The first January footfall report — from MRI Software — came out on Thursday and had good news for UK retail, then on Friday the British Retail Consortium released its own report and that delivered more upbeat figures.
Landsec
In conjunction with Sensormatic, the BRC said that the five weeks from 29 December up to 1 February saw total UK footfall rising year on year by 6.6%. That was compared to a 2.2% drop in December.
High Street footfall was up 4.5% in January, much better than the 2.7% decline in the previous month. Meanwhile retail parks rose by 7.9% compared to flat footfall in December. And shopping centres rose 7.4%, up from a 3.3% deficit in the previous month.
And footfall increased in all four UK nations with Wales leading the charge on 8.5%, followed by England on 7.4%, with Northern Ireland on 3.5% and Scotland rising but only by 1%.
Helen Dickinson, CEO of the British Retail Consortium, said: “Shopper footfall received a welcome boost in January following a disappointing festive period. Store visits increased substantially in the first week of the month as many consumers hit the January sales in their local community, with shopping centres faring particularly well. Despite snowy weather and Storm Eowyn causing disruption in some areas, footfall was still positive across major UK cities over the whole month
“Improved shopper traffic is welcome news for high streets following a particularly difficult ‘Golden Quarter’ to end 2024, and low consumer sentiment to start the year.”
And Andy Sumpter, Retail Consultant EMEA for Sensormatic, added: “After a dreary December, retailers will welcome January’s footfall jump. The uptick was boosted by a very strong Week 1, helped in part by New Year’s Day falling on a Wednesday, which may have prompted ambient store traffic as consumers bolted on additional days of leave, as well as retailers extending post-Christmas discounting well into January. Not even the significant disruption from Storm Eowyn was enough to dampen overall footfall performance.
“While welcome, after months of erratic and constrained footfall, the jury’s out as to whether January’s store performance signals the start of a sustained high street revival or if it will be a flash in the pan come February. And, even if shopper traffic recovery has finally turned a corner, the challenge for retailers will be solving the next conundrum; how they balance enhanced footfall – which requires optimised store staffing to convert into sales – and the significant rises to labour costs borne out of the Budget on the one hand, with consumer appetite for discounts — a long-term margin-eroder — on the other, which will not be an easy circle to square.”
Happening New York-based brand Area has named Nicholas Aburn as its new creative director, succeeding his predecessor, Piotrek Panszcyk, within days of his departure.
Nicholas Aburn steps into his new role as creative director at Area – Serena Becker
“Beckett Fogg, CEO and founder, announces the appointment of Nicholas Aburn as creative director at Area. He starts in March, and his first collection will be Spring/Summer 2026,” the company said in a statement.
Most reports had previously described Area as being jointly founded by Fogg and Panszcyk after their graduation from Parsons School of Design.
A hyper-directional brand featured prominently at Coachella, Area celebrated its 10th anniversary last year.
Originally from Maryland, Aburn studied at Central Saint Martins in London before beginning his career at Tom Ford. He later worked as senior womenswear designer at Alexander Wang in New York and most recently served as senior designer at Balenciaga Couture.
“Area is proud to welcome Nicholas Aburn as our new creative director. His vision for the brand’s evolution will amplify Area’s resonance and propel us into an exciting new era,” said Fogg in the official release.
Aburn added: “New York has always inspired me with its mix of raw energy and glamour. Area truly embodies this spirit, and I am excited to bring the brand back to its roots.”
When Elliott Hill became chief executive officer of Nike Inc., among his first orders of business was securing its future alongside the biggest sport in the US: pro football.
Nike and the NFL have been closely allied since early last decade, when the league ended its apparel licensing deal with Reebok, then owned by Adidas AG – Photographer: Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images
In October, shortly after Hill arrived at Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, he called NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. The league’s coveted licensing deal with Nike for its on-field uniforms was set to expire in 2027, and it had been considering other bidders.
It would be a major blow to Nike to lose the licensing pact, one that it wrestled away from Reebok beginning in 2012, as investors were fleeing the stock of the world’s biggest sporting brand after an awful stretch full of declining sales, cost cutting and worries that the company had damaged relationships with retailers and licensors beyond repair.
In an early message to employees seen by Bloomberg News, Hill, who had come back to the company after a previous stint as a top executive, promised to return to prioritizing sports as Nike’s core. The big critique of the company, and one of the reasons it replaced previous boss John Donahoe with Hill, was that it had gone overboard on chasing revenue from fashion and lifestyle products, while ceding market share to competitors focused on performance.
The NFL, meanwhile, wanted help with Goodell’s ambitious plans to push football abroad and grow its fanbase. Within two months, the they closed an extension to their licensing deal, aligning two of the most influential names in sports through 2038. The NFL gives Nike stability in one sport during a tumultuous time, while the league sees its new arrangement as a vital avenue for growth.
“Global is something we intend on becoming, and Nike is a global brand that can help us in that area,” Goodell said this week in New Orleans ahead of the Super Bowl. The league and the sporting giant’s teams are already discussing international plans, he said. “They’re a critical partner.”
Nike declined to comment for this story.
‘Strong Footing’
Nike and the NFL have been closely allied since the league ended its apparel licensing deal with Reebok, then owned by Adidas AG. While other companies were awarded licenses for elements such as helmets and base layers, Nike was chosen for the league’s most valuable offering: on-field uniforms. At the time, an analyst projected it could generate $500 million in revenue a year for Nike.
Hill is the third Nike CEO that Goodell has worked with. Mark Parker, now Nike’s executive chairman, signed that jersey deal. Donahoe inherited the previous pact and began talks with the NFL before he was replaced by Hill last year.
“Elliott coming in and really wanting to start that relationship off on really strong footing was clear,” said Joe Ruggiero, senior vice president of the NFL’s consumer products division. “The timing of that worked out.”
There are risks, though. Nike’s license with Major League Baseball has gotten headlines for all the wrong reasons. After complaints from players and fans last year about a Nike-designed revamp, MLB reverted to its old uniforms in an embarrassing turn for both parties.
International expansion has been a longtime goal for Goodell’s NFL, and Nike has a presence across the planet. Goodell recently said that could include an entire division of teams outside the US. Priority markets include the UK, China, Canada, Mexico, Germany and Brazil, where it played for the first time this season. NFL teams will play games in London, Berlin and Madrid in 2025.
As part of the arrangement, the NFL wants to use Nike’s expertise to ensure that it retains fandom in countries that it visits. That includes distribution and fan merchandise through a three-way deal with Fanatics Inc. If fans don’t have access to fan gear, those growth goals are a lost cause.
“We can put the greatest display on for one day — and if we don’t create a fan that’s going to be there tomorrow, we haven’t really done our job,” said Ruggiero. “Our product has got to be available where fans are shopping.”
Nike will be getting more involved in grassroots development programs, both in tackle football and flag football for boys and girls. That flag football component helps abroad as well, since the NFL sees the non-contact version of the game as a way to introduce international fans to the sport. The league is also working on founding pro flag football leagues for women and men as the sport heads toward its Olympic debut in 2028 in Los Angeles.
Nike and the NFL are collaborating more closely in their marketing efforts, too. They’ve worked together for decades, and Nike has dozens of pro football players signed to its endorsement roster, including Philadelphia Eagles stars Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley who are playing in the Super Bowl on Sunday. But the contract extension now allows for long-term planning on major advertising initiatives.
“We’re being incorporated into some of Nike’s bigger campaigns, and we’re incorporating Nike in ours,” Ruggiero said.
Beyond the football jerseys, Nike will play a key role in player safety by devoting resources from its sports research lab to product design to address injuries to the lower extremities. Goodell is looking to “enhance the science” in cleat safety on the various surfaces used at NFL stadiums. He described Hill, his new partner, as being both outspoken and cooperative.
“They’re one of the few partners we allow on the field,” Goodell said.
Footwear has been lagging several steps behind the fashion clothing and accessories sectors in the sustainability stakes. So the situation’s being addressed by Fashion for Good with its major ‘Closing the Footwear Loop’ initiative.
It has bought together 14 leading fashion and footwear brands and their existing circularity programmes “to tackle the industry’s complex circularity challenges”. Participating brands include Dr Martens, Reformation, Adidas, Deichmann, Inditex, Lululemon, ON, Otto Group, Puma, Reformation, Target, Tommy Hilfiger, Vivobarefoot, and Zalando alongside the Footwear Innovation Foundation.
The collaborative project aims to enable the “transformation of footwear’s current linear ‘take-make-dispose’ model into a circular one, driving innovation across the value chain”. So the coalition is working with various ecosystem partners including The Footwear Collective, Global Footwear Future Coalition (GFFC), and Global Fashion Agenda “to drive a collaborative approach across the industry”.
And the issues facing the new Fashion for Good campaign are major, it noting that footwear faces “a complex challenge”, with the global footwear industry creating 23.8 billion pairs of shoes annually, “a figure that highlights both its scale and its environmental footprint”. Each shoe is also composed on average of more than 60 different components ranging from fabrics and plastics to rubber and adhesives.
It cites most recent studies that claim around 90% of footwear ends up in landfills , “contributing to an ever-growing mountain of waste”. It also noted the challenge “is exacerbated by a lack of reverse logistics infrastructure and the absence of design principles that prioritise circularity”.
It said current practices largely focus on linear production models — manufacture, use, and discard — “failing to address the lifecycle of products”.
But on the plus side, it also said brands are already exploring innovative solutions, including material science advancements and take-back programmes, to address these challenges and pave the way for more circular footwear.
“These individual efforts complement the collaborative work within ‘Closing the Footwear Loop’, creating a synergistic approach to driving industry-wide change”, the body said.
This project aims to deliver: a detailed mapping of European footwear waste streams providing crucial data on volumes, materials, rewearability, and recyclability; a roadmap towards circular footwear design, developed with Fashion for Good Alumni circular.fashion, outlining principles for material selection, durability, recyclability, repairability, and responsible chemical management; and validation of end-of-use innovations, including trials and impact assessments, to overcome current bottlenecks and drive industry-wide adoption.
Katrin Ley, managing director of Fashion for Good, said: “The footwear industry stands at a critical turning point. With billions of shoes produced annually and 90% ending up in landfills, ‘Closing the Footwear Loop’ represents our most ambitious effort yet to reimagine how we design, use, and dispose of shoes. By bringing together 14 leading brands, we’re not just addressing a challenge — we’re creating a blueprint for systemic change.”
Entertainment8 years ago