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The Ounass Formula for a Successful Brand Activation

The Ounass Formula for a Successful Brand Activation

Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
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At BoF CROSSROADS 2025 in Dubai, Imran Amed, BoF's founder and CEO, sat down with Khalid Al Tayer, CEO of luxury e-commerce platform Ounass, to unpack his strategy for success when launching a global brand in the Gulf.
Imran Amed, founder and CEO of The Business of Fashion and Khalid Al Tayer, CEO of Ounass, on stage during day two of BoF CROSSROADS 2025. (Maya Cellixa)
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23 April 2025
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On April 10-11,
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LuisaViaRoma Files for Court Protection Amid Deepening Financial Strain
LuisaViaRoma Files for Court Protection Amid Deepening Financial Strain

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LuisaViaRoma has filed for court protection from creditors as it undertakes financial restructuring, according to a letter sent by the luxury retailer to vendors and reviewed by The Business of Fashion. Under Italian law, companies in financial distress can file for court protection from creditors, some of whom may be threatening legal action over unpaid invoices, similar to a Chapter 11 filing in the US. Gianvito Rossi and Moschino Kids are among LuisaViaRoma's vendors who have filed legal debt collection orders, according to documents included in the Florence-based retailer's letter. The Court of Florence has scheduled a hearing for LuisaViaRoma's request for Aug. 27. LuisaViaRoma said it has over 1,250 creditors, some of which have been chasing payment for months. One American label confirmed it has not been paid by LuisaViaRoma since delivering its last purchase order in April. The label received a letter from LuisaViaRoma in late April that promised a new payment schedule to be announced in May, but this did not materialise. 'For some brands, being owed $60,000 can lead to bankruptcy,' said the sales agent of another label stocked at LuisaViaRoma that has not been paid since March. LuisaViaRoma joins a growing list of retailers struggling financially as luxury spending decelerates. In June, Saks Global reached an agreement with bondholders for $600 million in new debt, which prompted the credit rating agency S&P to downgrade the company's status and called the refinancing akin to a default. In February, Saks announced contentious new payment terms that pushed some brand partners away. Founded as a boutique in Florence in 1930, LuisaViaRoma emerged as one of the major luxury e-commerce players in Europe in recent years, with seven brick-and-mortar locations in Italy and one in New York operated by a subsidiary that opened last year. Long owned by the Panconesi family, it received a minority investment from Milan private equity firm Style Capital 2021. In the first quarter of 2025, LuisaViaRoma's sales fell 13 percent year-over-year, according to the documents reviewed by BoF. In April and May, sales contracted by more than 30 percent. In June, the retailer reduced its corporate headcount by 20 percent, or 70 roles. Around the same time, it named board member Angelo Rodolfi as chief restructuring officer. Last month, LuisaViaRoma announced the closure of its Milan office, citing a reorganisation strategy in order to streamline the business. In an interview with Women's Wear Daily published July 19, LuisaViaRoma chief executive Tommaso Maria Andorlini said the company was not seeking court mediation regarding creditor negotiations. But behind the scenes, the retailer had already sought confirmation of protections under Italian insolvency law. On July 16, LuisaViaRoma submitted an application to the Tribunal of Florence, seeking a 120-day reprieve from legal action by its vendors and financial creditors, including its main creditor UniCredit S.p.A., with whom it has a €25 million financing agreement that expired on July 21. LuisaViaRoma did not respond to a request for comment. A Struggling Business Citing 'temporary economic and financial imbalance,' LuisaViaRoma pointed to the declining luxury fashion market at large as well as US tariffs and other rising costs, such as transportation. It also outlined a number of internal missteps, including pursuing unsustainable growth. An overinvestment in inventory purchases, meanwhile, led to higher management costs and lowered margins. 'The company is now oversized and overly rigid,' it said in the July 16 filing. 'The company has incurred losses and developed a situation of financial tension, leading to overdue payables to suppliers. In turn, suppliers slowed deliveries and shortened payment terms.' Nonetheless, LuisaViaRoma has a comprehensive plan for recovery, as outlined in its request for court protection. In order to boost margins, the retailer will expand its private labels, Annagreta and The Core, which commands higher margins than third-party brands, and launch a new marketplace model that will 'unify the fragmented landscape of Italian luxury fashion distribution,' with partnerships already lined up with independent e-commerce sites Camera Buyer Italia and Additionally, LuisaViaRoma will shutter at least two stores and reduce exposure to less-profitable markets, including the US. Other cost-cutting measures include scaling back from three warehouses to just one and renegotiating payment terms with vendors.

Introducing The Brain of Fashion
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Introducing The Brain of Fashion

When I first started writing The Business of Fashion in 2007 as a blog and occasional newsletter, it was simply a place for me to explore an industry that had always fascinated me. At the time, blogs and newsletters like mine were completely new to the fashion industry. At 6am London time, mine was the only fashion newsletter in your inbox. I was lucky to have been in the right place, at the right time. Soon, digital and social media would transform fashion and BoF would earn its place as the leading global resource for fashion professionals around the world. I learned a very important lesson from this little digital experiment: never be complacent. When breakthrough technologies emerge, rather than reject them, it is important to understand how you might use them. We are at another one of those technological inflection points now. The way people consume business analysis and information is changing, with the rise of new AI tools like ChatGPT. This is changing the expectations of our readers who increasingly expect clear, direct and accurate answers to specific research questions — delivered quickly and reliably. Today, we're excited to invite our BoF Professional community to test a new AI-driven research tool developed in partnership with — designed to help you engage even more deeply with BoF's award-winning journalism. The Brain of Fashion is our new generative AI tool, trained on BoF's archive of more than 45,000 articles, reports, case studies and profiles. It is designed to help you make faster, smarter decisions by answering your questions about the fashion, luxury and beauty industries with speed, relevance and depth. So how is this different from other more generalist AI tools on the market? Because The Brain of Fashion is trained exclusively on BoF's verified, fact-checked reporting, you can trust that the information provided is more accurate. Our answers link directly to the original BoF articles underlying each response, so you can dig deeper in your research. That said, The Brain of Fashion is launching in beta mode because as with all new technologies, we will need to continue to test and refine it in the coming months. Your feedback will play an essential role in how we take The Brain of Fashion forward. As a BoF Professional member, you can start exploring The Brain of Fashion and submitting your research requests today. We look forward to hearing your feedback, Imran Amed, Founder and Editor-in-Chief Use of Artificial Intelligence: We offer The Brain of Fashion to provide information from the BoF content library to answer your questions. This tool is powered by third party AI systems. We cannot guarantee the completeness and accuracy of the information provided. BoF and its affiliates are not liable for any actions taken based on such information.

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What Fashion and Beauty Professionals Want From Employers

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What Fashion and Beauty Professionals Want From Employers

In the five years since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the fashion and beauty industries have navigated significant transformation amid ongoing geopolitical unrest, a turbulent economic climate and the mounting climate crisis. Such change is ushering in a workplace reckoning, with employees across the world reassessing where their professional priorities lie. Needs have changed with the global introduction of remote and hybrid working, a demand for transparency and values-based company missions and goals. To examine these shifts, BoF Careers conducted a survey of our global community from May to June 2025, to better understand what talent is looking for as well as which companies they would most like to work for — and why. More than 1000 members from the global BoF community in 74 countries and territories, representing a variety of seniority levels and age groups, shared their needs and expectations in 2025. The survey finds today's workforce seeks fair compensation and career progression opportunities, greater transparency and ethical leadership, a strong company culture and flexibility over a prestigious name or social capital. The workforce is increasingly holding current and prospective employers accountable for meeting their professional needs — and loyalty is no longer guaranteed. Some 45 percent of working professionals surveyed say they are actively looking for a new job outside of their current employer, and only 15 percent say they are satisfied with their current role. This mirrors broader workforce sentiments from the 2025 State of the Global Workplace report by workplace consulting and research firm Gallup, which found 50 percent of currently employed workers say they are watching for or actively seeking a new job. Moreover, there are now up to five generations in the workplace, with Gen-Z — those born roughly between 1997 and 2012 — often most closely associated with ushering in new expectations and workplace demands. The report deep dives into each cohort's needs today, providing key generational insights, while dispelling stereotypes around the cohorts shaping the workforce today. We combine proprietary survey data with insights from global HR leaders at Prada Group, Adidas, Patagonia and L'Oréal Groupe, as well as expertise from strategists, writers and consultants specialising in leadership and HR. This report is split into 3 sections: Chapter 1: The Macro-Context Explores the broader trends impacting the workplace and driving change in employee behaviour, needs and expectations. Key Insights: Globally, job dissatisfaction is rife — 45 percent of working professionals surveyed say they are actively looking for a new job outside of their current employer. The new digital era is having a profound impact on global workplace operations and the psychology of today's workforce. Constant changes in business priorities amid rapidly shifting macroeconomics and socio-politics leaves the wider workforce uncertain of strategic goals and is leading to employees feeling disengaged. Chapter 2: Talent Expectations Presents the qualitative and quantitative findings from our exclusive survey, offering a detailed view of current employee expectations. Key Insights: Brand prestige captures the attention of prospective talent, but it is not enough to convert candidates further down the talent acquisition funnel — pay and company values are the most important criteria when assessing an employer today Those aged 20-29 — from the Gen-Z cohort — typically register more positive sentiments around pay compared to older professionals. The most important benefit, according to 65 percent of respondents, is 'flexible working policies.' 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