Brands
Nasher Miles & Flipkart add colour to ‘The Big Billion Days’ 25′
MUMBAI: Why pack dull when you can pack with personality? This festive season, Nasher Miles is unzipping a bold new chapter in travel style, teaming up with Flipkart for ‘The Big Billion Days 2025.’
The luggage brand, celebrated for its splash of colour and playful spirit, has rolled out two cheeky films starring digital darlings Sakshi Shivdasani and Ayush Mehra. The duo brings their trademark wit and charm to everyday travel scenarios, from last-minute road trips to date-night dashes, where bland baggage just doesn’t fit the bill.
With the sassy slogan “Why so boring, bro?”, Nasher Miles is calling time on lifeless luggage, nudging young, style-conscious travellers to match their bags to their vibe: colourful, durable, and unapologetically fun.
“This campaign is about more than bags, it’s about boldness,” said Nasher Miles, co-founder & cmo, Shruti Kedia Daga. “Flipkart’s Big Billion Days gives us the perfect stage to inspire people to travel with style, spirit, and a dash of mischief.”
Backed by creative agency Itch, the campaign closes with a punchy message: ‘Drop the boring.’ For co-founder Naman Agarwal, the idea is simple: “If fashion is an expression, why should luggage be left out? Bags should be as full of personality as the people who carry them.”
Set to run across digital platforms, Flipkart’s app, and mass media, the films ensure that this year’s Big billion days won’t just be about snagging deals, it’ll be about carrying colour and character wherever the journey leads.
Brands
Estée Lauder to shed 10,000 jobs as new boss bets on digital shift
The cosmetics giant raises its profit outlook but stays silent on a possible merger with Spain’s Puig, as job cuts deepen and a three-year sales slump weighs on the turnaround
NEW YORK: Stéphane de La Faverie is not done cutting. Estée Lauder announced on Friday that it plans to eliminate as many as 3,000 additional jobs, taking its total redundancy programme to as many as 10,000 roles, up from a previous target of 7,000 announced a year ago. The company, which owns La Mer, The Ordinary, Tom Ford, and Aveda, employs roughly 57,000 people worldwide. The mathematics of what is now being contemplated is stark.
The fresh round of cuts is expected to generate a further $200 million in savings, bringing the total annual savings from the programme to as much as $1.2 billion before taxes. That money, De La Faverie has made clear, will be ploughed back into the turnaround.
A CEO in a hurry
De La Faverie, who took the helm in January 2025, inherited a company that had endured three consecutive years of annual sales declines. His response has been to move fast and cut deep. A significant portion of the latest redundancies reflects his push to reduce headcount at US department stores, long a cornerstone of Estée Lauder’s distribution model but now a channel in structural decline. In their place, he is accelerating the shift toward faster-growing online platforms, including Amazon.com and TikTok Shop, a pivot that is reshaping not just where Estée Lauder sells but how it thinks about its customers.
The numbers are moving in the right direction
Despite the pain, there are signs the medicine is working. Estée Lauder raised its profit outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year, guiding for adjusted earnings per share in the range of $2.35 to $2.45, above analyst estimates and a notable step up from the $2.05 to $2.25 range it had guided for in February. Organic net sales growth is expected to come in at 3 per cent, the company said, at the high end of the range it set out in February.
The share price tells a mixed story. After De La Faverie took charge, the stock surged nearly 60 per cent, buoyed by investor optimism that a longtime company insider could finally arrest the decline. But 2026 has been rougher: the shares have fallen 27 per cent this year, weighed down by disappointing February results and the overhang of unresolved merger talks with Spanish beauty giant Puig Brands SA. The company gave no additional details about those discussions on Friday, leaving the market to guess.
Silence on Puig
The proposed tie-up with Puig remains the most consequential unknown hanging over Estée Lauder. A deal with the Barcelona-based group, which owns brands including Carolina Herrera and Rabanne, would reshape the global luxury beauty landscape. But with nothing new to say and a turnaround still very much in progress, De La Faverie is asking investors to trust the process.
Three years of sales declines, 10,000 job cuts, and a merger that may or may not happen. At Estée Lauder, the overhaul has barely started.
