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UK's ASOS Sinks to First-half Loss

A model presents the latest creations from the Dior pre-fall 2024 women’s collection at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City, New York, US, April 15, 2024. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs
A model presents the latest creations from the Dior pre-fall 2024 women’s collection at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City, New York, US, April 15, 2024. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs
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UK's ASOS Sinks to First-half Loss

A model presents the latest creations from the Dior pre-fall 2024 women’s collection at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City, New York, US, April 15, 2024. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs
A model presents the latest creations from the Dior pre-fall 2024 women’s collection at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City, New York, US, April 15, 2024. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs

British online fashion retailer ASOS sunk to a first-half loss, as it battles competition from Chinese giant Shein and self-inflicted problems from excess stock, but it said it still expected an improvement over the year.
ASOS also named former Sainsburys and Amazon executive Dave Murray as its new chief financial officer on Wednesday, saying that his retail and e-commerce experience would help return the group to profitability, Reuters reported.
The company has struggled to grow since the pandemic and has cast its current financial year as a transition period, when it will speed up new collection launches and shed a build up of excess stock which has dragged on profits.
For the 26 weeks to March 3, ASOS posted an adjusted EBITDA loss of 16.3 million pounds ($20.3 million), compared to the 4.6 million pounds it made in the period last year.
Over the full-year period, it is sticking to a forecast for positive adjusted EBITDA on sales that are expected to be 5 to 15% lower.
"ASOS is becoming a faster and more agile business, and we are reiterating our guidance for the full year as we lay the foundations for sustainably profitable growth in full-year 2025 and beyond," CEO José Antonio Ramos Calamonte said.
ASOS is facing growing competition from fast-fashion giant Shein, which is expanding rapidly in Europe, offering low prices and benefiting from its speedy response to changing trends.

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Fashion

80-year-old LL Bean Staple Finds New Audience as Trendy Bag

Gracie Wiener poses with some of her tote bags in Washington Square Park in New York, Wednesday, July 17, 2024, (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Gracie Wiener poses with some of her tote bags in Washington Square Park in New York, Wednesday, July 17, 2024, (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
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80-year-old LL Bean Staple Finds New Audience as Trendy Bag

Gracie Wiener poses with some of her tote bags in Washington Square Park in New York, Wednesday, July 17, 2024, (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Gracie Wiener poses with some of her tote bags in Washington Square Park in New York, Wednesday, July 17, 2024, (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

L.L. Bean created it 80 years ago to haul heavy blocks of ice. Now it's a must-have summer fashion accessory, The Associated Press reported.

The simple, sturdy canvas bag called the Boat and Tote is having an extended moment 80 years after its introduction, thanks to a social media trend in which they're monogrammed with ironic or flashy phrases.

New Yorker Gracie Wiener helped get it started by ordering her humble bags from L.L. Bean monogrammed with “Psycho” and then “Prada,” the pricey Italian luxury brand, instead of just her name or initials, and posting about them on Instagram. Then others began showcasing their own unique bags on TikTok.

Soon, it wasn’t enough to have a bag monogrammed with “Schlepper,” “HOT MESS,” “slayyyy” or “cool mom.” Customers began testing the limits of the human censors in L.L. Bean’s monogram department, which bans profanity “or other objectionable words or phrases,” with more provocative wording like “Bite me,” “Dum Blonde” and “Ambitchous.”

Social media fueled the surge, just as it did for Stanley’s tumblers and Trader Joe’s $2.99 canvas bags, which were once selling on eBay for $200, said Beth Goldstein, an analyst at Circana, which tracks consumer spending and trends.
The tote’s revival came at a time when price-conscious consumers were forgoing expensive handbags, sales of which have weakened, and L.L. Bean’s bag fit the bill as a functional item that’s trendy precisely because it’s not trendy, she said. L.L. Bean's regular bags top out at about $55, though some fancier versions cost upward of $100.
“There’s a trend toward the utilitarian, the simple things and more accessible price points,” she said, and the customization added to the appeal: “Status items don’t have to be designer price points.”

L.L. Bean’s tote was first advertised in a catalog as Bean’s Ice Carrier in 1944 during World War II, when ice chests were common. Then they disappeared before being reintroduced in 1965 as the Boat and Tote.

These days, they’re still made in Maine and are still capable of hauling 500 pounds of ice, but they are far more likely to carry laptops, headphones, groceries, books, beach gear, travel essentials and other common items.

Those snarky, pop-oriented phrases transformed them into a sassy essential and helped them spread beyond Maine, Massachusetts’ Cape Cod and other New England enclaves to places like Los Angeles and New York City, where fashionistas like Gwyneth Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon and Sarah Jessica Parker are toting them — but not necessarily brandished with ironic phrases.

“It’s just one of those things that makes people smile and makes people laugh, and it’s unexpected,” said Wiener, who got it all started with her @ironicboatandtote Instagram page, which she started as a fun side hustle from her job as social media manager for Air Mail, a digital publication launched by former Vanity Fair Editor-in-Chief Graydon Carter.

The folks at L.L. Bean were both stunned and pleased by the continuing growth. For the past two years, the Boat and Tote has been L.L. Bean’s No. 1 contributor to luring in new customers, and sales grew 64% from fiscal years 2021 to 2023, spokesperson Amanda Hannah said.

The surge in popularity is reminiscent of L.L. Bean’s traditional hunting shoe, the iconic staple for trudging through rain and muck, which enjoyed its own moment a few years back, driven by college students.