Made Personal: Highlights From Attentive Thread New York 2026
PacSun CEO Brie Olson shared how a Gen Z-first, culture-led strategy reshaped the business from the inside out, building with customers rather than simply marketing to them.
Attentive, the omnichannel marketing platform redefining how brands and people connect, brought together some of retail and fashion’s sharpest minds at Skylight at The Refinery in Brooklyn on May 20 for Thread New York 2026. The full-day summit explored what it takes to reach consumers in a world where the old rules of discovery no longer apply.
Guests arrived to custom co-branded fragrance rollerballs from Kustomer, the AI-native customer service platform and CRM, and Attentive, each one labeled “Made Personal” — a small but notable reminder of what the day was really about. The gesture set the tone for everything that followed: in 2026, personalization has become the whole game.
Attentive CEO Amit Jhawar set the stakes in his opening remarks. As AI and shifting consumer behavior fragment attention across platforms and interfaces, brands can no longer rely on being found. He made the argument that personalized, relevant marketing is becoming a brand’s defining competitive advantage.
PacSun CEO Brie Olson, in conversation with Sheena Butler-Young of Business of Fashion, shared how a Gen Z-first, culture-led strategy reshaped PacSun from the inside out by building with customers rather than simply marketing to them, and using real-time consumer insight to drive growth without sacrificing brand authenticity.
A panel moderated by Jason Del Rey, founder of retail tech publication The Aisle, brought together senior leaders from Authentic Brands Group, COS and LoveShackFancy to tackle one of the most pressing questions facing brand leaders right now: who owns the customer in an AI-driven world? The discussion surfaced real tradeoffs between marketplace reach and first-party data advantage.
Catalyst Brands rounded out the main stage program with a candid look at what it takes to modernize customer engagement across a multi-brand portfolio: aligning teams, simplifying the tech stack and building the connected customer foundation that makes scalable personalization possible.
The day wound down the way the best industry events do: with good wine, great company and the Manhattan skyline filling the glass-ceilinged space at golden hour. A multimedia booth kept the energy up between conversations. The views did the rest.
