Debenhams Group — formerly Boohoo Group — has announced its headline sponsorship of Graduate Fashion Week 2025 (GFW), building on the Debenhams brand’s long-standing partnership with the Graduate Fashion Foundation (GFF).

The company said the move reflects its “heritage in championing British designers and its ongoing commitment to nurturing the next generation of home-grown talent”.

The deal comes with the chance for young creatives to win an in-house contract at Debenhams Group by entering the ‘Debenhams Catwalk to Collection’ Award.

The company, which owns Karen Millen, MAN, PrettyLittleThing, Coast, Oasis and Warehouse, as well as Debenhams and Boohoo, will sponsor the event that takes place from 13-16 June.

The fashion week is hosted by the charitable foundation and over the past 33 years, more than 100,000 students have been supported by the charity, with designers benefiting having included Stella McCartney, Giles Deacon and Julien MacDonald.  

The company has worked with GFF since 2016, supporting nearly 30,000 aspiring fashion creatives and this is its sixth year as GFW’s sponsor.

The ‘Catwalk to Collection’ Award will see 20 shortlisted designers taking part in the Debenhams Catwalk Show, which will be hosted on the opening night of GFW. The show will be curated by the Debenhams team, with a focus on commercial collections produced by graduate designers at British universities that are members of GFF. 

Last year saw Eleanor McMahon from The Manchester Fashion Institute as overall winner. But the judges were also impressed by the designs of Sonny Matthews and Ivy Chow, and all three were given a year-long contract. Their collections will go on sale this summer.  

Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. has become the first Major League Baseball player to be the face of Nike underwear.

In this role, Acuña Jr. will star in Nike’s Spring 2025 campaign, bringing his signature energy, charisma, and MVP-caliber to the global campaign.

The Venezuelan made his entrance into Major League Baseball with the Atlanta Braves in 2018, just four years after signing as an international free agent. He earned the 2018 National League Rookie of the Year award, followed by four All-Star selections, three Silver Slugger Awards, and two league-leading seasons in stolen bases.

In 2023, Acuña Jr. etched his name into the record books by delivering one of the most dominant individual seasons in MLB history. He became just the fifth player ever to join the exclusive 40-40 club—hitting at least 40 home runs and stealing 40 bases in a single season.

​He joins a lineup of previously featured elite athletes in Nike underwear campaigns, including Portuguese soccer star Rúben Dias, Minnesota Timberwolves standout Rudy Gobert, and Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray.

Attracting £5 million in seed funding is a major step and its recipients, the co-founders of Sheep Inc, have equally significant plans for the Series A investment.  

For the pioneering fashion brand’s Edzard van der Wyck and Michael Wessely, it “marks a significant step in redefining the future of fashion, driving forward innovation in impact, technology, and regenerative sourcing”.

Already claiming an industry-first, carbon-negative supply chain and known for its premium Merino wool garments, their shared vision is to further “radical transparency and next-generation supply chain technology” and its quest to “challenge industry norms and accelerate the transition toward a truly regenerative fashion ecosystem”.

Under lead investor Inside Out LLC, which encourages innovation and collaboration in fashion, the investment has the potential to scale Sheep Inc’s regenerative supply chain expertise and Connected Dot technology across Inside Out’s broader portfolio, “accelerating change beyond its own brand”.

Van der Wyck and Wessely said Inside Out CEO Suzy Amis Cameron “share[s] our vision for redefining the fashion industry — environmentally, socially, and technologically. This partnership not only fuels our growth but accelerates our ability to set new industry standards. We are inspired by the vision Inside Out is creating and look forward to what we will build together”. 

Amis Cameron added: “Sheep Inc stands at the forefront of responsible fashion. With its pioneering carbon-negative production, regenerative Merino wool, and innovative Connected Dot technology, Sheep Inc is setting a new benchmark for transparency and quality.”

Other key investors are seasoned entrepreneur Erik Stangvik, and former Deloitte Partner Blair Knippel.