Gucci ranked first in the inaugural release of the Cultural Currency Index (CCI), the first data-driven model created to quantify how cultural engagement translates into measurable market momentum.
Gucci, Spring/Summer 2026, Milan
The CCI was presented in Milan by Annex, an analytics-driven strategic consulting firm co-founded by Miah Sullivan, a former global CMO and fashion industry veteran. The index has been developed in collaboration with AI-powered creator and social intelligence platform WeArisma.
Set up over the course of two years, CCI is designed to provide brands with an empirical reading of how social media activity, online searches and web traffic are correlated with actual economic indicators, from consumer demand to equity performance.
For Sullivan, the project began with a question she could never answer as CMO: what metric reveals the tangible value of cultural amplification? “As a CMO, I could always measure exposure but never its consequence,” said Sullivan. “This beta release of the Cultural Currency Index is the first step toward closing that gap, and giving leaders a consistent indicator of when cultural energy begins to translate into business traction,” she added.
CCI’s beta version analysed 20 labels that showed at the Spring/Summer 2026 Milan Fashion Week. Gucci came first, followed by Fendi, Bottega Veneta, Prada and The Attico. Data was drawn from 11 platforms, among them Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Weibo, Douyin, Red (Xiaohongshu), Google, Baidu, Similarweb, and Yahoo!Finance, and structured around three weighted elements: brand involvement, brand popularity, and purchasing intent. Each label was assigned a normalised score between 0 and 100, allowing for comparisons between seasons and markets.
The methodology applied interquartile filtering and distribution adjustments to prevent outlier distortion, generating a stabler picture of brand momentum than exposure-based models. In its first statistical validation, CCI recorded a positive correlation between index scores and share-price outperformance compared to the market, suggesting that shifts in cultural momentum tend to move in step with investor confidence. Although the results are preliminary, they confirmed the objective of pitching CCI as a forward-looking rather than retrospective indicator.
Gucci’s digital-first presentation of ‘The Tiger’ collection generated exceptional engagement and search activity, while Bottega Veneta showed balanced strength across the three elements surveyed. Fendi’s activation of prominent Asian creators demonstrated how a targeted cultural strategy can translate into measurable purchasing intent.
Collectively, the findings highlighted which labels were most effective at converting visibility into business traction. A comprehensive breakdown of the CCI methodology was included in the first report, which was distributed at the press conference for the index’s launch in Milan, the CCI’s first official publication.
Annex will continue to refine and expand the model through additional datasets and peer reviews, ahead of 2026 editions that are set to cover Paris, New York, and Shanghai. Future reports will incorporate longer-term demand indicators and regional weightings to ensure the results are comparable across markets.
CCI is positioned not as a replacement for creative judgement but as a complement to it: a quantitative counterpart to the intuitive assessments that have long defined brand strength. By creating a consistent and transparent framework, Annex aims to provide marketing, finance, and design executives with a shared language for assessing how cultural focus concretely contributes to business performance.
Out of respect for Giorgio Armani’s passing, the Italian label’s memorial show was not included in the index data this season.
Federal authorities are investigating off balance-sheet transactions involving Lugano Diamonds & Jewelry, a chain of high-end boutiques that’s accused its founder of misrepresenting diamond investments he brokered with wealthy clients.
Lugano
FBI agents have interviewed individuals who struck deals with Lugano founder and former chief executive officer Mordechai “Moti” Ferder as part of an investigation into the business, according to people familiar with the matter. A Lugano spokesman said the boutique is cooperating with the probe.
The Newport Beach, California-based chain of about a half-dozen shops, which is majority owned by Compass Diversified, sued Ferder in June and accused him of manipulating Lugano’s accounts by disguising the gem-backed financing as direct sales. Lugano filed for bankruptcy protection last month and Ferder is residing in his native Israel, according to court documents filed by the company.
Lugano, Ferder or related parties have been sued by about a dozen individuals or firms over the diamond investment contracts. The boutique has claimed Ferder entered into financing deals that together may represent more than $100 million in liabilities to the business. Compass said in May it would restate its financial statements.
Ferder’s lawyer Jeffrey Reeves said his client hasn’t been contacted by the FBI or the Department of Justice.
“Mr. Ferder maintains his innocence and denies any criminal wrongdoing,” Reeves said. “We remain focused on defeating the civil claims brought against him as well as prosecuting the counterclaims he intends to file against Compass Diversified, Lugano, and others.”
An FBI spokesperson didn’t reply to multiple requests for comment.
Lugano said in its lawsuit filed in a state court in California that Ferder offered clients stakes in valuable diamonds that the boutique already owned, promising hefty returns once the gems were sold. The lawsuit claims Feder told Lugano personnel that the deals were ordinary sales. Feder has denied the allegations and claimed Lugano and Compass were aware of the contracts.
Lugano interim CEO Josh Gaynor said in a June email to an investor who sued Ferder that those “who have expressed interest in any parallel criminal investigations” may wish to contact an FBI agent, according to court documents filed in an investor lawsuit. The agent has been assigned to the complex financial crime squad in the agency’s Los Angeles field office, according to papers filed in unrelated court cases.
A Compass spokesman said the firm “has been cooperating with the authorities investigating this matter, as well as conducting our own extensive internal investigation.”
Compass released its restated earnings on Monday and said in a securities filing that its internal investigation determined Lugano’s former chief executive officer “deliberately engaged in fraudulent activity” by recording fictitious sales and misrepresenting the value of the jewelry boutique’s inventory. The conglomerate is now focused on cutting debt and “putting this chapter behind us,” Compass CEO Elias Sabo said. It is considering selling some businesses to reduce debt, it told investors last week.
The group acquired a 60% stake in Lugano in 2021 for $198 million and opened additional locations in the US and London, which was recently closed, according to court papers.
The boutique is planning to sell its business in Chapter 11. In September, a holding company that owns Ferder’s shares in Lugano as well as a title to an Aspen property also filed for bankruptcy. Ferder ceded control of the holding company to Lugano’s chief restructuring officer, according to court papers.
Women’s fashion brand New Look has a new retail director with Mark Matthews joining at “a pivotal time” for the 18-44 age-group-sector retailer. He replaces Elaine Cartwright who has just joined M&S as stores director of innovation and implementation.
New Look
With extensive retail experience across a range of brands — Bonmarché, George at Asda and Selfridges — Matthews will be responsible for New Look’s store estate and, importantly, implementing its omnichannel strategy across stores “to drive sales and enhance the customer experience”.
From those previous three businesses, his expertise spans operations, visual merchandising and in-store digital. He also brings “a strong track record of enhancing product ranges and modernising stores to improve service and sales”, while also having worked on “future store propositions that strengthen omnichannel integration and colleague engagement”, New Look said of its new appointment.
Key will be his focus on the brand’s omnichannel strategy “optimising its store network to better serve customers across the UK”, it added.
Matthews will be part of New Look’s director team, succeeding Cartwright who had spent over a decade at the retailer.
Helen Connolly, CEO of New Look, said: “Our store estate is a vital part of our omnichannel strategy, and… Mark brings extensive industry expertise and a customer-first mindset that will be key to our next phase of store development.”
That evolving strategy has already seen recent store upgrades, including concept launches at the Bluewater mall in Kent, and in Manchester, which have “delivered strong double-digit like-for-like sales growth, reflecting the brand’s focus on innovation, digital integration and elevating the customer journey,” New Look noted.
It said over the past five years it has “transformed the business and its digital offer, upgrading the website and app, developing a 10 million-strong engaged customer base and maintain category-leading positions in dresses, denim, outerwear, and footwear”.
Earlier this year, it announced a £30 million investment to power the next phase of its digital growth. Part of this investment has supported the development of New Look’s first loyalty app, Club New Look. Following a successful soft launch in summer, it now claims over 700,000 members, “which the store teams have played a significant role in securing”.
Boux Avenue has embraced artificial intelligence to create its Christmas message. The result is “one of the most unmissable festive gifting campaigns of the season” with the lingerie/nightwear brand debuting “a premium, hyper-realistic CGI social media stunt that will instantly become a must-see brand moment”.
Image: Boux Avenue
It’s harnessed the viral power of computer-generated imagery (CGI) to deliver a “fun, high-impact and festive spectacle that puts its desirable gift collection front and centre across the brand’s engaging Instagram and TikTok accounts… along with visibility across the brand’s e-commerce site… directly driving traffic to its full Christmas Gift range”.
The campaign’s narrative features a towering stack of Boux Avenue gift boxes dramatically strapped atop a moving vehicle. As the car rounds the corner, one of the oversized boxes falls, landing on a “glamorous passerby, creating an instant, magical transformation”.
In a “moment of delight”, her casual attire is swapped “for the most desired ‘off-duty’ look of the season”: a premium dressing gown paired with pyjamas adorned in a trending bow print.
With a snap of her fingers, part of the cityscape, including some of the classic London architecture and the delivery vehicle, receive a signature Boux Avenue print makeover, draped in pink textures and the bow pattern, cementing the campaign’s core message: ‘Because Christmas Feels Better In Boux’.
Chief design & product officer Zoe Price-Smith said: “As a London-based brand, we insisted on staying true to our roots, offering our customers and social followers a fun, delightful, and truly unmissable social moment that is set within the London cityscape.
“We chose CGI for its ability to deliver pure fantasy and stop-scroll appeal, to grab watchers’ attention and position Boux Avenue as a leader in both luxurious nightwear and innovative digital storytelling this Christmas season.”
She added: “This CGI stunt is more than just eye-catching content; it’s a way to create enticing digital engagement designed to break through the highly saturated Christmas advertising landscape. With viral media potential, the CGI demonstrates how Boux Avenue can effectively leverage digital media to drive immediate product desire and gifting traffic.”
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