying to clean up the beauty industry.

Avengers: Endgame star Gwyneth Paltrow was arguably ahead of the trend when she launched her lifestyle brand Goop in 2008, which sells clean beauty products. Also a published author, Paltrow used her platform to call out the beauty industry. In her 2016 book Goop Clean Beauty, she wrote in the foreword, "At GOOP, we find it ironic that many of the U.S.'s biggest beauty companies use ingredients that are known to be harmful and then set up foundations and charities to support breast, cervical, and ovarian cancer research. To do our part, we fill the shelves ... with products from companies that are doing better by all of us."

Then there's the women behind Crunchi, a makeup and skincare company founded in 2016. Founders Melanie Petschke and Kelly Weston said they wanted to offer truly clean products safe for our bodies and the environment, according to a Forbes interview. "Women deserve clean cosmetics from a transparent company they can trust. Each decision we make is based on our core values of integrity and transparency," Weston said.

The switch to clean beauty may come at a price

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Knowledge is power, but, when that knowledge comes at a price, it could make it difficult for people to make the switch.

Clean beauty products from popular brands "typically cost more than $40, and treatment formulas can hit triple digits," according to Allure. Unfortunately that means consumers with lower incomes may not have an option when it comes to what ingredients they're using. So what makes clean beauty products so expensive? Speaking to Allure, Tara Foley, the founder and CEO of clean beauty company Follain, said, "Some of our brands take the extra step of having their products certified ECOCERT or USDA Organic, lengthy and expensive processes that increase the cost of the product."

Amy Galper, cofounder of the New York Institute of Aromatic Studies, told Allure,"In today's clean beauty crush, people know that they can ask a high price and get away with it." However, she added, "But we're starting to see a response to that."

Retail stores have affordability in mind when it comes to clean beauty

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Big names in the retail world like Target and Walmart are working hard to make clean products accessible to all, as noted by Mind Body Green.

In 2019, Target launched its clean beauty collection Versed, currently available online and at stores nationwide. Items in the collection, which includes everything from facial cleansers to moisturizers, range from $5 to about $25. Walmart also has its own skincare brand called Earth to Skin, which is also available online and at stores and products are $10 or less.

Beauty retailer Sephora went a step further and created the Clean at Sephora initiative in which the beauty brand badged over 2,000 products as "clean," according to Mind Body Green. "Sephora is seen as a leader in identifying clean beauty brands and products," said Christine Chang, co-founder and co-CEO of skincare company Glow Recipe. "Clean beauty has been around for a while, and every brand and retailer has a different definition of it, but Sephora definitely made it more official." Products range from as little as a few bucks to hundreds of dollars.

Clean beauty comes in all shapes and sizes

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From skincare to hair, clean beauty products come in all shapes and sizes. Beauty expert Bobbie Thomas shared on Today the best clean beauty products and brands - and many of them are available for purchase at major retailers.

Physician's Formula is apparently at the forefront of the clean beauty makeup movement. Physician's sells many of its products at Walmart, including its tinted lip treatment. If you're looking for clean beauty body care, you can find that in the form of Renpure's lavender and honey body wash at Amazon and Walmart. According to Today, Renpure "creates plant-based beauty products that are free from sulfates, parabens, dyes and more." Furthermore, even nail polishes can be considered clean beauty products, such as Sally Hansen's vegan nail polish, available in 30 colors at Target.

"There are a lot of great brands making clean beauty products," said Thomas. However, she noted that consumers still need to be cautious when it comes to choosing legitimate products.

Clean beauty may be better for your skin

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According to some dermatologists and cosmetic chemists, clean beauty products may be better for your skin.

"From my unique vantage point as a facialist for the past 25 years, having treated over 25,000 faces, I have seen how the proliferation of harsh ingredients - including dimethicone, fragrance, colorants, and sulfates - compromise the skin's lipid barrier, thereby sensitizing the skin," Angela Caglia, a celebrity aesthetician told The Zoe Report. Cosmetic scientist Dr. Shuting Hu, Ph.D., who has worked with clean beauty company Acaderma, agreed with Caglia, telling The Zoe Report, "I personally believe in using clean ingredients as it is the very best way to prevent skin irritation and skin barrier damages, both of which are better for skin health." She added, "Not only is it my belief, it is also scientifically proven."

But Hu added, "clean" isn't synonymous with "natural." Hu said, "Plenty of natural ingredients are irritating, and not all natural materials are made equally," adding, "Some high quality synthesized ingredients are also clean, like vitamin C."

Clean beauty cosmetics competes with color

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"Out with the old, in with the new" is an adage clean makeup brands are taking to heart. Many are moving away from nude shades and instead opting for color for everything from lipstick to blush, rivaling other popular brands. "Clean beauty brands are now leveling the playing field. By achieving amazing color pay-off and luxury product performance, we are now competing with long-established conventional brands and are less and less relegated to the eco-sideshow," Vapour co-founder Kristine Keheley told Mind Body Green.

And that rivalry is growing as more consumers switch over to clean beauty products. "The space is expanding because today's consumer is more savvy. New standards are being set," beauty company Kosas founder Sheena Yaitanes told Mind Body Green. For example, Honest Beauty by Jessica Alba has a vegan, matte liquid lipstick that comes in eight bright colors. And cosmetics brand Kosas released a "water-based" ten-second liquid eyeshadow with a collection of bright hues, including cobalt blue.

Iconic brands have joined the clean beauty movement

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Many longtime beauty brands are finding value in the clean beauty market.

That includes hairstylist Frederic Fekkai, who owns his namesake brand and launched a natural collection: The One by Frederic Fekkai The Pure collection. He told Mind Body Green that what we put on our hair is just as important as what we eat. "I believe today, more than ever, we have access to and can produce and formulate products with natural and powerful ingredients. Historically, natural ingredients were more difficult to source and were more expensive to infuse into products. These ingredients are more accessible today," Fekkai said.

Then there's cosmetics brandAveda, which reintroduced its Aveda Sap Moss collection after a hiatus. "The product was last sold in the '90s, and ever since then, Aveda fans have requested that the products make a comeback," said Aveda's vice president of research and development hair care, Christine Hall. "It was discontinued for a few reasons, such as changing mission requirements and ingredient availability." The collection is now free from silicones, parabens, gluten, mineral oil, and petrolatum, according to its website.

This clean beauty documentary showed the dangers of using non-clean products

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A documentary by director Phyllis Ellis, Toxic Beauty looks at the unregulated beauty industry and the dangers behind it. With interviews from scientists, cancer survivors, and families of people who've lost their lives, the film primarily focuses on talc, a mineral found in baby powder that may cause cancer, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. In 2018, according to USA Today, about $4.7 billion in total damages was awarded "to 22 women and their families after they claimed asbestos in Johnson & Johnson talcum powder contributed to their ovarian cancer..." A rep for Johnson & Johnson told The Hollywood Reporter its products are "safe."

"[It's] something that you don't believe," filmmaker Ellis told The Hollywood Reporter about the beauty industry in general. "When I first started pitching the film to get money, people were like, 'You know, it can't be that bad.' Actually it is that bad... We have no idea what's in the products we're using. That was really alarming."

Ellis said she doesn't believe companies intend to hurt people. However, Ellis noted, "We have to shift just like they did with the tobacco industry. We have to care." So, clean beauty may just be the way to go to avoid potentially negative effects from makeup and skincare products.

Clean beauty is not just a trend

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A 2019 report from Grand View Research, Inc. predicted that the global organic personal care industry will reach nearly $25 billion by 2025. And as the industry and the clean beauty movement continue to grow, so will the demand for ingredient transparency, according to CB Insights. A report stated, "Ingredient transparency has become a top priority not only for beauty and personal care brands, but also for CPG [Consumer Packaged Goods] and retail companies more broadly."

Clean beauty is more than just a trend. Beauty brand Kopari's Jeremy Lowenstein told The Hollywood Reporter, "The clean beauty movement is growing at such a fast rate year-over-year, proving that clean beauty is not just a trend but the way of the future. In 2020, we are expecting and hoping to see more transparency from brands, from the ingredients used in their products to where they source them and more."

With the California Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Act, which went into effect in 2020 and bans cosmetics tested on animals, as noted by PETA, a more transparent future may be closer than we think.

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Clean beauty is a popular skincare and makeup trend to follow. But with the beauty industry being self-regulated, are products that claim to be clean really clean? Here's the dirt on clean beauty, including just how to tell how clean makeup and skincare items actually are.

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NEW YORK, United States - If suddenly failing eyesight can be considered on-trend (readers are the new it-accessory, have you noticed?), I'm super-chic lately. I've accumulated a small mountain of reading glasses (tortoiseshell, matte grey, etc.), which I have become attached to for many reasons, not least because they make it so I can read things, like what I am typing right now, for example. I only wish I could wear them in the shower - I think about this - so I could also read the very small print on the labels and ingredient lists of the products I use daily, to figure out what is - and is not - inside.

That's where we are in beauty right now. What's in our products? How were they made? Who do we trust? What can we believe? What's marketing, and what's legit? What is the law? (Spoiler alert: there basically is no law.) Most importantly, what are the implications for our health? And what does this mean for the beauty business at large?

The safe/wholesome/healthy beauty movement started with the liberal use of the word "organic," a term that sounded great but was never a very good fit for personal care since it is first and foremost a food certification. (It is also exceedingly difficult for beauty products to be 100 percent certified organic, since almost anything that contains water is precluded.)

Organic as a category descriptor soon gave way to another spate of earthy, marketable, self-styled labels: "green", "botanical", "natural", "eco", "pure." They conveyed grounded, ethical, farm-to-dressing table values. They paint a nice picture and inspire confidence, but what they actually mean is not always clear. As the category continued to evolve, "natural" came out ahead as the broad label that identified the space.

But "natural" is problematic for its own reasons, most notably that there are no official regulations ensuring a product is actually natural, and even if something is formulated with (some, or mostly) natural ingredients, there is the question of what else is in there? (A product could contain one-zillionth-percent of a botanical extract - along with a host of who-knows-what-else - and thus present itself as "botanical." Think of fruit juice that contains 5 percent actual fruit.) What's more, just because an ingredient is indeed 100 percent "natural" does not necessarily make it safe (see: lead, mercury). And finally, not all synthetic ingredients are unsafe.

Which brings us to "clean." "Clean" is the new "natural." It's not a regulated classification; there is no official certification. It means slightly different things to different people, but the essential criteria are understood: "Clean means it does not contain ingredients that have been demonstrably linked to harmful health effects," says Blair Lawson, head merchant at Goop.

That seems simple enough.

Gregg Renfrew, founder and chief executive of Beautycounter, adoptedthe term back in 2011 when she launched her beauty range and e-commerce site. "We are focused on safety versus source, and safe ingredients can be natural or man-made," she says. Renfrew wanted to poise her brand for commercial - as opposed to niche - success, positioning it with a straightforward message aimed not just at "tree huggers," but, "a mainstream person who wanted high-performance products safe for their health."

Today, the "clean" banner is carried by a small (for now) but vocal group of individual brands, dedicated retailers, platforms and activists that have taken it upon themselves to define and uphold the strict guidelines around clean products, from personal care and cosmetics to household cleaning items. They have taken it upon themselves because the beauty industry in the United States is virtually unregulated. In Europe, 1,500 substances are banned from personal care products. In the United States, that number is 30.

There is a push by the customer for brands to be clearer and to help them navigate the ingredient list.

"The Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act, which is one-and-a-half-pages long and has not been updated since 1938, allows you to put anything you want in a formulation," says Renfrew. "Consumers assume the FDA has the power to protect them, which it doesn't, and that cosmetic products are labelled in the same way as food products, which is not the case. The FDA doesn't have the power to recall products. They do research and they can suggest; they cannot enforce."

Clean-focused brands and retailers like Goop, Follain, Beautycounter and Credo blend commerce with content, providing education on ingredients and health concerns, and publishing lists detailing the substances and chemicals one will never find in the products they make and sell. Top offenders include hormone and endocrine disruptors (parabens, phthalates, chemical sunscreens like avobenzone and oxybenzone), suspected and known carcinogens (certain preservatives, formaldehyde releasers), and "fragrance," the most opaque "ingredient" of all, since it is basically a blanket term under which companies can hide any other ingredients they wish, without ever disclosing what they are (in the US this is perfectly legal).

Consumers are all ears. They've noticed. They care. They are demonstrating with their purchase power. Goop, which kicked off its e-commerce platform with fashion, started selling beauty - clean beauty, specifically - two years ago. "Now, it's 35 to 40 percent of our business each month," says Lawson.

Renfrew describes her company's growth as "explosive since the day we launched. We've been growing about 200 percent each year." Market sources estimate that the line will hit $225 million in retail revenue in 2017.

Beautycounter entered the market with 11 products six years ago, and now offers close to 130. Their latest introduction, Countermatch, a moisturiser based on bio-mimicry, sold out of 25,000 units in 12 hours when it dropped earlier this month. "We can sell a lot of product quickly," says Renfrew. Of the category at large, she says, "We know for a fact that our segment is outperforming traditional brands. And it's not slowing down at all."

As Tara Foley, founder and chief executive of Follain, the clean beauty retailer backed by venture-builder Launch, points out, "The global beauty industry [mass and prestige] is growing at around 3.8 percent, but the natural segment is growing faster, at about 10 percent." According to The NPD Group, natural brands across all categories are the swiftest-growing brand type within prestige, with skincare and makeup sales within the "spa/natural/wellness" segment accounting for $2.3 billion - up 11 percent - in the 12 months ending May 2017. Larissa Jensen, NPD's beauty industry analyst, reports that in skincare, they represent a quarter of all sales; within makeup (a smaller shared category), 11 percent of all sales, and within fragrance, where natural brands represent a still-tiny segment, they make up less than 1 percent of sales, but are growing by 20 percent. They're the fastest growing and only brand type within fragrance to gain double digits, she notes.

"The interest is there," says Jensen. "Natural is not regulated, so any brand can have 'natural' positioning, but consumers are reacting to that natural positioning. It's something they're seeking out. We're at a crossroads. The industry is very much in a flux of change."

Thus far, the indies are the ones doing most of the work and reaping the rewards.

It's slightly ironic: the "curation, "edit" and unique "experience" so many beleaguered department stores and brands are madly trying to offer once-loyal customers who have gone adrift in recent years is exactly what beauty's troop of toxic avengers has been doing all along.

You're going to see a lot more proof of performance, and thus conversion to these products.

From brick-and-mortar to online-only, retailers like DetoxMarket, Shen, Beautycounter, Follain, Credo and Goop actually are offering an authentic, specialised, hyper-edited selection. They're scrutinising each product on their clients' behalf, and earning their trust along the way. They're engaging their customer in meaningful conversation and acting as a resource for information, and discovery.

"We screen every product to make sure it doesn't include any ingredients that may be toxic for your body," says Lawson. "We also screen for performance, experience, luxury. We're making sure it's a great product you'd want to use every day."

"We feel we have a heavy weight on our shoulders," admits Foley, who has a background in public policy, and worked for a contractor to learn about formulation, and then on a lavender farm to learn about sourcing before opening Follain in 2013. "When women try something that claims to be clean, and it doesn't work for them, they say, 'clean products don't work.' We test to see if it does what it claims to do, and if it fits in our portfolio - what we feel is the best of the best for each skin type and concern."

Isn't that how we all want to shop - without a magnifying glass and a chemistry dictionary? And with a friend who has good taste and cares about us? But, for real. Retail gold!

For Frédéric Benqué, General Partner at Nextworld, a San Francisco-based evergreen private equity fund that focuses exclusively on the natural space - food, retail, renewable energy, beauty - "natural" and "clean" are obvious entry points into the market because, as he says quite matter-of-factly, that's where the market is going. "Customers are demanding it. They made it clear in the food segment. They're making it clear in the beauty segment," he says. "There is a push by the customer for brands to be clearer and to help them navigate the ingredient list."

Three years ago, Benqué was searching for a small, multi-brand retail beauty chain to buy in order to convert it to clean, but after a year of looking, "We couldn't find anything. We couldn't do a deal. So we said, ok, we better create it." And thus forth sprang Credo, founded in collaboration with the late beauty executive and entrepreneur Shashi Batra.

"Our thesis was twofold," says Benqué. "There was one aspect linked to clean products, the other linked to shifting trends in retail - department stores losing market share and being less relevant to the customer, and this gap opening for local retail."

Credo's plans to dominate the category and spread the clean beauty message, neighborhood by neighborhood, are ambitious. In addition to an e-tail presence, it now has stores in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, with plans to open several more locations in the next year.

"The companies that are gaining trust are emerging indie brands, created directly around the clean, natural trend," continues Benqué. The established legacy behemoths, he says, "are very good at doing massive marketing and massive channel push, but when it comes to clean products, they are not trusted to do that. They need to regain that trust somehow."

Why doesn't everyone make the switch?
1. Natural beauty, of which "clean" is an unwitting offshoot, still gets a bad rap.
To be clean, non-toxic or (truly) natural does not mean I-made-it-in-my-backyard; it-sort-of-works; there-is-a-two-week-window-before-it-will-explode-or-turn-yellow-which-starts- now.

Clean products can be - and the best are - stable, high-tech and high-performance. "It's a bit of a misconception - a lot of the most effective ingredients, like vitamins, are natural," says Lawson. Goop by Juice Beauty's Exfoliating Instant Facial, for example, "is just AHAs, lactic acid and salicylic acid."

In conventional products, it's often the ancillary ingredients - preservatives, thickeners, fragrance - not the active ingredients that are the "problematic ones." Take BHT, a preservative that has been linked to cancer, according to the Environmental Working Group (EWG). "That's so a product can live on a shelf for eight years," says Lawson. "Is that really necessary? I'm ok with two. I'm even ok with one. If you haven't used it in a year, maybe you should Marie Condo it. There are plenty of food-grade preservatives you can use that will still keep microbes from growing."
2. It's hard.
It's not easy being clean. Ask Gwyneth Paltrow, who put Lawson and her chemists through more than 10 iterations of Goop's night cream before settling on a winner that felt as luxe as her favourite conventional product. "We wanted to create a super-rich, almost cold-cream-thick cream without certain thickeners in the toxic camp," says Lawson. "It's hard to create that feel and have it be absorbent and not waxy. There are challenges, but it can be done."

"Certain things are just harder," she continues. "Sunscreen is a perfect example. It's really difficult to make a mineral sunscreen that's not white and sticky. You'll never get a clear, beautiful gel or spray that's easy to apply."

Beautycounter found a way to make almost everything - including a sheer blackberry lipstick and matching gloss that I was (happily) surprised to find are as good as pretty much everything else I have always used. Renfrew feels they haven't cracked the code yet on deodorant or nail polish, though. "There are lots of things we have to be comfortable saying, 'We don't know how to make it yet,'" she says. "Our promise to the consumer was always to create the safest products we could with the information that was available. It's progress, not perfection."
3. It's expensive.
"It's margins," says Foley. "Products are much, much cheaper with the bad ingredients. It's a pure business decision."

Also, consider for a moment what it would take for an established brand to attempt to reformulate (and then re-label) basically everything they make. Ouch.
4. Making a change can (initially) be very bad PR.
Recall what happened in 2014 when Johnson & Johnson released an "improved formula" for its iconic Baby Shampoo. "The No More Tears Shampoo, Now with No Formaldehyde," blared The New York Times. Lawson, who calls the episode "a bit of a communication issue," says, "it begged the question, 'How could you have lived with yourselves selling that for so long?' and 'What else is in your products?'"

True, true, but personally, I'd respect, admire, trust and patronise a company that acknowledged outdated practices, explained what they had learned and what positive action they were taking as a result. That's called transparency. That's also called good PR!

So, moving forward, how will the market change?
- Clean brands will continue to proliferate, taking market share with them.
"We see these little brands nipping away. Ankle biters is what we call them," says NPD's Jensen. Tata Harper and Fleur are among those on her radar. As is Bite Beauty, "which markets its products as safe enough to eat, which is great -it's lipstick."

"We're just now starting to develop the technology to use natural ingredients in really interesting ways, so as these brands grow, they will have more money to formulate like the conventional brands do," says Foley. "True Botanicals has done a great job with their formulations, to the extent that they started running clinical trials, with unbelievable results. You're going to see a lot more proof of performance, and thus conversion to these products."
- Updated guidelines will become de rigeur.
It's already happening. This past January, Target, whose stores are visited by 30 million customers each week, announced a new "chemical strategy" and plan to promote full ingredient transparency by 2020, banning phthalates, formaldehyde and a host of parabens from all beauty, baby, personal care and household cleaning products.

In April, CVS, which operates nearly 10,000 pharmacies throughout the United States, announced that beginning in 2019, it will remove all "chemicals of concern" - again: parabens, phthalates, formaldehyde donors - from its in-house personal care and baby lines, which amounts to about 600 individual products.

"This is going to incentivise other companies, the brands that sell at Target and CVS, to find alternative ingredients to the ones they're banning," says Jensen. "They will have to react to this. The implication will be far-reaching."

In 2013, Procter & Gamble removed Triclosan - an antibacterial agent - and phthalates from its own products, a move Scott Heid, PhD, a toxicologist and the company's associate director of communications, calls "a no brainer for us." They created a "preservative tracker" on their corporate website to help consumers navigate what is in their products and why. "We are very transparent about our point of view on preservative families people have questions about," says Heid. "Safe for us is non-negotiable. When we've gotten out of stuff across the company, it's because we've found alternatives that go above and beyond."
- New legislation will be put in place.
"There's been a lot of momentum in the last year," says Foley. Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand are taking steps to ban outright the use of 1,4-dioxane, a chemical byproduct (and formaldehyde releaser) commonly found in PEGs, a class of widely used polymers designed to emulsify and enhance the penetration of ingredients. The FDA has said that in very low levels in cosmetics 1,4-dioxane is safe; the International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies it as "possibly carcinogenic."

In May, Senators Dianne Feinstein and Susan Collins introduced the Personal Care Products Safety Act, an amendment to the antiquated Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act, which provides guidelines for ensuring the safety of cosmetics.

"The root of the issue is our lack of regulation," says Renfrew. "It's not enough for us to create safer products. There are so many challenges in our industry, working in an unregulated market with an unregulated supply chain. We need to update the federal laws."

Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Estée Lauder, L'Oréal, Unilever and Revlon have all come out in support of the proposed legislation.
- The establishment will adjust.
"As more of the established brands lose business to cleaner options, they will address it," says Lawson. "It's hard to turn around a legacy ship."

Yes, but aren't the legacy ships the ones with the resources for R&D on a grand scale? It's exciting to imagine the truly meaningful change and amazing products they could deliver. And, PS, if some of the heritage brands are currently feeling a bit dusty and dated... isn't adopting cutting edge clean practices, and ushering in new innovation, a surefire way to make them modern?

Perhaps they will begin by scooping up a clean indie or two - after all, in the current acquisition frenzy, founder-led niche brands that come with rapt audiences are among the most desirable. Of course, that might turn an unwelcome spotlight on the other brands in a portfolio, raising the question of, well, what is in all of your other products? But at this point, isn't everyone already asking, anyway? Aren't the people who run these brands tired of getting "moderate hazard" rankings on the EWG's Skin Deep database?

And while millennials' shopping habits continue to keep analysts and marketers busy, Gen Z, coming up next, is what has Jensen's attention. "Their purchase priority in beauty is that the product is formulated with pure and natural ingredients," she says. "The fact that this is the most important thing to them means things are going to have to change."

"Beauty is a good space to be in," says Benqué. "Natural and clean is an even better space to be in."
Related Articles: The Top 15 M&A Targets in Beauty How to Build a Beauty Brand in the Digital Age Will Safe Cosmetics Pay Off?

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NEW YORK, United States - If suddenly failing eyesight can be considered on-trend (readers are the new it-accessory, have you noticed?), I'm super-chic lately. I've accumulated a small mountain of reading glasses (tortoiseshell, matte grey, etc.), which I have become attached to for many reasons, not least because they make it so I can read things, like what I am typing right now, for example.

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Welcome to BoF's Beauty Newsletter, featuring members-only analysis and the week's top news from the frontlines of the global beauty business. Subscribe here.
NEW YORK, United States - "Clean beauty" is the buzzword of the moment, but the biggest beauty conglomerates have been slow to catch on.

Instead, it's been newcomers and independent labels leading the way in catering to consumers who want more transparency when it comes to ingredients and products free from a host of additives. Retailers stock brands like Drunk Elephant, Tatcha, Biossance, Farmacy, Kosas, Ren Clean Skincare and Tata Harper, all of which originated outside the global giants that dominate cosmetics and skin-care sales.

That's starting to change, however. In a series of deals this year, large beauty companies have snapped up clean brands. Shiseido acquired Drunk Elephant for $845 million in October and Unilever acquired Tatcha for $500 million in June. It's an expensive strategy, but the conglomerates believe it's easier to buy and then scale an existing brand than to overhaul decades-old operations to meet clean standards.

L'Oréal still doesn't really play in the clean arena, nor did Shiseido until it bought Drunk Elephant. Unilever's clean lines include acquisitions such as Tatcha and Ren Clean Skincare, purchased in March 2015. Coty, which had no clean brands until last month (Sally Hansen launched a clean range in late November), will make its biggest investment in clean beauty to date.

On Dec. 15, Philosophy, one of Coty's legacy skin-care labels, will debut its first "clean" collection at Ulta, Nature in a Jar. The line of five products - three skin-care and two body care - is free of more than 30 "nasty ingredients," such as sulfates, phthalates and parabens.

"We are trying to find ways of reformulating - keeping the performance, the texture and product that [consumers] like - in a clean way. It will not be done in one day or one year," said Simona Cattaneo, president of luxury brands at Coty.

There is a risk for the bigger conventional brands in assuming this is a niche or a trend.

In August, Coty introduced WeDO, an "eco-ethical" sustainable line of haircare with 50 percent less ingredients, but it's not marketed as "clean."

Big beauty companies face additional challenges in this market, even after buying their way in. "Clean" is a poorly defined term. The industry largely defines clean products by which ingredients they don't contain. And since there's no universally accepted definition, retailers have created their own. Sephora introduced a "Clean at Sephora" programme in May 2018, where products formulated with accepted ingredients are marked with a circular green seal.

Besides the expense, there's another reason legacy labels are hesitant to reformulate or adopt new "clean" standards: doing so could jeopardise the "brand DNA" some have worked decades to establish. Also, adopting a "clean" approach could suggest to consumers that products were not clean previously.

"If you didn't stand for clean to begin with and you're all the sudden committing to it, it's hard from a business model perspective, it's hard from the brand perspective," said Robin Tsai, managing director at VMG Partners, a private equity firm that owned a minority stake in Drunk Elephant. "A lot of consumers don't necessarily buy into it. It feels a little bit more reactive than something that's entirely genuine."

Credo Beauty's "The Credo Clean Beauty Standard" has become the gold standard, though the retailer is only four years old and has just nine locations. Existing labels and start-ups now use Credo's standards as a benchmark when formulating new products.

Of the 120 labels carried at Credo, none are "conventional" or legacy brands, according to Jackson, who noted that lines sold at the retailer are still owned by founders or have private equity investors as stakeholders.

You still don't see the larger contract manufacturers and conventional brands actually putting a stake in the ground.

"You still don't see the larger contract manufacturers and conventional brands actually putting a stake in the ground," said Annie Jackson, Credo Beauty's co-founder and chief operating officer "It would be awesome if they [conventional brands] said, 'We've identified these chemicals or 'We believe in the science behind the questionable chemicals in certain products, and we're going to get ahead of it.' The customer love for that kind of position, honesty and transparency would go a long way."

The Estée Lauder Companies doesn't have an entirely "clean beauty" brand in its portfolio, besides Origins, where the majority of its Sephora offerings have a "Clean at Sephora" seal. Clinique is marketed as free of parabens, phthalates and fragrance, but the second ingredient in the brand's most iconic product, Dramatically Different Moisturising Lotion, is mineral oil, which Credo lists as one of the "dirtiest" petroleum-derivatives. (To play devil's advocate, clean brands consider mineral oil "dirty" because it's a petroleum byproduct, even though it's been deemed safe and is highly purified in cosmetics. Mineral oil also poses a sustainability issue because it's derived from crude oil and takes a long time to biodegrade.)

For all of Coty's challenges - declining revenues last year; an ongoing struggle to integrate the 43 brands it purchased from Proctor & Gamble and the sale of Younique for a fraction of the $600 million it paid for the brand - the French beauty giant is among the first to embrace clean within its existing stable of brands. Instead of just buying a clean line, Coty is working to make its legacy labels clean.

For Cattaneo, being forthcoming about reformulations will make consumers trust a brand even more.

"I will tell them [consumers] the truth: we've started the journey, and what is important in this journey is to start the journey," said Cattaneo.

Following Drunk Elephant's sale to Shiseido in October, Marc Rey, chief executive of Shiseido Americas and chief growth officer, Shiseido Group, told BoF the brand's positioning and approach to "clean" was an important consideration. Instead of re-working its namesake Shiseido brand to adhere to "clean" standards, the Japanese beauty giant acquired an indie that's been clean since inception.

"As a global company, we are missing this very key market which we know is growing extremely rapidly and is not going to stop anytime soon," Rey said.

But how sustainable is it to just keep acquiring clean start-ups? The strategy may work in the near term, but conglomerates will ultimately need to reformulate their portfolios. If not, they risk eventually falling out of favour with ingredient savvy customers and Gen Z's who prioritise clean and sustainable principles above all else. In the meantime, Shiseido could benefit from owning a clean pioneer like Drunk Elephant, which could be instrumental in igniting a company-wide shift towards cleaner practices.

"There is a risk for the bigger conventional brands in assuming this is a niche or a trend," said Jackson. "The bar keeps rising higher and higher, and the longer conventional brands to take to wake up and join the party, it's going to be that much harder to get up to speed."
THIS WEEK IN BEAUTY

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Why Big Beauty Is Investing in Clean Beauty

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Welcome to BoF's Beauty Newsletter, featuring members-only analysis and the week's top news from the frontlines of the global beauty business. Subscribe here. NEW YORK, United States - "Clean beauty" is the buzzword of the moment, but the biggest beauty conglomerates have been slow to catch on.

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Welcome to BoF's Beauty Newsletter, featuring members-only analysis and the week's top news from the front lines of the global beauty business. Subscribe here.
NEW YORK, United States - "I'm poisoned," read one of a string of panicked text messages from a friend earlier this month after discovering she'd been using a product containing parabens.

The "poisonous" substance in question: CeraVe Moisturizing Motion, an oil-free moisturiser recommended by Hilaria Baldwin's dermatologist on a recent episode of "Mom Brain," her podcast with Daphne Oz. Frantic after using an entire bottle on her face (and buying another, as well as a body lotion), my friend called CeraVe to complain and left an angry comment on the podcast's Instagram account for daring to suggest the moisturiser in the first place.

Turns out it was a case of mistaken identity. The European Union has banned some parabens from use in cosmetics, but the two incorporated by the L'Oréal-owned CeraVe, methylparaben and propylparaben, are common preservatives deemed safe in beauty products by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic. Parabens have been shown to cause hormone problems in animal studies at very high doses, but there is no evidence that these compounds affect humans at the doses that are present in cosmetics. However, the suggestion of an issue was enough to make the whole class of ingredients a flashpoint for brands.

Parabens have gotten a bad rap, in large part because they are often found atop lists of "dirty" or "nasty" ingredients circulated by "clean" beauty labels and wellness bloggers. A Goop post titled "Clean Beauty - and Why It's Important" cites parabens first in a "long, ever-evolving list of ingredients linked to harmful health effects." The chemicals are on Beautycounter's "Never List" of 1,500 ingredients it avoids, explaining that they "may alter important hormone mechanisms in our bodies." Clean beauty retailer Credo prohibits brands it stocks from using parabens.

These brands say they're just trying to protect their customers. A growing chorus of scientists and consumer advocates say they're engaging in fearmongering. And starting next week, they'll have a powerful government ally in Europe.

On July 1, the EU will begin more strictly enforcing regulations designed to rein in "free from" claims on beauty product packaging and marketing. Brands won't be able to advertise that they are free of ingredients that are banned for use in cosmetics in the EU, or that aren't typically used in beauty products.

Guidance from a group advising the EU on the regulation singles out "free from parabens" as a no-go. Under the law, cosmetics brands are only permitted to use parabens deemed safe by the EU, and advertising their absence could imply to consumers that all parabens are dangerous.

"If you're not a chemist it's very difficult to understand... that one [paraben] could be innocent and one dangerous," said Hanny Roskamp, an independent safety assessor, who works with brands worldwide to ensure they are compliant with cosmetics regulations. "There is a lot of misunderstanding of chemistry and people [start to] panic."

She added that the underlying regulations aren't changing, but "the interpretation will become stricter."

The rule has split the beauty industry, where "clean" brands are a fast-growing segment that's come to span skincare, colour cosmetics and haircare. "Free of" and "made without" are built into the identity of fast-growing brands like Beautycounter and Goop. Sephora introduced a "Clean at Sephora" section last year, and Credo and Follain are among retailers selling nothing but clean products. Colour lines from Ilia to Kosas are predicated on being "clean," as are skincare ranges like Tatcha and Vintner's Daughter.

There is no clear-cut definition for "clean," particularly in the US, where only about a dozen cosmetics ingredients are banned (compared with hundreds in Europe). Founders and brands create their own interpretations of the label, building elaborate rules and lists.

The implication behind the "clean" label is that other brands are not, even when they are complying with regulations, said Floris Van Onna, co-founder of Amazingy.com, a beauty e-tailer based in Germany, as well as Hiro Cosmetics, a beauty brand and Flowing Cosmetics, a beauty distributor.

"Who is deciding which ingredients are clean?" he said.

Beautycounter has a "better safe than sorry ethos," said Senior Vice President of Social Mission Lindsay Dahl. She said if there's a certain ingredient group that has "questionable impact" - such as parabens - the company will "avoid that class altogether."

Some brands have begun to distance themselves from "made without" and "clean" claims, said Myles Harris, a supply chain consultant who works with beauty brands. Some of his skincare and colour clients are updating packaging. One skincare brand replaced "clean beauty" with "no nasties."

"As with most things in cosmetics, it's pretty grey," he said. "You can almost do whatever you want, which is terrifying."

Some brands Credo stocks have removed "free of parabens" from packaging, said Mia Davis, who leads mission around safety and sustainability at the retailer. She said Credo "supports the spirit of the guidelines" but that it "falls apart a bit" in the section about parabens.

"If someone wants to make a... product that's free of parabens and have gone out of their way to use [other preservatives], they should be able to say that," she said.

Sephora and Goop declined to comment.

Deciem, parent company of The Ordinary and two other skincare lines, has never focused on clean or "free of" messaging. Instead, it sells products based on the quality of its ingredients and innovative formulas, said Chief Executive Nicola Kilner.

"[The EU guidance] will push people to be innovative and stop selling things based on fear," Kilner said. "If the reason why people are buying your products is because you convince them that other products are bad - that doesn't feel innovative."

All products should be safe - and brands shouldn't use "clean" or "free of" claims as a differentiator.

"It's better to have a platform of [made] "With X, Y and Z" for XYZ benefits that also happens to be free of important no-no's," said Tamara Brown, founder and chief executive at Tamara Brown Consulting. "If you just literally only make a platform of being 'free of' - those are the brands that are going to be in trouble."
THIS WEEK IN BEAUTY
Allergan has a new owner. Drugmaker AbbVie will buy the maker of Botox for about $63 billion, the second biggest deal in the pharmaceutical industry this year.

L'Oréal is angling to get into the biotech space. The French beauty giant took a minority stake in bio-industry solutions producer Carbios for an undisclosed amount.

This is how one achieves "Instagram Face." There are non-surgical ways to look like your favourite influencers, including Botox, strategically placed fillers in cheeks and lips and liquid nose jobs.

Social media has changed beauty standards. Dr. Linda Fiumara, a plastic surgeon, said the internet has created new beauty ideals even though the majority of photos are filtered, Photoshopped or airbrushed.

Karl Lagerfeld did a makeup collaboration with L'Oréal. While little is known about the product so far, the L'Oréal Paris x Karl Lagerfeld collection will debut in September, on the eve of Paris Fashion Week.

To shave or not to shave. Direct to consumer razor company Billie released a new campaign that features armpit and pubic hair, tackling the taboo subject of women's body hair.

Fragrance is clean beauty's next frontier. Sephora is adding two-year-old brand Skylar to its clean fragrance assortment, which already includes Phlur and Ellis Brooklyn.

As evidenced by Phlur's new round of funding. The clean fragrance brand raised $7 million to vertically integrate portions of its business and add additional categories.

This rapper hosted a new kind of beauty pageant. Megan Thee Stallion has thrown five events across the country, the latest being the " Cognac Queen " beauty pageant where the winner was awarded $2,500 in college tuition money.

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Is Clean Beauty Now a Dirty Word in Europe?

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Welcome to BoF's Beauty Newsletter, featuring members-only analysis and the week's top news from the front lines of the global beauty business. Subscribe here. NEW YORK, United States - "I'm poisoned," read one of a string of panicked text messages from a friend earlier this month after discovering she'd been using a product containing parabens.

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By Reuters October 3, 2019 12:02

NEW YORK, United States - "Clean" skin care products that are free of certain chemicals are not always safer than their traditional counterparts, dermatologists warn.

Arbitrary descriptions of products as "clean" or "natural" are not regulated, and many of these products contain high concentrations of ingredients that can cause irritation and allergies, the authors write in an editorial in The Journal of the American Medical Association Dermatology.

"We wanted to shed light on the fact that the 'clean beauty' movement is more of a business model and marketing tool that plays on the trend of people wanting to use natural rather than synthetic products right now," said Dr Bruce Brod of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, who co-wrote the editorial.

"Instead, we need to take a more balanced approach when choosing which products to use on our skin," Brod said in a phone interview.

Between 2017 and 2018, the natural skin care market grew by 23 percent to $1.6 billion, accounting for about a quarter of the $5.6 billion annual skin care sales in 2018, Brod and co-author Dr Courtney Blair Rubin, also a dermatologist in Philadelphia, point out.

Brod said they decided to write the editorial after seeing a trend in recent years of patients reporting allergic reactions to natural beauty products.

Every few weeks, they see new cases of contact dermatitis, or itchy rashes that pop up on the face and hands, he said, which are linked to botanical or natural ingredients in beauty products.

"Many of these products are marketed and sold to consumers who are misled to think the products are superior," he told Reuters Health. "We support free enterprise but want to make sure patients have all the available knowledge at their fingertips and choose products with their eyes wide open."

Brod and Rubin note that some chemicals in traditional products are "demonised" without proof they're unsafe. Wellness and lifestyle blogs have ignited fear among consumers, who are calling for safe and nontoxic beauty products, Brod and Rubin write.

However, the US Food and Drug Administration doesn't define "clean" or "natural," which leaves the labels open to interpretation.

And in an effort to go "green," many companies and retailers have released lists of ingredients that shouldn't be used. For instance, Whole Foods' 2018 list of unacceptable ingredients, which includes more than 400 compounds, included petrolatum, which dermatologists recommend to patients because it is so nonallergenic. Plus, it's cheap and accessible for people of all backgrounds.

Similarly, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics tells consumers to avoid parabens, which the American Contact Dermatitis Society named the 2019 "nonallergen of the year." Parabens have some of the lowest rates of allergic reactions, between 0.5 percent and 1.4 percent of users, the authors note.

"The commercial personal care products industry is accountable to high standards," Brod said. "Products that include synthetic ingredients are created to prevent those adverse reactions on the skin, and preservatives are meant to prevent those complications."

On the other hand, many natural products contain high concentrations of botanical extracts that cause rashes and allergies, particularly perfumes, creams, lotions and aromatherapy that tout essential oils, Joel DeKoven of the University of Toronto said by phone.

"We've seen horrible reactions from kids being exposed to undiluted oils," said DeKoven, who wasn't involved in the editorial. "There's no guarantee about the efficacy and safety of these products, which you'd think would be everyone's concern if they really thought about it."

Koven belongs to the North American Contact Dermatitis Group, comprised of dermatologists who report patch test results on patients with skin allergies to a composite database. They then analyse the data for trends. Methylisothiazolinone, a preservative often used in place of parabens in personal care products that are trying to be "paraben-free," continues to show the highest rates of allergic reactions, he noted.

"Poison ivy is natural, arsenic is natural, and poisonous mushrooms are natural, so the term 'natural' doesn't carry the mystique or cachet from a scientific point of view," DeKoven said. "What we're concerned about as dermatologists is the safety of the products that consumers are interested in, as well as what it costs."
By Carolyn Crist.

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'Clean' Beauty Products Not Always Safe, Dermatologists Say

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By Reuters October 3, 2019 12:02 NEW YORK, United States - "Clean" skin care products that are free of certain chemicals are not always safer than their traditional counterparts, dermatologists warn.

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It is not uncommon to see retail stores that are so out-of-date they look like backdrops to old films, but generally retailers have always been passionately interested in finding out what will be the next best thing in shopping.

They visit one another's stores and copy what they like most. A hundred years ago, visiting a department store was the most thrilling thing ever, such a range of goods, displayed to perfection in what seemed like palaces of commerce.

The 'Next Best thing'

In the last 50 years the next best thing of course has changed a great deal. It has included the shift to self-service with the new Supermarket (and later the Hypermarket or Superstore) seen as the essence of the Future-Store. Self-service and self-selection is the norm these days in virtually every store. Eliminating slow checkouts and lengthy queues, a typical bugbear of most shoppers, has involved better layout, EPoS (electronic point-of-sale and laser scanning), automatic card readers, customer self-scanning machines and contactless payments. EPoS has provided customers with an itemised receipt and retailers with accurate information about stock and detailed information about who buys what and what time of day.

The Future-store versus Online

I used to think that the Future-store was all about technology, but that is wrong. Probably. Obviously the most important type of Future-store at present is online retailing. Initially a method of buying books and music in the early 1990s, which has moved the retail store from the mall or high street into the customer's own front room. Most medium and large retailers now have their own ecommerce operation and one of the main Future-store questions for them is how to balance their ecommerce operations and IT with the way their physical stores operate. They must ensure the same customer is treated in the same way by each part of the business. This approach, termed omni-channel, is an aspiration today rather than an approach that any retailer is yet using, but it certainly will be the data bedrock of the retail Future-store.

Many Large Stores Now Obsolescent

Retailing has certainly not stood still in the last 50 years. Stores have got bigger and bigger: in 1965 the UK definition of a supermarket was a 3,000+ square feet store with self-service. This would now be regarded as a tiny convenience store. The problem that many multiples now have is that their stores are too large. Some of the merchandise that used to help fill the sales area, such as music, videos, CDs, small electrical goods, homeware, kitchenware goods, clothing and babyware, are now bought from discounters or online. Hence the approach to remodel stores, making them smaller, to add services such as dry cleaning, clothing repair, cafes, and gaming studios, to invite competitors to open concessions, or to partition the stores to make three stores where there was once one.

New Technology

New technology probably will be an important element of the Store of the Future. Some people think that the Future-store is only about using new technologies, although our view is that this is mistaken. If physical stores are to survive they need to add something different to the shopper's experience - something they cannot get online, but if the new stores are too slow, inefficient or too expensive they probably won't be the Store of the Future for very long. Moreover, technology-intensive stores will have much higher costs than other stores and this probably means they will be confined to major shopping destinations. However it is true that technology costs normally fall with mass production so that a product like a virtual 3D mirror (which shows you what the garment looks like from every direction and can even change the garment's colour without the customer needing to put a fresh garment on physically) may potentially become very common.

New Technology is Limited by People

However people don't necessarily embrace technology warmly. Customer self-scanning is still seen as problematic five years after the major push to get shoppers to use them. The reasons are probably partly technical (they are very clunky and slow to use) and partly psychological (they are not private enough). Even Amazon Go stores, which have received tremendous favourable publicity a year ago, have a limited range of goods and the average customer spend is currently very low, suggesting that technology alone is not the answer.

Some New Ideas about the Store of the Future

Below is a list of videos with some new ideas. Some ideas are terrible (facial recognition), some practical (refills or subscription services) and others involve high tech that is worth considering ( shop and Go and automatic RFID-based no-wait scanning). Several are made by companies to help sell their products, but they are still very interesting. We have not been paid to recommend any of these videos. As you might expect, there is some repetition. There is no need to watch every single one.

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It is not uncommon to see retail stores that are so out-of-date they look like backdrops to old films, but generally retailers have always been passionately interested in finding out what will be the next best thing in shopping. They visit one another's stores and copy what they like most.

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Fashion trends come and go. It might be difficult to predict what's coming down the runway in five years, but we already have a good idea of what to expect for customer experience. Here are four trends to look for in fashion of the future.
Subscription Boxes
Instead of searching through racks of clothing or websites to find the perfect clothing item, customers of the future will crave the convenience and personalization of subscription boxes. In recent years, subscription boxes have averaged an annual growth rate of around 100%. Popular companies Stitch Fix and Rocksbox send curated items to match each customer's style on a regular basis. Customers keep and pay for the items they want and then send back what they don't want.

Subscription boxes build loyal customers while also offering them an exciting experience. The subscription box model will continue to grow over the next five years. The companies that will survive and stand out will be the ones that build personal relationships and leverage data, like ThredUp's Goody Boxes , which uses an AI algorithm that remembers each customer's preferences so that future boxes can better fit their style.
Experiential Shopping And Showrooms
Brick-and-mortar stores aren't dead, but they could soon look very different. A growing number of stores are moving away from filling their stores with inventory and are instead using physical spaces as a way to showcase items, offer extra services and build relationships with customers. Nordstrom already does this with its Nordstrom Local stores that don't sell any merchandise themselves, but instead serve as a place for customers to pick up online orders, get clothing tailored and enjoy a spa treatment.

Sixty-two percent of consumers prefer shopping at a physical store instead of online because they want to touch the merchandise and see it in person. At the same time, the main reason people shop online is for the convenience . Showrooms provide the best of both worlds--see an item in person and then order it online. Experiential shopping is also a chance for brands to provide more intimate and personalized experiences.
AR To Test New Products
Many shoppers have had bad fitting room experiences, but those days could soon be over. Within the next five years, it will likely become more mainstream to try on clothes virtually with augmented reality. About one-third of shoppers already use AR in stores, and experts predict the market could grow to be worth $130 billion by 2020 . Some stores have already adopted smart mirrors that allow customers to test different outfits without having to change their clothes. Rebecca Minkoff uses this concept at its smart stores, which include touchscreen mirrors in interactive dressing rooms. The technology is being expanded to work at home, which opens the door for online shoppers. Amazon recently filed a patent for an AR mirror that customers can use to test clothes in exotic locations, all from the comfort of their own home.

Using AR to try on clothes can help customers experiment with items they normally wouldn't try and feel confident with how an item looks on their body before they place an order. This technology capitalizes on comfort and convenience, which are priorities for modern shoppers.
AI And Personalization
AI and data make it possible for brands to know more about their customers than ever before, which is also the gateway for greater personalization. Customers are much more likely to engage with a brand that offers a personalized message. In fact, 62% of consumers expect companies to send personalized offers based on items they're already purchased. Using big data and AI, retailers will be able to create profiles for each customer that include their purchase history and preferences. This information can fuel personalized outreach and proactively allow employees to know what the customer is looking for. More companies will follow in the footsteps of which uses IBM Watson's cognitive computing technology to provide personalized winter jacket recommendations. Customers simply answer a few questions to find the perfect coat.

measures brain signals in kiosks that use neurotransmitters to gauge customers' reactions as they are shown different clothing items. The AI algorithm uses that data to recommend products. AI learns and improves with more interactions and can help create proactive, personalized experiences for customers.

Retail customer experience will continue to change and get more personalized and advanced in the next five years. These trends give us just a taste of what's to come.
Blake Morgan is a keynote speaker, customer experience futurist and the author of two books including her new "The Customer Of The Future." Stay in touch with her weekly on her newsletter.
Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist. Blake is the author of two books on customer experience. She is the author of the new book "The Customer Of The Future: 10...

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Fashion Of The Future: What Retail Customer Experience Will Look Like In 5 Years

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Fashion trends come and go. It might be difficult to predict what's coming down the runway in five years, but we already have a good idea of what to expect for customer experience. Here are four trends to look for in fashion of the future.

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When Gwyneth Paltrow launched Goop by Juice Beauty in 2016, she told Vogue how vital it was that her line of beauty products-including a face cleanser, eye cream, and moisturizer - was all-natural. "The idea that you're exercising and trying to eat well and then slathering yourself with chemicals, parabens, and silicones - it's not great." A few months later, she went on The Tonight Show to promote the line. She and host Jimmy Fallon dipped McDonald's french fries into a pot of her moisturizer and ate it, presumably to show how pure it was.

Paltrow often peddles questionable science and theories. But she's far from alone in her skepticism toward conventional makeup and skin care. Over the past few years, a parallel beauty industry has exploded alongside the traditional one. "Natural" beauty; "clean" beauty. Many new brands and retailers are basically saying, "Your regular beauty products contain all sorts of dangerous stuff. Use these safer ones instead." It's a complicated claim and pretty hard to prove conclusively, but it's a message that has caused radical upheaval in the cosmetics industry.

These companies are responding to legitimate concerns about certain chemicals, like BPA and phthalates. Then there have been some high-profile lawsuits like the Johnson & Johnson ovarian cancer talc cases, in which juries have awarded multimillion-dollar settlements to people who claimed using baby powder for years caused their cancer. Then the hair care company Wen settled a $26 million class-action case because one of its products was allegedly making people's hair fall out. Consumers have become afraid of chemicals and started looking for products they think would be "natural" or "safer."

The backlash against traditional beauty companies - and the rise of "clean" ones - might have been inevitable. As scary-sounding reports about ingredients made the rounds over the years, consumers demanded answers. But cosmetics regulation laws in this country haven't been meaningfully updated since 1938. The Food and Drug Administration, contrary to what some people assume, only has minimal oversight of the beauty industry. For the most part, beauty companies regulate themselves.

But now cosmetics industry regulatory legislation that languished for years is closer than ever to becoming law. And the traditional big beauty conglomerates are scared enough of the clean beauty backlash that even they are actively seeking more oversight. It's going to fundamentally change how brands talk about beauty and how we as consumers shop for it.

Shopping for "safe" cosmetics

Natural products used to be sold primarily in health food stores and farmers markets with labels decorated with pictures of leaves. It was a very specific niche and not taken seriously by the beauty industry. But now sleek new brands positioning themselves as "cleaner" alternatives to the mainstream are exploding.

Daniela Ciocan - the marketing director at Cosmoprof North America, an entity that hosts a large expo where brands can display their wares in hopes of landing retail placement - says that thanks to retailer and customer demand, this year the organization doubled the amount of space it dedicated to new "clean" brands at the 2017 convention.

In the past 12 months, so-called natural brands like Tata Harper and Jessica Alba's Honest Company products have made up about a quarter of all higher-end skin care sales, according to the NPD Group. The category is growing at a faster rate than last year.

"We're absolutely inundated," says Annie Jackson, a co-founder of Credo, which was dubbed the "Sephora of clean beauty" when it launched in 2015. It currently has eight stores in the US and a robust online business, where it sells about 115 brands. Credo receives about 200 new products a month from brands hoping to sell there.

And it has a competitor. Follain, which opened before Credo in 2013 as a local shop in Boston, is growing rapidly. It currently has five stores, will open two more in October and expects to have 10 by the end of 2019. Its growth rate is up more than 200 percent in 2018.

In the meantime, customer demand means mainstream companies and retailers are giving more lip service to the concept of clean beauty. In 2017, Target bumped up its natural beauty offerings. CVS announced it was removing parabens and other ingredients from 600 of its house-branded products by the end of 2019. Brands regularly remove parabens and sulfates and the like, sometimes quietly and sometimes with great fanfare.

Sephora launched its "Clean at Sephora" initiative in May, citing in-house research that revealed that 54 percent of its skin care shoppers think it's important that their products "have a point of view on clean" and looking to shop brands that are "grounded in a 'free of' ingredient perspective," according to Cindy Deily, the senior director of skin care merchandising at Sephora, though she did not say free of what. Sephora received some criticism that its clean standards weren't as rigorous as they could be, but Deily says the "no" list is still evolving.

And it's not just retailers. Traditional companies are more transparent than ever, at least superficially. In February, Unilever announced it was voluntarily disclosing the fragrance ingredients in its beauty and personal care brands like Dove, Axe, and Suave. Johnson & Johnson is doing the same for its baby care products.

Clean, green, and everything in between

Because of the lack of regulation in the industry, all these new products have caused some confusion among consumers. The terms "clean" and "natural" are often used interchangeably and are the most common; you'll also see "safe," "green," and "nontoxic." Walk into Sephora and you'll be confronted with signage that designates those products "Clean by Sephora." Walk into Nordstrom and you have to ask where the natural products are. (For clarity, I'll refer to this trend as "clean" from now on.)

But because the terminology isn't regulated by an agency or governing body like the Federal Trade Commission or the FDA, they're all essentially meaningless words when they appear on cosmetics and personal care products. Natural usually tends to mean it contains plant-based ingredients, though there's a push by some new brands to move away from the word natural because there are many safe synthetic ingredients. But it's still a free-for-all. Usually clean products are notable for the ingredients they are free of: parabens, phthalates, sulfates, and more.

The designation "organic" as it relates to cosmetics is even more confusing. The US Department of Agriculture, the organization that regulates food, has rules about what kinds of products can be labeled as organic; in beauty, it's dependent on what percentage of USDA standard organic ingredients are in the product. But ultimately, being organic doesn't make an ingredient better or safer, as the FDA notes.

Any company can call a product "natural" or "clean" and define that term any way they want

So any company can call a product "natural" or "clean" and define that term any way it wants. And companies don't hesitate to slap on that label, because shoppers respond to it. A 2018 survey by students in the Fashion Institute of Technology's graduate school of cosmetics and fragrance marketing and management found that "90% of consumers believed that natural or naturally-derived beauty ingredients were better for them." Of course, a lot of natural things can be bad for you. Poison ivy. Cyanide in apple seeds. Some essential oils.

But it's led to a misconception among some consumers that chemicals equal danger. "I can't tell you how many times I see a product that says 'free of chemicals,'" says Kelly Dobos, a cosmetic chemist of 15 years. "It's ridiculous because water is a chemical."

How consumers became afraid of their beauty products in the first place

Certain ingredients have garnered headlines throughout the past 10 years, bringing cosmetic safety to the forefront. In 2010, large amounts of chemicals that turned into formaldehyde gas when heated were found in a popular hair straightening treatment from the brand Brazilian Blowout. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration called it a hazard for salon workers and potentially for customers. In 2012, the FDA discovered that 400 types of lipsticks contained tiny amounts of lead; the effects on humans are unknown.

In 2014, following consumer outcry, Johnson & Johnson removed a type of preservative from its baby shampoo that releases very small amounts of formaldehyde into the air. In 2017, the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology issued an opinion stating that women of color were disproportionately exposed to problematic ingredients in beauty products, partially because of the societal pressure on them to use hair relaxers and skin lightening products.

Clean beauty proponents often cite the statistic that the European Union has banned more than 1,300 chemicals from being used in beauty products while the US has only banned about 30. And this is true. The clean beauty market is made up of brands that have voluntarily cut these chemicals from their products. As Sephora said, shoppers want things to be "free of" ... things.

Like parabens, for example. Parabens make up a category of preservatives that have been widely used in cosmetics for decades. Any water-based product, which includes everything from shampoo to lotions, needs to contain a preservative to prevent the product from growing bacteria and fungus while it's sitting in your medicine cabinet. But "paraben-free" is the most frequent claim you'll see on beauty products these days.

Parabens are known to weakly mimic estrogen in certain situations (mainly discovered through lab animal and cell studies), which gained them the description "endocrine disruptor." In 2004, the Journal of Applied Toxicology published a study in which researchers found parabens in breast cancer tissue. It's important to clarify that they did not test the women's healthy tissue, and they did not suggest that the parabens caused the breast cancer. But this study was the first to the chemical some notoriety among consumer watchdog groups.

In 2014, the EU banned some parabens; this is really when the outrage against them peaked in the US. But the fact that Europe did not ban some of the most commonly used parabens was widely overlooked. The European Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety wrote:

The group of chemicals known as parabens make up an important part of the preservatives which could be used in cosmetics. In addition to Propylparaben and Butylparaben, other parabens, like Methylparaben and Ethylparaben, are safe, as repeatedly confirmed by the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS). They are also some of the most efficient preservatives.

Large organizations like the American Cancer Society put out statements that the data about parabens' harm to humans was limited, writing: "There are also many other compounds in the environment that mimic naturally produced estrogen."

Parabens may well be terrible for us, but for now the long-term effects of parabens on humans are simply unknown - there is no conclusive data that they hurt us. But the seeds of doubt were planted, consumers balked, and companies started removing them, thus reinforcing the belief that parabens must be bad. You'll find them in very few products these days.

But how afraid should you actually be? In toxicology, the study of chemicals and their effect on living things, the mantra is "the dose makes the poison."

"If you give enough of any chemical, it will produce harm"

"If you give enough of any chemical, it will produce harm," says Dr. Curtis Klaassen, a toxicologist who edited the textbook Casarett & Doull's Toxicology: The Basic Science of Poisons. He also evaluates chemical data as an independent scientist for the Cosmetic Ingredient Review, a regulatory council created by an industry trade group. (The CIR is itself controversial, as you'll see.)

Take formaldehyde, which has been labeled a human carcinogen. "It was discovered about 25 years ago that it is a carcinogen when they exposed rats and mice to very high concentrations in the air," says Klaassen. "But it turns out that you and I make formaldehyde [in our bodies]. Its likelihood of causing cancer in humans at the dose that you're exposed to from washing your hair is essentially zero."

Better safe than sorry

We will likely never conclusively know the effects of years of daily use of these chemicals. It's impossible to study in a controlled way, and the sheer number of ingredients we use on a daily basis makes it difficult to ever pinpoint a toxic smoking gun. But some argue that's the whole point.

"What we're most concerned about is the overall [chemical] body burden," says Nneka Leiba, the director of the Environmental Working Group's Healthy Living Science program. "Companies hear our position on that and sometimes they agree and sometimes they don't."

Some watchdog groups have become powerful in challenging the mainstream beauty establishment on this issue; the EWG, established 25 years ago as a nonprofit to look at pesticides and food, is arguably the most powerful one. But since then, it's expanded to larger environmental and human health initiatives, including cosmetics. In 2004, the same year the breast cancer paraben study was released, the group published its first Skin Deep cosmetics database.

The EWG's database contains more than 73,000 products and ingredients, giving them a rating for their potential hazards based on a complicated set of data and methodology. Leiba says a staff of 12, including toxicologists, chemists, and public health specialists, review the data on ingredients and update it regularly. "We speak to external scientists and industry scientists and see where we differ from them," Leiba says. "Most of the times we realize we are erring on the side of precaution."

The Skin Deep database has become a go-to resource for consumers, a go-to reference for the media - especially for its popular annual sunscreen guide - and a pain point for many brands. But it's been criticized for perceived fearmongering along the way by some cosmetic chemists and others, as well as for rating inconsistently and giving ratings when there is limited data available.

"I agree with a great deal of what they do. We have a lot of carcinogenic materials. The vast majority of the problem is the chemicals that are being used both for cosmetics and for household cleaners are made using some really environmentally destructive methods," says Gay Timmons, owner of Oh, Oh Organic, a company that provides organic cosmetic ingredients to companies like Aveda. Still, Timmons says, "EWG has had a big role in frightening consumers. That's really very much the tack they have taken, for good or for bad."

Leiba does not agree with that characterization of the EWG, saying they just want customers to understand they have options: "We are staunch in the fact that we're not fearmongering. We're educating. We're not saying, 'Don't get this, don't get that.' We take a precautionary approach. That's the same approach the European Union takes when it's regulating chemicals."

The US beauty industry regulates itself

Part of the reason we're in this confusing mess is that the FDA is not empowered by law to actually regulate the beauty industry. Based on the 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the only ingredients it can approve before they hit the market are color additives. (It also regulates ingredients like those in sunscreens and acne medications like benzoyl peroxide because they're considered drugs.)

It can't order product recalls, but it can request them. If it thinks a product is contaminated or misbranded, it can work with other agencies to take legal action and does conduct occasional testing, as in the lead lipstick situation, if it has safety concerns. Ingredient safety is the biggest point of contention, though, because companies are expected to determine that on their own - which is kind of a joke because, per the FDA website, it doesn't require companies to demonstrate safety or even share information.

The Personal Care Products Council, the beauty industry's biggest trade group, formed the Cosmetics Ingredient Review 40 years ago. The CIR reviews data and studies on about 300 to 500 ingredients per year and offers judgment about their safety.

Each CIR panel member must pass a conflict of interest analysis, and a representative from the FDA and a consumer advocate group called the Consumer Federation of America sit in on meetings. The reports are finalized, peer-reviewed, and then published in the International Journal of Toxicology. (Parabens, last reviewed in 1984, are currently undergoing review again at the CIR.)

But because the PCPC, whose members include some of the biggest beauty conglomerates in the country, funds the CIR, its conclusions just aren't trusted the way they would be if it were a truly objective organization. Ironically, it's been accused of the same thing the EWG has - passing judgment on ingredients where there is limited data. And it should be noted that the EWG partially relies on data from and refers to the CIR in its own rating system.

Big beauty actually wants to be regulated

The big companies that are being forced to reformulate products because of consumer demand or that are losing sales to more nimble "clean" indie brands seem to be at their wits' end. In the beauty and lifestyle media, ingredients are regularly referred to as " toxic" while clean brands are called " nontoxic."

According to a report on the industry site Cosmetics Design, the PCPC all but begged beauty editors to talk more about science at the organization's last annual meeting. "The misinformation that's out there drives the scientific side of me crazy," the PCPC's chief scientist told the room. (Vox reached out to the PCPC repeatedly, and a representative responded several times that the organization would provide comment. It has not as of publication time.)

And now they're asking the FDA for oversight too. "Consumers are very confused and the beauty industry and brands are very frustrated. This is something that cannot be solved by industry. Industry has tried and has lobbied the federal government constantly over the years for more funding to the FDA," says professor Stephan Kanlian, who is the chair of FIT's master's program in cosmetics and fragrance marketing and management.

Scott Faber, EWG's senior vice president for government affairs, agrees. "Big companies have been working with us to give FDA more authority because consumers don't trust the regulatory programs like CIR." He compares it to the situation last year, when, as Politico reported, some large food companies like Nestle and Campbell Soup Co. left their grocery trade lobbying organization because its policies weren't perceived to be in step with what consumers wanted.

New cosmetics regulation

So we may finally be closer to stronger regulation. There are several pieces of legislation pending now. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) submitted a discussion draft for a House bill to regulate cosmetics in 2016. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) introduced the FDA Cosmetic Safety and Modernization Act at the end of 2017, which the PCPC publicly supported at the time, though it's unclear if it still does.

But the most prominent proposal is the Personal Care Products Safety Act, introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and co-sponsored by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). It's been around in various forms since 2015. Basically, it gives the FDA the same power over cosmetics that it has over drugs and medical devices. The FDA could inspect safety records and mandate recalls. The bill also requires the FDA to review safety data on at least five ingredients per year. Companies will be charged a fee on a sliding scale depending on size to help fund the FDA so it can fulfill its new responsibilities.

The EWG has been devoting resources to draw attention and publicity to the bill, including even bringing Kourtney Kardashian (who, unlike two of her sisters, does not have a makeup line) to Washington, DC, for a briefing at the Capitol.

Beautycounter, a multilevel marketing beauty company that has banned 1,100 ingredients in its products and has been a visible and vocal voice in the clean beauty movement, has also supported the bill publicly. The company has a team dedicated to advocacy and it's made multiple trips to Washington for hearings and meetings with lawmakers. Lindsay Dahl, Beautycounter's vice president of social and environmental responsibility, says "a Senate version of the bill is about 95 percent negotiated, which is no small feat." But because of the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court hearings and a focus on the November midterm elections, industry sources suspect the bill might be tabled until early 2019.

You can be excused for being skeptical about whether the current administration, which has shown itself to be decidedly anti-regulation, would support a bill regulating an industry that primarily affects women and their health. But it has bipartisan support, and the EWG's Faber is hopeful.

"FDA has been a pleasant surprise. Commissioner Scott Gottlieb and his team understand that it's government's job to keep us safe from dangerous products. Which is a departure from some of President Trump's appointees," says Faber. The FDA even just launched its first-ever survey of safety practices and manufacturing standards of cosmetic companies, indicating that it is gearing up for more oversight of the industry.

Looking forward

None of this legislation is perfect and all-encompassing, and there is still a lot of data missing on ingredient safety. Even "clean" beauty produts contain ingredients that have no data one way or the other on safety. Plus, it's not clear how the FDA would or could provide guidance on labels like "natural" or "clean." But it would be a win-win for both companies and consumers, at least superficially.

Big beauty companies would be relieved of some of the burden and bad press that has come with regulating itself. (In the cynical view, they would be able to counteract claims of toxic ingredients with the rebuttal, "But the FDA reviews us and says it's fine.") For shoppers, it could seem like there is an objective entity looking out for them.

There are some downsides to pulling ingredients out of products, though, especially if there aren't good alternatives. The Honest Company has been plagued with recalls, lawsuits, and complaints through the years because of faulty products. It's going through a bit of soul-searching and reorganization.

"It's very easy to scare people; it's very hard to unscare them"

Then there's the risk of ditching well-known preservatives like parabens. "I have actually seen more recalls for microbial contamination in the past few years than I've seen in all my years in the industry," says Dobos, the cosmetic chemist. Just this month, Avalon Organics and Bath & Body Works issued recalls for microbial contamination in some of their products.

What's important to remember is that in the meantime, clean brands and retailers are still trying to sell you things just like the traditional beauty companies are, even if some of them truly have public health top of mind. Marketing themselves as "clean" is an advantage in this market. Even the EWG utilizes Amazon affiliate links on its product pages, meaning if you click through to Amazon to purchase, the EWG gets a percentage of the sale. (It links to all products, regardless of their safety ranking, but the sunscreen page specifically invites you to "Shop with EWG on Amazon.") It also sells a special certification label to companies allowing them to state their products are "EWG verified."

"We are trying to make money," says Beautycounter founder Gregg Renfrew. "We are doing well by our financial stakeholders while simultaneously creating significant social impact. The companies that are going to be successful in future will do both."

In FIT's report on industry transparency, the authors quoted an infectious diseases specialist reacting to the anti-vaccination movement in recent years. "It's very easy to scare people; it's very hard to unscare them," he said.

People are scared of ingredients, and they have made that clear with their dollars. Eventually, the clean beauty industry is going to just become ... the beauty industry.
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The "natural" beauty industry is on the rise because we're scared of chemicals

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Customer mistrust is so bad now that even huge beauty companies want more regulatory oversight.

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Welcome to BoF's Beauty Newsletter, featuring members-only analysis and the week's top news from the front lines of the global beauty business. Subscribe here.
NEW YORK, United States - At the heart of most beauty retail experiences is touch: trying out products, picking up perfume bottles to test their fragrances, or receiving a makeup tutorial from a salesperson.

These experiences are one reason Sephora and Ulta stores are often packed. But in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, when "community spread" is top of mind for many consumers, those intimate moments are becoming a major liability.

On Wednesday, Sephora cancelled in-store makeup and skincare services and classes. The LVMH-owned beauty retail giant said its employees would be showing customers how to apply makeup using "face charts" and digital tools. In a separate message, Jean-André Rougeot, chief executive and president of Sephora Americas, told customers the company was "regularly disinfecting all high-touch areas including workstations, product displays, and hygiene stations, with a hospital-grade disinfecting cleaner."

Ulta Beauty is pressing ahead with in-store demonstrations, though Chief Executive Mary Dillon said in an email to customers that they should "reschedule if you're not feeling well" (while also noting that employees will be disinfecting stores regularly). Macy's MAC and Dior have adopted "no-touch policies," according to internal documents published by Estée Laundry. Space NK adopted a similar policy on Thursday, ending makeovers and skincare treatments at its stores in the UK and Ireland. Walgreens said on Friday it was removing all beauty testers from stores.

The industry is hastily rewriting their retail playbooks as Covid-19 cases swell. Worldwide there have been over 120,000 cases and over 4,500 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering's Centers for Systems Science and Engineering, which has been compiling the data.

Italy has shut down all stores selling non-essential items. In the US, where shops remain open, over 30 percent of consumers said they were avoiding stores, and 58 percent said they planned to steer clear of public areas altogether if the outbreak worsens, according to a Coresight Research survey.

Meanwhile, health experts are warning against touching one's own face - let alone allowing a stranger to do so - and avoiding unnecessary travel or visits to public places. That advice seemingly rules out the most common approach to beauty retail today - whether at Ulta, Beautycon, or a Goop pop-up - which involves allowing customers direct access to products, and often free touch-ups and tutorials.

Coronavirus will not change the way people choose brands and products but could change the way they shop.

"Coronavirus will not change the way people choose brands and products but could change the way they shop," said Odile Roujol, an industry veteran and founder of the FaB Fashion and Beauty Tech community.

Beauty brands and retailers are addressing the virus as best as they can in stores, with multiple hygiene stations featuring alcohol, sanitiser, and disposable applicators as well as safety-trained staff.

CAP Beauty, a natural beauty retailer with locations in New York City and Los Angeles, sent customers an email on Monday: "We saw less people coming in and people with concerns and wanted to address them," said Kerrilynn Palmer, founder and chief executive. "We have hand sanitiser on the floor, which I'd never used before in my life. We have a really nice one coming in soon. And we've been letting people use our sink." Soap company Lush has also made their soap and sinks available in select locations.

Testers - the communal sample jars that are ubiquitous in beauty stores - are a battleground. Sephora continues to display testers, much to the dismay of some customers, who took to Twitter to vent.

"What's the least comforting coronavirus email you've gotten? Sephora continuing to have testers and offering free shipping for 2 weeks is hall-of-fame level," one user wrote.

What's the least comforting coronavirus email you've gotten? Sephora continuing to have testers.

Ulta told customers in an email that if they wanted to test products, they had to "ask an associate to assist you."

The communal experience of shopping for beauty - so essential to direct-to-consumer brands - is also tougher to pull off when consumers are self-quarantining. Beautycon, a convention featuring numerous independent brands, has postponed its LA edition from August to December. Sephora cancelled its annual beauty festival, Sephoria, this year.

Brands can also double down on marketing techniques that don't involve in-store demonstrations.

Sampling, offering trial-size amounts of product online with purchases or in-store upon request, has been an alternative to physically swatching product. Though always a part of the beauty marketing playbook, samples haven't caught on as a substitute for the in-store experience. Companies that send boxes of single-use beauty products to subscribers, like Birchbox, have struggled. Samples also tend to come in plastic packaging, which raises the hackles of environmentally-minded consumers.

Some companies have experimented with digital tools meant to simulate the in-store experience online. Prose, a direct-to-consumer hair brand, asks customers to answer 25 questions that are then used to create personalised products. This approach helps build a connection with the customer, much like a store employee would.

"The big challenge we're working on at Prose is how we create this emotional bonding through a digital experience," said Arnaud Plas, the brand's co-founder and CEO.

The big challenge we're working on at Prose is how we create this emotional bonding through a digital experience.

Virtual makeup apps like Modiface and Glamst, which allow customers to digitally try on makeup, are getting sharper and can directly link to checkout (Sephora and Ulta both have this tech embedded in their apps). Beauty search engines and online communities dedicated to discovering and evaluating new products can also replace elements of the in-person shopping experience.

Over the long term, it's hard to say whether any of these changes will become permanent. A recession might push consumers to choose mass-market beauty products over prestige cosmetics, and they may not all switch back when the economy starts growing again (Leonard Lauder famously dubbed this phenomenon the "lipstick index," noting that women tended to buy more of that product when times were tough.) E-commerce was already making inroads in the beauty market before the outbreak and may see its share grow faster.

"We haven't seen an increase in online sales yet," said Palmer. "For now, people are thinking more pragmatically."
THIS WEEK IN BEAUTY
Revlon to cut 1,000 jobs to boost profitability. The US-based cosmetic company hopes the move will save up to $230 million by 2022. It has seen sales declines for at least five quarters, as it struggles to attract younger consumers in an increasingly competitive beauty market.

opens Fenty Beauty house for TikTok influencers. The musician opened the doors of an LA mansion to the platforms' top beauty influencers to promote her makeup collection via videos posted to the Fenty Beauty TikTok page.

The Gummy vitamin trend isn't going anywhere. As the vitamin market continues to grow, and consumers increasingly draw a connection between nutrition and appearance, the brightly coloured candy-like supplements are becoming a fun alternative to traditional capsules.

Amazon stops selling dangerous skin lightening products. Following a year of activist pressure, the e-commerce giant removed 15 products that contain toxic levels of mercury.

TikTok drives beauty sales. The social media platform transformed DTC beauty brand Urban Skin Rx into a viral sensation - all it took was a single post from TikTok influencer Ashley Boggs, whose "before and after" video about the brands' cleansing bar saw product sales spike 220 percent.

Waitlists for hand sanitiser continue to grow. Following the outbreak of Covid-19, brands like Touchland have seen demand for its product surge. The company sold more than 250,000 bottles in the past few weeks and has a waitlist of more than 10,000 orders.

Wander Beauty co-designs products with customers. The brand enlisted the help of shoppers to decide the shades for its new Wanderess Escape eyeshadow palette.

Zit stickers take over social media. Patches from brands like Starface and Squish, which claim to bust zits and combat acne prone skin, are taking over social platforms from Instagram to TikTok.
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Try-Before-You-Buy Beauty Retailers Pivot in the Age of Covid-19

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Welcome to BoF's Beauty Newsletter, featuring members-only analysis and the week's top news from the front lines of the global beauty business. Subscribe here. NEW YORK, United States - At the heart of most beauty retail experiences is touch: trying out products, picking up perfume bottles to test their fragrances, or receiving a makeup tutorial from a salesperson.