Well-trained, committed frontline workers are key to a retailer’s success, but that’s proving more and more elusive. With a worker attrition rate of about 60 percent, retailers are essentially replacing more than half their staff every year. That’s a lot of churn.

In this fireside chat, Christine Tutssel, co-founder of Axonify, Michael Appel, managing director and head of retail practice, Getzler Henrich and Associates, and Lauren Parker, director, Fairchild Studio discuss why investment in staff onboarding, training, development, communications and retention must come from the top, and how AI and technology can really make an impact.

Watch the fireside to learn:

• Why staff and management turnover is so high today
• What Axonify's survey of 300 frontline managers revealed
• How technology like Axonify's tool can better foster management and frontline connections to make associates more successful
• How managers use the Axonify tool to train front-line employees about retail theft
• If retail leaders have the tools and tactics to tap into the business success that frontlines can drive

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How are smart retailers bringing their own customers into the mix as co-collaborators and co-creators? PacSun is a leader in this regard, making sure its brand resonates with Gen Z, and not just in product, but in overall vibe and messaging. Whether this means using its own consumers as models in advertising campaigns or soliciting Gen Z customer and staff input on creative projects, PacSun knows the benefits of inclusivity and community.

In this fireside chat for retail business hub Retail Rx, Arthur Zaczkiewicz, WWD’s executive editor of strategic content chats with Richard Cox, PacSun’s VP of men’s merchandising and design, and head of global partnerships, about why PacSun strategies like The Collective work so well.

Watch the chat to learn:

• What is the PacSun Collective and how it engages with customers
• The four pillars PacSun uses for consumer success
• How PacSun keeps its finger on the pulse of an ever-shifting culture and arts environment
• How numerous arts, music and even Formula 1 collaborations drive interest and build community
• How PacSun hits inclusivity notes that resonate
• How the retailer stays “forever young” while engaging the next generation of youth

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Are retailers really listening to their customers?

In this fireside chat for business hub Retail Rx, Michael Appel, managing director and head of retail practice for Getzler Henrich & Associates, and Greg Petro, CEO of consumer insight platform First Insight discuss the importance of digital tools to gather voice of customer insights data and apply the analytics to drive sales—wherever the customer is. 

Watch the chat to learn:

• Why voice of the consumer (VOC) data is more important than ever
• If omnichannel retailers are looking at in-store and online data as more distinct than they should be
• How capturing VOC data in real time can help retailers funnel it to the right channels for strategic planning
• How First Insight's recently launched interactive mobile app My Insight works
• Future predictions for the retail analytics industry

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In response to a challenged and constantly shifting retail market, WWD and Sourcing Journal have joined forces and teamed up with Getzler Henrich & Associates LLC, a Hilco Global Company, to launch “Retail Rx.” This digital content microsite presents news and insights to help executive leaders make better-informed business decisions. Fresh content is posted weekly.

In this fireside chat, Lauren Parker, director, FMG Studios, sits down with Michael Appel, managing director and head of retail practice and Getzler Henrich, to discuss the need for the site and its goal of offering business leaders a competitive edge in an ever-evolving, complex retail marketplace.

Retail Rx includes the podcast “Chat Box,” where industry experts and retail executives explore the state of retail today and tomorrow. “Retail POV” articles present exclusive finance and technology news and business insights from the Getzler Henrich and Hilco Global experts, and “The SKU View” fireside chats feature retail and industry thought leaders and experts. “Mike Drop,” is Michael Appel’s “no-holds-barred” opinion column to industry.

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“Green.” “Eco-friendly.” “Low impact.” As companies compete for consumers’ dollars, they are touting sustainability benefits alongside other product attributes. But rather than talking about vague sustainability claims, brands must track and show their work toward targets to effect change and meet consumers’ ethical expectations.

Part of this accountability is companies admitting where they fell short of targets. Transparency could also mean disclosing non-compliance with a roadmap for eradicating social or environmental risks.

“It's time that we start celebrating people who have the bravery to be transparent, and also the bravery to say why something didn't work and what they're going to do differently,” said Suzanne Ellingham, event director for trade shows Source Fashion and Source Home & Gift. “It’s a matter of moving away from terminology and really moving towards setting goals and being accountable.”

Listen to Ellingham in conversation with Jasmin Malik Chua, sourcing and labor editor at Sourcing Journal, to hear why brands often shy away from full transparency before reaching goals and how frontrunner brands are proactively reporting on their pitfalls and progress.

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The benefits of producing closer to home are well known—convenience, speed to market, lower costs, better sustainability, easier communication, less geopolitical risk, and so on. But as nearshoring production in The Americas still has a way to go, what is keeping countries like Mexico from reaching its full potential with American brands and retailers?

Here, Lauren Parker, Director, FMG Studio, chats with Ryan Zimmerman, founder and head of business development for Arzee International, a manufacturer that is based in LA but produces its jersey, French terry and fleece garments exclusively at its factories in Mexico.

Watch the fireside chat to learn:

·     Why Arzee International initially moved its production to Mexico

·     The biggest monetary and sustainability benefits of producing in Mexico

·     Nearshoring surprises for companies embarking for the first time

·     What companies need to know to retain duty-free status on imported yarns

·     How Arzee conserves water at its manufacturing plant

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Product development has long been undergoing a digital revolution, but the pandemic pushed these efforts into overdrive. Today, fashion companies continue to experiment with digital product creation software, and one of the main ingredients required is virtual materials.

Even ahead of 3D design’s work-from-home boost, research and promotion organization Cotton Incorporated was supporting the industry’s digital switch with FABRICAST™, a library of cotton-rich materials that can be used in programs like CLO and Browzwear. Cotton Incorporated continues to grow this range of virtual fabrics and develop new ways for the industry to explore its offerings. A prime example of this is Cotton Incorporated’s virtual showroom, which was launched in November. 

Virtual visitors can “walk” through the showroom to view prototypes of garments made from FABRICAST™ textiles in categories such as activewear and denim. “It’s sort of like a native environment for digital fashion and digital fabrics,” said Katherine Absher, manager, fashion and digital design marketing in the Global Supply Chain Marketing Department at Cotton Incorporated, during a fireside chat with Jessica Binns in December. “And we use it to show brands, mills and…students what our fabrics could be and how they could be used, and what they could be doing with cotton in digital product creation.”

In this conversation, Absher and Binns discuss the development of the showroom and Cotton Incorporated's other efforts to encourage the industry and students to create fashion digitally.

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Bananas are a big business in Pakistan. The South Asian country grows around 154,000 tons of the fruit each year. But with this production comes waste; annually, 10 million tons of banana stems are burned.

A new project between Pakistan-based manufacturer Interloop and sustainable denim consultancy Simply Suzette has transformed banana stem fiber into a multi-category fashion collection. Dubbed Unpeeled, the collection uses Interloop’s Loomshake banana fiber for denim, hosiery and knitwear.

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The fashion industry has finally come to the realization that it needs to adopt circular practices, and that’s a great start… But now what? Circularity implementation—or what could be considered Phase 2—is much more difficult. It requires having the visibility, traceability and verification tools to analyze your carbon footprint, then mindfully rework R&D in response.

Here, Dr. Min Zhu, Ph.D., Technical Director of U.S. & Canada Softlines of inspection and certification company SGS talks with Lauren Parker, Director of SJ and FMG Studios about what circular fashion really is, where to start, and how to proceed to next phase.

Watch the fireside chat to learn:

·      What a circular fashion system really is and how it has been evolving.

·      Ways in which fashion companies should consider in material selection to embrace circularity.

·      Why companies must embrace a lifecycle assessment (LCA).

·      How SGS combined testing with supply chain verification to determine and verify the percentage of recycled polyester.

·      What the EU’s impending Digital Product Passports will mean for companies and how they can prepare for them

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Artificial intelligence has been a buzzy topic in the retail field for a few years, but the industry is still falling short of using this technology to its full potential.

In a recent survey from supply chain management technology firm Blue Yonder, the retail executive respondents self reported that they know about AI and are currently using it. However, while Generative AI is being used most popularly for supply chain management, only 29 percent are using AI for predictive analytics and only about a tenth are tapping into AI’s capabilities for digital tracking and scenario planning.

Here, Tammy Kulesa, senior director of product marketing at Blue Yonder, and Erin Halka, vice president of product management, speak to Sourcing Journal's feature editor Kate Nishimura about how AI can be used to improve everything from planning to productivity.

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In fashion, there’s a lot of talk about innovation and technological advancements, but when it comes to efficiency gains from technology, the industry has been slow to progress. Apparel design and production tends to be a long stepwise process, which slows down workflows and makes it harder to meet demand. Technology, however, holds the potential to provide significant efficiency and productivity gains, by enhancing the workflow of the apparel value chain.

“If the fashion industry were to move at the speed of the automotive industry, it should take a day and a half to design and prepare a garment for production,” said Bill Wilcox, founder and president of 3D design software platform Clothing Tech LLC in a fireside chat with Lauren Parker, head of Sourcing Journal and FMG Studio teams.

Unfortunately, noted Wilcox, too many companies are using 3D design more to visualize their 2D processes, rather than boost efficiencies all around.

Watch the fireside chat to learn:

·     The opportunities and systemic problems in the $2T fashion industry

·     Where most of the problems exist and how they can be solved

·     What the automotive and electronics industries can teach fashion about automated design and production efficiencies

·     How Clothing Tech can help fulfill the efficiency promises the fashion industry’s been chasing

·     How designing in 3D can improve workflow efficiencies and speed to market ­­

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