Luxury goods behemoth LVMH beat estimates Thursday, reporting 10 percent organic growth in the fourth-quarter. Analysts had forecast 8 percent growth, according to average estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

The French group’s selective retailing unit was the fastest-growing division, with sales rising 21 percent as businesses like Sephora, Hong-Kong based tax-free shopping giant DFS and Belmond Hotels were lifted by the easing of Covid-era travel restrictions.

Fashion and leather goods, the biggest and most profitable division comprising mega-brands like Louis Vuitton and Dior and fast-growing fashion houses like Celine and Loewe, reported sales up 9 percent, in line with the previous quarter.

Full-year operating profit grew 8 percent to €22.8 billion euros ($24.7 billion).

Learn more:

Morgan Stanley Downgrades LVMH to End Six Years of Bullishness

Edouard Aubin downgraded the luxury-goods giant to equal-weight on Friday on concern over weakening demand in the sector, having had an overweight recommendation since January 2018.

Matthew Williams and his new business partner Adrian Cheng have outlined a revamped strategy for 1017 ALYX 9SM following the Hong Kong-based entrepreneur’s investment in the luxury streetwear label last November.

Despite Williams’ links to superstar rappers, buzzy collaborations with major brands from Nike to Audemars Piguet and a creative directorship at LVMH-owned Givenchy, his 1017 ALYX 9SM label remains subscale ten years after its founding.

Key to the new strategy is a push towards “broadening and democratising” the product range, the brand said in a statement. The label will also bring fresh focus to its womenswear offer, shift its base of operations to Paris, return to the Paris Men’s Fashion Week calendar and double down on its direct-to-consumer business with plans to open standalone stores in ten key cities.

Learn more:

Matthew Williams’ 1017 ALYX 9SM Raises Investment from Hong Kong Entrepreneur Adrian Cheng

The investment in Williams’ label comes as the hype that drove sales growth in the streetwear category in the latter half of the 2010s has cooled in recent years.

Join us at The Times Center in New York on March 22. Space is limited: purchase your ticket today.

The year ahead is set to be a transformative one for technology and fashion. The AI revolution that took off in 2023 is accelerating. Apple is set to unveil its first headset in a giant bet on what it calls “spatial computing.” And, digital culture continues to evolve as it’s increasingly fragmented into algorithmically defined niches.

To learn more about the innovations that will shape 2024 – and their practical application for the fashion and beauty industries – join us at the Times Center in New York City on March 22 for the BoF Professional Summit – New Frontiers: AI, Digital Culture and Virtual Worlds.

Together with global business leaders, technologists and creative innovators, our half-day programme of provocative talks and in-depth conversations will delve into the transformative power of generative AI and other disruptive technologies set to impact the fashion and beauty industries this year.

Click here to purchase your ticket before February 14 to secure your place at the Early Bird rate of just $495 — saving $200 on the full ticket price.

CONTENT SESSIONS

SESSION 01: THE AI IMPERATIVE

Learn how the rapid advance of artificial intelligence is reshaping fashion, from enabling traceability in the supply chain to transforming how shoppers find and buy clothes.

SESSION 02: DIGITAL CULTURE

Understand how online culture is evolving and influencing the ways brands reach their audiences, craft their identities and create deep, meaningful relationships with their fandoms.

SESSION 03: VIRTUAL WORLDS

As companies like Apple and Meta introduce new products that can add a digital layer on top of the physical world, explore the opportunities available in areas from design to marketing.

Click here to purchase your ticket before February 14 to secure your place at the Early Bird rate of just $495 — saving $200 on the full ticket price.

The Florida House of Representatives approved on Wednesday a bill aimed at barring children aged 16 and younger from social media platforms, following similar action in several states to limit online risks to young teenagers.

Passed by a bipartisan vote of 106 to 13, the measure would require social media platforms to terminate the accounts of anyone under 17 years old and use a third-party verification system to screen out the underaged.

“We must address the harmful effects social media platforms have on the development and well-being of our kids,” said Florida House Speaker Paul Renner.

“Florida has a compelling state interest and duty to protect our children, their mental health, and their childhood.”

The bill would also require firms to permanently delete personal information collected from the terminated accounts and let parents bring civil suits against those failing to do so.

The legislation now goes to the Florida state Senate for consideration. Republicans control both chambers of the state legislature.

Sponsors said the measure was necessary to protect children from depression, anxiety and other mental health woes they say are linked to excessive use of social media, whose addictive aspects critics say make children especially vulnerable.

Opponents argued that the bill goes too far, with some urging less restrictive measures, such as letting parents opt in or out of allowing their children to use social media.

Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, opposed the legislation, usually referred to as HB 1, saying it would limit parental discretion and raise data privacy concerns.

“HB 1 would require each new social media user, from a 13-year-old in Miami to a 73-year-old from Boca Raton, to provide possibly sensitive identifying information, such as a driver’s license or birth certificate to a third-party organisation to verify their age,” Meta’s Caulder Childs told the House’s Judiciary Committee at a hearing on Jan. 17.

Meta says it supports federal legislation for online app stores to secure parents’ approval for downloads by teenagers younger than 16.

The Florida measure does not identify any internet companies by name.

Instead it defines a social media platform as an online forum that tracks account holders’ activity by letting them create user profiles, then upload content or view the content or activities of other users and interact with, or track, them.

Among the defining social media functions highlighted by the bill are “addictive, harmful or deceptive design features” or those that induce “an excessive or compulsive need to use or engage with” the platform.

But the measure exempts websites and applications whose predominant function is email, messaging or texting, as well as streaming services, news, sports and entertainment sites, along with online shopping, gaming and academic sites.

Utah became the first US state to adopt laws regulating children’s access to social media in March 2023, followed by others, such as Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio and Texas, according to a legislative analysis prepared for the Florida bill.

It said numerous other states were also contemplating similar regulations.

In 2015 the European Union in 2015 passed a law requiring parental consent for a child to access social media, the analysis added.

By Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Caitlin Webber and Clarence Fernandez

Learn more:

Montana Appealing Ruling That Blocked State From Barring TikTok Use

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen filed a notice that the state is appealing the ruling to the Ninth Circuit US Court of Appeals.

Growth was especially seen in its fragrance and beauty division, where sales grew 7.6 percent to CHF 3.3 billion ($3.8 billion). Fine fragrances were up 14 percent.

Fragrance is a continued outperformer in beauty. According to market research firm Circana, prestige fragrance sales revenue grew by 13 percent from January through August 2023 against the same period last year. Gen-Z and Millennials are some of the heaviest users of fragrance, with Gen-Z likely to purchase multiple fragrances per year. Givaudan has created the likes of Lancôme Idole, Boss Hugo Boss, and Tom Ford Black Orchid.

The company noted “sustained high levels” of new business for its fine fragrances division. While it noted challenging business conditions, it said it had implemented price increases to “fully compensate” for any increases in input costs. Full-year earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation fell 0.7 percent to CHF 1.47 billion ($1.70 billion), as the company struggled with inventory reductions and lower demand throughout the year.

The growth in fragrance has helped offset the company’s poorer sales performance in its taste and wellbeing unit, which only grew one percent on a like-for-like basis. The division sells food and drink extracts and has seen subdued demand.

Learn more:

How Prestige Beauty Brands Can Stay on Top

If aspirational customers keep pulling back from discretionary spending, only the luxury shopper will be left to snap up pricier products. But high-net-worth shoppers crave a different kind of retail experience.