The Indicator | October 10th, 2025

By Sonal Gandhi
Chief Content Officer at The Lead

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In this week’s highlights, Pacsun partnered with Modelo Especial to launch their joint Día de los Muertos collection, Gap launched a creator affiliate and advocacy platform and Stitch Fix introduced a new feature allowing customers to visualize how clothes look on their digital likenesses. Meanwhile, indie beauty brands are feeling the impact of tariffs and slower demand.

'INNOVATION MOVES'

  • Modelo Especial partnered with Pacsun to launch the Día de los Muertos Pacsun x Modelo collection, a 10-item apparel line featuring graphic tees, a hoodie, a zip-up, and a trucker hat with traditional Día de los Muertos illustrations. This collaboration honors Modelo’s Mexican heritage and the Día de los Muertos holiday, with future drops planned to merge fashion, heritage, and culture. (Media Post)
  • H&M‘s London Fashion Week show showcased its Studio collection to 700 guests, aiming to generate extensive social content from a single event. The space was turned into one part runway, one part concert and one part cultural activation. The show served as a “broadcast platform” to deliver diverse messages to various audiences. This builds on past experiments, including a Charli XCX concert at London Fashion Week 2024 and a surprise Times Square takeover. The recent show featured 70 models, including Romeo Beckham and Paloma Elsesser, in three “acts” tied to product drops, with the first available the next day. (Glossy)
  • Gap Inc. launched a creator affiliate and advocacy platform for Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, and Athleta, bringing back the micro-influencer model. The program is currently open to U.S.-based creators 18+ with at least 1,000 followers, with plans for international expansion. Creators gain early access to products, content collaboration opportunities, and amplification, earning commission or product gifts. (Retail Dive)
  • Bed Bath & Beyond plans to launch a nationwide franchise system. Franchise locations could include various store formats, with 20% localized merchandise. Franchisees will share in BedBathandBeyond.com’s economics and access tokenization via the tZero platform, which may supplement or replace SBA financing. (Retail Dive)
  • Stitch Fix is introducing “Stitch Fix Vision,” a new feature allowing customers to visualize how clothes look on their digital likenesses before purchase. Users submit a selfie and full-body photo to create images featuring shoppable items, which they can buy directly or add to their next subscription box. (WWD)
  • Independent beauty brands face a “big reset” due to rising business costs and unpredictable tariff policies. While indie beauty has outpaced conglomerates in growth, they are more vulnerable to these challenges. The direct-to-consumer boom has tempered, early-pandemic demand for skincare has moderated, and consumer behavior has shifted, with people becoming more conservative with their spending. These impacts, although not fully reflected in 2025 numbers, are expected to be more visible in 2026. This volatile environment has already led to brand closures like Ami Colé and Sknmuse, and acquisitions like Nudestix, with experts predicting more to come. (WWD)

'Financial Moves'

  • Global M&A volumes continued to rise in Q3 2025 while deal counts dropped, reports Reuters.
  • Nearly 50% of consumers think they are already paying more than what they think is acceptable, particularly in apparel, durable goods and beauty products, says L.E.K. Consulting.
  • Monthly import container volume at U.S. ports is expected to fall below normal levels, per National Retail Federation, as most holiday merchandise is already on-hand and tariffs are expected to continue to rise.
  • Demand for larger apparel sizes (L, XL, XXL) has fallen while sales of smaller sizes are rising, risking misalignment of 400M units if the trend accelerates, per Impact Analysis.
  • The Webster (luxury multibrand retailer) sold a majority stake to Frasers Group.
  • Halfdays(outdoor apparel) raised $10million from Kellwood, DSG Ventures and Taylor Hill.
  • Locus (AI logistics firm) was acquired by IKEA.
  • Dr. Comfort (orthopedic shoes) was acquired by Promus Equity Partners.
  • Barchemy LLC(healthier chocolate) raised an investment from Avance Investment Management.
  • Northbeam(marketing) raised an investment from HighPost Capital and Silversmith Capital Partners.
  • Copper (battery-powered induction stove) raised $28M in financing.

Financial Moves Powered by MMG Advisors

'Career Moves'

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