entrepreneurship / Innovation

Today’s brands are constrained by crises across direct-to-consumer and wholesale distribution and limited external funding pools. But it is still possible to scale a small label, even in today’s tough environment. In part two of this series, BoF Insights spoke with investors and brand leaders about how to translate cultural heat into commercial success via diversification.

That’s the promise of Zellerfeld, a 3D-printing partner to Louis Vuitton and Moncler that’s becoming a platform for emerging designers to easily make and sell footwear of their own.

Weaker-than-expected demand for Swedish textile recycler Renewcell’s first commercial volumes of recycled cellulose pulp has sent the company’s stock price plummeting and highlighted broader hurdles challenging efforts to lessen fashion’s environmental footprint.

Creator Studio, a platform for producing merch on demand from H&M Group, is using generative AI to try to make it so anyone can make and print professional-looking designs to order, no artistic ability required.

Join us for a BoF Professional Masterclass that explores the topic in our latest Case Study, “Fashion’s New Playbook for Online Returns.”

The e-commerce boom may have cooled but online returns rates remain high, and the costs of processing them are more expensive than ever. BoF unpacks how retailers can reduce the costs of returns and protect profit margins, while improving customers’ shopping experience to generate higher sales.

Last month, Boss’s runway show in Milan featured a trio of limited-edition jackets made using a new fibre designed to replace polyester. But untangling the industry from a material that has played a central role in its growth will be a tricky business.

The make-up wunderkind and BoF 500 cover star is growing a beauty brand that’s less about prettification and more about ‘world building’ for a generation that grew up with the speed and fluidity of the internet.