And now, more from the week that was…

While everyone focused on the scorching weather in Paris and New York—people, there are other things to discuss—it was a quiet week of passages and transitions in the fashion industry. Nike’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings landed as expected. Overall sales declined, weighted down by China and Converse. Yet C.E.O. Elliott Hill has never tried to disguise the scale of Nike’s rebuilding effort. On a Tuesday earnings call, Hill invoked the Knicks. “The championship wasn’t built on a single series or even in one season. It was built over time, through setbacks and steps forward, through relationships, and buying into a system where everyone knows their role,” he said. “The real story is everything it took to get there. And that’s exactly how we’re building Nike.”

Yes, this may have sounded a bit hokey coming from the head of a $46 billion conglomerate. But it was a reminder that across fashion, many of the industry’s largest and most established brands currently find themselves in various stages of reinvention. Nike’s own strategy has become increasingly clear as it abandons its dalliance as a lifestyle brand and returns to its activewear roots. Hill noted that the company added $1 billion in sales to its running division over the past year and has returned sports to the center of the Nike universe. That shift includes the ambitious 12-week World Cup campaign, which spans everything from collaborations with Jacquemus to products made with innovative materials. It’s a genuinely humbling approach that shows that the company, under Hill’s leadership, isn’t above acting like an overzealous upstart itching to re-prove itself, especially with its vast resources.

Nike can, and should, go even harder in activewear. NikeSkims, with its $108 stretch leggings and $150 mesh split-toe sneakers, has not been the cultural juggernaut many had suspected. But its remnant potential is now being underappreciated by the market. As I reported this week, NikeSkims’ sales are on pace to reach $400 million by the end of the year—a significant total for any brand launched in September 2025. (This is not investment advice. Just kidding…) Even without deafening buzz, it has still managed to become a nine-figure business. Could Nike do more to push it? Obviously, and they will.

Chanel remains the high point on the parabola that Nike’s currently surfing—proof that major historic brands, even many decades into their existence, can still reach new heights. After all, creative director Matthieu Blazy has made Chanel the best brand in the world right now, truly. This week, the company announced that it was acquiring Charvet, the 188-year-old chichi custom men’s shirtmaker that counts Lauren as a devoted client. As she noted this week, in fact, the deal was born from Blazy’s collaboration with Charvet—an homage to Coco Chanel’s old penchant for buying Charvet shirts for her beau.

The industry loves this deal because Chanel and Charvet have become a new type of catnip for elitists: The jam-packed made-to-measure appointments at Charvet’s Place Vendôme boutique mirror the perpetual lines at Chanel stores in every country. Both brands also blur gender lines, an ongoing contention in the culture wars. Lauren probably has as many Charvet shirts as the bankers I used to sell them to at Saks more than a decade ago. Resident pretty boy A$AP Rocky is as effective a model for Chanel as any of the sharp-cheekboned women who grace the runways.

A much, much lesser example of this kind of no-brainer mashup is Camper. The 51-year-old Spanish purveyor of fashionably clunky shoes announced this week that it acquired a 60 percent stake in Ancient Greek Sandals. Camper, which reportedly generated €255 million in annual sales last year, isn’t necessarily buying its expansion into sandals. It sells its own bulbous feet-displayers. But the company is seizing on a cultural moment. It’d be foolish to suggest that sleek, barely there sandals are never not in style when the humidity hits. Yet there is a new wave of desire to expose the toes, especially for men. (The see-through Saint Laurent shoes, anyone?)

And yet the most monumental transition in the industry also kicked off this week, with perhaps the least fanfare: On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that Armani hired management consulting firm Boston Consulting Group. Since Giorgio Armani’s death, the company has been figuring out how to lift the business (revenue fell 3 percent last year) as it gears up to start the process of selling a 15 percent stake of the business, presumably to LVMH, L’Oréal, or EssilorLuxottica, as the designer preordained in his will. Armani, which is run by Giuseppe Marsocci, has until March 2027 to consummate a deal. In the meantime, it’s apparently looking to ratchet up its investment in handbags, a category the brand lags in. The Bloomberg report also added steam to the rumors of a new creative head for Emporio Armani. As Lauren reported, there’s been dismissible speculation that Dario Vitale might get the gig. Of course, it would make more sense to rejuvenate the brand after it changes hands.

When a mature and historic company tries to reignite growth, there are a couple obvious options: It can focus on the parts of the business that are working, like Nike is doing with running and other sports, or it can take a shot at reviving parts of the business that have long been underserved, as seems to be the case at Armani. Either way, the path will only add to the brand story—and potentially become a blueprint for someone else.

On the rise of Michael Rider’s Celine: “It’s interesting that Celine is showing radical new ideas in the summer. Using men’s to launch them when they’ll get more attention, instead of getting lost in the women’s shuffle. Using men’s as a weapon is smart.” —A luxury executive

On whom Uniqlo should tap next: “If Lemaire and Tran exit Uniqlo U, Fast Retailing should replace them with Eckhaus Latta. The Mango collab success is proof of concept. I also love imagining what Mike and Zoe would do with that influx of money at their own brand. It feels like a continuation plan even Lemaire would cosign.” —A smart journalist

On the Charvet-Chanel of it all: “I better get my damn shirts!” —A person waiting for their demi-custom shirts

Also on Charvet-Chanel (should we call it Charnel?): “I saw that one coming!” —Everyone

Have a great weekend,
Lauren

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