These are the stories making headlines in fashion on Friday.

LVMH reports 4% revenue decline in first half of the year

LVMH released its results for the first half of 2025 on Thursday, which showed recorded revenue of €39.8 billion ($46.7 billion), down 4% from €41.6 billion ($48.8 billion) in the first half of 2024. LVMH’s fashion and leather goods sales fell 9% in the second quarter. The group’s profits declined 15% in the first half to €9 billion ($10.6 billion). {LVMH; Business of Fashion/paywalled}

Kizik sues Skechers over intellectual property

Kizik and its parent company HandsFree Labs are suing Sketchers in federal court, accusing the company of copying Kizik’s line of slip-on shoes. The lawsuit deals with whether multiple models of Skechers shoes are willfully ripping off the technology used in Kizik’s shoes that allow people to slip their foot into a sneaker-like shoe without using their hands or tying laces. The complaint asks the court to find that Skechers infringed on HandsFree Labs’s intellectual property, bar Skechers from further copying and to award Kizik of damages, costs and attorneys’ fees. {Modern Retail}

Tanner Leatherstein joins Stow London

TikToker Tanner Leatherstein, who is known for his videos where he deconstructs leather handbags, is joining Stow London as its director of craftsmanship. In this role, Leatherstein will bring his expertise in leather quality, construction techniques and design to Stow’s product development. He’ll also help expand the brand’s reach through his social media presence to connect Stow with new audiences. {Fashionista inbox}

Why indie PR chooses collaboration over competition

Public relations has historically been a competitive sector, but the new generation of independent PR firms is working together to share expertise and contacts. If an agency can’t cater to a specific need, they are more open to connecting brands with a firm that can. This allows smaller agencies to build their strength in one niche. Banding together has also become a survival mechanism for freelancers and small firms as larger players in the space continue acquisition sprees and top firms merge. {Business of Fashion/paywalled}

Is this the end of the hype machine?

Heron Preston’s exit from New Guards Group (NGG) underscored a broader shift in the fashion industry’s relationship with hype as it marked a growing disillusionment with the mechanisms that once powered fashion’s fastest-growing category. Ambush founders Yoon Ahn and Verbal, as well as Alanui’s Carlotta and Nicolò Oddi, have also regained control of their brands from NGG. The streetwear incubator model once promised cultural acceleration, but now risks becoming an admonition of how quickly relevance can calcify when it’s scaled fast, Amy Francombe writes for Vogue Business. {Vogue Business/paywalled}

Women in their 50s are finding themselves with Phoebe Philo

Phoebe Philo released the images of her fourth collection from her eponymous brand, which included seasonless, trend-less pieces that will be available in six months. For the Phoebe Philo woman (or Philophiles), putting on clothes, no matter how little time she has to do it, is a personal ritual. Philo, who is now 51, is making clothes for her peers, making the 50-something woman fashion’s trendsetter. {The Washington Post/paywalled}

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