Publications

24 May 2021
Op-Ed

Can Fabric Waste Become Fashion’s Resource?

COVID-19 has broken fashion’s supply chain. As a result, an already wasteful industry has become more wasteful. Even before the pandemic, the global apparel industry was producing about 92 million tons of textile waste a year. That’s about one garbage truck’s worth of... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones and Shelly Xu; Fashion

July 2023
Case

Crocs: Using Community-Centric Marketing to Make Ugly Iconic

By: Ayelet Israeli and Anne V. Wilson

In 2022, the Crocs Classic Clog was the best-selling item of clothing on Amazon, the brand was one of the fastest growing brands in the U.S., and global net revenue had increased to approximately $3.6 billion. By most accounts, Crocs had become the “it” shoe. Crocs... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Product Development; Growth and Development; Customer Value and Value Chain; Digital Marketing; Digital Strategy; Segmentation; Advertising; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States

07 Jul 2021
Book

Good News for Disgraced Companies: You Can Regain Trust

providing a warm, welcoming, personalized experience at every level, from executives and managers to housekeeping and wait staff. And Patagonia has demonstrated its pro-environment stance by continually re-examining its practices—from selling organic cotton and... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

January 2015
Case

The Blonde Salad

By: Anat Keinan, Kristina Maslauskaite, Sandrine Crener and Vincent Dessain

In 2014, Chiara Ferragni, a globe-trotting founder of the world's most popular fashion blog The Blonde Salad, and Riccardo Pozzoli, her co-founder and business partner, had to decide how to best monetize her blog as well as her shoe line called the "Chiara Ferragni... View Details

Web

Building Iconic Brands and Brighter Futures: Interview with Glossier CEO, Kyle Leahy - Recruiting

athletic apparel into accessories and then beauty. Making small, connected steps along the way has allowed me to grow and evolve my career in both intentional and often just serendipitous ways.” With each small, connected step to the next... View Details

Sandra J. Sucher

Sandra Sucher, professor of management practice at Harvard Business School, is an internationally recognized trust researcher. The Power of Trust, her third book, is based on two decades of global research on how companies build stakeholder trust and how,... View Details

Keywords: apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel

07 Nov 2022
News

Victoria’s Secret Buys Alumni-Founded Adore Me

garment industry in France, so I frequently heard friends and family complain about the options for buying lingerie in the United States,” he said in a 2014 article from the “First Five Years” HBS alumni profile series. “I found that there was a huge opportunity to... View Details

Keywords: Clothing and Clothing Accessories Stores; Retail Trade

May 2017 (Revised March 2018)
Case

Predicting Consumer Tastes with Big Data at Gap

By: Ayelet Israeli and Jill Avery

CEO Art Peck was eliminating his creative directors for The Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic brands and promoting a collective creative ecosystem fueled by the input of big data. Rather than relying on artistic vision, Peck wanted the company to use the mining of big... View Details

*Joined Harvard Faculty: 1991
Prior Faculty Appointments: Northwestern University, 1968-75;
University of Pittsburgh, 1975-91

*Doctoral Degree in Sociology Received from: The John Hopkins University;
MBA Degree Received from: The University of... View Details

Keywords: apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel

16 Jun 2020
Research & Ideas

Your Customers Have Changed. Here's How to Engage Them Again.

of their risk level, creating more loyal customers for the longer term. The Knot Worldwide is providing financial assistance to its vendors (like caterers, flower companies, and apparel brands) to help them get through hard times. Netflix... View Details

Keywords: by Rohit Deshpandé, Ofer Mintz, and Imran S. Currim; Retail; Service

December 2018 (Revised September 2019)
Case

Brand Activism: Nike and Colin Kaepernick

By: Jill Avery and Koen Pauwels

Nike's selection of politically polarizing Colin Kaepernick as the spokesperson for the 30th anniversary of its iconic "Just Do It" campaign catapulted the brand into the media spotlight and made it a political flashpoint for consumers across America. Would the choice... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Entertainment; Politics; Activism; Brand Equity; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Sports; Advertising; Social Media; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States; North America

July 2012 (Revised July 2014)
Case

Warby Parker: Vision of a 'Good' Fashion Brand

By: Christopher Marquis and Laura Velez Villa

In its third year of existence and poised to double its workforce, Warby Parker attributed its success to an innovative approach in the eyewear industry and to the company culture that supported it. With a mission combining social and business goals, the company had... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Innovation; Business And Society; Social Responsiblity; Organizational Behavior; Social Entrepreneurship; Growth Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Brands and Branding; Organizational Culture; Marketing Strategy; Innovation and Invention; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States

09 Apr 2007
Research & Ideas

Industry Self-Regulation: What’s Working (and What’s Not)?

required, there are a lot of coercive pressures that encourage firms to adopt. In the forest industry there is now a plethora of codes. The industry code has, not surprisingly, been critiqued as being more lax than codes created by NGOs. Similarly, in international... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

Benson P. Shapiro

Benson P. Shapiro is a well-known authority on marketing strategy and sales management with particular interests in pricing, product line planning, and marketing organization. He is also the Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing Emeritus at the Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel; apparel

11 Dec 2023
Blog Post

Building Iconic Brands and Brighter Futures: Interview with Glossier CEO, Kyle Leahy

strategy in consumer brands, then moving from a corporate strategy role into a GM role, and athletic apparel into accessories and then beauty. Making small, connected steps along the way has allowed me to grow and evolve my career in both... View Details

April 2006 (Revised June 2008)
Case

New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc.

By: H. Kent Bowen, Robert S. Huckman and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Considers whether New Balance, one of the world's five largest manufacturers of athletic footwear, should respond to Adidas' planned acquisition of Reebok--a transaction that would join the second- and third-largest companies in the industry. Highlights the unique... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Production; Supply Chain Management; Performance Improvement; Competition; Consolidation; Apparel and Accessories Industry