Jill Manoff

Moon Boot’s original “Icon” style is not a typical boot. For example, it’s ambidextrous, gender-neutral and available in just four sizes. And, made from materials including PVC, polyester and rubber and selling for $240, it’s not “luxury” in the traditional sense. However, it’s sold at Saks Fifth Avenue and Net-a-Porter, and earlier this year, it launched on Tmall via the Luxury Pavilion. 

Ahead of Patbo's September 10 runway show at New York Fashion Week, Bonadi joined the Glossy Podcast to discuss the brand's growth, as well as the strategies that are working to its advantage. For example, it’s leaned into its customers’ demand for runway pieces, marketing them as such and selling select styles in its stores. And it’s maintained its product focus on handwork and craftsmanship, whether or not the look fits the vibe of the moment. 

A Central Saint Martins alum and one-time CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalist, designer Christian Cowan founded his namesake brand in 2017 after Lady Gaga’s support thrust him into the spotlight. Today, the London native who now resides in NYC is well-known for his fun, attention-grabbing designs. They’ve been selling at retailers including Saks Fifth Avenue since Cowan became serious about growing the business.

Kate Davidson Hudson is among the utmost Fashion Month experts, having experienced the shows from a variety of perspectives — as a fashion editor, a street style star and, now, a retail company founder and CEO. On the latest Glossy Podcast, Davidson Hudson discusses what she's come to know about the importance of Fashion Month and how her new company, Vêtir is enabling shoppable runways starting this week.

The New York Fashion Week Spring 2025 runways are big on bags: designers’ first bags, designers’ re-entries into the bag category, novelty bags, “big-ass bags,” the list goes on. It’s not as though the leather goods market is in a great place. However, several of fashion’s recent success-story brands have been built on strong bag businesses — and (many) designers, feeling the weight of a troubled economy, are taking a stab.

After training under the biggest designers in fashion, Christian Juul Nielsen has been building his own brand, Aknvas, since 2019. Now, he’s ready to take it to the next level.   

Designers and brand leaders admitted NYC’s fashion industry is in a bit of a funk. But, reflective of New Yorkers’ signature grit, they’re doing their part to turn it around.  

Maison de Mode is the latest luxury e-commerce company seeking a buyer. The 9-year-old company, owned by fashion-tech investor Carmen Busquets, Hearst Corporation heiress Amanda Hearst and Hassan Pierre, has largely been at a standstill since the start of the year, when it unloaded its small staff, Pierre told Glossy this week. Now, its owners are looking for a buyer who can fund the vast content and marketing needed to compete in today’s market.

Two bags have long dominated the designer tote conversation, and according to social media, they remain each other’s sole competition: the Goyard Saint Louis and the Louis Vuitton Neverfull.

As brands become more digital-savvy and promotions-averse, luxury e-tailers are losing their luster.

Assouline, the publishing house turned luxury lifestyle brand, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year — but, it seems, it’s just getting started. Largely driven by Alexandre Assouline — the company’s chief of operations, brand and strategy and the son of its founders — Assouline is in growth mode: In addition to rolling out new product categories and services, it’s expanding its physical footprint and introducing new digital products, including a digital magazine and podcast.

To get in front of target audiences and forward their aspirational alignment, fashion and Porsche are increasingly, officially and unofficially, getting in bed.

Luxury Archives

Six months after being named president of the travel retail company Duty-Free Holdings, fashion industry veteran James Mullaney has defined a five-year plan to grow the company — currently doing $200 million in annual sales — to a $500 million business by 2026. The vision includes accelerating the growth of a new business division catering to private-jet travelers and boosting skin-care, cosmetics and fragrance sales to at least 30% of the business in the next year. Alcohol is currently dominating sales, followed by tobacco. 

It’s repeatedly been said that today’s brands and retailers must also be media companies, regularly producing and distributing multimedia content across marketing channels. That pressure has, at minimum, held true for most sectors. But, rather than exclusively a play for engagement, the latest luxury deals show a business demand for the necessary one-two punch of culture-fueled content and aspirational customers. The two go hand-in-hand, according to involved executives and recent research.

Billy Reid, who started his company 20 years ago, welcomed 300-500 out-of-towners plus crowds of locals into his world set two hours away from the closest major airport — all Florence hotels hit capacity, he said. The brand’s best customers forked over at least $1,000 for an all-access pass, while ramped-up quantities of influencers and press were granted complimentary access.

Brandon Brubaker, co-founder of the 10-year-old SoCal sneaker brand Clearweather, is somewhat of a sneaker legend. In the sneaker game for 30 years, he first designed iconic sneaker styles for Vans after being recruited by the company at age 20. He then went on to launch the multimillion-dollar skate sneaker division at Nike-owned Converse.  Today, Brubaker is hitting the gas on growing his own company, with a fresh round of funding, a new business partner, a relaunched website and big plans for international expansion.

Even in today’s unpredictable retail environment, it’s a safe bet that 42-year-old jewelry brand Pandora will have a successful fourth quarter. With charms as a company signature, the trend cycle is working in its favor. Plus, as of 2022, it’s behind a growing lab-grown diamond jewelry business, as people are pinching pennies and the stigma around the lab-grown option has all but faded. In diversifying its offerings, now catering to more customer demographics, it’s landed on “it” items at different ends of the pricing spectrum. And, at the same time, it’s been on a growth trajectory that’s expected to stick.

Launched last week, with three clutch handbag styles priced $5,800-$7,800, Eittem was intentionally designed to straddle the line between fashion and art. Its pieces can just as easily be worn about town or placed on a coffee table as decorative objects. “They’re functional sculptures,” said Erin Saluti, the brand’s founder and creative director.

Ten years ago, Vrai launched as a digitally native fine jewelry brand focused on controversial lab-grown diamonds. Now, with new ownership, nine global stores, A-list partners and a sold-on-the-concept consumer audience, Vrai is targeting “legacy luxury maison” status.