Editors' Top Reads: News from Selfridges, Adidas, Vinted and more...
Here are some of this week’s news and features highlights handpicked by TheIndustry.fashion team.
How I started in fashion: Radley Creative Director, Fernando Soriano Iglesias
Fernando Soriano Iglesias is a Spanish accessories designer, who has been one of the chief architects of the renaissance of British handbag brand Radley. He's been with the business for just over a year and the brand, once famed for its cute Scotty Dog motif, has been transformed. Today, its designs are low-key and high-quality, and they function perfectly for the busy, modern woman. Every detail is considered for hand drops to hardware, size and weight.
Crucially, what Radley has not done is hike its prices as part of its transformation, as so many brands have done before (to their detriment). Radley's mission has been to create "the world's best £299 handbag" and if there are better out there, then I haven't seen them.
Soriano Iglesias has used his years of experience, including designing bags for the likes of Loewe and Carolina Herrara, to great effect at Radley. In this interview, he reflects on his career, discusses his inspirations and approach to design, along with his vision for the future of Radley. His character is as understated as his designs, but he is a force to watch on the British high street.
Lauretta Roberts, Co-founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief.
Adidas searches spike at JD as Molly-Mae collab drops
The ultimate influencer has influenced once again.
The new footwear collaboration between Adidas Originals and Molly-Mae Hague, launched this week, has driven a surge in demand for reworked versions of the ‘Superstar II’ and ‘Samba’ silhouettes, with JD Sports reporting a 51% increase in interest.
In the week leading up to the release, searches for ‘Samba’ rose by 35% compared with the previous week, while queries for ‘Superstar’ increased by 58% over the same period. Searches combining “Molly-Mae” and “Adidas” also surged by 2,667% week-on-week, with standalone searches for “Molly-Mae” rising by 3,700%.
The figures highlight the power of influencer-led collaborations in driving consumer attention, excitement and purchase intent.
It comes as Molly-Mae reportedly played a hands-on role in shaping the capsule collection, contributing to both its design direction and creative storytelling. The silhouettes are said to reflect her signature aesthetic, with colourways inspired by iced summer drinks.
Read more about the collection here.
Sophie Smith, News Editor & Senior Writer.
In Pictures: Selfridges unveils new members’ club, 40 Duke
It will be very interesting to see the take-up of Selfridges’ highly anticipated new members’ club, 40 Duke, which launched this week, bringing together shopping, hospitality and membership for the first time.
In what is described as the retailer’s “most significant capital investment in a decade”, it is really pulling out all the stops, with a heavy focus on “experience-led engagement” balanced between spaces to shop and spaces to socialise, set over an impressive 25,000 sq ft.
‘The Club Lounge’ features a 64-cover bar and lounge with an 18-seat bar, ‘The Club Room’ has a 14-cover private dining space, and ‘The Terrace’ offers a covered outdoor 58-cover café/restaurant.
But it’s taking personal shopping to another level that really adds intrigue, with 24 studios and suites, a multilingual team of private client managers and specialist experts, as well as greatly expanded services across fashion, fine jewellery, watches, beauty and lifestyle.
Around all of that, Selfridges has created a series of social and cultural environments that enable customers to spend “more time with the store and each other”, in a contemporary reinvention of London’s long tradition of private clubs. Clever indeed, and thoroughly modern.
Tom Bottomley, Contributing Editor.
Vinted reports 38% jump in revenue but profits dip
There is no stopping the meteoric rise of the second-hand marketplace Vinted. This week it announced a 38% jump in annual revenues to €1.1 billion (£957 million) for 2025, with women’s and children’s clothing performing especially well.
Especially interesting was the fact that this growth in revenue was driven by an increase in new members, which translated into a 47% increase in gross merchandise value traded on the platform. This shows that there is still a lot more room for growth, especially as Vinted is continuing to expand its categories beyond fashion and is investing in new markets in Europe, and further expanding into the US.
In March it was further reported that the asset manager BlackRock would be one of Vinted's new investors, and take part in a secondary share transaction for the platform, in a deal that values the company at €8 billion (£7 billion).
Following eBay’s $1.2 billion (£890 million) deal to buy second-hand clothing app Depop from rival Etsy earlier this year, competition in the second-hand market is only set to intensify.
Camilla Rydzek, Senior News & Features Writer.
Marks & Spencer enters 'new lingerie era' with 300-piece collection
Innovation is coming thick and fast from M&S and it's great to see it hasn't neglected the category for which it is most beloved, lingerie. This week, the British high street hero unveiled a new 300-piece modern and modular lingerie collection, called BODY.
Focused on underwear solutions, it is made using the very latest in high-tech fabrics and modern manufacturing processes. It is very much centred on comfort and smoothing the silhouette, but it is not purely functional - it looks great too, with sophisticated colours and feminine details.
The collection lands just before Kim Kardashian's SKIMS begins its assault proper on the UK market with its forthcoming London store opening. It's clever of M&S to get in first and get customers hooked on its offer before they're tempted to go there.
Lauretta Roberts, Co-founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief.
