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Monocle
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- 1Three family-owned crisp brands standing up to PepsiCo▼Cashing in their chips: Three family-owned crisp brands holding their own against PepsiCo
A Monocle feature highlights three family-owned potato crisp brands that continue to compete successfully against PepsiCo, the global snack giant behind Walkers and Lay's. The piece frames their resilience as a notable underdog story in the packaged food industry, showing how smaller producers can hold market ground despite the scale and advertising power of multinational rivals.
- 2Why private equity's fashion bet failed and what founders are doing instead▼Why private equity’s fashion bet failed and what founders are doing instead
Private equity firms poured money into fashion brands expecting quick returns, but the bet largely failed as rising costs, shifting consumer habits and creative-ownership clashes left many label investments underperforming. Monocle reports that founders are increasingly turning to alternatives such as bootstrapping, strategic minority investors and long-term patient capital to grow their brands without sacrificing control. The piece examines what went wrong for buyout funds in fashion and how a new generation of designers is rewriting the playbook for funding independent labels.