Week in Review | MSGM, Barbour and Belstaff, Juicy Couture, Indonesia, DFS, Yohji Yamamoto and Irene Silvagni

LONDON, United Kingdom — There was a time when everybody in the fashion industry wanted to "do a Gucci." More recently, there has been a lot of talk about doing a "Michael Kors," a "Tory Burch" or a "Burberry." But these kinds of comparisons are unhelpful. Successful strategies for fashion businesses, by definition, must be tailored to the brand in question, as well as the markets and customer segments the brand is targeting, the nature of its product offering and, of course, its heritage and brand story.

This week, we unravelled the business strategies of a variety of fashion brands at different stages of their life-cycles: from those at the very beginning of their stories like MSGM, a rising Milanese fashion brand that has been the first company from Italy to target the still-growing contemporary market; to Barbour and Belstaff, two British heritage brands whose strategies are distinctly different; to Juicy Couture, the once white-hot brand that was sold to a licensing group called Authentic Brands Group. It was edifying to contrast and compare the business models used by different brands — and understand that there is no single formula that works.

In this way, crafting a business model for fashion can be more art than science.

Here are some of our top articles from the week gone by:

The Fall of the House of Juicy
No brand before or after it captured the zeitgeist quite like Juicy Couture. So why did the brand, a business with almost $500 million in annual revenue, sell this autumn in a $195 million cash deal to a licensing group better known for working with brands like Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley?

Op-Ed | When Passion Was Everything
Debra Scherer recalls the collaboration between Yohji Yamamoto and Irene Silvagni, and a time when the industry saw fashion with greater intensity.

As Competition Heats Up, Indonesians Are Spoiled for Choice
From perks for the pampered to deliveries to the wilderness, Indonesia's retailers are pulling out all the stops to attract a growing number of fashion consumers.

Barbour and Belstaff: A Tale of Two British Heritage Brands
British heritage brands Barbour and Belstaff both aim to build upon their storied histories to acquire new customers and expand their presence on the global stage. But their expansion strategies couldn't be more different.

In Milan, MSGM's Fresh Formula
In Milan, best known for its high fashion houses and denim brands, and critiqued for its lack of innovation, visually bold, Italian contemporary label MSGM has found success with a fresh new formula.

Philippe Schaus of DFS on Tapping the Growing Travel Retail Market
Divia Harilela sits down with Philippe Schaus, chairman and CEO of DFS Group, to discuss the growing travel retail market, the spending patterns of Chinese travellers, and the evolution of DFS.

Enjoy your weekend,

Imran Amed
Founder and Editor-in-Chief