One Indian factory group ships 69 percent of its garments to the United States, and its customers include Gap and Carhartt. Its managing director now says that share has to come down. Meanwhile Nike's answer to a shrinking business is running gear with a Swedish label that only just passed 50 million dollars in sales. It's been an interesting Monday. You're listening to Fashion Business Daily, and it's Monday, October 26. Three stories. Louis Vuitton confirms it has hired Hector Muelas from Tiffany for a role that didn't exist before. Nike and Our Legacy announce a running line for spring 2027. And Gokaldas Exports explains to Reuters why it's turning toward Europe.
Gianluca Bolelli, writing for FashionNetwork:
The appointment, confirmed by the French fashion and luxury house, entrusts Muelas with the strategic task of defining and steering the brand’s creative narrative across all touchpoints, ensuring rigorous visual consistency worldwide.
This one is confirmed by Louis Vuitton. The title is chief brand creative officer, it's newly created, and it starts on Sunday, November 1. Muelas reports to deputy CEO Damien Bertrand, who wrote in an internal memo that Muelas will oversee all the brand's campaigns. The art buying team under Magena Chansarel and the content factory under Carole Fuchs move into his group. So he's in charge of the image, not the clothes. Nobody should read this as a design appointment. Muelas gets the campaigns, the visuals and the content, and the designers keep the product. Right, and his career fits that. He has been at Tiffany since August 2023 and is credited there with reworking the jeweller's visual identity. Before that he was at Rimowa, which he joined in 2015 and where he served as chief brand officer from 2017 to 2019 and led the relaunch. Earlier he worked at Apple, Vice Media, Canal Plus, Creative Artists Agency and Wieden and Kennedy. The Rimowa job is the one I'd look at. He ran the relaunch and the international repositioning of a luggage brand. And in his LinkedIn post about the move he talks about travel. You can see why Vuitton wanted him. The question is why they need the job now. Bertrand says it's to further enhance the maison's appeal. The timing is the context. On October 12, LVMH reported fashion and leather goods down 5 percent in the third quarter, and that division includes Louis Vuitton. When a brand creates a new senior job to manage its image, it usually believes the image needs work. My worry is visual consistency worldwide. That's how you end up with very polished campaigns that all look alike. The people buying Vuitton already know the logo. What they want from the brand is a reason to be excited.
Lei Takanashi, with an exclusive for The Business of Fashion:
On its most recent earnings call in October, Hill said Nike’s running business continued to grow by double-digit rates quarterly even as total sales declined 4 percent versus the previous year, and said the strength of newer running sneakers such as the Vomero tripled Nike’s share in the max cushioned running category — dominated by competitors such as Hoka.
That's the background. The news is a partnership with Our Legacy Work Shop, the Swedish label's upcycling and collaboration arm, announced today. It's a full menswear and womenswear running range with new footwear and apparel designs, launching in spring 2027. Nike's Jarrett Reynolds says it was built from scratch and isn't a recolor of something that already exists. This is the most interesting thing Nike has done in a while. Co-founder Jockum Hallin runs every day, and he told BoF he doesn't want to look like a racehorse. That describes a lot of runners right now. They want Nike's technology without looking like they're about to race a marathon. There's real demand behind it. BoF says more than 1.3 million people applied for the 2027 London Marathon, compared with fewer than 600,000 for the 2024 race. BoF also points out that Satisfy, an independent running label, announced a larger partnership with Adidas in May. So Nike is responding to Adidas here. And I like that it won't be a hype release. Hallin says they're not going to launch 50 pairs online and sell out in seconds. The line goes through Nike and Our Legacy's own channels and a small number of chosen retailers. I'll keep the scale in mind. BoF says Our Legacy just passed 50 million dollars in sales, and LVMH took a minority stake in 2024. And Nike is still guiding revenue down by high-single digits. Even if this line sells out, it won't change that number. What it can do is help Nike look relevant in lifestyle running, the space Hoka and the smaller labels have been taking. That's the whole point of a collab. Nobody expects it to fix the revenue line. It's a sign of what kind of product Nike wants to be known for.
From Reuters, in a report published by Moneycontrol:
Gokaldas, which counts Pearl Global Industries and KPR Mill among its peers, expects the US share of exports to moderate from 69%, seeking to cut exposure to tariff shocks and policy uncertainty.
Gokaldas didn't say how far the US share will fall. It did give a target for Europe. Vice-chairman and managing director Sivaramakrishnan Ganapathi says Europe is about 15 percent of exports now and should be 25 to 30 percent in three to five years. He says the company is in talks with major European retailers, which he didn't name, ahead of duty-free trade. And duty-free trade depends on a deal that isn't signed yet. Correct. Reuters says the EU is expected to sign a trade deal with India by the end of 2026. That's an expectation, not a signed agreement. Ronak Shah of Equirus Securities says the deal could help, subject to implementation, product coverage and rules of origin. Our October 19 episode covered why this is happening. With the new Section 301 duties, the average US apparel tariff reached 22.7 percent in August, and imports from India fell 31 percent. And the important point for workers is that Gokaldas isn't moving its factories. Ganapathi says it is adding capacity in India and not shifting production elsewhere. It's spending 1.25 billion rupees, about 13.2 million dollars, in fiscal 2027 to expand and upgrade. That's better news for the people sewing the clothes than another factory moving to the next cheapest country. There's one thing working against the pivot, and Ganapathi raised it himself. Gokaldas's US orders for spring and summer 2027 are stronger than this holiday season, when its shipments from India rose 3 to 4 percent. American buyers are still ordering. Gokaldas just doesn't want to depend on them for two thirds of its business. Gap, Carhartt and JCPenney should take note. If their supplier is courting European retailers, they'll be competing with those retailers for the same production capacity.
A request for people who work on the supply side. If you place orders with Indian mills or you're renegotiating with a supplier over tariffs, tell us what's changing. Email fashionbusinessdaily at lantern podcasts dot com. Your note may shape what we cover.
One prediction. The Our Legacy pieces will resell for more than the Alphafly by next spring. We'll check the resale prices when they come out. Thanks for listening to Fashion Business Daily, part of the Lantern Podcasts network. Talk to you tomorrow, Tuesday.