By Sonal Gandhi
Chief Content Officer at The Lead
Big news week for the beauty industry as Kering plans to sell its beauty portfolio to L’Oréal and LVMH is looking for a buyer for Fenty Beauty. Meanwhile, Toys R Us is expanding its footprint in time for the holidays and Aritzia has an app.
Aritzia will launch its first app, increasing its digital and brand marketing investments to boost awareness and client acquisition. The app offers early access to products, and a personalized experience akin to shopping in-store. The app features exclusive shoppable content, styling inspiration, a daily “Outfit of the Day,” and outfit ideas from Aritzia Muses, in-house stylists, and creators. Users also get early access to product launches, color drops, and collaborations. (WWD)
Toys R Us is boosting its physical presence for the holidays, with flagship stores in Chicago, Texas, American Dream, and Mall of America, plus locations in every Macy’s, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, and more U.S. military bases. The brand is also expanding into Chile, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Morocco, and Lebanon, and re-entering Turkey. (Retail Dive)
Dick’s Sporting Goods is partnering with Gymshark to bring the cult athleticwear brand to 12 U.S. House of Sport stores, marking Gymshark’s first U.S. wholesale venture. This follows Gymshark’s recent opening of its first permanent U.S. retail store in New York. (WWD)
Regional department store Von Maur, founded in 1872, is expanding its footprint and attracting startup brands by focusing on curation over volume. Unlike other department stores, Von Maur avoids discounts and private labels, positioning itself as a specialty retailer. The family-owned company, with 39 locations across 15 states, is undergoing a $100 million renovation project. Von Maur has been getting more interest from brands looking to reach customers in secondary or tertiary cities where they may not already have a huge wholesale presence. (Modern Retail)
Kering agreed to sell its beauty portfolio to L’Oréal for €4B.
Designs for Health (nutritional supplements) raised a strategic investment from BDT & MSD Partners.
ShopMy (influencer platform) raised $70M at a $1.5B valuation from Aventir, among others.
The Renatural (robotics-made wigs) raised $4.2M from Glossier, Inc. and Pharrell Williams, among others.
Financial Moves Powered by MMG Advisors
Social Media Manager, Beauty – New York City
Digital Merchant – New York City
Career Moves Powered by JPSearch
PRESENTED BY —
The Indicator | October 17th, 2025 By Sonal Gandhi Chief Content Officer at The Lead OpenAI’s shopping platform ambitions are on display again this week, with a newly announced partnership with Walmart following the one with Shopify last week. Meanwhile, QVC is experiencing significant growth on TikTok and
The Indicator | October 10th, 2025 By Sonal GandhiChief Content Officer at The Lead 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
The Indicator | October 3rd, 2025 By Sonal Gandhi Chief Content Officer at The Lead Most talked about news this week was the Shopify integration with ChatGPT to enable checkout from within the generative AI platform. The Manhattan borough of NYC is attracting new brands like IKEA and
