Tapestry’s $8.5 billion acquisition of Capri Holdings may have ultimately fallen apart in 2024, but the potential merger at the time underscored how the stakes for mega acquisitions in fashion today have changed since the turn of the 21st century.

While Tapestry primarily targeted scale, global luxury positioning, and cost synergies, conglomerates like LVMH and Kering (known as PPR until 2013) had slightly different motivations as they built their portfolios in the early 2000s.

While LVMH lapped up retailers like Emilio Pucci in 2000 and Fendi in 2001, Kering—with brands like Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent already under its umbrella—acquired Bottega Veneta in 2001.

The result? A concentrated industry where a few large groups own many of the marquee brands.

“The early 2000s was really the creation of the conglomerate, in particular with luxury,” Jana Gold, managing director at Alvarez & Marsal’s private equity practice, told Retail Brew.

And with a strong foothold established in fashion, the next step for the mega players was “expansion and diversification,” Gold said, as conglomerates began to eye footwear and streetwear labels to give them an edge.

Keep reading here.—JS

We all know consumers are shopping earlier every year, but are retailers keeping up? According to the latest internal data from Omnisend shared with Retail Brew, not quite.

While many Americans (56.1%) are buying gifts a lot earlier than Black Friday, Omnisend’s data shows that only 24.4% of brands kicked off their holiday marketing campaigns before November 11.

The survey, which analyzed marketing emails sent by 4,500 US-based e-commerce brands between September 1 and November 11, also tracked the precise timeline of campaigns as they were released.

By September 1, just 4.8% of brands had launched holiday promotions. That share rose to 13.1% by October 1 and 21.6% by November 1—when many shoppers had already wrapped up most of their lists, according to Omnisend.

The stretch between October 31 and November 5 marked the “busiest” period, with 19% of all new campaigns going live.

“There’s a clear disconnect between when people start buying and when brands start talking to them,” Marty Bauer, e-commerce expert at Omnisend, said in a statement.

Keep reading here.—JS

Boots were made for walkin’, but Texas-based western wear brand Tecovas would rather have AI do some of the heavy lifting when it comes to inventory management.

The company is adding an AI-powered notch to its belt by partnering with invent.ai, a global AI decisioning platform, to help transform its inventory management system. The partnership comes on the back of a successful pilot and forms the next stage in Tecovas’s growth plan as the brand continues to expand its retail fleet.

Keep reading here on Revenue Brew.—LI