Industry News – April 28th, 2016

Curated fashion industry news links for Thursday, April 28th, 2016…

AMAZON’S EXPANDING FOOTPRINT INCLUDES NEW FULFILLMENT CENTERS, COLLEGE PICKUP LOCATIONS – RetailingToday
“Amazon.com continues to expand its fulfillment center network along with its fleet of college pickup locations. The e-tail giant will open two new fulfillment centers in New Jersey, in Florence and Carteret. The new centers will create more than 2,000 new full-time jobs in the Garden State, where Amazon already employs more than 5,500 full-time workers. “We place our fulfillment centers close to customers to provide the fastest possible delivery times, and this expansion in New Jersey is directly tied to our increasing customer demand,” said Akash Chauhan, Amazon’s VP of North America fulfillment operations. Amazon already operates a fulfillment center in Carteret with more than 500 full-time associates. The new Carteret fulfillment center, the second in the city, will be more than 800,000-sq.-ft.and employ more than 1,500 full-time associates. The 600,000-sq.-ft.-plus center in Florence will employ more than 500 full-time associates.”

FORMER PUSSYCAT DOLL ASHLEY ROBERTS UNVEILS NEW SHOE LINE – Nylon
“You might know Ashley Roberts from the pop group the Pussycat Dolls, but the singer is adding a new title to her resume. Roberts announced today that she is debuting a new line of shoes just in time for the year-end holidays. The line is expected to hit store shelves in December and is called Allyn, which is Roberts’ middle name.”

LADY GAGA AND ELTON JOHN ARE LAUNCHING A CLOTHING LINE AS ECCENTRIC AS YOU’D IMAGINE – MTV
“If you have ever dreamed of an eccentric clothing line spawned from the minds of Lady Gaga and Elton John (I mean, who hasn’t?), Macy’s is about to turn that dream into a reality. According to WWD, the two pop icons have teamed up to create Love Bravery, a limited-edition clothing and accessories line that will hit macys.com this Saturday and arrive in stores on May 9. The line includes crop tops, sleeveless t-shirts, sweatshirts, and “oversized scarves with piano key prints and interpretations of Lady Gaga’s face.” Oh, hell yeah.”

HANESBRANDS TO BUY AUSTRALIAN UNDERWEAR COMPANY PACIFIC BRANDS – Fashion Mag
“HanesBrands, a leading worldwide marketer of underwear, intimate apparel and activewear, has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Pacific Brands Limited, the leading underwear and intimate apparel company in Australia. The acquisition would be Hanes’ sixth in the past three years and would add Australia and New Zealand to the list of countries where the company holds the No. 1 or No. 2 market share position for underwear, intimate apparel or hosiery. The countries include the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and South Africa, the company said in a press release.”

KENDALL AND KYLIE WANT TO BE THE NEXT CALVIN KLEIN – Yahoo!
“First: swimsuits. Next, world domination.  Kendall and Kylie Jenner, who already rule social media space, are looking to take over the retail market with their next venture. The reality stars took to Instagram to tease fans of their upcoming collaboration with Topshop, with Kylie posting a series of sexy photos to her account showing off the first designs.”

STUDY: MILLENNIALS LIKE COUPONS — PRINT OR PAPERLESS – RetailingToday
“Despite their tech-savvy reputation, millennials are not above reducing their retail spending with the help of good old-fashioned print coupons. According to the “2K16 Coupon Intelligence Report” from media solutions provider Valassis, millennials use print coupons at similar rates as the general population. Representing about one-fourth of the U.S. population, 85% of millennials use print coupons they get in the mail. Another 85% use print store coupons, 82% use print coupons from a coupon book, and 78% print coupons from their computer. These figures are similar to respective overall averages of 87%, 87%, 82%, and 66%. Millennials are far more likely to use paperless discounts received on their smartphone, mobile device or loyalty/ID card than the overall population (81% compared to 66%). The overall usage number is skewed by the 50% of baby boomers who leverage paperless discounts, compared to 74% of Gen Xers.”