WWD Voices

Lauryn Bosstick, the founder of beauty, wellness and lifestyle brand The Skinny Confidential — which spans a blog, podcast and product line — speaks with WWD's Emily Burns about the origins and evolution of her wellness empire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marianna Hewitt and Lauren Ireland, co-founders of Summer Fridays, talk to WWD's Jenny B. Fine about their skincare brand's evolution and their approach toward product and content creation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jamie Elden, chief executive of Listrak, sits down with Jenny B. Fine, editor in chief of Beauty Inc., to discuss how Generations Z and Alpha are changing the beauty marketing game. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Westman Atelier's founder and creative director Gucci Westman and founder and chief executive officer David Neville chat with WWD's beauty and fashion market editor James Manso about the luxury beauty label's approach to product development. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More than 15 years ago, two childhood friends decided to make the switch from finance to fashion, and Marine Layer was born. What began as a small operation with a single 450-square-foot storefront today counts 55 locations, with more retail openings in the works. On this episode of WWD Voices for Retail Rx, Michael Natenshon, cofounder and chief executive officer of Marine Layer, Adam Lynch, cofounder and chief operating officer of Marine Layer, chat with Ian Fredericks, chief executive officer of Hilco Global Capital Solutions and executive director of Hilco’s consumer and retail platform, about their company’s early stages, how they are approaching product development and what is next for the brand. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ajay Salpekar, general manager of beauty at TikTok Shop, sits down with Noor Lobad, WWD's beauty news editor, to talk growth, K-beauty, fragrance and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former reality TV star Lo Bosworth sits down with WWD's wellness market reporter Emily Burns to discuss what led to building her brand Love Wellness, her pregnancy journey and trying the wildest wellness trends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What has been the secret to Jonathan Adler’s success? A little bit of luck, a passion for craft and a philosophy of saying yes.  Around three decades ago, Adler’s “lifelong love” of clay that began at summer camp transitioned from a hobby to a career. He sold his first pot to the American Craft Museum—now the Museum of Art and Design—and a Barneys New York order quickly followed. The rest is history. “I got very lucky, got my order from Barneys, and quite unexpectedly and accidentally became a potter,” he said. In addition to his own eponymous home décor label, Adler has collaborated with buzzy brands, including designing a house for cultural icon Barbie. Some have also turned into ongoing relationships, such as his multi-collection partnership with Ruggable. Creative alliances are one area where his tendency to say yes comes into play. “Collaborations are just a great way to be creative, to make news, and hopefully to ring the register as well,” he said. In this episode of WWD Voices for Retail Rx, Ian Fredericks, president and chief executive officer of Hilco Consumer-Retail, speaks with Adler about his career, what was hot this holiday season and how his brand approaches retail. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Erin Parsons chats with Noor Lobad, beauty news editor at WWD, about her journey as a makeup artist and cosmetics collector, and what's next.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Blake Lively, founder of Blake Brown, sits down with Jenny Fine, editor-in-chief of Beauty Inc and executive editor, beauty at WWD, to discuss her haircare brand. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the latest “Savage Fashion” podcast episode, WWD’s chief content officer Jim Fallon and style director Alex Badia sat down with Kris Van Assche, who was in Manhattan for the Basic.Space design fair. "When I left Berluti, after like a 20 something years of a rollercoaster of nonstop working, I never really had the time to sit and think about what else I would possibly do," Van Assche said. "But then when all that stops, I got bored so fast... I didn't necessarily needed a new fashion adventure right away, but I did feel like what I missed immediately was the human interaction." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With news headlines shouting doom and gloom in every direction, is the National Retail Federation’s record-breaking $1 trillion holiday forecast wishful thinking? Or something more nuanced? “The consumer is sentimentally weak, but fundamentally sound,” explained Mark Mathews, chief economist and executive director of research for the NRF in a special podcast episode for Retail Rx with Ian Fredericks, chief executive officer of Hilco Global Capital Solutions and executive director of Hilco’s Consumer and Retail platform. That’s important because the consumer is powering our economy more than ever before. Today, 68 percent of GDP is driven by consumer spending—the largest percentage in the past 15 years. “While lower-income households are definitely struggling, what we have seen over the course of the year is that all households have protected their spending on loved ones,” said Mathews. “Mother's Day, Father's Day, Valentine's Day, Back to School, Halloween… we've had at or near record levels of spend across all of those events.” Essentially, it’s the nature of spending that has changed, and to safeguard that spending, many have pulled back in other areas like recreation or travel. Consumers have also shifted to more promotional spending that squeeze margins. “The retailer is constrained because prices are rising, so while retailers will offer sales that are important to consumers, we may not see the breadth of sales that we’ve seen before,” Mathews said.   The NRF has been analyzing data and advising retailers for over a century. The November/December season represents roughly 20 percent of the year’s retail sales for many retailers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At WWD’s recent Apparel & Retail CEO Summit, Jamie Elden, chief executive officer, Listrak, sat with Amanda Smith, chief executive officer, Fairchild Media Group, to dive into the current retail landscape—including pricing, supply chain resilience, and AI adoption—with a look ahead to what will define successful fashion retail leaders in 2026. This Listrak-sponsored session, titled “Fashion Retail Past, Present & Future - Insights from 2025,” focused on analyzing the past year’s retail performance, highlighting key trends, surprises and benchmarking insights from Listrak’s work with over 1,000 global brands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Where should retail go in the next 10 years? Wherever the customers go. In a VIP breakfast discussion at WWD's recent Apparel & Retail CEO Summit, industry leaders from commercial real estate company CBRE and investment management firm Nuveen delved into the intersection of retail real estate investments, consumer trends and shifting demographic dynamics. Laura Barr, Americas retail leader, CBRE, explored with Katie Grissom, global head of retail at Nuveen, how retail real estate is evolving to meet the demands of a fast-changing market, and the major headwinds impacting the industry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The holiday season is make or break time for retailers, as the last two months of the year can account for more than 20 percent of annual sales for many businesses. But this season is expected to be like none other, as 2025 marks the first year with agentic AI rewriting the retail playbook, from marketing to customer support. In this podcast for Retail Rx, David Dorf, global head of retail solutions at Amazon Web Services (AWS) chats with Ian Fredericks, chief executive officer of Hilco Global Capital Solutions and executive director of Hilco Global’s retail and consumer platform. They explore the many ways agentic AI is being used to help retailers seize this next chapter, and whether retailers should have a chief AI officer.  “When we talk about agentic AI, it's really based on the word agency, so we’re giving the [large learning model] autonomous ability to go out and act on our behalf,” said Dorf, explaining that there’s a “litmus test” he uses to see if it’s really an agent. One, can it reason? Two, does it have access to tools – like a weather site – that can help it make a decision? And three, is it autonomous? Answer engines with AI summaries are another growth area. “Around 75 percent of people have said that they have used an answer engine to start their shopping journey before,” said Dorf. “We’re going to see more of that. Walmart said has about 20 percent of their referral traffic is coming from these answer engines; people asking it a generic question and ending up at the Walmart site. So this pretty impactful.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SJ Denim turned 10 this year, and after a decade reporting on the business of denim, one thing is clear: trends might be constantly looking to the past, but innovations and sustainability attitudes are all about the future. In this episode, Sourcing Journal executive editor and denim expert Angela Velasquez chats with Lauren Parker, director of Fairchild Studio, about the latest issue of SJ Denim and the industry at large. With the Kingpins denim show in Amsterdam fresh in her mind, Velasquez also offered forward-looking trend and business insights on the future of denim. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author and CEO coach Kevin Lawrence works with executives around the world on achieving corporate success while also maintaining personal growth. In his earlier book, “Your Oxygen Mask First: 17 Habits to Help High Achievers Survive & Thrive in Leadership & Life,” Lawrence instructs CEOs to understand they’re not being selfish by taking care of their own wellbeing. His newest book, “The Four Forces of Growth” turns to corporate wellbeing and outlines four areas CEOs must prioritize to maintain the business’ upward trajectory. In this Retail Rx podcast for WWD Voices, Lawrence chats with Patrick J. Murphy, executive director, geopolitical advisors at Hilco Global, about why if companies aren’t oriented for growth, they’re inevitably headed in another direction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anthropologie launched its bridal line on Valentine’s Day in 2011 and has been tying the knot ever since. On its website last year, Anthropologie’s weddings category saw over 75 million product views (a double-digit increase over the previous year), and on-site wedding search traffic also increased by double digits. As the definition of what constitutes “bridal fashion” exponentially expands, so has Anthropologie’s offerings.   “The Gen Z bride in particular is making sure she's documenting every single phase, from the engagement photo all the way through planning the wedding and attending her appointments, and she wants a different outfit to wear for all of it,” said Holly Thrasher, chief merchandising officer, womens, Anthropologie, in a Retail Rx podcast with Ian Fredericks, CEO, Hilco Global Capital Solutions and executive director of Hilco Global’s retail and consumer platform. Today, Anthropologie Weddings offers an omnichannel experience with personalized styling services both in-store and online, fashion for all wedding guests plus accessories, décor and gifts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apparel companies know they should be more sustainable, but with consumers already tightening their purse strings, is sustainable fashion a sustainable business model? Apparel brand Eileen Fisher, with its 60-plus stores and $300 million in sales would certainly say yes. The certified B Corporation has an almost cult-like following among its very eco-minded consumers, and sustainability factors prominently in sourcing, manufacturing, worker treatment, consumer marketing and more. In this chat for Retail Rx, Susan Scow, sustainability impact specialist, Eileen Fisher, chatted with Ian Fredericks, CEO of Hilco Global Capital Solutions and executive director of Hilco Global's retail and consumer platform, and Lauren Parker, director, Fairchild Studio on Eileen Fisher's model and what the industry can learn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gen Z and Millennials may live their lives online, but savvy brands and marketers are finding this cohort increasingly enjoys shopping in real life—or IRL as the kids say. a.k.a. Brands, whose portfolio of digitally native brands includes Princess Polly, Petal and Pup, Culture Kings and mnml, has been engaging with the brick-and-mortar space, from new stores to a push into wholesale distribution. Princess Polly opened its first U.S. store in September 2023 in LA to “really great response,” and now the brand has 11 stores plus a “nice halo effect for the online business,” noted Ciaran Long, CEO of a.k.a. Brands in a Retail Rx podcast with Alex McKeown, senior vice president of Hilco Global Consumer Retail.   The stores have added a new layer to the shopping experience. Meanwhile, Petal and Pup rolled out chain-wide at Nordstrom after a test, while the Culture Kings store in Las Vegas is about “retail-tainment,” from its half basketball court, licensed bar, car racing simulators and DJ booth to the hat wall with 4,000 skus. “Over the last 18 months, as we've looked to scale the brands, we've taken the approach of, let's put our product in front of our customers, wherever they are… from a channel and marketing perspective,” said Long. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices