Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Rent the Runway lays off 10% of corporate staff
Rent the Runway is cutting its corporate workforce by 10%, which affects 37 employees, the company announced in a SEC filing on Monday. The layoffs will be implemented by the second quarter of the year, and are meant to redirect costs toward Rent the Runway’s marketing, inventory expansion and customer experience improvements. {Business of Fashion/paywalled}
Chanel and What Goes Around Comes Around trial begins
The trial between Chanel and What Goes Around Comes Around over trademark and infringement issues is now underway in New York federal court. Chanel’s initial 2018 lawsuit against the vintage resale company alleged that WGACA tried to deceive consumers that the two companies were affiliated and that Chanel authenticated the pre-owned goods, WWD reports. The juried trial is expected to take at least two weeks and could shape how resale retailers market the authenticity of their products. {WWD/paywalled}
Luxury brands have not eliminated forced labor, per a new report
Luxury brands are failing to protect workers in their supply chains, according to a report from the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC). The fourth edition of the BHRRC’s KnowTheChain Apparel and Footwear Benchmark, which examines 65 of the world’s largest apparel and footwear companies, found that 27.6 million people experience forced labor globally. It also noted that the largest 20 apparel companies reached a combined growth of $42 billion, while the workers are owed at least $75 million in unpaid wages. {Vogue Business/paywalled}
How AI is changing fashion’s recruiting process
Fashion and beauty brands are increasingly turning to AI to help remedy recruiting challenges such as sorting through large quantities of resumes and writing job postings. This technology could also be used for reducing implicit bias within the hiring process or for predicting a potential hire’s future performance. But while there are a number of startups using AI during the hiring process, the technology is still in its early stages and could also present its own biases. With more improved models, AI could go beyond weeding out resumes missing key words and instead analyze applications for transferable skills and future potential. {Business of Fashion/paywalled}
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Source: Fashionista.com
