Pricey BoF Group,
I’ll have left Montréal greater than 25 years in the past to relocate to London — and by no means moved again — however I’m nonetheless a Canadian via and thru. So watching what has been occurring in Canada during the last couple of months has been distressing and galvanizing in equal measure.
For these of you not maintaining monitor, Canada has been one of many principal targets of Trump’s tariff battle. In line with information from the US Commerce Consultant, commerce between the US and Canada was $762.1 billion in 2024. That quantities to greater than $2 billion each single day, making this one of many largest bilateral buying and selling relationships between any two nations on the planet.
This week, new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney stated that the nation’s longstanding relationship with america, “primarily based on deepening integration of our economies and tight safety and navy cooperation, is over.”
Following Trump’s “America First Commerce Coverage” unveiled on Jan. 20, the 2 neighbouring international locations — which have typically had constructive and constructive relationships throughout a wide range of Canadian governments and US administrations — have discovered themselves in an unprecedented confrontation. Canada has responded to the US tariffs with its personal tariffs, and issues appear to be getting worse, not higher, regardless of efforts to de-escalate.
For a lot of Canadians, the entire state of affairs has been insulting, perplexing and irritating in equal measure. Canada and the US have a shared historical past and the longest shared land border on the planet. The availability chains in a variety of industries, particularly the automotive sector — which was confronted with a brand new set of US tariffs this week — are intently intertwined, with many items crossing the border back-and-forth a number of instances as they’re produced.
Within the vogue and retail business, one of many casualties has been the venerable 355 year-old Hudson’s Bay Firm, which started liquidating all however six of its 80 Hudson’s Bay, 13 Saks Off fifth and three Saks Fifth Avenue shops this week. The enterprise was lengthy struggling to compete with off-price and digital retailers, however cited Trump’s tariffs and the ensuing financial uncertainty and collapse in client confidence as one issue that lastly pushed the enterprise over the sting.
Within the US, Matt Priest of the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America stated he’s “deeply involved” concerning the escalating commerce battle, noting that footwear gross sales plunged by 26.2 p.c for the week ending Feb. 22 versus the identical retail week final 12 months. In the meantime, Steve Lamar, president of the American Attire & Footwear Affiliation famous that the uncertainty is threatening the roles of greater than 3.5 million folks supported by the attire business.
From a Canadian perspective, all of this financial upheaval has been made worse as a result of the commerce battle appears to have been particularly calculated by Trump to destabilise Canada’s economic system in order that it may well develop into the “51st state” of the US, an final result that Trump has referenced time and again.
This can be a preposterous notion, in fact. At first, Canadians thought he was joking, as that language has generally been utilized by Individuals who need to diminish Canada, which is and at all times will likely be a sovereign nation. However now, Canadians are taking Trump’s threats significantly, igniting a wave of patriotism I’ve not witnessed for the reason that province of Québec voted by a small margin to stay a part of Canada in a 1995 independence referendum.
On the time, I used to be nonetheless a pupil in Montréal. I’ll always remember watching ‘The Unity Rally,’ an enormous march of greater than 100,000 Canadians urging Quebeckers to vote ‘No’, from the Hole retailer on Sainte-Catherine Road, the place I used to be working part-time. However even this doesn’t evaluate to the unity Canadians are displaying now, particularly amongst 8.5 million Quebeckers who perceive greater than ever that their distinct tradition, society and language would have little probability of surviving as a part of america.
Now, the main focus in Canada is on decreasing inter-provincial commerce limitations, labelling items in grocery shops so buyers can “purchase Canadian” and readying the nation for an extended and arduous financial disaster.
However in fact, Canadians aren’t the one ones feeling the affect of the brand new US administration. Market turmoil and uncertainty has gripped economies world wide for the reason that return of Trump, however it’s America and Individuals who’re most definitely to bear the brunt of this nonsensical tariff battle.
Keep tuned to BoF subsequent week for an incisive evaluation by Marc Bain in our newest Govt Memo on how your organisation ought to put together for and navigate Trump’s tariffs. I had the pleasure of reviewing his memo earlier this week, and it’s stuffed with essential insights. In case you’re not an Govt Member, enroll right this moment.
There’s heaps extra from this week’s evaluation on BoF, together with one other story by Marc on H&M’s new AI mannequin technique which lit up our Instagram feed with greater than 1,300 feedback and eight,000 responses, and was picked up by media world wide, together with the BBC within the UK, La Stampa in Italy and Teen Vogue within the USA.
Have an important weekend.
Imran Amed, Founder and Editor-in-Chief
Listed here are my different high picks from our evaluation on vogue, luxurious and sweetness:
1. H&M Is aware of Its AI Fashions Will Be Controversial. The corporate expects public opinion to be divided on its plan to make use of “digital twins” of actual fashions in AI-generated imagery. However the easiest way to guard fashions’ jobs and rights within the age of AI, it says, is to carry them into the method.
2. In an Offended Society, ‘Mild Outrage’ Packs a Advertising Punch. The Atypical’s newest marketing campaign introduced cheap eggs to 2 of its New York Metropolis areas. The response was polarising on social media, which in an internet market saturated with manufacturers and promoting, is more and more the purpose.
3. How Trend’s Rising Stars Are Surviving the Luxurious Hunch. For breakout rising designers, turning inventive acclaim into business success in an unpredictable market is the subsequent problem.
4. What Color Is Gen Alpha’s Millennial Pink? All Of Them. After seeing how magnificence’s youngest buyer has been drawn to Drunk Elephant’s brilliant, vibrant packages, labels are pushing a string of vibrant launches to seize buyers’ consideration.
5. Why Are There So Many Baggage Manufacturers? Vacationers have their choose of suitcases at each value level, because of low limitations to entry and a journey growth that’s inflated the class’s gross sales 12 months after 12 months. However amid indicators demand has peaked, it’ll take greater than a Shopify storefront and slick branding to succeed.
This Weekend on The BoF Podcast
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Man Berryman grew up with an engineer’s thoughts and a ardour for making issues. After learning mechanical engineering and structure, he discovered world fame because the bassist of Coldplay. However his love for making issues by no means went away. In 2020, he launched Utilized Artwork Varieties, a clothes label that attracts inspiration from utilitarian design, navy clothes and mid-century fashionable aesthetics.
Now stocked in over 50 shops worldwide, together with Dover Road Market, the model is rising slowly however intentionally, with a inventive course of that he likens to creating music.
“The best way I make issues may be very very similar to [how] we make songs, which is you throw concepts down and you then hearken to it, choose it and see what it’s. It’s a really sculptural course of, says Berryman. “I’m not simply backing another person’s model. That is completely arms on, that is my child.”
This week on the BoF Podcast, Berryman joins BoF founder and CEO Imran Amed to debate the steep studying curve of constructing a vogue enterprise, why high quality and longevity matter greater than hype, and the way his creativity flows throughout inventive disciplines.
