Articles by Regina Henkel
Dr. Regina Henkel has been a trade journalist for the fashion and sports industry since 2000 and has been working for FashionUnited since 2015.After studying textile science and business administration, she began her career at the international fashion magazine Sportswear International at Deutscher Fachverlag. She then completed her doctorate and returned to trade journalism. Since 2010, she has been writing freelance for international B2B publications, special interest magazines and cultural studies publications, with a focus on sustainability and digitalization in addition to general business topics.
Outdoor in the fashion world: A rollercoaster ride
The outdoors and fashion have been converging for years. This is evident in trends like Gorpcore and fashionable functional pieces. However, what consumers now combine as a matter of course often puts brands and retailers in a strategic bind. Segment boundaries remain quite rigid in retail Gorpcore is only the latest example of a long series of...
Fashion |Commentary Featuredloading...
Skechers: Why a sneaker brand without cult status is worth 9.4 billion dollars
If the announced sale of the US sneaker brand Skechers does indeed go through in the third quarter of this year, this deal will go down in history as the largest transaction to date in the sneaker market. Why is Skechers so interesting? Not 'cool', but the third largest sneaker brand in the world First things first: with global annual revenue of...
BusinessFeaturedMemberloading...
Louis Vuitton presents "The Louis" in Shanghai
French luxury house Louis Vuitton has announced the opening of a new location in Shanghai. This location combines retail, Le Café Louis Vuitton and an exhibition on the history of Louis Vuitton. The building is shaped like a ship. It is intended as a contemporary homage to the origins of travel. This reflects Louis Vuitton's history as a maker...
Retailloading...
Oberalp Group’s new head of sales on the outdoor market and women in leadership
The outdoor market was one of the winners during the pandemic because people were drawn outside. However, the current consumer slump is hitting the industry as hard as anyone, and it requires courageous steps, especially from sales. We talked to the newly appointed senior sales manager of the Oberalp Group for the DACH region, Irina Andorfer,...
Business|Interview Featuredloading...
Munich Fabric Start: Binary trends define AW23/24 season
Loud or quiet, harmonious or shrill, calm or moving, fast or slow – the fabric trends for autumn/winter 2023/24, which were recently shown at Munich Fabric Start, indicate extremely contrasting tendencies. In the broadest sense, it is about the interplay between the real world, whose fashion needs to become more sustainable, and the digital...
Fashion Featuredloading...
Gore-Tex: The new membrane and what Greenpeace has to do with it
When the first products with the new, more sustainable ePE membrane from Gore-Tex hit the market in autumn, the world leader for waterproof functional fabrics and with it the entire outdoor industry would have made a real U-turn. Or wouldn’t it? PTFE is Gore-Tex’s main module To understand that the development of this new, more sustainable ePE...
Business|Background Featuredloading...
With platforms booming, what happens to wholesale?
When online retailers like Zalando, for example, want to triple their platform business in a few years, this will have serious implications for the traditional wholesale business and the brands involved. All the more so because Zalando is just one example of several. What does it mean when more and more online retailers develop their traditional...
Business|BACKGROUND Featuredloading...
Ship from store: how specialist retailer BabyOne involves its franchise partners in online retailing
How does one build up a uniform online business as a stationary retail chain without putting one’s own franchise partners in a bind? German BabyOne specialty store chain with over 30 of its own stores and 73 partner stores, has found its very own solution. At the end of 2019, just a few months before the outbreak of the pandemic, owner-operated...
RetailFeaturedloading...
How sustainable is the footwear industry?
The topic of sustainability is also gaining momentum in the footwear industry - although one hears far less about it compared to the apparel industry, especially when it comes to leather products. Why is that and where exactly does the industry stand? Leather is one of the most important raw materials in the footwear industry. But how can one...
Fashion |Background Featuredloading...
Breuninger buyer: “It's getting dressier again, but with the comfort we've grown to love”
With the new round of orders for FW22/23, buyers are again faced with the challenge of planning ahead for a season whose general conditions are more difficult to estimate than usual. What kind of ranges will fashion brands and retailers present to their female customers next year? What kind of fashion do women want next autumn? Will they still...
Fashion |Interview Featuredloading...