Reading Material

Fashion Meets Finance

Background:
The fashion industry is more than just trends and textiles, it’s a major driver of global economic activity. From luxury giants to athletic wear titans like Nike and Adidas, fashion brands shape consumer behavior, employment rates, international trade, and even sustainability debates. Publicly traded companies in the fashion space are key indicators of global economic health and shifting priorities in society.

Case Task:
Imagine you had 1 Million dollars today to invest in 2 companies of your choice, analyze the financial performance and market behavior of 2 public companies and determine the most important 5 factors of your choice.

Refer to Stock performances, News and Events 

Google Finance

---

Your Mission:

1. Stock Market Snapshot
   Select two companies of your choice (it does not need to be fashion related):

   • Nike (NKE)

   • Adidas (ADDYY)

   • Lululemon (LULU)

   • H&M (HM-B.ST)

   • Inditex (Zara’s parent company - ITX.MC)

   • VF Corp (Vans, The North Face - VFC)
     

2. Economic Lens
   Analyze the economic role of the company:

   • How many people does it employ globally?

   • How is it affected by inflation, supply chain issues, or global events?

   • What role does it play in global trade and GDP?

3. Link to Your LIA
   Reflect on your own LIA project:

   • How does your topic (fashion, sustainability, philanthropy, etc.) have economic implications?

   • Can it affect employment, trade, investment, or consumer behavior?

Individual Deliverable 

Prepare a 1-pager, written to an executive board on convincing them to invest in these 2 companies. 

• Your name, teammates 
• Choice of 2 companies, how much, and how will you invest your 1 Million Dollars
• Proof of your reasoning based on 5 factors ( Can include graphs, charts, images, news showing company trend) 

• Your Financial Insights

• Your Economic Insights (e.g., the company’s impact on jobs or exports)

• A connection to your LIA topic and its economic footprint

The Prediction of your 2 stocks within the next week 

• April 14th, write down how much you are trading
• On April 21st, see how your stocks are doing. 

Notes 

What could be 5 factors that help your decision making? 

• Relevance - A company that you know, that you use everyday for example amazon, american express 
•  Company's image - Inditex, political views , behavior of the CEO, philosophy 
• Volatility - affected by other resources , constant or volatile , affected by the market fluctuation 
• News and Updates - a piece of news can change profitability of each stock 
• Ethics & Transparency - employers sustainability (short term, but better for long term investment) 
• They are there to stay -they solve a problem, large companies, staple, constant innovation, useful , necessity, good management.