Barbie, Mattel‘s star brand,has inked a major collaboration this October with Los Angeles-based celebrity stylist, Maeve Reilly.
Created as part of The Styled By Series, which pays tribute to the creative vision and influence of top fashion designers and stylists, the Barbie Styled by Maeve Reilly doll channels Reilly’s signature elevated street style aesthetic, wearing modern wide-leg denim jeans, a crisp cream crop top, shiny bangles and oversized leather jacket.
“Throughout my career, I have dedicated myself to empowering all women from all backgrounds to feel beautiful, confident, and fearless in expressing themselves through fashion,” said Reilly. “When Barbie approached me to design and style this doll, I was beyond thrilled to work with such an iconic partner that believes in empowering women to live their most authentic and confident selves.”
It’s a media coup for the New York-born, Los Angeles-based designer. Passionate about fashion, Reilly, who graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology, launched her career on a television show produced by her father, William Spencer Reilly, on the Hallmark channel. Enchanted by a wardrobe internship, she moved to Los Angeles, where she began dressing background dancers on music videos, eventually landing her first job as a stylist for singer Janelle Monae during the BET awards.
Contacted shortly afterwards by Hailey Bieber on Instagram, she went on to work on a series of collaborations, dressing Megan Fox, Coco Jones and Eva Longoria, making several appearances on television shows such as Best Ink and Fashion Police, before becoming known across the globe for her tomboy-meets-girly street style; a style she now adapts to Barbie.
In 2020, Reilly also launched her own fashion label, Local Love Club, a streetwear brand. A portion of her brand’s proceeds support the Kind Campaign, a nonprofit organization dedicated to spreading awareness and healing from bullying through in-school assemblies and educational curriculums.
She has been also approached by other companies for collaborations, notably PayPal, with whom she is running a campaign to promote its ‘Pay in 4’ function, which enables buyers to pay for expensive items in instalments. Last year, she also collaborated with BCBG brand Max Azria on a 16-piece capsule collection.
Reilly’s new Barbie look is featured on Mattel Creations, Mattel’s e-commerce and content platform dedicated to creators, collaborations, and innovators.
Deckers Outdoor on Thursday beat third-quarter sales estimates on robust holiday demand for its Hoka running shoes, but an in-line annual forecast caused the footwear maker’s shares to tumble 17% in extended trading.
Hoka shoes with their oversized soles have been gaining market share from brands such as Nike in the sportswear category. The brand, which retails for up to $300 in the United States, have also enjoyed full-price sales.
This drove up the company’s third-quarter revenue by 17% to $1.83 billion, beating analysts’ average estimate of $1.73 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. Deckers also raised its annual net sales forecast for a second time this year.
“The guidance looks pretty conservative and considering the beat, it’s bit of a negative read into the out quarter,” said Drake MacFarlane, analyst at MScience.
The popularity of the Hoka shoes and the success of the company’s Ugg boots and sandals has helped it post double-digit revenue growth for nearly seven quarters.
The company now expects annual net sales to increase about 15% to $4.9 billion, compared with its prior expectation of about 12% growth to $4.8 billion. Analysts estimated an increase of 14.9% to $4.93 billion.
Deckers expects annual earnings per share of $5.75 to $5.80, compared with its prior forecast of $5.15 to $5.25.
Amazon.com is increasing its advertising on billionaire Elon Musk’s social media platform X, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The major shift comes after the e-commerce giant withdrew much of its advertising from the platform more than a year ago due to concerns over hate speech.
In 2023, Apple also pulled all of its advertising from X and has recently been in discussions about testing ads on the platform, the report said.
Several ad agencies, tech and media companies had also suspended advertising on X following Musk’s endorsement of an antisemitic post that falsely accused members of the Jewish community of inciting hatred against white people.
Monthly U.S. ad revenue at social media platform X has declined by at least 55% year-over-year each month since Musk bought the company, formerly known as Twitter, in October 2022. He had acknowledged that an extended boycott by advertisers could bankrupt X.
Musk has become one of the most influential figures following President Donald Trump‘s re-election. He now leads the Department of Government Efficiency, which aims to cut $2 trillion in government spending.
Italian luxury goods group Salvatore Ferragamo said on Thursday its revenue dropped by 4% at constant currencies in the fourth quarter, flagging “encouraging results” from its direct-to-consumer sales which were overall flat in the last three months of the year.
Sales in the North American region, which accounted for 29% of total revenue, were up 6.3% in the quarter. However, the Asia Pacific area saw a 25% drop in revenue at constant exchange rates.
The slowdown in global demand for luxury goods, especially in China, has made the group’s turnaround harder. Overall preliminary revenues reached 1.03 billion euros in 2024, in line with analysts’ estimates, according to an LSEG consensus.
“January shows an acceleration in our DTC channel’s growth, albeit supported by the different timing of the Chinese New Year and a favourable comparison base versus last year”, Chief Executive Marco Gobbetti said in a statement.