If not for its cloud business, Amazon would be posting big losses

• Caroline Cakebread
 

• 17h
• 7,946

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Amazon's cloud business has become the company's gold-egg-laying goose. 

For much of the last two years, Amazon Web Services — the company's cloud computing unit — has accounted for a sizeable chunk of Amazon's overall profits. But, as we can see in this chart from Statista, in three of Amazon's last five quarters it's done even more — it's covered over the red ink posted by Amazon's other segments and helped it turn a likely loss into a profit. 

The company's most recent quarter is a case in point. The $1.2 billion operating profit posted by AWS wiped out the $936 million operating loss recorded by Amazon's international e-commerce business.  

AWS, which dominates the cloud computing market, reported $4.6 billion in revenue in the third quarter, up from $3.2 billion in the same period last year, and is on track to post $18 billion in total revenues this year. Its success has helped keep the pressure off company CEO Jeff Bezos, whose longtime strategy has been to run Amazon's businesses at close to break even to gain market share. Indeed, Amazon's stock skyrocketed after its most recent quarterly report. 

 Mike Nudelman/Business Insider

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6 new clothing, footwear, and handbag brands every professional woman should know

• Mara Leighton, Insider Picks
 

• 20h
• 239,122

The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.

Of Mercer

Getting dressed for work as a woman can be difficult; it takes longer to do than the guy who can throw on a suit, and most of the options available are missing the mark between flattering and "cute." Instead of making the clothes women want and need, legacy brands have yet to adapt to accommodate the new lifestyles of modern women.

Totes need smarter, more commuter-friendly designs, and well-made classics in premium materials sound much better than the constant churning out of trends in cheap materials—you know, the ones you hate to be in more than a couple of hours, let alone from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (or however long your work day really takes).

For many women, even spending that precious, limited free time in a dressing room to find enough different combinations to wear to work is both exhausting and unappealing — a thought that hasn't made a large enough impact on retail, yet. Instead of expending more of their energy and time working with the complexities of the office, don't many of us wish we could just outsource the problem to a professional who gets it, instead? So we can spend our free time doing what we like, like hanging out with our friends, our family, or even getting ahead in our career. 

These six women's workwear brands, if you don't know them already, will address each of these concerns and a couple more. Here's proof that some people do get it, and thankfully we can spend the time you might not have to find them for you.

I'm willing to bet you’ll be happy to know them: Dagne Dover, MM.LaFleur, Citizen’s Mark, Cuyana, Of Mercer, and Margaux.

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Dagne Dover

Dagne Dover Instagram

Dagne Dover is a relatively new company that has gained notoriety and a bona fide cult following for bags that master sophisticated leather styles and conscious design aimed to simplify the lives of women on the move. Satchels, totes, backpacks, and other products feature commuter-friendly designs without sacrificing style. 

On the outside, the bags are beautiful constructions of high-quality materials like leather in flattering neutral shades. We've covered both their Dakota Backpack and Classic Tote in depth, and our unanimous opinion is that Dagne Dover is doing something special. The design team has anticipated your needs, your lifestyle, and the things you'll carry and delivered with smarter execution than we've seen most anywhere else.

"It’s no longer good enough to just be 'arm candy'. Nowadays we expect the services and products we use to multitask, to be data-driven and to work harder," Mash told Business Insider. "Dagne Dover is the only brand in the handbag market that does so while continuing to be stylish and organized." 

Take a closer look at Dagne Dover's collections here.

MM.LaFleur

MM. LaFleur Instagram

MM.LaFleur works off the same basic assumption that President Barack Obama and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg did when they made the decision to pare down their wardrobe selections to only two colors of suits or the same grey shirt for public appearances. There are simply too many other important decisions to make.

Instead of trying to churn out trends, MM.LaFleur is thoughtfully constructing and improving upon the classics that will become your wardrobe staples.

MM.LaFleur was created to cater to women whose work days can look more like 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and who might not want to devote their limited free time to trying on work dresses in a changing room. As a result, they offer a subscription service called the Bento Box, which is a box of workwear staples handpicked for each customer by a discerning MM stylist based on a short quiz of workwear preferences, prices, and office atmosphere. Don't want to think about the complexities of officewear and wish you could just outsource it? Done.

Women can try on their selections at home, keep what they like, and text a number to get UPS to pick up and return what they don't. They're only charged for what they keep, and 70% of MM.LaFleur's customers are repeat clients. 

If you'd like, you can read our full review on MM.LaFleur and their Bento Box here. 

Check out the complete MM.LaFleur collections here. 

Citizen's Mark

Citizen's Mark

Citizen's Mark might be the one blazer brand to know. While working at the UN in Geneva, Switzerland, Citizen’s Mark founder Cynthia Salim realized at 23 the same thing every working woman inevitably does: It’s hard to find high-quality women's workwear that looks credible.

Salim wanted to create the staples she wished existed for a career that the fashion industry didn't seem to know she and her female peers had. But she quickly realized that the problem ran much deeper than expected: When she contacted wool mills to produce for her, they asked if she'd like men's or women's fabrics. When she couldn't find a satisfactory suit factory in the US, most European factories explained that they only did men's tailoring. When even materials and machines are gendered to reserve the highest quality for menswear, no wonder the market for women was so dissatisfying.

All of Salim's blazers are subsequently made with "male" fabrics in factories that specialize in "male" tailoring. The result is stunning. I reviewed the company and two of the blazers myself, and Citizen's Mark is unlike anything else I've ever owned.  

To further reflect the working woman Salim set out to design for, Citizen's Mark contributes to a responsible global supply chain with responsibility, sustainability, and transparency.

Take a look at the Citizen's Mark collections here.

Cuyana

Cuyana

Cuyana is another women's workwear brand that is making it in fashion by denying a common practice — many working women don’t want to see more trends in stores. Instead, they want better-made staples, which is why Cuyana creates under the umbrella phrase "fewer, better."

They design essential pieces for the modern woman with premium materials and the finest craftsmanship they can find. The designs are elegant, simplistic, and exceptionally well-made, and the prices are more affordable than the quality would lead you to expect. You can find bags, apparel, and accessories made with quality over quantity in mind.

It seems unusual to encourage buyers to turn away from trends, because it's such an easy way to continue making money, but Cuyana isn't afraid of you embracing a lean closet; simply because they know that, if you come to them at some point, many of those pieces you love to rely on are bound to be Cuyana-made. 

Check out the full selection at Cuyana here.

Of Mercer

Of Mercer

Of Mercer is a women's workwear brand that would actually like to be known of as a women's clothing brand that happens to be workplace appropriate, thank you very much.

They aim to create the nine-to-five (and then some) wardrobe that makes you feel incredible, with necklines and skirt hems that mean, yes, you can wear something comfortable and flattering into the office without a second thought. Instead of playing the oldies, they're trying to rethink workwear to deliver what women want, rather than what they're given.

The Of Mercer design philosophy is simplistic, flattering, and elegant in its subtlety. You might not have work-life balance, but your Of Mercer clothes will. Plus, everything is made in NYC. 

Take a look at the complete Of Mercer selection here.

Margaux

Margaux Instagram

Margaux uses luxurious materials to craft the best workwear shoes available for comfort, design, and material.

Inspired by the crispness and dash of iconic American pieces, and informed by smart design, Margaux makes products that solve problems without compromising their form — "The Heel" is a sculptural block heel that's meant to finally address the need for a truly comfortable classic. There's a thin layer of foam padding and a supportive innersole for all-day comfort, and a rubber-tipped leather sole to extend the overall lifetime of the shoes. For the quality delivered in each design, Margaux manages to create stylish, comfortable footwear for women that's still reasonably priced. 

Find the full Margaux selection here.

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Disclosure: This post is brought to you by Business Insider's Insider Picks team. We aim to highlight products and services you might find interesting, and if you buy them, we get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners. We frequently receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. We operate independently from our advertising sales team. We welcome your feedback. Have something you think we should know about? Email us at insiderpicks@businessinsider.com.

Read the original article on Insider Picks. Copyright 2017. Follow Insider Picks on Twitter.

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Under Armour suddenly has a huge Gen Z problem

• Dennis Green
 

• 23h
• 4,524

Kids are rapidly abandoning Under Armour. Facebook/Under Armour

• Under Armour listed its youth business as one of its weakest categories during its third-quarter earnings call.
• Youth has historically been a strong point for Under Armour, which listed the category as a "strength" in the two previous quarters.
• Under Armour is losing cachet with younger buyers, especially when it comes to shoes.

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Under Armour just announced its third-quarter earnings — and they weren't great.

The company saw revenues fall 5% in the third quarter to $1.4 billion. Some of the softness was blamed on a weak youth business. According to the earnings press release, youth contributed to an 8% decline in the company's apparel business and a tepid 2% growth in the footwear business.

Youth has historically been a strong point for Under Armour. In both previous quarters of this year, Under Armour listed its youth business as a point of strength, making this sudden downturn curious to say the least.

It might be because older kids are no longer wearing Under Armour, and the brand is rapidly losing its cachet.

According to Piper Jaffray's latest Taking Stock of Teens survey, teens just aren't into Under Armour anymore. For the full year, it was the No. 1 brand that upper-income male teens said that they are no longer wearing, according to the survey.

That data matches a survey of young male consumers by Wells Fargo earlier this year, in which Under Armour shoes ranked near the bottom in terms of favorability. In a note to investors, the bank's analysts said that only 27% of survey participants rated Under Armour favorably, while the Curry brand in particular performed even worse, at 19%.

That's not the end of the bad news for Under Armour, however. In another survey question, the bank asked which brands the participants were more interested in purchasing than before, and which they were less interested in purchasing.

About 33% of the respondents said that they were less likely to buy Under Armour shoes, and only 17% said they were more likely to buy them. That put Under Armour dead last with a net rating of negative 17%.

This dovetails with cultural perceptions. The basketball star Kevin Durant, signed with rival Nike, said in an interview in August that "everybody knows" that "nobody wants to play in Under Armours."

CEO Kevin Plank acknowledged the problem in response to a question in an call with analysts discussing third quarter earnings.

"Youth is a great indicator for us," Plank said, adding that be believes the company has a "pull problem" with consumers.

To remedy that, Plank said Under Armour will be working on doubling down on selling compelling product, segment its offerings better around different retailers and prices, and work on creating demand for its products.

Shoes are a core business for athletic brands — they account for 65% of Nike's sales but are just 20% of Under Armour's business. Under Armour shoe sales have lagged far behind the numbers it would need to become a major shoe player.

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