Twenty-five years into a career spanning Ogilvy, Clinique and Unilever, Emily Culp is making her most ambitious bet yet: that the brands that win the AI era won’t be the ones with the best models, but the ones with the clearest strategy and the deepest consumer trust.
Most brands struggle to find one insight worth building around. Aaron Sanandres found his in a personal annoyance, confirmed it on Reddit and turned it into one of menswear’s most improbable success stories. The UNTUCKit co-founder on brand building, product integrity and running two very different businesses at once.
At the Retail Influencer Network press breakfast, speakers from Stitch Fix, FedEx, OneRail, Glance and DirecTV pointed to a common theme: AI is reshaping retail—but not replacing its fundamentals.
With Vans navigating one of retail’s most compelling repositioning stories, LaJoie shares his philosophy on brand stewardship, the irreplaceable role of human judgment in merchandising, and what it really means to author culture rather than chase it.
A wave of Q4 earnings suggested the American consumer held up. But weakening jobs data, geopolitical tension and an oil shock are already reshaping the outlook. We break down who beat expectations, who stumbled and what it means for retail in 2026.
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