Sheena Butler-Young

[upbeat music] Hello and welcome to The Debrief from The Business of Fashion, where each week we delve into our most popular BoF professional stories with the correspondents who created them.

I'm senior correspondent Sheena Butler-Young.

For many of us, our first encounter with fashion happens on a screen.

We discover clothes through social media, watch runway shows on our phones, and decide what to buy from pictures online.

Always nice to be here.

You can read Mark's article, "Is Fashion Stuck in Its Simulation Era?" and the story, "As AI Floods the Feed, Fashion Marketers Tap Artists" on businessoffashion.com. You'll find the links in our episode notes.

You've been listening to "The Debrief." I'm Sheena Butler-Young.

We'll be back next week with a new episode.

[upbeat music] Hello, and welcome to The Debrief from the Business of Fashion, where each week we delve into our most popular BoF professional stories with the correspondents who created them.

I'm senior correspondent Sheena Butler-Young.

Beauty has been one of fashion and luxury's most reliable growth stories in recent years.

Fragrance boomed post-pandemic, prestige beauty held up better than many categories, and fast-growing consumer brands like Elf seem to prove that sharp pricing and marketing could keep customers spending.

These and other stories are available to BoF professional subscribers only, and you can find the links in the episode notes.

You've been listening to The Debrief, produced and edited by Olivia Davies and Angel Memmott.

I'm Sheena Butler-Young.

We'll be back next week with a new episode.

[Meta notification sound] Am I forgetting anything else? How about setting a calendar reminder for next year? Meta Glasses, available in more than 20 styles.

So I was, uh, on Slack with a couple of our team members today, Sheena Butler-Young, whom I know you've met in the past, and another one of our correspondents, Lei Takanashi, who's based in New York, and I said, "You know, I'm getting on this podcast with James.

What's on your mind? What should I ask him?" And Sheena's asked me, or, you know, suggested a really important question.

She's, you know, he, she says you're b- such a powerhouse in what you do, but can you talk about the nuts and bolts of the business model? So I know it's grounded in purpose, and I know it's focused in culture, but how have you financed this business and, and built this business, the key partnerships you've had along the way? Like, give us a bit of that entrepreneur journey where like the big milestones that helped you create this juggernaut.

[upbeat music] Hello, and welcome to The Debrief from the Business of Fashion, where each week we delve into our most popular BoF professional stories with the correspondents who created them.

I'm senior correspondent Sheena Butler-Young.

For a long time, upcycling sat on the edges of the fashion industry.

It was associated with small independent designers, niche sustainability labels, and one-off capsule collections designed to make a statement or even just a hobbyist pursuit.

[upbeat music] Hello, and welcome to The Debrief from the Business of Fashion, where each week we delve into our most popular BoF professional stories with the correspondents who created them.

I'm senior correspondent Sheena Butler-Young.

For years, the clearest sign that an influencer had made it was the number sitting at the top of their profile, follower count.

More followers meant more reach, more brand deals, and usually more money.

These and other stories are available to BOF professional subscribers only, and you can find the links in the episode notes.

You've been listening to "The Debrief" produced and edited by Olivia Davies and Angel Nemov.

I'm Sheena Butler-Young.

We'll be back next week with a new episode.

Like, the first one I think shows that the industry is prioritizing handcraft, and the second story is more an example of prioritizing digital technical skills.

And the reason that I, like, had this on my mind and wanted to talk about it is because I, again, was listening to The Business of Fashion podcast, and I was listening to their debrief episodes where Sheena Butler-Young, their editor or correspondent, basically leads a conversation with an industry professional or someone else who works at BoF, and they really discuss, like, s- a big topic that's really going on right now in the fashion industry.

I really love the debrief, so if you don't listen to that, I actually really recommend it.

Um, but a few weeks ago, they did a really interesting episode that was called "Is Fashion School Still Worth It?" And within that, they were basically talking about this dried up talent pipeline when it comes to young people, young designers entering the industry and not having, like, the right physical handcraft making skills to actually, like, bring those skills into the fashion industry.

And Sheena Butler-Young was actually saying that this is down to, like, a few different reasons.

The first reason is that, like, young people aren't necessarily interested in the roles that are a bit more behind the scenes and a bit more technical.

Now young designers are more interested in becoming, like, a creative director of, like, a glossy luxury brand, and to do that, you don't necessarily have to, like, hone a skill.

It's leveraging technology to make the su- supply chain more sustainable, so that's a really good thing.