"Weekend Reading" is a weekly rundown of our favorite stories from around the web.
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Here’s How the Sneaker Industry Is Fuelled By Copied Designs
"Admit it. When you read “sneaker brand” and “copying” in the same headline, a single name jumped to mind: Skechers. In its fifteen years of life, the California-based shoemaker has earned a reputation as the sneaker industry’s shadow. Skechers’ strategy is nefariously simple: while other brands risk fortunes gambling on innovation, Skechers cherrypicks the proven winners then flaunts intellectual property laws to steal market share, denying others their hard-won rewards."

via: Highsnobiety

In Response: Is Counterfeiting Actually Good for Fashion?
"On the heels of releasing its first-ever documentary exploring Korea’s next-level counterfeit culture, Highsnobiety took on the age-old question, “Is Counterfeiting Actually Good for Fashion?” In his op-ed, Aleks Eror makes some undeniably good points. However, he falls short on a few important accounts – the two most important being his failure to distinguish between counterfeits and mere knockoffs, and his overlooking of the theory of trademark dilution (a crucial element) – both of which warrant discussion before any assertions as to the merit counterfeits can even begin to be made."

via: The Fashion Law

How Vans Can Now Put Any Custom Design On Your Shoes In Under 15 Minutes
"Any pattern, any photo, any design. Right now, Vans can already do it, but it’ll take a little while and you’ll have to wait for it to land on your front door. But the brand has just unveiled a new, innovative machine that allows it to take any pattern, photo, or design and slap it on a pair of shoes in less than 15 minutes."

via: Fast Company

Under Armour Stocks Fall After NBA Star Says Players Dislike Company's Shoes
"Shares of Under Armour Inc. sank more than 3 percent on Tuesday, a day after National Basketball Association star Kevin Durant said young players do not like the company's shoes. "Nobody wants to play in Under Armours. I'm sorry. The top kids don't because they all play [in] Nike," the All-Star forward of the 2017 champion Golden State Warriors said during an interview on "The Ringer" podcast on Monday."

via: Business of Fashion

The North Face Teams With Sacai to Target High Fashion
"The North Face has teamed up with Sacai in a bid to target high fashion consumers as successfully as a tie-up with Supreme boosted its appeal in the streetwear community.Initially previewed at Sacai’s Autumn/Winter 2017 menswear show in Paris, the 17-piece capsule will be sold through Dover Street Market. It includes black-and-white padded puffa coats which take inspiration from The North Face’s classic Mountain and Nuptse jackets and fur-trimmed caps."

via: Business of Fashion

Three Shoe Designers on What It’s Like to Study at Fashion’s Most Prestigious School
"In 2016, the three designers had a short run as the creative directors for American brand Band of Outsiders. They re-christened the label Band of Outsiders Los Angeles and showed only one collection before departing the label. Now, they’re fully focusing on taking WeberHodelFeder to the next level. Matthias Weber took some time out of his schedule to talk to us about the start of WHF, his approach to design, and the industry lessons he’s learned the hard way."

via: Highsnobiety

Meet the Guy With a $500K Hedi Slimane Archive
"Not all resell communities are looking to reap a reward from immediate hype, however. Sites like Grailed offer ultra rare finds that date back decades – some of them bargains, most of them splurges. Take, say, a $20,000 Saint Laurent leather jacket that was previously owned by Hedi Slimane himself, which surfaced on the digital marketplace back in March to a furor of commotion across the blogosphere. Sold by prominent Grailed user DHCULT, whose identity remains anonymous, the news brought considerable attention to the anonymous reseller, who was instructed to remove the piece by the French luxury house’s camp."

via: Hypebeast

Vuitton Knows Fashion Is a Money Pit—and Keeps Throwing Money In It
"Don’t expect Vuitton to shift away from its iconic monogrammed handbags. There’s a simple reason: High-end clothes are famously unprofitable. The expense of producing collections, staging shows, and displaying apparel in boutiques wipes out the clothing’s potential profit, says luxury analyst Luca Solca of Exane BNP Paribas. He estimates Vuitton loses more than €100 million ($118.1 million) a year on ready-to-wear, which generates less than €450 million of the brand’s $8 billion to $9 billion in annual sales."

via: Bloomber

From Hypebeast to Hypepriest: Why the Church Is Embracing Streetwear
"Think of church merchandise and you will likely think of mugs decorated with stained glass windows or key chains with bible quotes, sold in a dusty gift shop. But things have changed: for the face of “church merch” in 2017, look in the somewhat unexpected direction of Justin Bieber."

via: The Guardian

Leather Grown Using Biotechnology Is About to Hit the Catwalk
"Contrasting facts make leather manufacturing a tempting target for technological disruption. And tanned animal skins are indeed about to face a rival. The challenge comes not, as might be assumed, from a substitute made of synthetic polymer, but rather from something which is, in most respects, the same as natural leather. The difference is that, instead of coming from an animal’s back, this leather is grown, by the metre, in factories."

via: The Economist

Tags: weekend-reading