Gucci’s Crypto Move, Jane Fonda for H&M – WWD

GUCCI X CRYPTO: Gucci began accepting cryptocurrency in a few US stores in May, and is now going all-in on blockchain-based payments.

When BitPay — the Italian luxury house’s crypto payment platform of choice — announced new support for two more coins on Tuesday, ApeCoin and Euro Coin, Gucci stepped up as the first major brand to accept one of those options through the platform.

With the addition of ApeCoin, the clientele will have a dozen options to pay for goods with tokenized digital money, rounding out a selection that includes Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Wrapped Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Shiba Inu and 5 USD pegged stablecoins (GUSD , USDC, USDP, DAI and BUSD).

The Italian luxury brand dipped its toe into crypto with just five stores initially, but saw fit to expand its support. Today, more than two-thirds of Gucci’s US-based stores accept the alternative payments, representing 70 percent of the full, directly operated network in this market. The rest won’t be left out for long, though: The company plans to make those locations crypto-ready by this week, amounting to full support across its own US retail operations.

According to Stephen Pair, BitPay’s CEO, the platform was simply responding to demand. “We added ApeCoin and Euro Coin because customers of our luxury retailers asked for it,” he said in a statement.

ApeCoin is a token of the well-hyped Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection, a subsidiary of Yuga Labs. Bored Ape Yacht Club is widely sought after by celebrities and other wealthy individuals, and ApeCoin will be the main token used across the Ape ecosystem, Web3 games, experiences and community. ApeCoin holders can shop at BitPay merchants – which include premium brands and retailers, as well as popular services like UberEats and DoorDash – handing over tokens for cash with a BitPay card, trading them, or just keeping them.

The volatile world of crypto investing is an adventure sport unto itself, with heart-pounding swings. Bitcoin and Ethereum, for example, are bouncing back energetically after a big crash in June set off nerves. But the fascination with blockchain-based currency endures, and its die-hard fan base remains undeterred.

In the case of Gucci, the logical assumption is that it must respond to its customers. After all, if BitPay’s Pair is right, demand must increase among luxury consumers. But this scenario is not a given, and the company declined a WWD request for comment, so it is not known how many of its customers are actually using Bitcoin or Dogecoin.

Another, perhaps more likely possibility, is that the embrace of crypto allows the brand to face future initiatives.

The world of technology and fashion seems obsessed with the idea of ​​mixing brick-and-mortar stores with the virtual world and digital products. If Gucci—which has been active in digital collectibles, avatar wearables, and NFTs, as well as partnerships with virtual worlds like Roblox and The Sandbox—wanted to connect or even embed metaverse experiences and Web 3.0 transactions into its brick-and-mortar stores, and preparing every store in a high-value market to accept crypto is a great place to start. —Adriana Lee

GOING FURTHER UP: H&M has a few new tricks up its sleeve.

The global fast-fashion retailer is launching an accessible athleisure line, Move, and has tapped Jane Fonda and choreographer JaQuel Knight to front its first campaign across digital and social.

The line launches on Thursday with the mission to “democratize sportswear” and reshape athletics with a more accessible language for “movement.”

“Removing barriers to sport is very much at the heart of our purpose,” the company said in a statement.

Fonda, who revolutionized fitness four decades ago with her home video series, “Jane Fonda’s Workout,” is one of the first celebrity faces on the line.

“I have spent much of my own life getting people moving and was naturally drawn to H&M Move’s mission to get the whole world moving. I also really liked their philosophy of “movement wear” rather than “sportswear,” she said. “For me, it’s not about sports or being the most athletic. It’s about giving your body the kind of movement it needs to stay healthy, so it can take care of you.”

Recreating some of her signature moves as an instructor, Fonda also dances alongside Beyoncé and Megan thee Stallion choreographer Knight in the video clip.

“Collaborating with H&M Move felt like a great opportunity to further my personal mission to break down barriers to movement and make the world move and dance. Together, we’re setting a new precedent when it comes to sports and showing that you don’t need a subscription to move,” added Knight.

The Move line ranges from tights and bras to activewear designed for training and running, while Fonda and Knight models from the Monogram capsule feature logo-branded tracksuits. Special parts are designed for support, quick-drying and all-weather elements.

H&M says 99 percent of the Move-line polyester is recycled, and the cotton is “more sustainably sourced.” The brand has recently come under fire from the Danish Consumer Protection Agency for marketing outdoor clothing as sustainable, and a class action lawsuit was filed on July 22 in the US that refutes the company’s claims about sustainability and recycling. – Rhonda Richford

STRATEGIC CHANGE: It has followed layoffs at Glossier as it refocuses its distribution strategy.

The brand, a former direct-to-consumer darling that unveiled a retail partnership with Sephora last week, has laid off 24 employees as it streamlines to meet the needs of its omnichannel strategy under newly appointed CEO Kyle Leahy.

“Glossier’s first chapter was almost exclusively focused on a single distribution channel. Now we’ve grown, the marketplace has evolved, and our consumers are looking to us to meet them where they are: in-store, online, with retail partners and around the world,” Leahy said in a statement. “We are reorganizing our company to align our structure, scale and talent with our refined omnichannel strategy. While these decisions are incredibly difficult, I am confident that Glossier is positioned for success in its next chapter.”

In an internal memo obtained from an anonymous source by WWD, Leahy noted that the company is “reorganizing our company to align the structure, scope and talent with our refined strategy.”

The memo also mentioned that the company is adding 20 new employees “to support key areas and priority initiatives, including in wholesale, product, supply chain and operations.”

Down the line, the brand will “elevate our product roadmap, launch our partnership with Sephora in early 2023, re-platform our website in fall 2022, and open an exciting pipeline of new stores across major US cities, culminating in our return to SoHo with our flagship in NYC in early 2023,” Leahy said in the note.

According to 2021 year-end data from The NPD Group, “Instabrands” — the class of brands that includes Glossier and Jeffree Star, among others — fell the most last year of any brand type in the U.S. prestige market. – James Manso