Fashion, luxury and lifestyle aggregator – January 2026
UK retail sales see a gentle Christmas boost
Retail sales rose by 0.4% in December 2025 amid budget and inflation uncertainty, reversing declines in October and November. The boost to sales over the December festive period was bolstered by a rise in e-commerce, particularly online jewellers.
Spending was still diverted towards essentials. M&S saw a 2.9% drop in clothing sales, citing reduced high street footfall and ‘the long tail impact’ of its cybersecurity attack in spring. The outlook looked brighter for Next, with full-price sales up 10.6%, though it warned that rising unemployment would erode consumer purchasing power and slow growth in 2026. Luxury brand Mulberry reported a 5.3% increase in group sales during the festive trading period and a rise of 2.5% in UK sales, indicating progress in its turnaround strategy.
Fashion’s 2026 outlook
McKinsey reports that the start of 2026 brought a renewed wave of economic volatility due to US tariffs, which was cited as the main hurdle for brands and suppliers. LVMH chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault warned that the year ahead ‘won’t be simple’ and in the ‘short term it is very difficult to provide a serious forecast’ amidst so much geopolitical uncertainty. Overall, the global fashion industry is predicted to post low single-digit growth in 2026, underpinned by ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty.
AI, including automation and generative AI, is said to become business critical for fashion brands, instead of a ‘nice to have’. Jewellery is predicted to be the biggest growth area in fashion by unit sales in 2026, growing at four times the rate of clothing. The resale market is also expected to increase three times as fast as the first-hand market through to 2027.
Luxury department stores under pressure – Saks seeks shelter in bankruptcy
Luxury retailer Saks Global, which owns Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, has filed for bankruptcy in the US. The company has announced it secured $1.75 billion in financing which will allow stores to remain open during the proceedings. Saks has struggled with financial woes since its $2.7 billion acquisition of Neiman Marcus in 2024, which it financed using $2.2 billion of borrowed funds, subsequently struggling to pay back its vendors. Luxury brands, including Chanel and Kerring, are amongst Saks’ top creditors owed the most money, with some brands having stopped shipping their goods altogether. Stores are currently reported to have noticeable merchandise gaps.
Meanwhile, Macy’s plans to close 14 stores this year, after shutting 66 in 2025, as part of its February 2024 turnaround plan. The strategy has seen the US department store raise its full-year sales and earnings outlook for the second consecutive quarter.
Closer to home, North East luxury department store chain Fenwick shut its flagship Bond Street store in February 2024, but is now narrowing its losses for the second year running. This year, Fenwick has focussed on its partnership with Selected, a Danish fashion brand, launching a new ‘omnichannel activation‘ that combines physical retail with digital content.
A similar fate is suffered by Selfridges which has recorded its fifth consecutive year of declining sales. The retailer faults the removing of tax-free shopping for tourists, which sees them opting for Paris and Milan over London.
Luxury takes centre stage at 82nd Golden Globes
The 82nd Golden Globe Awards were held on 5 January 2026, marking the start of the entertainment industry’s awards season. The event featured heavy participation from luxury brands. Moët & Chandon, the LVMH Moët Hennessey Louis Vuitton-owned champagne brand, was an official sponsor for the 35th consecutive year. The partnership featured its traditional ‘Toast for a Cause’ initiative, inviting high profile guests to raise a glass and trigger donations to their chosen charities, and embeds the maison’s association with Hollywood glamour.
Other sponsors also included luxury lifestyle magazine Robb Report who curated the 2026 winners’ ‘Ultimate Gift Bag’ valued at just under $1 million and representing the most expansive gift and experience assortment to date, with recipients able to create their own luxury experiences all wrapped in a bespoke Atlas suede duffel bag.
Prada finalises acquisition of Versace
On 2 December 2025, Prada announced that it had completed the acquisition of luxury fashion house Versace for $1.38 billion. Capri Holdings, Versace’s parent company, originally paid $2 billion for the brand in 2018, meaning the sale comes at a $620 million loss. Despite this, the sale will help Capri Holdings reduce some of its debt burden.
Prada Group CEO, Andrea Guerra, described the acquisition as a strategic opportunity that the group could afford to invest in, financially and from an organisational standpoint. The acquisition will expand the group’s portfolio of designer brands, as it continues to compete with luxury giants, such as LVMH and Kering. Guerra and Versace’s executive chairman, Lorenzo Bertelli, will jointly oversee the brand going forward. Shortly after the acquisition was announced, Versace’s creative director Dario Vitale exited the company on 12 December 2025. A successor has not yet been named.
Prada continues to report strong financial results. For the nine-month period ended 30 September 2025, it generated revenue of approximately $4 billion – a 9% year on year increase, marking 19 consecutive quarters of growth. Meanwhile, Versace’s revenue for fiscal year 2025 fell 20.3% to $821 million, largely due to declining demand for luxury fashion goods.
Prada’s chairman, Patrizio Bertelli, has emphasised that the goal is to ‘continue Versace’s legacy celebrating and re-interpreting its bold and timeless aesthetic’. Whilst Prada is known for its more minimalist, cutting-edge style that differs from Versace’s flamboyant identity, Bertelli has previously highlighted that this difference is a strength, and there is no overlap creatively or commercially.
Malin + Goetz administration exposes cracks in high-end beauty and skincare
New York established skincare and fragrance brand Malin + Goetz put its UK operations into administration last week, closing its head office and all seven of its UK stores, and leading to redundancies of its store staff. Online sales have been temporarily suspended whilst its e-commerce platform transitions to its US teams. Sales via selected third party retailers such as Liberty, John Lewis and Space NK will continue through a new partnership with distributor Discovered Brands.
Malin + Goetz follow in the footprints of other failed health and beauty retailers, with the Body Shop and Bodycare also collapsing in recent years. The closures highlight continuing challenges in the wider UK retail market, including rising costs, reduced footfall and competition from online-only retailers, that premium brands were perhaps once thought to be more insulated from. Luxury brands have historically had the advantage of loyal, high-income customers, brand power and stronger margins.
However, the fall of Malin + Goetz could indicate that pressures are now also felt by high-end brands, and not just the value sector of retail. The luxury fashion sector has shown it is not as resilient as it once was, with many luxury brands seeing a continued retail slump. Luxury giant Kering, for example, reported a drop in revenue at the back end of 2025, with sales at its flagship brand Gucci plummeting. But the fall of luxury beauty and skincare in particular could also be a by-product of market oversaturation. There are success stories including Victoria Beckham Beauty which has reported a fourth consecutive year of double-digit revenue growth at a time when other luxury brands are experiencing softer demand.