Your Favorite Brand Just Changed Its DNA for a Movie

‍Inflation Nation? The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for September is finally here, despite the government shutdown delaying its release. The month-over-month numbers aren’t staggeringly grim, with US inflation increasing slightly (0.3%) from August to September 2025. The CPI rose 3% from the same period last year, making it the fastest annual pace since the beginning of 2025. “Core” inflation, which excludes volatile items like energy and food prices, rose only 0.2% month over month and 3% year over year.

Annual CPI changes for key categories include:

🍎 Food: 3.1% 

🚙 New Vehicles: 0.8%

🚗 Used Cars and Trucks: 5.1%

👕 Apparel: -0.1% 

Month-over-month increases indicate that consumers are not quite feeling the pricing pressure of tariffs: furniture and bedding only increased 0.9%, all apparel increased 0.7% (although boys’ apparel increased 2.6% and girls’ apparel rose 1.4%), footwear increased 0.9%, video and audio products decreased 0.1%, and toys also decreased 0.1%.

Comparing the charts, you’ll see that CPI is back at the 12-month high of January 2025.

‍M&A by Marc Jacobs. Just a few days ago, we mentioned that there were talks of LVMH selling off Marc Jacobs. Now, it seems the brand’s likely new home will be Authentic Brands Group (ABG), which also owns Vince Camuto, Ted Baker, and Brooks Brothers. ABG has become known as a brand flipper of sorts, attempting to resurrect Juicy Couture, Aeropostale, Billabong, and other golden brands of the Y2K era.

‍Denim, Light on the Wash. As many brands and retailers sneakily back away from their sustainability promises, Levi Strauss & Co. remains ambitious and laser-focused. The company has just unveiled a 2023 water strategy, called Beyond the Blue, that will serve as a new roadmap to reduce water use, improve water quality, and help suppliers and communities build climate change resilience. 

Among its goals, LS&Co. hopes to reduce freshwater use by 15%, ensure 40% of water used in manufacturing is recycled or reused, and publish an open-source guide on water recycling and reuse. 

The Saks Global Quakes. Just one week after reporting a Q2 revenue slump, severe inventory woes, and continued tensions with vendors, Saks Global is experiencing another loss. Saks Global merchant James Newell has jumped ship, joining Bloomingdale’s as its VP and General Merchandise Manager of Men’s. Two major store executives, Larry Bruce and John Antonini, also recently left Saks after spending up to two decades with Saks and Neiman. 

With a tenured career in luxury, including roles at Neiman Marcus, Barneys New York, and Rent the Runway, Newell will be a major strategic asset to Bloomie’s as it continues its path to recovery. In its Q2 2025 results, Bloomingdale’s reported a 4.6% increase in net sales and a 5.7% rise in comp sales. This was the retailer’s fourth consecutive quarter of growth.

‍The Pillsbury Dough’ld-Man. This Doughboy is all grown up and is celebrating his sixtieth birthday with a new augmented reality experience called “Dough Place Like Home,” which brings fans into his humble abode. It was first unveiled during NBC’s “On Brand,” the marketing show hosted by Jimmy Fallon and legendary exec-turned-Real-Housewife Bozoma Saint John. Novelty turns reality as browsers sift through the space and have the chance to shop exclusive merch, including a Pillsbury Doughboy Cookie Jar, Holiday Pillsbury Shape Cookie Slippers, and a Holiday Cookie Glass Set. 

More Green for Grüns. In an exclusive interview with Inc., Grüns founder and CEO Chad Janis pulled back the curtain on the vitamin startup to reveal just how profitable it is. It turns out the green gummy bears hawked by influencers have surpassed $300 million in ARR in 24 months. Grüns is playing a starring role in the current wellness zeitgeist that’s powered by protein bros and a growing base of GLP-1 power users. But Grüns’ claims of improving digestion, boosting energy, and providing an extra dose of vitamins and antioxidants make it a hot product for health nuts and picky kids alike, which could be why the company garnered a $500 million valuation earlier this year. 

💪 Swole On. Grüns is just one player in a growing ecosystem of brands capitalizing on new wellness trends proliferating on social media. Our latest Member Brief explores the evolving wellness market, using the latest consumer data to understand what consumers really want from wellness brands. Read it here.

‍Data Scrapers Hit the Subreddit. Reddit is taking aim at Perplexity with a new suit that accuses the AI company of illegally scraping data off its platform and using “copyrighted user content” for its own gain. Reddit named three additional defendants; entities it claimed Perplexity used to scrape data: Oxylabs, AWMProxy, and SerpApi. 

In a LinkedIn post, Nathan Barksdale, Head of Legal & Operations for Perplexity, slapped down the suit, accusing Reddit of trying to “control how people access information on the open internet.” The community platform filed a similar lawsuit against Anthropic in June 2025, accusing the company of refusing to enter a licensing agreement while scraping data to train its Claude chatbot.

Earlier this month, Reddit’s stock dropped 12% after ChatGPT’s backlinks to the platform fell from 14% to 2%. 

‍Stumbling Through the Everything Store. Let’s be real: if you’re browsing on Amazon, it can sometimes feel like you’re stumbling through the dark. Between the onslaught of sponsored products, sketchy dupes, and branded products, you may not know where or how to find what you actually need. Amazon’s new “Help Me Decide” button has been added to its US mobile app to help users find the perfect product by analyzing their browsing activity, searches, shopping history, and preferences. 

Shoppers will see an explanation of why a product is recommended, including relevant features, customer reviews, and other details to validate the decision. If you’re not happy with your “top pick,” you can also check out a “budget pick” and an “upgrade pick,” which will be especially helpful as you chip away at your holiday shopping list.