Lev Tanju, founder of British streetwear brand Palace Skateboards, will join Fila as creative director of its new Fila+ line offering an “elevated take on sportswear,” the brand said Friday.

Tanju will remain creative director of Palace.

The first Fila+ collection will be presented to buyers later this month ahead of a marketing campaign set to be released in June.

The new line is Fila’s latest move to target fashion consumers. In December 2022, Fila presented a collection designed by Haider Ackermann at a runway show in Manchester. In September 2023, the company signed Hailey Bieber as a brand ambassador.

Fila reported revenue of $163.44 million in its most recent quarter, down 35 percent year-on-year, citing challenging conditions in the key North America market and high inventory levels.

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Massimo Osti Studio to Launch at Paris Fashion Week

A new label named for the Italian sportswear innovator will be launched as a spin-off of outerwear firm C.P. Company in January.

An index of prices for used Rolex watches eked out a small gain last month in a sign of stabilisation for pre-owned timepieces after more than a year-and-a-half of steep declines.

The Bloomberg Subdial Watch Index, which tracks the 50 most traded Swiss watches by transaction value, was flat in December, while an index of Rolex models gained about 0.7 percent.

It’s a sign that prices for second-hand luxury timepieces may stop dropping. They surged during the pandemic as cash-flush consumers stuck at home snapped up hyped-up models from Rolex, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet online. Prices began falling sharply in April, 2022 as interest rates rose and cryptocurrency values dropped. The Bloomberg Subdial Watch Index hit fresh two-year lows in November.

Now, with US interest rates expected to begin declining this year, used luxury watch prices, particularly Rolex, may be stabilising. The Subdial Rolex Index has gained 1 percent in the previous two months while the overall index, which also contains models from Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet, was unchanged over the same period.

The index is still down about 7 percent over the past 12 months and about 30 percent in two years.

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The State of Luxury Resale

The secondary market for luxury goods holds significant promise, but there are several key challenges to overcome, writes Luca Solca.

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Background:

The delicate dance between artistic integrity and commercial viability is a challenge Dan Levy and Jonathan Anderson know well. Levy’s Emmy Award-winning Netflix show Schitt’s Creek harmonises creative brilliance with mainstream appeal, while at the luxury label Loewe, Anderson’s refreshingly original designs have earned him both critical acclaim and commercial success. What unites their work is a real commitment to personal vision.

“I can’t think of something more heartbreaking than starting with an idea that I loved, allowing people to change it to the point where it loses its DNA, then it goes out into the world and either succeeds or fails, and I have to look at that and say, ‘Well, that’s not me,’” says Levy. “You can never get that back. The fight to protect that [idea] is so important.”

This week on The BoF Podcast, Levy and Anderson speak with BoF editor-at-large Tim Blanks about how they balance creativity and commerce in a conversation from BoF VOICES 2023.

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Key Insights:

• “Schitt’s Creek” began as a bare-bones-budget Canadian production and became a worldwide sensation during the pandemic. “We went and made something with absolutely no outside opinions, and because the stakes were so low, we were able to really kind of make the show for ourselves,” he says. “So what we made was quite pure.”
• Through his work at Loewe and his namesake label, Anderson has realised that designers can’t be afraid of backlash. “Sometimes you have to make the decision that you may have to give the audience what they don’t want to annoy them. Because there’s nothing better when people are annoyed because then they think.”
• For both creatives, the pandemic was a watershed moment. Anderson recalls, “it destroyed every formula that there ever was,” whilst Levy explained, “it also gave the consumer or the audience the freedom to find what they liked.”
• To find creative success, Anderson puts it simply: “I think for something to be successful, you have to give everything you have.”

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Burberry Group Plc slumped after the UK trenchcoat maker slashed its profit forecast due to a drop in sales in the key Christmas quarter.

Adjusted operating profit should be £410 million to £460 million ($523 million to $587 million) in the year through March, Burberry said Friday in an unscheduled trading update. Burberry previously forecast earnings of as much as £668 million.

The stock fell as much as 15 percent in London, the steepest intraday decline in more than a decade. The shares lost almost a third of their value last year.

In November Burberry warned this year’s revenue target may be out of reach as sales were barely growing. This meant its profit would probably come in at the lower end of its guided range, which started at £552 million. On Friday it showed that trading was even more difficult than expected, led by a 15 percent slump of revenue from the Americas.

Chief executive officer Jonathan Akeroyd’s efforts to jumpstart the brand have been stymied amid weak demand for luxury goods. Akeroyd has appointed designer Daniel Lee to reinvigorate the company’s popularity, but the efforts have yet to bear fruit.

Consumers have had a muted reaction to Lee’s creations, UBS analyst Zuzanna Pusz wrote in a note in early October, adding there’s a lack of hype on social media for the brand.

In the past few quarters, shoppers worldwide have been balking at higher prices from luxury brands, signalling that inflation is also hitting well-heeled shoppers, especially so-called aspirational customers who tend to buy items at the lowest price levels.

In November, Richemont reported a surprise decline in earnings as revenue from luxury watches unexpectedly fell and high-end consumers reined in spending.

Analysts at UBS Group AG said this month they expect a weak luxury-goods earnings season, advising investors to stick to more defensive stocks such as Hermes International SCA and avoid Burberry, as its turnaround is not yet proven.

Burberry’s wholesale revenue has been suffering as its price points are too high for some customers. The retailer is also very reliant on Chinese shoppers and it has taken time for mainland tourists to start returning to Europe since the pandemic. In its home market of the UK, Burberry, like other luxury rivals, has been affected by the UK government’s decision to scrap VAT-free shopping for travellers, meaning some tourists are now buying their high-end goods in places like Paris and Milan rather than London.

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Daniel Lee’s Burberry: The Power of the Singular Object

Accessories are a major part of Daniel Lee’s brief at Britain’s biggest fashion brand. In an exclusive preview with Tim Blanks, the designer breaks down how his Spring/Summer 2024 collection addresses the challenge.