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Nick Blunden shared thisHaving worked agency side for many years I am still obsessed with being able to accurately measure the direct link between commercial performance and brand performance so this is piece of analysis is particularly interesting.Nick Blunden shared thisHermès’ first-half results landed largely in line with expectations. While the market reacted negatively, it's undeniable that the house continues to buck the wider financial trends reshaping luxury. Revenue reached €8.2 billion, up 6 percent, while operating profitability held at 41 percent. Sales rose 9.8 percent in Leather Goods and Saddlery and 15 percent in the Americas — an increasingly rare picture of growth. Its brand health may help explain why. Across the first half of 2026, Hermès ranked second on overall brand health among 36 luxury brands tracked by Brand Pulse, BoF Insights' AI-powered brand tracking tool developed in partnership with Quilt.AI. Notably, Hermès ranked second for both Love and Connection, reflecting its ability to inspire emotional engagement and consumer advocacy. However, Hermès is 12th in Discoverability, which makes sense for the brand’s strategy: Hermès has spent decades choosing not to be easy to find, making its mid-table position potentially evidence of the strategy working rather than a gap to close. Financial results tell us how a brand has performed. Brand-health signals can help us understand why. To learn how BoF Insights Brand Pulse can help track your brand’s health, contact us at insights@businessoffashion.com.
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Nick Blunden reposted thisNick Blunden reposted thisRobert L. Triefus believes his role as a brand leader is not to invent authenticity. It is to protect it and leave it stronger than it is found. Two years of brand tracking with BoF’s advisory team, BoF Insights, confirmed Stone Island could grow without losing the authenticity that has defined it for more than four decades. Read more on the analysis https://lnkd.in/ejiQ8KvE
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Nick Blunden shared thisOur latest BoF Careers Knowledge Report looks at How AI Is Reshaping the Battle for Fashion and Beauty Talent and it makes for absolutely fascinating reading. Huge congratulations to Dan Hastings and Eoghan O'Donnell for creating something so valuable and insightful: https://lnkd.in/ejJDdw_nKnowledge Report | How AI Is Reshaping the Battle for Fashion and Beauty TalentKnowledge Report | How AI Is Reshaping the Battle for Fashion and Beauty Talent
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Nick Blunden shared thisMany congratulations to the wonderful teams at The Business of Fashion and McKinsey & Company on the publication of our latest report The State of Fashion: Face to Face With Luxury Clients. Normally, I would try and provide a succinct summary of it here but as we surveyed more than 2,000 #luxury clients across the world's two most influential luxury markets - the United States and China - it is so full of incredible insights that I don't know where to start with a summary so I would recommend you just read it instead: https://lnkd.in/etvfFc6A
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Nick Blunden shared thisThe Business of Beauty Global Forum 2026 starts today and once again it's a stellar lineup so if like me you are in Paris not Napa don't forget you can watch the livestream: https://lnkd.in/gzVYRn9XWhat I’m Most Excited About at The Business of Beauty Global Forum 2026What I’m Most Excited About at The Business of Beauty Global Forum 2026
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Nick Blunden shared thisIt is still more than 5 months away but we have announced our first five speakers for BoF VOICES 2026 and it is a seriously impressive group of fashion and luxury CEOs. It is a very high bar but I think this is going to be our best BoF VOICES yet: https://lnkd.in/efySRDWdFive Top CEOs Will Take the Stage at BoF VOICES 2026Five Top CEOs Will Take the Stage at BoF VOICES 2026
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Nick Blunden shared thisWith revenue growing from $500 million in 2020 to $2.7 billion in 2025 Arc'teryx Equipment has enjoyed a period of extraordinary growth so it was an absolute pleasure to talk with their CEO Stuart Haselden on the Shoptalk Europe stage last week about how they have achieved this incredible feat without losing their soul.
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Nick Blunden shared thisIt was such a pleasure to spend time in Istanbul with the wonderful Communité team. They are building something unique and very special so hearing all about it directly in a conversation with Boyner Group chairman, CEO and BoF 500 member Cem Boyner was a particular honour. https://lnkd.in/e-5vunU8At Communité, Discovery, Differentiation and the Future of Luxury RetailAt Communité, Discovery, Differentiation and the Future of Luxury Retail
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Nick Blunden shared thisFollowing on from the great feedback we had on our recent event in London, which explored the future of e-commerce, we will be hosting another event on this subject in Stockholm in June. Very excited to keep the discussion going in such an exciting place.Nick Blunden shared thisThe Business of Fashion is coming to Stockholm Fashion Week! On June 11, we will be co-hosting an executive breakfast with John-Jamal G. and Jasmin Kossmann where we will be presenting a preview of the latest BoF Insights Report, examining what truly motivates customers to shop online in 2026. If you are a brand leader and interested in joining us please reach out to events@businessoffashion.com | With special thanks to Amazon Fashion & Sports.
Nick Blunden commented on a post
2mo
Congratulations. Hope to see you there again in 2027.
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Nick Blunden liked thisNick Blunden liked thisWhat happens to a coat brand when winter starts disappearing? The UK is on course for its warmest summer since records began in 1884. Beyond the environmental impacts, it's got me thinking about how fashion brands address the shifting seasonal fashion calendar. Take Canada Goose. The Canadian brand spent years selling nothing but cold weather, from down parkas engineered for the Antarctic to suits built for people working in harsh conditions. Yet on its Q1 FY27 earnings call in late July, chief executive Dani Reiss talked through the brand's spring/summer 2026 collection, the largest the company has ever put together, and set out an ambition to build what he called a "product playbook across seasons." 1. Apparel, rainwear and windwear now make up 15% of the entire business, growing from 5% in FY 2022. 2. Worldwide Google search interest in "canada goose summer" is up 700% against 2025 3. "Canada goose summer jacket" ranks the second fastest-growing related search query Canada Goose is attempting to rebuild what the brand means to a customer whose calendar is shifting toward milder winters and harsher summers. How does a brand earn the right to expand into a new season? Can it do so without diluting the associations it's already built? Knowing how to expand into new seasons is the kind of question our BoF Insights team spends its time on with clients. If that's a live question for you, you can reach us at insights@businessoffashion.com.
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Nick Blunden liked thisNick Blunden liked thisPeople say your brand is expensive? That may be a good thing. At BoF Insights, we analyzed thousands of social conversations across 23 sportswear and shoe brands to understand how consumers perceive their value, and what that means for growth. We scored each brand on two dimensions, with help from Quilt.AI: - Quality perception: Is the brand seen as high or low quality? - Price acceptance: Is it seen as good value or expensive/out of reach? The surprising part: being perceived as expensive was strongly correlated with revenue growth. Across the 18 brands with reported revenue figures: → Quality perception vs growth: r = 0.41 → Price acceptance vs growth: r = −0.61 In other words, if people say your brand is expensive, you are likely growing faster than the brands people say are good value. Another insight: the fastest growing brands sit across different levels of quality: - Salomon and Arc'teryx sit at the top of the quality spectrum - On, Alo and Birkenstock sit lower - All are growing double digits What they share is specificity. Each one owns an occasion and a group of people: the trail, the alpine, the run club, the pilates studio. None of them is trying to be for everyone. That says ‘value’ isn’t necessarily about offering quality or the best price. It’s about positioning: offering something to a specific audience, potentially at a price not everyone wants to pay. Want to analyze your brand, category, or target asset? Get in touch at michelle.wiles@businessoffashion.com
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Nick Blunden liked thisNick Blunden liked thisLoewe's pistachio ice cream activation at London's fashionable Dreamery store enters an increasingly crowded field of fashion-led dessert concepts, joining brands including Anya Hindmarch, Bottega Veneta and KITH in the race for consumer attention. The concept is beautiful. Did it drive differentiation for the Loewe brand? We pulled social listening via our data partners Quilt.AI and found that that 57% of online conversation around Loewe’s activation focused not on the brand itself, but on comparisons with other luxury dessert concepts. And, other concepts are a bit more standout: 🍨 Anya Hindmarch's offers seasonal dessert pop-up featuring unexpected, savory, and nostalgic everyday brand flavors like Soy Sauce 🍨 Bottega Veneta's gelato cart in Selfridges tied their perfumes to flavors (ever wanted to eat a fragrance?) and went viral as a result Loewe’s pistachio flavour and wine pairing have earned early praise, reflecting the brand’s reputation for refined taste. But as the Michelin Guide’s three-star “worth a special journey” distinction suggests, the bar for destination-worthy experiences continues to rise. An activation alone is no longer enough, success increasingly depends on offering something consumers cannot experience elsewhere. At The Business of Fashion Insights, we work with brands on exactly these questions, placing activations in a broader strategic context: how can experiential moments reinforce brand positioning, create meaningful differentiation and ultimately drive long-term brand performance?
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Nick Blunden liked thisNick Blunden liked thisIan Wright is one of my heroes. Which is perhaps why this video hit me in the feels a little harder than expected. It was such a beautiful reminder of the people who shape us as we grow up. Teachers. Uncles. Aunties. Friends. Community leaders. Mentors. Leaders. Sometimes even strangers who do something extraordinary at exactly the moment we need it. And how rarely we get the chance to truly thank them. In Ian’s case, he got to thank someone he thought had died. That moment is priceless. Most of us probably have someone who helped shape the person we became, often without ever knowing quite how much they mattered. Who would you like to thank for helping you become who you are? Perhaps today is the day to tell them. #ALittleMoreHuman
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Nick Blunden liked thisNick Blunden liked thisHermès’ first-half results landed largely in line with expectations. While the market reacted negatively, it's undeniable that the house continues to buck the wider financial trends reshaping luxury. Revenue reached €8.2 billion, up 6 percent, while operating profitability held at 41 percent. Sales rose 9.8 percent in Leather Goods and Saddlery and 15 percent in the Americas — an increasingly rare picture of growth. Its brand health may help explain why. Across the first half of 2026, Hermès ranked second on overall brand health among 36 luxury brands tracked by Brand Pulse, BoF Insights' AI-powered brand tracking tool developed in partnership with Quilt.AI. Notably, Hermès ranked second for both Love and Connection, reflecting its ability to inspire emotional engagement and consumer advocacy. However, Hermès is 12th in Discoverability, which makes sense for the brand’s strategy: Hermès has spent decades choosing not to be easy to find, making its mid-table position potentially evidence of the strategy working rather than a gap to close. Financial results tell us how a brand has performed. Brand-health signals can help us understand why. To learn how BoF Insights Brand Pulse can help track your brand’s health, contact us at insights@businessoffashion.com.
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Nick Blunden liked thisNick Blunden liked thisShopify plays the long game. That shows up in how we build for merchants, and it should show up just as much in how we build our own careers. Building for the long term means protecting the things that actually refresh you. Somewhere along the way, a lot of us learned to treat rest as the reward for finishing. I think it's closer to the opposite, where resting deliberately is part of getting the work done. Rest is where a new perspective comes from. It's where the energy for the next hard thing comes from. This is something at Shopify we take very seriously. Without those breaks we cannot be our best selves or fully support our millions of merchants worldwide. Every member of the Shopify team is – after every five years with the company – entitled to what we call ‘intermission’. This is a month-long sabbatical that enables us to rest and recharge, spend time with family, or take up a hobby. Having completed five years at Shopify myself, today is my last day before I head out on my own intermission break. I am incredibly excited to be spending this valuable time with my family. And what a moment to do it. Our latest results saw our European merchant GMV grow 34% in Q2. We’ve recently launched Shopify Campaigns across Europe, opened Managed Markets to UK merchants for the first time, alongside many more innovations and updates this year alone. There’s lots to come so look out for news from Shopify!
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Luxury Demands Responsibility Bain & Company’s 2024 report shows UK luxury spending is resilient but increasingly values driven. Heritage and craftsmanship alone are not enough. Luxury marketing must highlight responsibility and purpose alongside exclusivity to sustain loyalty in this evolving market. 9Yards Communications Ian Butlin
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