It would be a bit much to credit the rebound at Calvin Klein entirely to a billboard of Jeremy Allen White in boxer briefs. Shares of parent company PVH, which also owns Tommy Hilfiger, had been climbing for weeks before the campaign’s Jan. 4 unveiling. Wall Street analysts are more likely to credit efficient inventory management and supply chain cost savings than a prestige tv star’s abs.

But as an example of how to breathe new life into an often overlooked brand, the ads were hard to beat. It’s hard to overstate how much people were talking about the campaign, and Calvin Klein: according to Launchmetrics, social media engagement was five times Bottega Veneta’s paparazzi-style ads, which were themselves held up as a benchmark for viral marketing success last year.

At The Business of Fashion’s technology summit earlier this month, Calvin Klein chief marketing officer Jonathan Bottomley laid out the strategy behind the campaign, which centres on an “entertainment mentality” where marketing both showcases the product and exists as something people will consume willingly, and not just because they’re forced to endure it to stream more of “The Bear.”

Bottomley also said “we believe in the marketing investments and the culture investments as business drivers.” On Monday, PVH reports fourth-quarter earnings. Thanks to a quirk in its corporate calendar, the results will cover the month of January, which means we’ll hopefully get a good read on whether all those clicks translated into revenue – and whether those ads inspired people to buy more than boxer briefs. In addition to boosting sales of its already popular basics, PVH is eager to nudge Calvin Klein upmarket. Why else would they have also dressed White in a custom tuxedo for the Golden Globes?

Also reporting results this week is Levi’s, which in many respects is where Calvin Klein was this time last year – a brand everyone knows and plenty of people love, but overly reliant on wholesale and at risk of fading into the woodwork. Last week, Levi’s unveiled its own campaign meant to refresh its image, featuring dancers in denim and a “the floor is yours” tagline meant to inspire viewers to recreate the campaign on their own feeds.

Unlike Calvin Klein, this week’s earnings won’t reflect the ad’s impact. But it’s unlikely to have the same effect: the first video, posted on Wednesday to Levi’s Instagram grid, has about 4,000 likes (the first White image on Calvin Klein’s grid has 1.8 million). Levi’s was probably hoping for a bigger moment, but the ad isn’t playing the same role as the White campaign, which in many ways was the capstone on a long-term effort to revitalise Calvin Klein, rather than an opening salvo. In any event, Beyonce may ride to the rescue with her “Levii’s Jeans” track on her just-released country album.

At BoF’s summit, Calvin Klein’s Bottomley opened by asking: “in a culture that is very flat, how do you create those spikes?” It’s a question few brands have figured out how to consistently answer.

The Week Ahead wants to hear from you! Send tips, suggestions, complaints and compliments to brian.baskin@businessoffashion.com.

The owners of Saks Fifth Avenue are in talks to raise financing to bolster the cash portion of an offer to buy competitor Neiman Marcus, according to people familiar with the matter, moving two of America’s biggest high-end department stores closer to a deal after years of on-and-off courtship.

As part of the proposed financing, Saks’ flagship store at 611 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan was valued at $3.62 billion, one of the people said. That’s a notable increase from an appraisal of $1.6 billion in 2019 and close to its value of $3.7 billion in 2014, according to previous filings from parent company Hudson’s Bay Co.

Saks and its lenders had the property appraised so it could serve as collateral to raise debt for the financing efforts, the person said. Appraisers looked at the flagship earlier this month, the person added, a sign that deal talks between the two luxury chains are heating up again.

Spokeswomen for both companies declined to comment.

The appraisal of the iconic New York department store, whose annual holiday window displays attract locals and tourists, is a testament to heightened demand for high-end real estate in the area in recent months. Gucci owner Kering SA and Prada SpA recently purchased properties farther up Fifth Avenue, near LVMH’s revamped Tiffany & Co. store. The deals have been bright spots for New York commercial real estate, which has been in the doldrums since the pandemic.

The valuation also means that the landmark property is now worth more than Hudson’s Bay paid for all of Saks Fifth Avenue when it acquired the company in 2013. That deal valued the luxury department-store chain at $2.9 billion, including debt.

Sales at both Saks and Neiman Marcus have been falling in recent quarters, although they’re up from pre-pandemic levels. It’s part of a broader decline across many apparel and accessories companies in the US as shoppers pare back their spending after splurging during the pandemic, adjusting to inflation that’s easing but still historically high.

Department stores — from the midrange to the high-end — have been struggling for years in the US, even before the pandemic. Consumers have shifted their shopping patterns, preferring to buy directly from brands’ stores or online, or pivoting to Sephora instead of frequenting the department stores’ beauty counters. Neiman Marcus filed for bankruptcy in 2020 and the Dallas-based company is owned by Pacific Investment Management Co., Davidson Kempner Capital Management and Sixth Street Partners.

Saks Fifth Avenue’s online business is majority-owned by Hudson’s Bay and minority-owned by Insight Partners, while the department chain’s brick-and-mortar stores are wholly owned by Hudson’s Bay.

Buffeted by long-term headwinds, Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus have been discussing a possible tie-up in fits and starts for years. The latest round of negotiations began in earnest in recent months, part of broader efforts to consolidate within the high-end apparel and beauty industry. Coach owner Tapestry Inc. is buying Michael Kors parent Capri Holdings Ltd., for example, Estée Lauder Cos. purchased Tom Ford and Kering snagged a 30 percent stake in Valentino.

By Jeannette Neumann and Gillian Tan

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Over the last few years, a host of companies that once boldly touted their products’ sustainability credentials have quietly backed away from such claims, a response to a regulatory and reputational crackdown on greenwashing known as “greenhushing.”

Sephora appears to be taking the opposite approach.

Earlier this week, the LVMH-owned beauty retailer announced plans to double down on “clean” and “green” labels for brands whose products are free from certain ingredients or that meet specific environmental criteria. Though similar badges are already in use in some markets, the company is now planning to roll out a single set of programmes with tougher requirements worldwide.

It may have been emboldened by a ruling in New York earlier this month throwing out a class action suit that challenged the credibility of its “Clean by Sephora” seal. The fuzzy definition of “clean” has made the beauty buzzword a lightning rod for controversy, but a judge concluded that Sephora’s designation of products made without specific ingredients was sufficiently clear.

Now with plans to expand its climate-conscious and clean labelling schemes, the company said its aim is to bring more clarity, consistency and transparency to consumers looking to shop their values. The goal is to make more sustainable choices more accessible to consumers and brand partners, CEO and president Guillaume Motte said in a press release.

But it’s also a risk at a time when regulators appear to be taking an increasingly dim view of such sustainability marketing.

Less than 48 hours after Sephora unveiled its plans at a climate summit in Paris, fast fashion companies Asos and Boohoo committed to tighten up consumer-facing sustainability claims following a greenwashing investigation by the UK’s competition watchdog. One area of focus: labelling schemes.

Last month, German e-tailer Zalando agreed to remove “misleading” sustainability icons from products following a two-year-long probe by EU officials. Regulators have warned the industry should be on notice to ensure any claims are properly backed up.

Sephora did not provide comment.

The New Rules of Sustainability Marketing

The issue with labelling schemes, regulators say, is that they often lack transparency and precision, leaving consumers with a false sense of a product’s better climate credentials. To avoid the risk of misleading shoppers, it’s necessary to be specific about exactly how an item is more ethical or environmentally responsible.

“The key thing about very broad labels such as ‘eco’ or ‘sustainable’ or ‘better for the planet’ is that it creates an expectation that the product will not have a negative impact on the planet,” said Cecilia Parker Aranha, director of consumer protection at the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority. That’s not a claim that’s easy to back up, especially when considering a product’s full life cycle. “That’s why we think for most businesses at the moment precision is likely to be a better way to go,” she said.

Sephora’s revamped sustainability labels were two years in the making, put together with a team of environmental and scientific experts, the company said in its press release. They’ll apply to brands, rather than products, and to qualify companies will need to meet a minimum of 32 criteria across ingredient sourcing and formulation, packaging, corporate climate commitments and consumer transparency. Instead of “Planet Positive” (the old framing for its US brand badges), qualifying companies will be dubbed “Planet Aware.”

Programmes with high integrity can be a useful tool, not only to communicate with consumers, but to push the whole industry forward, said Elizabeth Sturcken, managing director for corporate partnerships at climate advocacy group Environmental Defense Fund, which has worked with Sephora on its clean ingredients strategy.

“Greenhushing is real for companies,” said Sturcken. “We really need to get everyone on this journey, and it has to be seen as something that is compelling from a business perspective, a brand perspective and a brand engagement perspective.”

With newer and tougher regulations around sustainability marketing continuing to grow, nailing that triple win can seen mind-bogglingly complex. Companies are likely to be closely watching how moves like Sephora’s are received and where watchdogs turn their attention next. In the UK, the CMA is also investigating Unilever for greenwashing and has put brands on notice that policy moves that could result in much stiffer penalties are in the works.

“It is becoming increasingly risky for companies to make bold claims about safety or sustainability without backing them up,” said Lindsay Dahl, chief impact officer at supplement brand Ritual, former head of mission at Beautycounter and a long-time advocate for clearer definitions for “clean” and “sustainable” beauty. “Ultimately that’s a good thing; rather than companies silencing themselves, the antidote is just to talk to consumers more about it,” she said.

Multiple bidders have put in offers to buy the business and assets of bankrupt Swedish textile recycler Renewcell, the company’s bankruptcy trustee said Thursday.

The process has been closely watched by many in the industry, keen to see a business that represented one of fashion’s most advanced prospects to meet increasing demand for circular fibres revived.

The nature of the bids and the names of the bidders were not disclosed. A final closing is expected mid-April following a review process.

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