By Tocca x Shop Black Caviar

Global Culture and Creativity. When star designer Alessandro Michele was appointed creative director at Valentino earlier this year, he was reunited with Jacopo Venturini, the brand’s chief executive was formerly chief merchandising officer at Gucci, where he translated Michele’s creative vision into highly saleable product, helping to drive explosive sales growth. A fruitful partnership between designer and chief executive is critical to the success of a luxury fashion house. Creativity Starts with Freedom. “With Alessandro’s enormous creativity, he was the right person to connect the heritage with a new vision at Valentino,” said Venturini, who, along with Michele, sees the house as deeply personal: not a megabrand, but a maison where the spirit of the founder remains strong. “Valentino is a place with a special soul,” said Michele. “You must care about this house, it is a real home.” Collaborations Build Brands On founder David Allemann and SKIMS co-founder Jens Grede spoke about a different sort of collaboration. For both brands, developing a disruptive, sought-after product was the first step. In On’s case, the founders cut a garden hose to sample the first ‘cloud tech’ shoe sole. For Skims’ shapewear, “We already started developing fabric years before we launched,” said Grede. “It’s all about product and innovation.”But each brand can attribute a healthy portion of their success to their celebrity partners. On famously flipped the switch on traditional sports endorsements - rather than pay tennis star Roger Federer to wear their shoes, they invited him to join as a minority investor.“Roger asked how he can get involved,” recounts Allemann. “I told him we are small and don’t do big endorsements – so why don’t you give us your money?” Skims, of course, has founder and creative director Kim Kardashian.“Without Kim’s creative direction we couldn’t have built the brand. Without her social following, we couldn’t have done it in the speed that we did,” said Grede. On Thursday, Grede unveiled a collaboration between Dolce & Gabbana and Skims. Faster, Better Online Shopping Ruth Diaz, Head of Amazon Fashion Europe, and BoF’s Head of Content Robin Mellery-Pratt spoke about innovating online shopping at the speed of light. #amazon #skims #gucci #valentino #creativity #fashionhouse #eveningwear #womenswear #bytocca #oakville #toronto

Another stunning variation of this beauty. Dress by: Audrey + Brooks. Spring/Summer 25'. #audreyandbrooks #bekerfashions #weddingdress #weddingseason #springsummer2025 #luxury #oakville #toronto #burlington #london #kitchener #bytocca #blackcaviarfashion

Audrey + Brooks Spring/Summer 25'. Stunning design. Book your private fitting appointment for our upcoming trunk show on November 20th-24th. Beker Fashions #audreyandbrooks #springsummer2025 #weddingseason #trunkshow #bytocca #oakville #toronto #burlington #london #kitchener #blackcaviarfashion #luxury #dress #weddingdress

How to Lower Prices Without Hurting Your Brand. With fashion’s pricing power reaching its limit, brands are grappling with how to cut prices without damaging their reputation or value. For Urban Outfitters, the American brand known for edgy casual wear popular among college students, the first sign was slipping sales. The real kicker was an answer directly from shoppers that prices are just too high. Last month, the company took action: it lowered prices by an average of 18 percent across over 100 styles in a bid to lure customers back into stores. It’s one of a growing number of brands that have resorted to lowering the retail prices of some products — rather than discounting seasonally — after years of getting away with raising prices as inflation swelled across categories. Lately, consumers have had enough of sticker shock. Mounting credit card debt and a long period of high inflation certainly did not help — a marquee issue in the US presidential election that ultimately swayed the outcome. Pricing power, or the ability for retailers to raise prices without losing customers, is weakening. Strategically lowering prices can be a healthier alternative to frequent discounts, which condition shoppers to always wait for a sale. This can be far more damaging to brand perception, analysts said. The challenge for retailers is nailing the tricky balance of reducing price tags without hurting the overall image of value. The savviest players are not lowering prices across their entire offering but selecting special products to mark down or creating a separate budget-friendly line. Lowering prices of entry-level items such as accessories is one option; personalised offers using e-commerce data is another. A Personal Touch The secret to successfully discounting without damaging brand equity can, for some labels, lie in the troves of data they collect from customers when they shop online. Strategic Markdowns Experts say that introducing a separate low-cost line designed with the price-sensitive shopper in mind can mitigate the brand-eroding effects of markdowns. Near Luxury For some brands, being in close proximity to more expensive brands can be an effective way to maintain brand equity. Inditex has been cross-selling its brands Zara and Massimo Dutti on the same site. This move changes the pricing perception of Zara when it is next to Massimo Dutti’s more premium products. #luxuryproducts #sale #denim #businessstrategy #marketing #inflation #fashionnews #fashionindustry #fashionbusiness #womenswear #eveningwear #bytocca #oakville #toronto #burlington

Audrey + Brooks Spring/Summer 25'. Gorgeous look that will turn heads at your next wedding event. #audreyandbrooks #bekerfashions #luxury #springsummer2025 #weddingseason #oakville #toronto #bytocca #dressshop

‘Functional Luxury’: How RIMOWA Keeps Growing in a Downturn. After quadrupling #sales in five years following LVMH’s acquisition, the German luggage maker is seeing continued momentum during rocky times for high-end shopping, including in China. CEO Hugues Bonnet-Masimbert says the brand is focusing on functionality and innovation, including its first push into the handbag category. Social media may make it look like people are travelling like never before, but the industry is in fact settling into a “new normal” that’s still below pre-pandemic levels by some measures. Passenger volumes are still about one billion short of the 10.5 billion journeys trade group Airports Council International had previously forecast. Marketing Mix Bonnet-Masimbert has sought to keep up the momentum while adapting the strategy for a bigger business in a changing market.The brand has continued with its collaboration strategy under Bonnet-Masimbert, teaming up with top-end Italian coffee machine maker La Marzocco and cult New York menswear brand Aimé Leon Dore. “Durability is our strictest goal,” said Bonnet-Masimbert, emphasising the long-term elements of Rimowa’s strategy and the longevity of the suitcases themselves — for which Rimowa rolled out an unconditional lifetime warranty in July 2022. Rimowa has also continued to take back control over where and how its #suitcases are sold. “Over the past years, Rimowa’s distribution has radically evolved from primarily multi brand wholesale driven, to almost exclusively mono-brand retail,” Bonnet-Masimbert explained. 20 percent of sales come from its own e-commerce shop. The shift to retail has allowed Rimowa to claw back the markups from wholesale and eliminate discounting — giving an added boost to growth as well as burnishing #brand appeal. ‘Functional Luxury’ Another driver of Rimowa’s success is strong demand for what Bonnet-Masimbert calls “functional luxury,” which has held up even as sales of high-end fashion decline. “Our customers are wowed by design and purpose,” said Bonnet-Masimbert, who emphasises the brand’s technical and practical ethos. Luxury is about purpose, innovation, sustainability, and meaningful connections to the products we use. Category Expansion Rimowa has also worked to shake up its perception as a mono-product company. The brand has pushed #iPhone cases, backpacks, packing cubes and a $550 “luggage harness” (think of a nylon belt bag for your carry-ons, with pockets for liquids and laptops). While these travel-adjacent additions are closely related to Rimowa’s core business, they inchingly laid the groundwork for the brand’s most recent release, the Original — Rimowa’s first-ever handbag, which debuted this September. The top-handle bag looks like a fusion of a lunchbox and a tiny suitcase, and is made out of the brand’s signature grooved aluminium. It’s the brand’s first big push outside of the world of travel goods. #rimowa #travel #luxury #travelaccessories #lvmh #fashion

Frascara Spring/Summer 25' Dress by: Beker Fashions Available for special order now. Trunk show happening November 20th-24th. Book your private fitting appointment. #frascara #springsummer25 #weddingseason #eveningwear #womenswear #oakville #dressshop #bytocca #toronto #hamilton #burlington #london #kitchener #mississauga #trunkshow #luxury

We love a good Canadian business story! Montreal based Groupe Dynamite looking to #IPO. Great work! Read more at the link below. #groupedynamite #fashionnews #fashionbusiness #womenswear #womensclothing #retailnews

Richemont China Sales Fall 27%. The Swiss luxury group, whose brands include Cartier, Vacheron Constantin and Chloé reported six-month revenues down one percent. The group missed estimates amid slowing watch sales and as demand collapsed in China. In China, a lacklustre recovery from the coronavirus pandemic is dampening the economic optimism that typically drives luxury purchases. “The confidence factor is probably the most important; it is maybe at an all-time low. We have no clue how long it will last and don’t know if we’ve reached the bottom or not,” Richemont CEO Nicolas Bos said. The dramatic decline in #China offset resilience in other regions. Sales in #Japan jumped by 42 percent at constant exchange rates, while sales in the Americas grew by 11 percent (10 percentage points faster than rival LVMH recent performance in the region). Europe sales increased by 4 percent; the Middle East and Africa by 11 percent. Operating profit fell 17 percent to €2.2 billion ($2.4 billion). Shares fell 3 percent at market opening in Zurich on Friday morning. #Luxury brands are struggling to navigate a sector-wide slowdown due to macroeconomic headwinds across key regions. Sales at Kering fell 16 percent in the third quarter, with sales at flagship brand Gucci revenue tumbling 25 percent. Fashion revenue at LVMH fell 5 percent, missing estimates. Among listed luxury companies, only Hermès, Prada Group and Brunello Cucinelli managed to grow during the quarter. #fashionnews #fashionindustry #fashionbusiness #fashionsales #bytocca #oakville #womenswear

Frascara Spring/Summer 25'. Dress By: Beker Fashions Simply stunning! Come see us now! Trunk show happening November 20-24th. Book your private fitting appointment. Enjoy the day in our boutique in the picturesque downtown Oakville area. #frascara #trunkshow #ss25 #springsummer2025 #weddingseason #bekerfashions #toronto #oakville #london #kitchener #burlington #hamilton #nyc #womenswear #eveningwear #dress