Fashion firms focus on social media

Speed of reaction to social media trends is becoming more important in the battle between fast fashion and more established High Street retailers, say experts.

Young women are increasingly being influenced by what they see on apps such as Instagram, as well as by celebrities.

Fast fashion brands are jumping on these trends.

But High Street retailers say they are upping their game to compete.

The fashion industry is important to the UK economy. It supports 880,000 jobs, and contributes £28bn to GDP.

And for five days from Friday, the fashion world descends on the capital for London Fashion Week, which showcases British fashion and global brands.

Topshop's global marketing director Sheena Sauvaire told the BBC's Today programme that while the concoctions on the catwalk influence High Street retail design, social media is increasingly playing a role.

"The thing right now in fashion is it's not just runway that's inspiring those trends, trends are bubbling up on the streets.

"Street style will also inspire trends, so really it's become a melting pot of inspiration."

Just as social media is inspiring designers, it is also influencing young women in making style choices, she says.

"That's been the big shift... this inclusivity that social media brings, and the diversity. Girls want to see girls who look like them, that they can relate to wearing fashion, as opposed to those images that have been driven through print fashion magazines for many years."

Disruptive fashion firms, which quickly jump on trends, have recognised this and are gaining ground against High Street retailers.

Pink Boutique, one of the fastest growing fashion brands, says it takes design inspiration from sources including social media, says Dan Arden, the firm's chief commercial officer.

"There was... a saying that was trending over social media over recent months which was 'U OK hun?'," says Dan Arden, the firm's chief commercial officer.

"We were able to very quickly get that into slogan T-shirts - I think we turned that around in three days, and we were able to get that selling and online very quickly."

How quickly a brand can get a product through its supply chain directly correlates with sales, he adds.

Bricks and clicks

The fashion industry is evolving. In the past year, nearly seven out of 10 women have bought clothes online.

This year online fashion sales increased to 24% of total fashion spend, up from 17% in 2013.

Quiz Clothing defines itself as an "ultra-fast" fashion firm. Based in Glasgow, it recently floated on the AIM stock exchange, valuing the company at £200m.

Chief commercial officer Sheraz Ramzan says the firm has grown from "a couple of stores in Scotland to what is now over 300 outlets trading in over 20 countries".

"We've always been a fast fashion brand, and I think now that the buzzword that we're hearing is that we are an 'ultra-fast' fashion brand, and we've developed a very slick supply chain to allow the brand to react very quickly to fashion trends."

'Fierce competition'

So where does that leave bricks and mortar retailers? Have they been swept aside by this tsunami of fast fashion - or are they OK hun?

Richard Cristofoli, marketing director at Debenhams, isn't fazed: "Retail generally has always been fast moving, and critically it's a multi-channel business, not just a High Street business.

"So Debenhams today - over a fifth of our sales are online, and increasingly people are blending the channels - they are shopping online, collecting in store, or browsing in store, and shopping on their phones.

"We see it as a very fluid and dynamic place to be, but undoubtedly it is challenging."

Topshop is another retailer that is finding the line between online and physical shopping is getting blurred.

Ms Sauvaire says: "We know from insight that pretty much anyone now that's coming into our store, she's been on our site already.

She said people see trends on social media, browse online, then go into a physical store to try on clothes.

And it's this blurring of the lines that represents a real opportunity for established retailers, she says.

"If we can knit together the online experience with the physical experience, get to better know our customer and give her personalised choices, the right product at the right time, that's going to be the winning place for retail."

And how to do this? Through technology that is still in development, she says.

Meanwhile, the battle between fast fashion and the High Street continues.

"It keeps us on our toes. Fierce competition, nimble, agile competition is what they are, and it means that you really interrogate your business and your operating model, and who you're for as well," Ms Sauvaire says.

BBC

Hillary Clinton rails on Facebook for its role in spreading Russian propaganda

Hillary Clinton has a message for Facebook: the company needs to "own up" to its role in spreading Russian propaganda during the 2016 presidential campaign.

"They have a long way to go before they get to where they need to be, in my opinion," Clinton said on "The Rachel Maddow Show" on Thursday.

Clinton's remarks, made during an extensive book tour, were her most pointed criticisms of Facebook to date.

She said her critique applies to "other tech companies," too, but did not name any others.

"We now know that they were sowing discord during the election with phony groups on Facebook. They were running anti-immigrant, anti-me, anti-Hillary Clinton demonstrations," she said.

This seemed to be a reference to recent reporting by The Daily Beast that "Russian operatives hiding behind false identities used Facebook's event-management tool to remotely organize and promote political protests in the U.S., including an August 2016 anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim rally in Idaho."

News outlets have described other U.S. protests that may have been aided by online organizers with Russian links.

These events did not amount to much. But the various uses of Facebook by Russian trolls and propagandists is one area of interest to the U.S. officials who are probing Russian interference in the election.

"They were, you know, putting out all this 'fake news,' all these negative stories that were untrue, to, really, divide people," Clinton continued. Facebook declined to comment on Clinton's remarks.

Clinton asserted that U.S. government investigations and corporate "transparency" are necessary.

"Look, we may have our disagreements among Americans," she said on Maddow's show, but "we're not going to let the Russians come in and divide us. And so we're going to make Facebook own up to everything. They've just begun to own up."

Clinton indicated that she will remain engaged on the issue.

"We're going to go after these provocateurs, these Russians posing as Americans, these content farms in Macedonia, these thousands [of] trolls, these tens of thousands of bots," she said. "We have every right to have a vigorous debate in America, but we don't want it being interfered with and suborned by Putin and his allies."

After the interview, Maddow said that she was struck by Clinton's remarks about Facebook.

Earlier in the week, Clinton also brought up Facebook during an interview on the "Pod Save America" podcast.

"We have to make sure that the playing field is level" for Democratic candidates, Clinton said. "I mean, what we're finding out about Facebook, the largest site for news in the world, means we gotta figure out how that won't work to our disadvantage."

CNN Money

BREAKING NEWS: Nigerian Military declares IPOB “terrorist organisation”

The Nigerian military has declared the pro-Biafra separatist group, IPOB, a “terrorist organisation.”

The military made the declaration in a statement on Friday by the Director of Defence Information, John Enenche.

Clashes between soldiers on a military operation and IPOB members in Abia State have left several people wounded. Although there have been reports of deaths particularly of IPOB members, none has been confirmed.

IPOB and its leader, Nnamdi Kanu are campaigning for an independent country of Biafra made up of ethnic Igbos. Although they had said their campaign was non-violent, Mr. Kanu said this week that that stance would be reviewed, accusing the military of attacking unharmed members of his organisation.

PREMIUM TIMES also reported how the police in Abia State blamed IPOB for the burning of a police station in Aba, where a dusk to dawn curfew has since been imposed.

In his statement, Mr. Enenche, a major general, listed five reasons the military considered for labelling IPOB a terror group.

These include “The formation of a Biafra Secret Service, claimed formation of Biafra National Guard, unauthorised blocking of public access roads; extortion of money from innocent civilians at illegal road blocks, and militant possession and use of weapons (stones, molotov cocktails, machetes and broken bottles among others) on a military patrol on 10 September 2017.”

Read the military’s full statement below.

PUBLIC AWARENESS ON THE STATE OF INDEPENDENT PEOPLE OF BIAFRA

1. The Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) group which has posed to be a security challenge in the Country, has been metamorphosing from one stage to the other. After due professional analysis and recent developments, it has become expedient, to notify the general public that; the claim by IPOB actors that the organization is non-violent is not true. Hence, the need to bring to public awareness the true and current state of IPOB. In this regard, some of their actions, clandestinely and actively, that has been terrorising the general public among others include;

a. The formation of a Biafra Secret Service.
b. Claimed formation of Biafra National Guard.
c. Unauthorised blocking of public access roads.
d. Extortion of money from innocent civilians at illegal road blocks.
e. Militant possession and use of weapons (stones, molotov cocktails, machetes and broken bottles among others) on a military patrol on 10 September 2017.
f. Physical confrontation of troops by Nnamdi Kanu and other IPOB actors at a check point on

11 September 2017 and also attempts to snatch their rifles.

g. Attack by IPOB members, on a military check point on 12 September 2017, at Isialangwa, where one IPOB actor attempted to snatch a female soldier’s rifle.

3. From the foregoing, the Armed Forces of Nigeria wishes to confirm to the general public that IPOB from all intent, plan and purpose as analysed, is a militant terrorist organisation. Therefore, parents and particularly unsuspecting residents of the South East and other Nigerians should advice their wards to desist from joining the group.

4. The Defence Headquarters restates its commitment to handling all the security challenges in the Country and further assures all Nigerians of the protection of lives and property.

Device used during London metro incident did not fully detonate: Sky News

LONDON (Reuters) - The device used during an incident at a London metro station on Friday did not fully detonate, Sky News reported, citing unnamed sources.

Several people were injured at a London underground station after witnesses reported a blast on a packed rush-hour commuter train which police were treating as a terrorism incident.

Business interrupted: hurricane-damaged firms dig in for insurance fight

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Business owners who are trying to get back on track after hurricanes Harvey and Irma now face a different sort of challenge: trying to recoup lost income from their insurers.

Exclusions in the fine print of policies, along with waiting periods and disagreements over how to measure a company’s lost income, make business interruption claims among the trickiest in an industry renowned for complexity.

“I think the whole thing is a rip-off,” said Thomas Arnold, an optometrist in Sugar Land, Texas. He said his business, Today’s Vision, was shuttered for almost five days after Hurricane Harvey struck because nearby flooding kept employees and patients from getting there.

Arnold says he pays $1,083 per month for coverage. But after he filed a claim, he said the U.S. unit of Zurich Insurance Group AG, rejected it because his business was not physically damaged.

Zurich does not comment about specific claims, the company said in a statement. It added that business interruption coverage generally requires “direct physical damage” to a property for a payout. It was Arnold’s second disappointing experience with business interruption coverage. He said another insurer denied his claim in 2008 after a nine-day power outage from Hurricane Ike.

Devastating storms are hitting the United States with increasing frequency. Risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide predicts losses to all properties from the flooding in Texas alone will be $65 billion to $75 billion, regardless of whether they are insured.

The income lost by shuttered firms makes up a significant chunk of overall losses from a natural disaster and can hobble the pace of a community’s economic and social recovery.

Hurricane Katrina in 2005, for example, caused about $25 billion in insured commercial losses, of which $6 billion to $9 billion has been attributed to business interruption, according to information posted on AIR’s website.

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)does not offer a business interruption component. The program is largely used by homeowners, but it also covers commercial structures for up to $500,000 in damage, with another $500,000 for the contents.

That is why companies able to afford the additional protection of business interruption insurance, usually large and medium-sized firms, often purchase it despite the potential for unsuccessful and drawn-out claims.

Big Star Honda, a car dealership in Houston, lost 600 vehicles - 95 percent of its inventory - and was shut for five days after Harvey.

Its managers are now girding themselves for a potentially long slog with the firm’s insurance company as the dealership prepares to make a claim on its business interruption policy.

“We’re collecting every single invoice that pertains to the hurricane,” said Allen Paul, Houston regional vice president of Ken Garff Automotive Group, which owns the dealership.

“I‘m really curious to see how that goes,” he said.

The dealership also has a flood policy through the NFIP, but relatively few firms do. As of June 30, 2017, the NFIP had just 264,681 non-residential policies, said a spokeswoman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the agency that runs the government-backed flood insurance program.

That figure covers businesses but could also include churches, private schools and community centers, and is a sliver of the estimated 2.4 million small businesses located in flood-prone Florida alone.

NUMBER CRUNCHING

Insurers such as Travelers Companies Inc and Hartford Financial Services Group Inc are bracing for a wave of claims from businesses in Texas and Florida.

They face a daunting task. The size and scope of the two storms, which pounded the states within two weeks of each other, affected everything from energy refineries to hoteliers.

“Insurers are craving information now,” said Allen Melton, Americas Leader of Insurance Claims Services for Ernst & Young LLP. “They want to know how big a claim we are looking at and what the issues are.”

The answers to those questions are often difficult for businesses and insurance companies to pinpoint. Both sides often hire their own forensic accountants to comb through profit-and-loss accounts from the current and prior years.

It can take months, and sometimes years, for a policyholder to receive monies owed. Insurance brokerage Aon PLC is still working on claims from Hurricane Matthew, which struck South Carolina last October, said Jill Dalton, who leads claims for Aon.

Many business owners in the storm-ravaged Florida Keys are not even close to estimating their losses because they cannot get to their properties yet.

“When you have property damage, you can pretty much figure out how much it costs to buy nails and a hammer and wood,” said Gary Marchitello, North American Head of Property Broking for Willis Towers Watson PLC. “But reasonable minds can differ about how the business would have done if the loss hadn’t occurred.”

Payouts can hinge on factors such as whether a storm hits during a slow season or if a business can make up for lost time in another quarter.

Back in Texas, Arnold, the optometrist, is rethinking his coverage. “I‘m going to sit down with my insurer and drastically cut my insurance,” he said.

“If my office burns down or a tornado hits it, I want coverage for that,” Arnold said. “But if people come in my office and steal my glasses, I’ll pay for that.”

Several hurt in 'terrorist' incident on London underground train

LONDON (Reuters) - Several people were injured at a London underground station on Friday after witnesses reported a blast on a packed rush-hour commuter train which police were treating as a terrorism incident.

Emergency services said they had been called to reports of a fire on a train at Parsons Green station in West London at 8.20 a.m. (0720 GMT)

“It is too early to confirm the cause of the fire, which will be subject to the investigation that is now underway by the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command,” London police said in a statement.

Commissioner Neil Basu, the senior national coordinator for counter-terrorism policing, had declared it a terrorist incident, the statement said.

The Metro newspaper reported that passengers had suffered facial burns from a blast and others had been hurt in a subsequent stampede.

An unverified picture circulating on social media showed a white bucket with a supermarket freezer bag on the floor of one train carriage. The bucket was in flames and there appeared to be wires coming out of the top.

German union attacks Air Berlin administrators for decision delay

FRANKFURT, Sept 15 (Reuters) - A German union criticised Air Berlin's administrators for delaying a decision on a carve-up of the insolvent airline until after this month's election, saying it was irresponsible to leave thousands of jobs in the balance.

Administrators are seeking to sell the business, with bids due to be submitted by 2 p.m. (1200 GMT) on Friday. However, a final decision has been pushed back to Sept. 25, the day after Germany's national election and four days later than previously planned.

"This postponement is at the expenses of the workers, who want a decision on their jobs and their future," Verdi union board member Christine Behle said in a statement on Friday.

Air Berlin, Germany's second largest airline, filed for insolvency last month after major shareholder Etihad withdrew funding following years of losses.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government has granted a 150 million-euro ($179 million) loan to prevent Air Berlin's planes from being grounded.

Air Berlin employs around 8,000 people but it is not clear how much of the company will survive.

Most potential investors are seen as being interested primarily in the airline's roughly 140 leased aircraft and its airport landing and take-off slots rather than its operating business or employees.

Leading German airline Lufthansa plans to make an offer for up to 90 planes, including Austrian unit Niki's fleet and 38 crewed planes it already leases from Air Berlin, a source has told Reuters.

British budget carrier EasyJet is also interested in up to 40 planes, according to previous media reports.

Three-time Formula One world champion Niki Lauda has partnered with holiday firm Thomas Cook's German airline Condor to make a bid worth around 100 million euros for Niki and 17 additional Air Berlin aircraft, the former racing driver has told Austrian media.

Other interested parties include aviation industry investor Hans Rudolf Woehrl, who says he has submitted a bid for the whole of Air Berlin, while German family-owned logistics company Zeitfracht and China's LinkGlobal Logistics have also expressed their interest.

German daily Handelsblatt said on Thursday that the former head of German utility EnBW, Utz Claassen, had put up 100 million euros to buy the carrier and pledged another 600 million in liquidity.

Air Berlin was forced to cancel flights on two days this week after pilots called in sick in unusually high numbers, potentially complicating rescue efforts.

($1 = 0.8391 euros)