Fashion, luxurious and way of life aggregator: January 2026

UK retail gross sales see a delicate Christmas increase

Retail gross sales rose by 0.4% in December 2025 amid funds and inflation uncertainty, reversing declines in October and November. The increase to gross sales over the December festive interval was bolstered by a rise in e-commerce, notably on-line jewellers.

Spending was nonetheless diverted in the direction of essentials. M&S noticed a 2.9% drop in clothes gross sales, citing lowered excessive road footfall and ‘the long tail impact’ of its cybersecurity assault in spring. The outlook seemed brighter for Next, with full-price gross sales up 10.6%, although it warned that rising unemployment would erode client buying energy and gradual development in 2026. Luxury model Mulberry reported a 5.3% enhance in group gross sales throughout the festive buying and selling interval and an increase of two.5% in UK sales, indicating progress in its turnaround technique.

Fashion’s 2026 outlook

McKinsey experiences that the beginning of 2026 introduced a renewed wave of financial volatility as a consequence of US tariffs, which was cited as the primary hurdle for manufacturers and suppliers. LVMH chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault warned that the 12 months forward ‘won’t be easy’ and within the ‘short term it is very difficult to provide a serious forecast’ amidst a lot geopolitical uncertainty. Overall, the worldwide style trade is predicted to submit low single-digit development in 2026, underpinned by ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty.

AI, together with automation and generative AI, is said to turn out to be enterprise vital for style manufacturers, as a substitute of a ‘nice to have’. Jewellery is predicted to be the most important development space in style by unit gross sales in 2026, rising at 4 occasions the speed of clothes. The resale market can also be expected to extend thrice as quick because the first-hand market by means of to 2027.

Luxury department shops underneath stress – Saks seeks shelter in chapter

Luxury retailer Saks Global, which owns Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, has filed for chapter within the US. The firm has introduced it secured $1.75 billion in financing which can permit shops to stay open throughout the proceedings. Saks has struggled with monetary woes since its $2.7 billion acquisition of Neiman Marcus in 2024, which it financed utilizing $2.2 billion of borrowed funds, subsequently struggling to pay again its distributors. Luxury manufacturers, together with Chanel and Kerring, are amongst Saks’ high creditors owed probably the most cash, with some manufacturers having stopped transport their items altogether. Stores are at present reported to have noticeable merchandise gaps.

Meanwhile, Macy’s plans to shut 14 stores this 12 months, after shutting 66 in 2025, as a part of its February 2024 turnaround plan. The technique has seen the US division retailer elevate its full-year gross sales and earnings outlook for the second consecutive quarter.

Closer to dwelling, North East luxurious division retailer chain Fenwick shut its flagship Bond Street retailer in February 2024, however is now narrowing its losses for the second year running. This 12 months, Fenwick has focussed on its partnership with Selected, a Danish style model, launching a brand new ‘omnichannel activation‘ that mixes bodily retail with digital content material.

An identical destiny is suffered by Selfridges which has recorded its fifth consecutive 12 months of declining sales. The retailer faults the eradicating of tax-free shopping for vacationers, which sees them choosing Paris and Milan over London.

Luxury takes centre stage at 82nd Golden Globes

The 82nd Golden Globe Awards had been held on 5 January 2026, marking the beginning of the leisure trade’s awards season. The occasion featured heavy participation from luxurious manufacturers. Moët & Chandon, the LVMH Moët Hennessey Louis Vuitton-owned champagne model, was an official sponsor for the 35th consecutive year. The partnership featured its conventional ‘Toast for a Cause’ initiative, inviting excessive profile company to lift a glass and set off donations to their chosen charities, and embeds the maison’s affiliation with Hollywood glamour.

Other sponsors additionally included luxurious way of life journal Robb Report who curated the 2026 winners’ ‘Ultimate Gift Bag’ valued at just below $1 million and representing probably the most expansive reward and expertise assortment up to now, with recipients in a position to create their very own luxurious experiences all wrapped in a bespoke Atlas suede duffel bag.

Prada finalises acquisition of Versace

On 2 December 2025, Prada introduced that it had accomplished the acquisition of luxurious style home Versace for $1.38 billion. Capri Holdings, Versace’s dad or mum firm, initially paid $2 billion for the model in 2018, that means the sale comes at a $620 million loss. Despite this, the sale will assist Capri Holdings scale back a few of its debt burden.

Prada Group CEO, Andrea Guerra, described the acquisition as a strategic alternative that the group may afford to spend money on, financially and from an organisational standpoint. The acquisition will expand the group’s portfolio of designer manufacturers, because it continues to compete with luxurious giants, reminiscent of LVMH and Kering. Guerra and Versace’s govt chairman, Lorenzo Bertelli, will collectively oversee the model going ahead. Shortly after the acquisition was introduced, Versace’s artistic director Dario Vitale exited the corporate on 12 December 2025. A successor has not but been named.

Prada continues to report robust monetary outcomes. For the nine-month interval ended 30 September 2025, it generated revenue of roughly $4 billion – a 9% 12 months on 12 months enhance, marking 19 consecutive quarters of development. Meanwhile, Versace’s revenue for fiscal 12 months 2025 fell 20.3% to $821 million, largely as a consequence of declining demand for luxurious style items.

Prada’s chairman, Patrizio Bertelli, has emphasised that the purpose is to ‘continue Versace’s legacy celebrating and re-interpreting its daring and timeless aesthetic’. Whilst Prada is thought for its extra minimalist, cutting-edge type that differs from Versace’s flamboyant identification, Bertelli has beforehand highlighted that this distinction is a power, and there may be no overlap creatively or commercially.

Malin + Goetz administration exposes cracks in high-end magnificence and skincare

New York established skincare and perfume model Malin + Goetz put its UK operations into administration final week, closing its head workplace and all seven of its UK shops, and resulting in redundancies of its retailer workers. Online gross sales have been briefly suspended while its e-commerce platform transitions to its US teams. Sales through chosen third get together retailers reminiscent of Liberty, John Lewis and Space NK will proceed by means of a brand new partnership with distributor Discovered Brands.

Malin + Goetz observe within the footprints of different failed well being and wonder retailers, with the Body Shop and Bodycare additionally collapsing in recent times. The closures spotlight persevering with challenges within the wider UK retail market, together with rising prices, lowered footfall and competitors from online-only retailers, that premium manufacturers had been maybe as soon as regarded as extra insulated from. Luxury manufacturers have traditionally had the benefit of loyal, high-income prospects, model energy and stronger margins.

However, the autumn of Malin + Goetz may point out that pressures are actually additionally felt by high-end manufacturers, and never simply the worth sector of retail. The luxurious style sector has proven it isn’t as resilient because it as soon as was, with many luxurious manufacturers seeing a continued retail hunch. Luxury big Kering, for instance, reported a drop in revenue on the again finish of 2025, with gross sales at its flagship model Gucci plummeting. But the autumn of luxurious magnificence and skincare specifically may be a by-product of market oversaturation. There are success tales together with Victoria Beckham Beauty which has reported a fourth consecutive 12 months of double-digit income growth at a time when different luxurious manufacturers are experiencing softer demand.