Editors' top reads: News from Gucci, Castore, Ted Baker and more...

Here are some of this week’s news and features highlights handpicked by TheIndustry.fashion team.

Gucci set sights on London's cobbled streets to host cruise show

Many British brands such as Victoria Beckham and Stella McCartney show overseas during fashion month, which is why it came as a surprise that the storied Italian house Gucci is bringing its Cruise 2025 fashion show to the UK’s capital this Spring.

This week, the Italian house announced that its upcoming cruise collection will be shown on British soil on 13 May. Not only will the British fashion community revel in Gucci's takeover of the UK's capital city, but we also await to witness Creative Director Sabato De Sarno's first foray into the realm of Cruise collections for Gucci.

Chloé Burney, Senior News & Features Writer.

Pre-owned designer items now available at Luxury Stores at Amazon via Hardly Ever Worn It

Buying a pre-owned, fully authenticated Chanel Classic Flap (black with 24k gold hardware, please!) or an Hermès Kelly Sellier (size 25 with 'gold' leather and gold hardware, pretty please!) from Amazon would have seemed impossible until now.

Amazon has been steadily upping its fashion credibility with its Luxury Stores strategy enabling brands to host their own storefront on the platform, taking advantage of the online fashion giant's huge audience and unrivalled infrastructure.

Its latest partnership its with British-based, family-owned pre-owned fashion platform Hardly Ever Worn It, which is one of the most trusted sites in pre-owned (but not necessarily pre-worn, a lot of the items on its site are box fresh) designer fashion on the market today. It also has great inventory levels and everything is expertly quality controlled and authenticated.

Hardly Ever Worn It is now offering a curated line-up of its collections on Luxury Stores making them widely available to fashion lovers throughout Europe and I for one, am here for it.

Lauretta Roberts, Co-founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief.

Castore opens new concept store in Dublin – with 24 more stores targeted this year

It was revealed this week that Castore opened a "first-of-its-kind" new concept store in the heart of Dublin’s main shopping area this week, at 34 Grafton Street. It seems the sportswear brand’s growth trajectory sees no signs of abating, as there are plans for a further 24 stores across the UK this year.

Castore already has a strong presence in the Irish market, as is it the official kit supplier to both the men’s and women’s national football teams, as well as Leinster rugby club, so the Dublin opening makes perfect sense. As well as featuring teamwear from Leinster, FAI, McLaren and Red Bull, the new store is also carrying the second Castore collaboration with Reiss for SS24. It will be interesting to see if that fashion connection develops further, as it can only widen its appeal.

Tom Bottomley, Contributing Editor.

Ted Baker owner Authentic terminates contract with UK retail partner AARC

I've been thinking a lot about due diligence lately. It was sparked last week by the goings-on at Farfetch and its understandably grumpy shareholders, who feel that the value of the business has been destroyed and they've been stiffed, following its sale to Coupang. Any sympathy I felt was diluted by the thought that surely any serious investor should have done due diligence on the company before ploughing cash in? Even if Farfetch's finances are baffling, a CEO in a public company being allowed to hold 77% of the voting rights (and therefore do as he pleased) would surely have been a due diligence red flag?

I was having similar thoughts this week when it emerged that Authentic Brands Group had terminated its contract with Ted Baker UK and European retail partner AARC. Upon acquiring Ted Baker, the US brand group set about implementing an arm's length strategy that meant it effectively outsourced everything to a variety of partners, including the management of its store estate.

Now, licensing is nothing new and plenty of brand owners do it, but selecting the right partners is crucial and I would have thought that some more careful due diligence would have been done on AARC, which is a little known Dutch retail management company. Some four months after it landed the contract to manage the stores of one our most beloved fashion brands it was in such financial hot water that ABG had to give it a loan. This proved insufficient to remedy the situation and ABG had to tear up the contract. By this point, though, ABG has shed many of the Ted Baker head office staff who performed the roles it has now outsourced, so who knows what they will do in the meantime. Word has it, before they were laid off, staff had expressed concerns about AARC's ability to do the job it had been contracted to do, but by that stage it was too late.

ABG, at least, says it remains committed to Ted Baker and we'll see what the next steps are. Let's just hope they do a bit more due diligence next time.

Lauretta Roberts, Co-founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief.

Vivienne Westwood’s designs to take centre stage at Blenheim Palace’s ‘Icons of British Fashion’ exhibition

A lovely line-up of British designers and brands are coming to the ‘Icons of British Fashion’ exhibition taking place at Blenheim Palace from 23 March - 30 June 2024 to celebrate creativity within the UK's fashion industry.

Perhaps most notably, the designs of the late Vivienne Westwood are set to take centre stage in the Great Hall of the 300-year-old palace. Other confirmed designers and brands to showcase at the exhibition include Jean Muir, Terry de Havilland, Bruce Oldfield, Zandra Rhodes, Lulu Guinness, Turnbull & Asser, Barbour, Temperley London and Stephen Jones Millinery for Christian Dior.

Sophie Smith, News Editor & Senior Writer.

Farfetch issued winding up petition after founder accused of 'destroying its value'

What can you say, really? Apart from "pass the popcorn". This Farfetch situation is going to rumble and rumble. Here's the latest drama in the saga. We'll be keeping a close eye on it for you - there will be more to come.

Lauretta Roberts, Co-founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief.