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Levi’s and Aritzia test full-price strategy as affluent shoppers stay loyal

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Reuters

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September 5, 2025

A handful of apparel retailers, including Levi’s and Aritzia, are introducing more full-priced products—testing how much wealthier shoppers are willing to pay, despite the impact of tariffs.

A Levi’s logo is displayed on a shirt inside a Levi Strauss & Co. store in New York City, United States, on March 19, 2019. – Reuters

So far, they haven’t been disappointed.

Levi Strauss, for example, raised prices on some products in July but saw no slowdown in demand, according to chief financial officer Harmit Singh, who spoke at the Goldman Sachs Global Retailing Conference in New York on Wednesday.

“We are making a full-court press in selling higher full-price than we have done in the past,” he said. “The Levi’s consumer largely earns $100,000 or more. And that consumer we are seeing is generally resilient.”

Aritzia’s finance chief echoed this view, noting that there had been minimal impact on U.S. customer spending since the high-end clothing company raised prices earlier this year.

The brand—worn by celebrities including Beyoncé, Bella Hadid and Pamela Anderson—does not plan to chase promotions or deep discounts this holiday season. Instead, it will run only one week of sales during Black Friday, followed by full-price offerings after Cyber Monday.

“With every passing week, we become more confident that consumer resilience is going to hold,” said Canadian retailer Aritzia’s CFO, Todd Ingledew, at the same conference.

While lower-income households continue hunting for bargains—especially as companies raise prices in response to former President Donald Trump’s trade war—wealthier consumers are still spending steadily, mostly unaffected by the softening labor market.

Strong stock market gains and relatively low credit card debt have helped cushion the finances of the affluent. According to Moody’s Analytics, the top 10% of American earners—those making at least $250,000 per year—now account for half of all consumer spending.

Loyal shoppers

Retailers such as Ralph Lauren, Under Armour, and Abercrombie & Fitch are also adopting the full-price model, according to their recent earnings calls.

“We’ve been shifting our business towards a more elevated full-price consumer base, and this has served us well as our core consumer around the world remains resilient,” Ralph Lauren CEO Patrice Louvet said in early August.

Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank also highlighted the importance of pricing flexibility for loyal shoppers.

“We’re seeing success testing new key items at full price, including our $45 Self-form hat and our heat gear collection—both strong examples,” he said in August. He added that the company is evaluating raising prices for “the embedded consumer with whom we have pricing power.”

Improved consumer-tracking technology now enables retailers to adjust quickly, offering targeted discounts only when necessary, which helps maintain profit margins.

“In the old school way of doing things, you would get a circular saying everything is 25% off,” said Kate McShane, managing director at Goldman Sachs. “Now, if they’re selling North Face fleece jackets and it’s 60 degrees in New York, they can offer it on sale only for a couple of days in New York,” while keeping prices unchanged in other regions.

According to analysts, many companies have already absorbed significant tariff-related costs and plan to minimize discounts during the holiday season. In contrast to past years, they are now less likely to slash prices just to move leftover inventory.

“If you look at Summerween and back-to-school this year, the strategy was to put the seasonal items on the shelves at full price to start,” said Alison Furman, retail consultant at PwC, referencing Halloween-themed shopping earlier in the year.

“You’re kind of testing the waters around what a consumer will pay full price for. And then when it doesn’t move, you very quickly go into your promotion strategy.”

© Thomson Reuters 2025 All rights reserved.



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Paris Menswear Tuesday: Études Studio, Auralee

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January 21, 2026

Two indie fashion brands, Auralee from Japan and Études Studio from France, staged highly contrasting collections on Tuesday, the opening day of Paris Fashion Week Men, testifying to the dynamism of the season in the French capital.
 
Auralee: Purist fashion with polish
 
A moment of grace on Tuesday evening at Auralee, where Ryota Iwai’s deceptively understated designs never fail to impress.

Auralee’s answer to its question: “What makes winter joyful?” – Luca Tombolini

 
Staged in the Musée de l’Homme facing an illuminated Eiffel Tower, the show was the latest pure statement by a designer whose clothes blend subtlety with refinement.
 
Whatever fabric Iwai plays with always seems just right: whether speckled Donegal tweeds seen in brown knit pants for guys, or a frayed hem skirt for girls in this co-ed show. Leather or lambskin jerkins and baseball jackets, all were ideal.

Semi-transparent nylon splash vests or wispy trenches had real cool. While Iwai’s detailing was also very natty- like the flight jacket trimmed with fur.

A women's look by Auralee
A women’s look by Auralee – Luca Tombolini

 
He is also a great colourist- from the washed-out sea green of a canvas ranger’s jacket to the moody Mediterranean blue of a caban. Though his finale featured a quintet of looks in black. Most charmingly a languid, deconstructed double-breasted cashmere coat worn on a shirtless model- the picture of perfection.
 
There were perhaps not that many sartorial fireworks in the show, but there didn’t need to be. This was a purist fashion statement of polish and precision that this audience could only admire.
 
Backed up by a great soundtrack – Sounding Line 6 by Moritz. Von Oswald or the cutely named Autumn Sweater by Yo La Tengo- the whole display won Ryota a loud and long ovation. Fully deserved too.
 
Études Studio: Resonating in IRCAM

Études Studio certainly know how to stage a show. The design duo invited guests into the bowels of the Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music, or IRCAM a unique French concept dedicated to experimental sounds.

A look by Études Studio
A look by Études Studio – Collective Parade – Gaspar J. Ruiz Lidberg

Which we enjoyed a lot of thanks to Darren J. Cunningham, a British electronic musician known professionally as Actress. It made for a dramatic mood, as keys and chords swelled and raged throughout this show.
 
As a result, the design duo of Aurélien Arbet and Jérémie Egry titled this Autumn/Winter 2027 collection ‘Résonances.’ Terming it in their program: “A medley bringing into dialogue the minimalist experiments rooted in John Cage’s philosophy with the emergence of intelligent Dance Music in the early 1990s.”
 
The result was a rather moody series of clothes, made in a sombre palette of muddy brown, dark purple, black, black, and even more black.

Muted tones at Études Studio
Muted tones at Études Studio – Collective Parade – Gaspar J. Ruiz Lidberg

 
What stood out were the bulbous, off-the-shoulder puffers, worn over corduroy shirts or roll-necks- topped by some great rancher hats courtesy of Lambert. One could also admire sleek raingear; cool cocoon shaped jerkins and fuzzy mohair sweaters.  And appreciate a sleek A-Line coat and zippered knit safari jacket in a rare women’s look in this show.
 
Photoshopped faces in black and white scarves all looked very appealing, as did the brand’s debut bag, a satchel in tough canvas. And one had to applaud one great dull gold, wildly deconstructed puffer.
 
That said, the collection lacked proper kick and rarely resonated as the show title suggested it would. A decent statement about the mode, but far from a fashion moment. 
 

Copyright © 2026 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.



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Animer launches as French citizen-led union championing regenerative fashion

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January 21, 2026

Not a label, not a lobby, not even a legal entity. That is how Arielle Lévy, president of the Une Autre Mode Est Possible (UAMEP) collective, characterises this nascent union. Animer, an acronym for “Acteurs Nationaux Indépendants Mode Engagée Régénérative,” aims to shine a light on all the initiatives undertaken by fashion stakeholders, from producers to brands, who are advancing responsible, regenerative fashion in France.

The union was founded by eight collectives involved in regenerative fashion – UAMEP

The union was officially launched on Monday January 19, following the petition initiated by Arielle Lévy against Shein in response to the watering down of the anti–fast fashion law. Titled “Paris deserves better than Shein,” the petition drew nearly 140,000 signatures. “I wanted us to unite because I realised how strong the civic voice was,” explains Arielle Lévy. “These collectives are doing superb work and, at a certain point, there is a desire to close ranks, to make society together,” she says.

“Breaking the isolation of initiatives across the regions”

In addition to UAMEP, a number of other collectives are behind Animer, including Fashion Revolution France, L’Âme du Fil (Angers), Collectif Baga (Marseille), Café Flax (Clermont-Ferrand), Le Comptoir de la mode responsable (Poitiers), Le Conservatoire de la Mode Vintage (Isère), and La Grande Collecte/Textile Lab (La Rochelle). “It’s a union of independent collectives, committed to their local areas and sharing the same societal project,” Arielle Lévy emphasises.

The union hopes to represent all French territories
The union hopes to represent all French territories – Collectif Baga

The union plans to focus its efforts on the ground, working across supply chains, regions, practices and even our shared imagination. With “hundreds” of stakeholders already on board via the various founding collectives, Animer is built on ten key ideas: dignity, value-sharing, traceability as a common language, less and better, circular design, smart re-localisation, carbon sobriety, inclusion and plurality, cooperation rather than “sterile competition”, and proof through action.

Animer’s founders plan to bring together all the initiatives active in regenerative fashion across the country. The union hopes to become a preferred interlocutor in defending a societal project focused on respect for the earth, and for men and women. With the help of Fashion Revolution, it aims to act in the national interest by engaging the general public and the country’s institutions.

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L’Oreal to invest $383 million in Indian beauty tech hub

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January 21, 2026

French cosmetics giant L’Oreal said on Wednesday it will set up a beauty tech hub in the south Indian city of Hyderabad with an initial investment ⁠of over 35 billion rupees ($383.4 million).

L’Oréal

The hub aims to be a global ⁠base for AI-driven beauty innovation, create 2,000 tech jobs through 2030, and speed up the rollout of ‍advanced ‌AI beauty solutions, the company said in a ⁠statement.

Nicolas Hieronimus, L’Oreal’s ‌CEO, and the state government of Telangana ‌formalized the partnership at the World Economic Forum, Davos.

Telangana has rapidly emerged as a key investment and technology hub in southern India.

Bilateral ‍trade between India and France stood at $15 billion in 2024, and Indian Prime Minister ‌Narendra ⁠Modi ​and French President Emmanuel Macron have ⁠been ​forging warmer ties.

The two sides have also been working to recast their tax treaty since ​2024 to modernize it by adapting global standards on tax transparency, Reuters ⁠reported in December.
 

© Thomson Reuters 2026 All rights reserved.



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