Gaultier x KNWLS; fashion shop prices ease; Lush pays bonuses; In The Style's new creative chief; Scamp & Dude stores

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Aug 1, 2023

Jean Paul Gaultier has become known for its collabs in recent periods and its latest will be with LFW favourite Charlotte Knowles of KNWLS. The collection will debut on 8 September but no details are available yet.

UK shop price inflation moved in the right direction last month. The British Retail Consortium said Annual Shop Price inflation decelerated to 7.6% in July, down from 8.4% in June. Non-Food inflation decelerated to 4.7%, down from 5.4% in June. “Leading the cuts was clothing and footwear, where retailers mitigated wet weather with larger discounts,” the BRC said.

It has emerged that ethical beauty business Lush paid its managers  — including its co-founder Mark Constantine — £5 million in bonuses last year at the same time as it banked £5.1 million in government support and profits fell 90%.

UK consumers are cutting back on clothes shopping with 51% saying they’re spending less, research from consultancy firm Oxera has shown. It also said that retailer insolvencies have risen 56% in the last 12 months, from 1,243 to 1,942. 

UK womenswear e-tailer In The Style has named fashion influencer Perrie Sian as its first-ever creative director. She launched her first collab for the retailer two years ago — since when her social media following has ballooned — and has worked with it to develop her casualwear brand Fits in the past year. The company said her recent launches have been very successful. She’ll now lead all creative aspects for the business, both for Fits and for the wider In The Style offer.

After seeing 62% growth in the past year, British purpose-led fashion brand Scamp & Dude will open at Battersea Power Station in South London this September in a 1,756 sq ft space. It will also open in St James Quarter, Edinburgh in a 2,939 sq ft space.