“This show never happened,” Reformation’s fall collection page proclaims. “Sorry, we faked it.”

That’s the tagline for the brand’s most recent marketing campaign, a “fake” fashion show that debuted online in the midst of New York Fashion Week after being shot without an audience across the country in Los Angeles.

Reformation—which has ambitious sustainability goals, including greenhouse-gas reduction targets and a transition to recycled fabrics—staged the “no show” to highlight sustainability issues in the fashion industry, which is estimated to be responsible for up to 10% of total global greenhouse-gas emissions.

“Our short lead time will forever prohibit us from participating in fashion month in the traditional sense,” Kathleen Talbot, Reformation’s chief sustainability officer and VP of operations, told Retail Brew via email. “We wanted to create a campaign that gave the audience insight into our business model and highlight the reasons we operate as we do.”

Keep reading here.—MA

For luxury retailers, buy now, pay later (BNPL) has become a run-of-the-mill way to help brands attract a younger set of consumers, who are otherwise unable to afford higher-priced goods.

• In a survey of 7,024 American consumers conducted by Pymnts, six out of 10 said they have previously heard of BNPL, while at least 14% have used it.

But the benefits are not as crystal clear for small- to medium-sized fashion brands. At New York Fashion Week (NYFW), Retail Brew spoke to two brands who have partnered with Afterpay on why the payment solution makes sense for their strategy.

Why was BNPL right for your brand?

Jenny Lei, founder of Freja New York, a vegan handbag label: We try to price our bags as accessibly as possible, but they are still an investment. Our most popular bag is about $250 to $350. So Afterpay was something that we knew we wanted to implement, even before launching our website, to give the customers an option—11% of our customers pay using Afterpay, and I think we probably would have lost a good number of those if we didn’t have any sort of website.

Marcela Ponce, co-founder and creative director of Demarson, a New York-based accessories label: We’re still a small company, and our price point is about $100 to $400. I definitely think that Afterpay helps with [a chunk] of our sales. I feel like not every website and or every big name out there has service like ours. So I like Afterpay. It is definitely something that is going to be the norm. It could be great just on your phone to be able to have an Afterpay card that you can just tap. That would be pretty cool.

Keep reading here.—JS

Today’s top retail reads.

Breaking it down: After transitioning the company’s ownership to a nonprofit and trust tasked to manage its nearly $3 billion in profits, Patagonia’s founder says Earth is its “only shareholder.” What does that mean when it comes to its core operating structure? (Business of Fashion)

Unclear: Retail sales and unemployment trends are creating a mixed view of the US economy. (Bloomberg)

Early to rise: Indie beauty brands are targeting a new market: preventing premature gray hair. (Glossy)

The retail and e-commerce industries are suffering from inflation, recession, supply-chain issues, and more. Our analysts revisit their 2022 industry predictions to inform you on the year’s end.

Three of the stories below are real...and one is most definitely not. Can you spot the fake?

1. Fiji water released a limited-edition taco-flavored water.
2. Ikea and Swedish House Mafia made a storage unit for DJing.
3. Heinz created an animated musical to promote its low-sugar ketchup.
4. Record producer Benny Blanco deep-fried a Rolex watch.

Keep reading for the answer.

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed.

• What’s a small business? The SBA has 1,030 different answers
• Jet.com co-founder repackages waste-free delivery platform Olive
• Interview: Rebecca Minkoff dives into NFTs