The Business of Fashion Podcast

As conflict between the US, Israel and Iran escalates, the threat to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has pushed energy prices sharply higher. That matters to fashion far beyond the pump: oil and natural gas helps power factories, move goods and produce synthetic fabrics used across the industry. 

Shayeza Walid and Cathaleen Chen join hosts Sheena Butler-Young and Brian Baskin to explain how the immediate pressure of s...

This year marks the 125th anniversary of Nordstrom — a company that began as a small shoe store in Seattle founded by a Swedish immigrant and has grown into a $16 billion retail juggernaut.

At a moment when the American department store sector is under enormous pressure — with bankruptcies, consolidation and changing consumer behaviour reshaping the landscape — Nordstrom has taken a different path.

Last year, the Nordstrom fa...

Hip-hop has served as a primary pipeline for fashion’s entry into pop culture for decades, transitioning from organic street-level references to high-stakes global partnerships. Brands have historically leaned on a select group of superstar "style icons" to drive visibility, with A$AP Rocky emerging as the definitive case study for this crossover. However, as Gen Z consumer habits shift and the traditional music-to-market pipeline ...

Over the past two years, press tours for films like Barbie and Wuthering Heights have become strategic fashion narratives — moments that extend a film’s story far beyond the screen.

At the centre of that shift is Andrew Mukamal, the stylist for Margot Robbie who has become synonymous with what’s become known as “method dressing” … aligning a film’s character, fashion history and brand partnerships into a cohesive red carpet stor...

Nearly a year after President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs sent shockwaves through the fashion industry, the Supreme Court ruled he did not have authority to impose the sweeping levies. For an industry that imports billions of dollars in clothing, footwear and accessories into the US each year, the decision initially felt like relief. But that optimism narrowed almost immediately as new tariffs were introduced at 10 perc...

If you’ve been to a major party in London, Paris or Los Angeles, chances are that Dave Benett was there too. For nearly four decades, Benett has been a constant presence, documenting the evolution of celebrity, society and style in all the spaces and places where culture is happening. 

From concerts with Madonna and Prince to after-parties with Princess Diana and the rise of fashion as a pillar of culture, Benett has seen i...

After raising prices aggressively during the post-pandemic boom, luxury brands are now confronting slower growth and a shrinking aspirational customer base. According to Bernstein, average luxury price hikes reached 36 percent between 2020 and 2023, with Dior and Chanel raising prices by 51 percent and 59 percent, respectively. Now, as Bain estimates that more than 50 million aspirational shoppers have left the category, both house...

From a childhood in Sierra Leone to navigating London as a teenage immigrant, Ib Kamara traces the cultural shocks that shaped his creative identity. He recounts hiding his artistic ambitions while studying science, breaking through with a Beyoncé commission in his early 20s, redefining Dazed as a global publication and ultimately stepping into the role of art and image director at Off-White after the death of Virgil Abloh.

BoF ...

While the Olympics remain one of the world’s biggest sporting stages, they are also one of the most tightly controlled marketing environments. Rules limit how sponsors can interact with athletes and advertise during the Games. As a result, fashion and sportswear brands are finding alternative ways to capitalise on the moment, from outfitting national teams and launching capsule collections to sending squads of influencers to experi...

In this Ask Me Anything episode, Imran Amed answers questions submitted by listeners from around the world, spanning luxury’s current downturn, the collapse of major wholesale platforms, the realities facing emerging designers, and how global growth narratives in India and Africa are often misunderstood. The conversation later zooms out to hear Amed’s advice on education and training, fashion journalism, and the skills needed to bu...

Influencer marketing in 2026 is a different beast. Once dominated by follower counts and splashy sponsored posts, the sector is now shaped by richer performance data, new monetisation models and growing consumer scepticism toward overt selling. 

As BoF publishes a new case study on the creator economy, Pearl joins hosts Sheena Butler-Young and Brian Baskin to unpack how creators and brands are adapting to a more disciplined...

Editor-at-large, Tim Blanks and editor-in-chief, Imran Amed are back from the Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2026 shows where the biggest moments of the week lived up to all the anticipation.

Jonathan Anderson’s debut at Dior reframed couture as a six-month creative lab — a backbone that can feed the entire maison with technique, emotion and ideas. At Chanel, Matthieu Blazy stripped away the obvious codes to put construction, movem...

Across fashion, companies that once embraced remote or hybrid work are increasingly pushing employees back into the office, with some moving towards four or even five days a week. At the same time, competition for jobs, particularly at entry level, is intensifying amid layoffs, slower industry growth and the rise of AI. 

On this episode of The Debrief, senior correspondent Sheena Butler-Young and executive editor Brian Bask...

On Monday Jan. 26, Jonathan Anderson debuted his first couture collection for Christian Dior.

In December, BoF founder Imran Amed travelled to Paris to meet with Anderson to get a first look, and to take stock of his journey thus far.

Anderson is unveiling his first Dior couture collection while orchestrating a sprawling calendar across men’s, women’s and accessories. He explains how couture went from “irrelevant” in his min...

Speaking at the Institut Français de la Mode graduation ceremony in Paris, BoF founder and CEO Imran Amed reflected on his own personal  journey that led him to create The Business of Fashion, starting with a chance encounter with a stranger in the New Delhi airport.

“That moment was the beginning of my search for purpose, to build a life and career with meaning in service of something greater than myself,” he says. “It was...

Sneakers have driven growth for the sportswear industry for decades, in recent years accelerated by the pandemic and work-from-home culture. However, a recent Bank of America report sparked debate by suggesting the sneaker boom may be nearing an end, including a rare double downgrade of Adidas. 

On The Debrief, sports correspondent Mike Sykes joins hosts Brian Baskin and Sheena Butler-Young to examine whether slowing growth mar...

Willa Bennett is the editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan and Seventeen — two of the most influential legacy media brands now being reimagined for a social-first, creator-driven era.

Bennett grew up in Los Angeles, trained as a ballerina and studied journalism at Sarah Lawrence before building a standout career at Bustle Digital Group, GQ and Highsnobiety. Along the way, she’s helped redefine how youth culture is covered — not by cha...

Saks’ bankruptcy was widely expected, yet still felt like a shock to the fashion system. 

The department store giant’s Chapter 11 filing outlines $1.75 billion in restructuring finance and $3.4 billion owed to as many as 25,000 creditors – including $136 million to Chanel alone. Who will get paid, and what Saks looks like at the other end of the bankruptcy process, is an open question. 

Former Neiman Marcus chief Ge...

2026 opens with real movement in beauty deals. 

As first reported by The Business of Beauty, Estée Lauder is exploring a packaged sale of Too Faced, Smashbox and Dr. Jart to free up cash and refocus the portfolio. 

Who’s next? Colour fatigue is depressing makeup valuations, while fragrance, bodycare and haircare are drawing the most credible buyer interest, particularly from beauty conglomerates. 

Executiv...