Innovators by Current Global

Physical retail is dead as we know it. There is no turning back. But Kevin Ryan, one the most admired investors and entrepreneurs in the United States, also has good news. On this episode of the Innovators podcast Kevin explains how he believes we will be much better off a year from now, he reveals how the number one threat the world faces today can be eliminated this November, and he shares a piece of advice to all business owners who are fighting to survive in the New Normal.

We have the tools today to make the change the world needs, says engineer, author and futurist, Peter Diamandis, on this episode of the Innovators podcast. As we head into 2020, this conversation explores why there’s a crazy idea behind every breakthrough innovation, how the next decade will be a critical time to reinvent much of humanity, and the one thing you need to know to prepare for this future.

Mastercard is on a mission to curate and create priceless experiences that money cannot buy, says Raja Rajamannar, CMO of the technology company, on the latest episode of the Innovators podcast. At any given time, the company is hosting over 750 of such experiences globally. During this episode, Rajamannar tells us how this strategy addresses customer passion points, what he's doing to drive loyalty through purpose, and why the company is launching an industry first: its own sound.

When you start a business, you should always be thinking about what your end goal is, says Adam Brown, founder of luxury swimwear brand Orlebar Brown, on the latest episode of the Innovators podcast. In Brown’s case, it was the eventual acquisition by none other than Chanel. During this episode, Brown tells us just why the acquisition is a match made in heaven, how he is bringing sustainability into the brand in a creative way, and how brands can get the luxury consumer to forget about the price tag.

Traditional retail exists in a vortex of information, which doesn’t make sense for today, says Matt Alexander, co-founder and CEO of new department store Neighborhood Goods, on this episode of the Innovators podcast. The company’s inaugural space, which launched in Texas in late 2018, carries a selection of new and established brands and focuses on driving customer relevance through data. Join us for this episode as we explore why experiential retail needs to go beyond putting a ball pit in the store, and how modern brands are using physical space for entirely new reasons, and why legacy retailers may have the ability to play catch up after years of ignoring customer needs.

Big businesses have no excuse for not doing the right thing, says Christopher Raeburn, founder of British designer brand Raeburn and creative director of Timberland, on this episode of the Innovators podcast. Christopher is bringing his learnings from his own brand to create a responsible, innovative new Timberland. Join us as we explore why a reduced, remade and recycled model is essential for fashion, how education is a missing link and how to turn “trash” into opportunity.

A brand’s success depends on authentic relationships and good design over hype, says Rodrigo Bazan, CEO of designer label Thom Browne, on this episode of the Innovators podcast. Join us as we explore what that means in practice, including how music and celebrity help fuel its success, why the brand believes in sportswear over streetwear, and just how its thinking about the balance of data and design today.

The only way to embed technology in the store is to focus on what will benefit the customer, says Holli Rogers, CEO of Browns Fashion, on this episode of the Innovators podcast. The British luxury retailer has been experimenting with parent company Farfetch’s Store of the Future strategy since it was announced in 2017. Join us as we dive into Browns’ resulting version of augmented retail, Holli’s experience being one of the first employees at e-commerce business Net-a-Porter and what out of the box thinking she’s now applying to sustainability.

Introducing legislation along the lines of a Global Green New Deal is mandatory for the future of our planet and the existence of the fashion industry within it, says designer and activist Katharine Hamnett on this episode of the Innovators podcast. Join us as we dive into what such regulations need to include, what activism today should really look like both for businesses and for us as individuals, and why she doesn’t believe the answer is about reducing how many clothes we all actually buy.

“Being creative gives us the ability to help change the world”, says Roland Mouret, a designer on a mission to eradicate single-use plastics in the supply chain, on the latest episode of the Innovators podcast. He’s doing this by taking a small step that could add up to big change if adopted across the industry. Join us as we explore why he’s on a mission to make sustainability sexy, the major trend he thinks is dying out in fashion right now, and how the climate crisis is redefining power and the luxury industry.

Understanding cost and thinking long-term is key for fashion to become sustainable, explains Nicolaj Reffstrup, founder of Danish fashion brand, Ganni, on this episode of the Innovators podcast. After all, who is going to pay for it? Join us as we discuss how Ganni is making investments as well as flexing its muscle to drive towards a more sustainable future, the new business models its testing to do so, and why it’s focused on bringing a tech mentality to every way that it operates.

Creating retail experiences is essential for successful brick and mortar today, but it’s not a silver bullet, explains Jess Christie, chief brand officer of MatchesFashion.com, on this episode of the Innovators podcast. This is a luxury retailer that opened a new physical store in London’s Mayfair last year and hosted more than 100 different events in its first 9 months. Join us as we also explore exactly what that takes to pull off, what it means to think about personal shopping through the eyes of technology today, and the role content plays in connecting online and offline together.

The success of Stadium Goods comes off the back of unprecedented consumer desire for sneakers and the need for a rich brand experience in which to buy them, says the platform’s co-founder and co-CEO, John McPheters, on this episode of the Innovators podcast. This is a consignment site that launched in 2015 and was acquired by ecommerce marketplace Farfetch in 2018 for $250 million. Very few emerging businesses have seen such rapid growth. Join us as we explore the cultural relevance of sneakers today, the evolving role of exclusivity and desire in luxury as a result, and just how what McPheters is doing is really about teaching the industry to give up control.

Living in such a connected world is damaging our ability to think creatively, says Brian Solis, a world-leading anthropologist and futurist, on the latest episode of the Innovators podcast by the Current Global. By being constantly online, we are constantly distracted, he suggests. He refers to this particularly applying to "Generation C", where the C stands for "Connected. "We all live in a similar lifestyle. And when you live that lifestyle, you're rewiring your brain. You're speeding it up; you're moving faster, you're becoming less patient, you're becoming incredibly narcissistic. The world literally revolves around you," he explains. "You have followers, your friends, you feel like you need to constantly feed that system, but you're also feeding off the system. So you might find yourself endlessly scrolling for no good reason whatsoever." Solis experienced this himself: after writing seven best-selling books, he struggled with distraction while trying to write this eighth. Getting caught up in cycles of sharing and consuming social media is one of the main reasons why people get less and less creative over time, he suggests. "The real problem is that I'm placing greater emphasis on what happens on this screen than I am in this moment right now. That means that I'm not placing value in the people that I'm around, or the places that I'm at, which means that becomes forgettable." But his quest to understand society's digital realities, behaviors and expectations did indeed end up inspiring a new book after all. In Lifescale, he reflects on how we ended up opening ourselves up to so many distractions and what changed to make people value this way of living – points that he also touches on in the podcast. In this conversation, recorded with the Current Global's Liz Bacelar at our Innovation Mansion at SXSW this year, Solis explains his techniques to taking control over tech, shares how brands can be more authentic by being more empathic; and reveals what the key is to transforming us into the leaders of the future.

"We really and truly believe that the plus size woman will never be serviced as well as she will be when there's no such thing as plus size," say Alexandra Waldman and Polina Veksler, co-founders of size-inclusive label, Universal Standard, on the latest episode of the Innovators podcast by the Current Global. Fashion tends to segregate women who are on the larger end of the spectrum, they say, and so they're on a mission to level the playing field and make clothes for everyone. To that end, the brand, which had already gained a cult-like following for its size-inclusive clothing since launching in 2015, introduced an even larger range in 2018, from 00 to 40 – an industry first. Understanding how women of all sizes shop has been key to the brand's success, which last year also raised its first round of investment from the likes of GOOP's Gwyneth Paltrow, TOMS' Blake Mycoskie and Imaginary Ventures' Natalie Massenet. Much like many direct-to-consumer counterparts, the e-commerce experience is playing a major part in its popularity: all of its SKUs can be viewed at every size available within the range, making it easier for women to compare and make confident decisions; and its Universal Fit Liberty Program allows shoppers to replace their purchase, free of charge, within a year of completing it, should they go up or down in size. During this conversation, recorded at the Current Global's Innovation Mansion at SXSW this year, Waldman and Veksler break down the many product development challenges that come with the industry's traditional fit formula; tell co-host Rachel Arthur what they're putting in place to reduce hostility to women of larger size ranges, and share why their bold moves are shifting the way the whole industry approaches this market.

"[The fashion industry] is 60% larger than it needs to be relative to the actual quantity of demand," says Paul Dillinger, Head of Global Product Innovation at Levi's, on the latest episode of the Innovators podcast by the Current Global. He is referring to the fact six out of 10 garments produced every year are being discarded to landfill or incinerated within the first year of their production. The result is that those working in this world need to either think about how you can eliminate overproduction, or instead build new business models around only making and selling the four that are actually wanted, he explains, even if it affects business growth. An alternative response to that concept is the so-called "circular economy", whereby items are not discarded but put back into the system, which to overly simplify matters, enables businesses to continue with growth while aiming for lesser impact. But Dillinger believes such moves are merely providing brands with a guilt-free alternative to keep overproducing at a point when the technology for a truly circular system isn't yet scalable. He instead refers to the idea of credible "circular industrial ecologies", which are much more complex to operate and achieve. "One of them is a corporate compliance officer selling a new shiny penny to a board of directors in the C-suite, and the other one is a studious and scientific approach to really tackling a real challenge," he explains. At Levi's, Dillinger is otherwise looking at key areas like reducing the brand's use of water. "I think people's right to drink fresh water should be prioritized above a company's right to access fresh water for production," he explains. In this conversation, hosted in front of a live audience at the Current Global's Innovation Mansion at SXSW 2019, he explains what that looks like through theinnovative work he's been doing with hemp. He also gets technical with host Rachel Arthur about the many ways in which Levi's is working to make its supply chain responsible in one of the most complex industries in the world.

"We're operating under the thesis that billion dollar brands will not exist in the future," says Zak Normandin, founder and CEO of Iris Nova, the company behind wellness drink brand, Dirty Lemon, on the latest episode of the Innovators podcast by the Current Global. "I know Dirty Lemon isn't going to be popular in a few years. And I want to already have three type of products in the pipeline that we're launching right now, because consumers are very transient in their decisions to buy products," he explains. Dirty Lemon launched in 2015 and quickly gained the type of cult following that only brands born online manage to achieve. It did so through a mixture of being at the right place, at the right time – in this case, right in the middle of the wellness boom – and carefully crafted branding that positioned it as a lifestyle offering, rather than just a product. But Normandin, a CPG entrepreneur at heart, has much bigger plans than creating fleeting frenzy around a single product line. From inception, his Instagrammable bottles could only be bought online, with purchase being completed via text message. In 2018, it launched the Drug Store, an unmanned retail concept where customers could pick up a Dirty Lemon drink and simply walk out, texting to complete their purchase as they did so. This innovative retail model, alongside a stream of new product launches happening over the next few months, demonstrates Normandin's ambitions to keep reacting to customer needs and behaviors before they move onto the next hot thing. During this conversation, recorded at this year's SXSW at the Current Global's Innovation Mansion, Normandin also share with Liz Bacelar the new products launching under the Irs Nova family, what the retail experience is doing to inform future product development, and how Coca Cola is not only one of the brand's biggest investors, but also its competitor.

There's a big difference today between the role of commerce, and that of shopping, says Tim Weingarten, head of shopping product at Pinterest, on the latest episode of the Innovators podcast by the Current Global. "Commerce has this implication of pushing for the transaction – about reducing friction in the conversion. Whereas shopping is one of joy. It's one of serendipity, it's one of discovering something you didn't know existed," he explains. It's that mentality that underpins everything his team does at the company, focusing primarily on how to better the user experience with discovery and personalization at its core. This includes the introduction of a series of tools that filter and predict needs – from Pinterest Lens, which allows customers to find items from the database by photographing similar ones, to the newly announced Catalogs feature, where brands can upload their entire product catalog as shoppable pins. What makes Pinterest stand out among its competitors, is that its users navigate the platform for entirely personal reasons, such as renovating their kitchens or achieving the perfect hairstyle, as opposed to pushing aspirational content to followers, Weingarten comments. Being able to capitalize on that then comes down to having the right algorithms in place. "The more data you have, the more you can personalize. But on an e commerce site, the only data they have is based on prior transactions. That's a very sparse dataset and it happens very infrequently. If you switch gears to Pinterest, what you have is someone visiting every day doing this authentic thing – saving things for particular use cases. This engagement signal can be applied to all products... And because we have this authentic form of engagement, we're able to understand what you're trying to accomplish, and actually personalize it to your tastes," he says. Pinterest has been around for nearly a decade with a quiet yet steady climb to the top. As of 2018, users on the platform had pinned 175 billion items on three billion virtual boards. The company is now on track to top $1bn in revenue, and is rumored to be moving forward with an IPO this summer at a valuation of $12bn. During this conversation recorded at Shoptalk with the Current Global's Rachel Arthur, Weingarten dissects how Pinterest is only getting better at predicting consumer needs before they're voiced; shares how the platform balances being commercial with keeping the joy of inspiration alive, and hints at the types of technologies he's looking at to further personalize the shopping experience.

Artificial intelligence is not yet good enough to simulate creativity, says British fashion photographer Nick Knight on the latest episode of the Innovators podcast by the Current Global. Speaking live at a FashMash event in London, he explained that AI as it stands today, is a long way from what creativity is: "When you create a picture, it is done through desire, accident, failure, fear, love, and arousal. Predicting what I will do by how I did past steps is not a good way to create my next piece of art; it's not a good way to simulate creativity." He was referring to the way in which AI looks back at past behavior in order to work out what is probable next. But that doesn't mean that it won't one day figure out how to do so, he noted, adding that he is working on new projects that will keep him on the frontline of it so as to have a say in what it could look like down the road. Knight has built his career on pushing the boundaries of image making. He has photographed some of the world's biggest celebrities and models – from Lady Gaga and Bjork to Kate Moss and the late Alexander McQueen. Almost two decades ago, he launched SHOWstudio, an online platform celebrating fashion film, and changing the way fashion was consumed through the internet. Now his next act is understanding how technologies like AI and robotics will impact creativity, and how he can become a part of such a movement. During this conversation with guest host Rosanna Falconer, Knight explains what the smartphone has to do with Shakespeare; how SHOWstudio broke the internet but created history with the first ever live streamed fashion show for Alexander McQueen in late 2009; and why he is an eternal optimist about the future.

Successful retail decisions are made when physical space is seen as another media channel, says Ross Bailey, founder and CEO of Appear Here, the online marketplace for short retail leases on the latest episode of the Innovators podcast by the Current Global. Retail is failing when it's not thinking about audience first, Ross insists. The industry doesn't think twice about spending huge budgets on Google Ads, but customer acquisition can prove increasingly more valuable through spend on physical footprint, he explains. It's for that reason, Appear Here increasingly sees the likes of Google or Instagram as greater competition than other brokers. "[If you're playing] the audience game that means that as a brand, what's the best most authentic, great return on investment medium, that I can reach an audience at for that moment in time, for that campaign, for that product, for that season.And if that happens to be retail, you're going to be making that decision over what you're spending on AdWords or over what you're spending anywhere else," he comments. Appear Here launched in 2013 hoping to disrupt a long-established market that no longer corresponded to how customers shopped. While commercial landlords demanded an average five-year commitment from brands, customers were dispersing from the high street and shopping in a much more flexible, non-committal way. Today, AppearHere's short-term rental model – often referred to as the "Airbnb of retail" – sees the company operate an average of 350 stores in London alone at any given time, making it the largest retailer currently operating in the city. Bailey hopes the model gives brands and retailers much more flexibility to appear and disappear whenever they see fit, rather than wait for the consumer to do so first. For brands across the spectrum, of which he has 180,000 on his platform, there are different approaches however. For luxury names like Chanel, Nike or Netflix, all Appear Here clients, it's about reaching a new audience or promoting a particular product or campaign; for more independent brands, it's about creating awareness outside their online bubble where competition is too high without enormous ad budgets, he suggests. During this conversation Bailey also explains why he sees no problem with an in-store ballpit as a popular experiential idea as long as it is authentic to the brand; how Selfridges' early retail days inspires him to think about how to bring back showmanship; and why technology, much like children, he says, should be seen but not heard.

"Collaborations to me, are a love affair," says Eno Polo, US president of Alpagartas, the parent company of the world's most popular flip flop brand, Havaianas, on the latest episode of the Innovators podcast by the Current Global. Collaborations are at the core of both the brand's success and its wide reach, but in order to become successful, they need to remain authentic, he explains. "It has to be two-way. I think a lot of brands out there force collaborations, they pay for collaborations. But if you pay for going out with a girl, I don't call that a love affair. I'd rather it be a natural feeling – she likes me, I like her – and we go out together. That's what I call a true collaboration, and those are the ones I think are most successful." Havaianas shot onto the international stage when French designer Jean Paul Gaultier accessorized his models on the New York and Paris catwalks with the flip flops in 1999, instantly turning them into an object of desire. What followed was a series of fashion brands wanting to collaborate with the now-iconic brand, hoping to borrow some of the color and freshness that only a Brazilian label could bring to the table. Today, Havaianas produces over 250 million pairs a year, or 10 pairs a second, and is Europe's number one sandal brand. Beyond its ambitious expansion plans across the globe comes a mounting pressure for the brand to tackle the issue of sustainability, which may well still be in toddler stages in its native country, but is steadily becoming a business imperative elsewhere. For Polo, the fact that the company is scaling its retail footprint and office count across Europe and the US means there is a growing internal pressure to become more sustainable. The brand is doing so by focusing on employee welfare, but also wants to tackle and own the fight for sustainability at the beaches where its products are so ever-present. During this conversation, Polo also talks through the company's history from catering to Brazil's working class to hitting the beaches of Ibiza; the importance of creating a retail experience that puts a smile on the customer's feet; and why creating such a simple product allows the brand to remain fun.

Technology can enable us to do great things, says Warby Parker co-founder and CEO, Neil Blumenthal, with regards to the brand's meteoric rise in the direct-to-consumer space, on the latest episode of the Innovators podcast by TheCurrent Global. Speaking to Liz Bacelar at this year's NRF Big Show in New York, Blumenthal explains how technology is critical to making customers' lives easier. Warby Parker sees itself sitting at the intersection of three communities – tech, fashion, and social enterprise, he notes. It's both a tech company and a retailer focused on creating products and services that tangibly impact consumers every day. Warby Parker is one of Silicon Valley's first so-called unicorns, a special group of startups that exceed expectations to pioneer within their own category by hitting over $1bn in valuation – including Airbnb, Uber and WeWork. The nine-year-old company has paved the way to creating a great retail experience that transverses seamlessly between online and offline, and as a result, inspired the business model of many single-product focused startups known to consumers today – from suitcases at Away,to footwear at Allbirds. But from its scrappy beginnings hosting a showroom at Blumenthal's New York apartment, to being one of the first DTC brands to launch a brick-and-mortar retail space, the eyewear company has had a razor sharp focus on treating the whole experience of buying glasses as a single product – from trial to wear. From its successful at-home trial program to digital eye tests, Warby Parker works with a team of in-house technologists to constantly iterate its approach to better serving the customer. For example, after receiving feedback that it was inconvenient for customers to take time off work to get an eye exam, it developed a prescription app that pairs an iPhone to a second screen to test the user's vision. Recently, it then deployed Apple's new AR technology to launch a virtual try-on feature. During this conversation, Blumenthal also shares how the brand has been built to resonate with multiple consumer segments, the importance of the social aspect of the company, and why he sees Amazon more as inspiration, rather than threat.

You have to be bold and brave to do meaningful innovation, says Fiona Fairhurst, VP of innovation at underwear brand, Heist Studios, on the latest episode of the Innovators podcast by TheCurrent Global. "We're trying to make better products that make people's lives better," she explains. The first product under the newly-appointed designer's remit at Heist is shapewear that not only looks more aesthetically pleasing than existing alternatives in the market, but removes any stigma for women wearing it. Fairhurst's background is in sport, a world built around product innovation focused on the importance of performance. She rose to fame during the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 where, while working at Speedo, she introduced a bodysuit using biomimetic sharkskin technology that went on to help 13 out of 15 swimming world records achieved during the competition. It was also eventually banned from the sport because it gave competitors an unfair advantage. Her background has enabled her to strike the balance between the emotional side of design and the material innovation that leads to better product performance. Much like getting swimmers to swap their small Speedos for full bodysuits, for Heist it is about getting women to trust their expertise. "We very much want to base everything on science, technology and the innovation – and also what the consumer wants, which for Heist is about women." During this conversation with Rachel Arthur at a FashMash event in London, Fairhurst also explains what excites her for the future of material innovation, the challenge of scaling sustainability, and what game-changing product Heist is working on next.

"If you're dealing with finite supply, then you need to understand demand to figure out what it is people are willing to pay," says Josh Luber, founder of streetwear online marketplace, StockX, on the latest episode of the Innovators podcast by TheCurrent Global. "What brands have historically relied on is the concept of mass chaos and taking advantage of that hype (...) But having a pair of Off-White Jordans that retail for $490 but resell for $2400 and just relying on bots and chaos in order to distribute it is an illogical and broken system," he explains. Luber's platform, which in 2018 took on $44m in investment from Google, among others, launched in 2016 to level the playing field between buyers and sellers in a retail landscape that seems to enjoy feeding off an endless cycle of streetwear FOMO and having the latest, hottest sneaker on the market. The re-sale market used to be a Wild West, Luber explains, but data and technology are now being deployed in order to better value these products and provide an unforeseen level of transparency and fairness to both sellers and buyers. Inspired by how the traditional stock market works, the platform tracks product demand and pricing across the web in order to sell it in real time. This, as well as a tool that displays an itemized history of transactions of a product, balances the power dynamic between sellers and buyer, which historically sided with the seller and how much they wanted to sell their product for. StockX's success is also hugely indicative of how a one-time underground industry that was powered by its community and word-of-mouth access, is becoming increasingly structured in order to cater to more mature and educated consumers. In other words, the larger it becomes, the more it needs the infrastructure to support it. During this conversation with TheCurrent Global's Liz Bacelar, Luber explains how his background as an entrepreneur and IBM consultant, led him to StockX, how the platform's customer is evolving, and why discovery is playing such a huge role in its future plans.

Cannabis consumers are not as black and white as medicinal versus recreational, says MedMen CMO, David Dancer, on the latest episode of the Innovators podcast by TheCurrent Global. This cannabis retailer is currently valued at over $1.5bn. Its challenge however is to design an experience that removes the anxiety of consuming cannabis that the majority of casual users still carry, as well as appease local authorities hungry to ensure strict legislations. The consumer piece can be easily facilitated by knowledgeable store associates, who Dancer refers to as sommeliers and who play a huge role in demystifying the experience, from branding to education. "We want to make sure that people feel comfortable and can ask the questions they need answers to," he explains. It also helps that curiosity around consumption is at an all-time high, largely thanks to the wellness movement. But the bigger challenge for the retailer is dealing with legislations even stricter than those reserved to selling alcohol and tobacco. Although there may be an intentional Apple-like design sensibility and minimalism to MedMen's 17 stores nationwide, much of it has to do with regulations: many products have to be displayed under locked casing – hence the beautiful display tables – while it is not allowed to have any signage or marketing on its windows. It is also restricted on locations due to zoning, such as near schools, and instead chooses areas that are friendly and feel safe, including LA's Santa Monica Boulevard and New York's Fifth Avenue. The MedMen experience then becomes a clever ballet of branding and communications, combined with a retail experience that aims to allow customers to discover and try at their own pace, or to meet their own individual needs. As the US audience begins to become more at ease with cannabis becoming a common part of their everyday lives – from smoking to CBD-infused cocktails and spa treatments – the retailer continues to navigate challenges by listening intently to what its customers and staff have to say. During this conversation, recorded with Liz Bacelar at this year's NRF Big Show in New York, Dancer also shares the retailer's heavy investment on the education piece, which includes a published magazine, and how the ever-evolving, and hyper-local, legislations pushes it towards constant innovation.

Internal teams can no longer deliver the results needed to drive the industry forward, says Scott Emmons, departing head of the Neiman Marcus iLab, on the latest episode of the Innovators podcast. Responsible for setting up one of the most established retail innovation programs in the world, Emmons is now bringing his insights and expertise to TheCurrent Global as he joins as the company as the chief technology officer. He joins at a time where he believes internal labs should be replaced by a more open approach to innovation, where collaboration is key. "You've got to build better partnerships that go beyond the four walls of the retailer. If everything happens within those four walls then what you keep doing is the same thing over and over again," says Emmons, who launched the lab in 2012. "Because you're not bringing in fresh ideas, you're not bringing in fresh approaches to retail. You continue to iterate the things which you're good at." During his time at Neiman Marcus, Emmons was responsible for introducing innovative technologies to its stores such as smart mirrors, new fitting room technology, 4K touch table lookbooks and a clienteling tool that better links a customer's online to offline behavior, while arming associates with the tools to better serve them 1-2-1. Speaking to CEO Liz Bacelar, Emmons outlines why innovation executives have their hands tied and how innovation is often stalled by internal culture. They also discuss a solution to unlock rapid change in retail.

Technology emphasizes the bond of customer experience, says Stephane Lannuzel, operations chief digital officer at L'Oréal, on the latest episode of the Innovators podcast by TheCurrent Global. "Every CEO should be consumer-oriented, and technology can reinforce that link," he explains. For years L'Oréal has been on an innovation path that has seen the group heavily invest in technologies that help personalize the consumer experience across the spectrum – from fully customized products to monitoring tools. At the heart of this is the importance of the shopping experience, Lannuzel notes. He references Lancôme's custom foundation, Le Teint Particulier, which makes use of a machine expertly mixing a formula to perfectly suit the individual consumer's skin tone. He explains that at the end of the purchase journey, what consumers remember is not the technology itself, but the fact that they were made to feel special. This, he concludes, is the ultimate luxury experience, only enhanced by the use of tech. There are plenty of challenges to working within such a large organization such as L'Oréal, but part of Lannuzel's role is to make it move faster. Slowly but surely, the company is thinking digital-first; so much so that the group's CEO, Jean Paul Agon, has said that digital is no longer the cherry on the cake for the company, but rather the whole cake itself. The group approaches digital innovation through the lens of key trends as opposed to the technology itself, Lannuzel further explains. This includes looking at how to reduce a product's time to market; the role of connected products and experiences; more agile operations; and the need for personalization. During this conversation with TheCurrent Global's Liz Bacelar, Lannuzel also talks about the huge role data and AI is playing in all of this – from manufacturing to consumer-facing interactions – and why there is a sweet spot when jumping on a new technology.

"We've been set up as a business to understand how people live and to provide solutions that help them live better," says Joanna Yarrow, head of sustainability and healthy living at Ikea, on TheCurrent Innovators podcast. Since its inception 75 years ago, the Swedish flatpack retailer has been known for affordable – and arguably, disposable – furniture that is a staple in young people's homes. But after identifying a shift in how we consume and live our lives, Ikea is on a much bigger mission, which is to think of what products and services it can provide that support consumers to live more sustainably, and more healthily, everyday, Yarrow explains. Speaking to Rachel Arthur, she says that sustainability has always been at the core of Ikea, but one of the biggest mistakes it has made is not to have engaged with consumers on their sustainable journey up until now. But times have shifted, and with mainstream consumers now maturing from supporting a single cause, such as saving water, to attempting to become more sustainable in every aspect of their lives, Ikea is aiming to follow suit. To achieve its sustainable strategy, the company's approach is threefold: look at its use of energy and resources (by 2020, it will be generating at least as much energy as it is consuming in their operations); look at people and it supply chain; and lastly, how to improve its customers' lives overarchingly. The company is due to release its new strategy in June, which will focus on its consumers and how to create affordability, accessibility and sustainability for all. Customers of the Greenwich, London store due to open in 2019 will be able to trial some of the company's upcoming features, which include upcycling stations, solar panels, green walls and rain water harvesting, among other components. During the conversation, Yarrow also talks about her background as the child of eco-warriors in England, how brands can no longer afford to just greenwash, and her belief that no one brand will ever be able to achieve sustainability alone, making collaboration key.

Lego's most important feedback often comes from six year-olds, says the brand's head of retail innovation, Martin Urrutia. Speaking to Rachel Arthur at this year's World Retail Congress in Madrid, Urrutia says focusing on the relationship between the user and the brick, and constantly listening to consumers' wants and needs, has been pivotal to the Danish brand's longevity. "Prior to rolling out anything important in our stores we actually sit at a table and present this to children and listen to them. And of course sometimes you say 'Am I going to let a six or eight year old child tell me what to do in store?' and the answer is yes, of course. If you present this to them, if you listen to the feedback, it's going to be interesting," he explains. "I've seen so many companies changing their essence and changing many things," he says, "and the only question that comes to my mind is – have they really asked their core users what they want?" In order to serve all types of consumers with the right interaction, the brand prides itself on being truly shopper-centric. Understanding the consumer is particularly key to a brand that is in the unique position of having such a vast fanbase – from small children to much older adults. This means engaging with core fans through a continuous conversation informs not only R&D, but also store design and interactive experiences. There have been many ideas that looked good on paper but were scrapped when they received negative feedback from real consumers or partner retailers, Urrutia explains, for instance. During the episode, he talks to the idea of store experiences that engender memories, and always bringing in an element of play to everything the Lego brand does. Such is the importance of the physical toy for the 85-year-old company, in fact, that it is often found in its meeting rooms worldwide, and its workforce takes one day a year to put work aside and play with the brick themselves. This internal strategy feeds into a larger purpose that encourages customers to play and engage with the toys at any given moment – be it at home or in any one of the brand's increasing retail spaces. Throughout the conversation, Urrutia also explains about the importance of choosing the right technology for retail; both that which is easy for staff and customers alike to interact with, but also simple to update and scale. He also notes other imperative brick-and-mortar retail tools, such as an invested and knowledgeable staff, as well as ensuring that there is something for everyone within that physical space.

"I think that it is absolutely indisputable that customers are asking for brands to have vision and to have purpose and to stand for more than just making something pretty," says Clare Press, sustainability editor-at-large at Vogue Australia and author of the book Rise & Resist, on the latest episode of the Innovators podcast by TheCurrent. This new wave of brand activism is backed by the fact there is plenty of evidence younger consumers are the most socially-engaged generation we've seen, she explains. The fight for social and political justice that is happening around the world, is feeding into a demanding for more from the goods and services they consume. "They're looking for brands to represent something that strikes a chord with them, and that is meaningful to them," she adds. We haven't seen consumer restlessness in as big a way as we're seeing right now since the 1960s, she explains. But addressing that as brands, also comes with balance. Numerous businesses have stepped into this space – Gucci for instance made headlines when it donated money to March For Our Lives, and the gun control movement in the US, in the wake of the Parkland shooting. Meanwhile Patagonia announced it is donating all of the $10m it saved from a tax cut in the Trump presidency towards environmental protection groups. But that only works when it's authentic, Press notes. "Customers can see when they're being green washed; when things completely lack integrity, and it can backfire. Let's not pretend that brands aren't in the business of making money. Of course, they are. However, if we can use that in order to also try to do some good, well, doing good business, I think that's a valid thing." Press' role at Vogue Australia is the first dedicated to sustainability in any of the Vogue titles worldwide. It comes at a time when the industry is increasingly focused on making sustainability and purpose a long-term business imperative, which ties to her mission to continue driving momentum in this space. It's on that basis she believes everything from climate change to gender equality, modern slavery and more are intertwined. In conversation with TheCurrent's Rachel Arthur, she explores exactly what that means, talks about the importance of every individual voice in the supply chain, and reveals just what feminism really has to do with fashion.

"In fashion, I sold things to people that they didn't need. You don't need a beautiful bustier dress from Dolce & Gabbana, you want it, so it is about a want-based marketing," says Clement Kwan, co-founder of luxury cannabis brand Beboe, on the latest episode of the Innovators podcast by TheCurrent. "In marijuana what we realized was everything was about the product. How high can you get? At what price? So we flipped the script," Kwan, who is a former executive at YOOX and Dolce & Gabbana, notes. Beboe launched in 2017 at a time when cannabis consumption was riding high. Off the back of the growing wellness trend, consumers have become increasingly educated on the physical and mental benefits of the plant, and a series of new products and retail models have entered the market to respond to the demand. The plant has now been legalized for medicinal use in 33 US states, and for recreational use in 10. The country now accounts for 90% of the global legal marijuana trade, valued at $8.5bn. For Kwan and his business partner, tattoo artist Scott Campbell, the ambition was to create the first luxury global cannabis brand, so its product design and marketing approach played a key role in helping destigmatize the plant and attract a more influential clientele. By creating a desirable product that acted as a conversation starter, consumers would naturally become brand advocates, he explains. The approach has so far made Beboe stand out from the crowd, and earn the nickname of the "Hermès of cannabis", as coined by the New York Times. During the conversation, Kwan tells TheCurrent's Liz Bacelar how he is applying his learnings from fashion into creating a desirable wellness and lifestyle brand, why education is the industry's biggest challenge, and what's next for Beboe's growing portfolio.

The future of e-commerce may not be about a traditional website at all, but about existing on multiple other platforms, expresses Matthew Woolsey, managing director at online luxury retailer, NET-A-PORTER, on the latest episode of the Innovators podcast by TheCurrent. The company sees many of its big customers making purchases over platforms including Whatsapp, iMessage and WeChat, which have become their primary entry point to e-commerce through their relationships with personal shoppers, he explains. "We want to be in the platform where our customer is engaging with content, seeing the product or speaking with the personal shopper. It's about what's best for her. We never want to be in a position where we are forcing or imposing a platform or methodology on our customers, because that's the opposite of customer centricity," he explains. "It's very easy to imagine a time when NET-A-PORTER doesn't even have a website, in the traditional sort of desktop sense, and really what it exists as is more of a concierge, on-demand, service offering. I think that's the future of where this industry is headed and it's something we are really well suited for because we have that infrastructure, we have that service component but we also know a lot more about our customer than just what she is buying." Data is central to being able to personalize the experience for individual customers in this way, he explains, outlining how the company is constantly looking at how to give its personal shoppers greater tools through technology. The company is currently experimenting with how it can use artificial intelligence to merge data between purchase history and fashion trends to give personal shoppers recommendations and ideas in advance that are personalized to the customer, for instance. Eventually the idea is for this to be scalable across the seven million consumers NET-A-PORTER talks to, but hitting its EIPs, or extremely important people, is the core focus, given the fact this 3% of its customer base, make up 40% of its revenue. Speaking with Rosanna Falconer at a FashMash event in London, Woolsey also reveals why the most expensive item ever bought via a messaging app is so significant, whether NET-A-PORTER would ever think about physical retail, and how to manage the modern day tension between algorithms and inspiration. Catch up with all of our episodes of the Innovators podcast by TheCurrent here . The series is a weekly conversation with visionaries, executives and entrepreneurs. It's backed by TheCurrent , a consultancy transforming how consumer retail brands intersect with technology. We deliver innovative integrations and experiences, powered by a network of top technologies and startups. Get in touch to learn more.

Successful retail experience today is about trial, service and entertainment, says Eleanor Morgan, chief experience officer of direct-to-consumer mattress brand Casper, on the latest episode of The Innovators podcast by TheCurrent. Speaking to Liz Bacelar at The Lead Summit in New York, she says the company really focuses on designing experiences that are optimized for those three things rather than inventory availability and convenience. What's key is giving customers the ability to try out products, get consultation from experts in house and enjoy moments with the brand. Casper has grown from an online retailer to a brick-and-mortar business with 20 stores across the US, along with an innovative sleep bar. The Dreamery, as it's called, is a new napping space in New York built around experiential aims. It offers nap pods in a peaceful lounge along with a Casper mattress where consumers can pay $25 for a 45-minute snooze. It also serves as an extension of the brand's aim to drive a cultural change around sleep. **"**The Dreamery is a provocation and a way to essentially say, it's not only acceptable to take a nap during the day and take a break, but it's celebrated, and we can actually build a community of people that really value this and feel like it's a socially fun behavior," Morgan explains. Casper was founded in 2014 with the mission of bringing great sleep to more people. With the diet and exercise industries booming, the founders saw a gap where sleep was completely ignored. Today, Casper is worth over $750m and has plans to open 200 store locations within the next three years. Morgan attributes much of the brand's growth to staying customer centered and focused on data. The company opened 18 pop-up stores in four months to test consumer engagement before opening its first permanent location, for instance. Through feedback and reviews from its consumers, it has been able to understand what their needs are, how they purchase their products, and how to improve their shopping experience. During the conversation, Morgan also talks about the secret sauce to creating successful pop-up stores, what a modern sleep community looks like, and where Casper will be headed in the future.

The role of the chief digital officer shouldn't exist, says Ian Rogers, who is himself the chief digital officer at LVMH, on the latest episode of the Innovators podcast by TheCurrent. Speaking to Liz Bacelar in Hong Kong during The New York Times International Luxury Conference, he argues that for any large company, the role should be merely transitional as brands become accustomed to a future where digital is simply embedded within everything that they do. "The word digital and the insinuation that this transformation is about technology is really misleading and it makes people make the wrong decisions. So what I really want to convince people of is that this is not a technological change, it's a cultural change," he explains. Instead, the role should evolve into a chief technical officer who sits at the executive table alongside more established players like the CFO and the CEO itself, he notes. Rogers joined LVMH in 2015 at a pivotal time for the group, which like many luxury players was navigating a new consumer demand for more digital experiences and introducing e-commerce to its more traditional brands. Since taking on the role, he has helped LVMH launch multi-designer e-commerce platform, 24 Sèvres, invest in affiliate shopping platform Lyst, and scale LVMH's presence on China's TMall platform from zero to 12 portfolio names. Rogers big focus is on the customer, he explains. He brings that learning from his previous career in the music industry, where he led the launch of Apple Music after it acquired Beats Music and Beats Electronics for $3bn. Understanding every customer touchpoint, which now begins with digital, is key for a successful experience that navigates seamlessly across all channels, he explains. During the conversation, Rogers also talks about how it makes sense that luxury took so long to jump into e-commerce; why CEOs don't need to know technology intrinsically; and what he's driving at LVMH to keep up with the level of experience the customer expects online.

UK hit reality TV show, Love Island, is all about meeting the customer where she lives, says Missguided's chief digital officer, Jonathan Wall, on the latest episode of the Innovators podcast by TheCurrent. "Love Island for our sector, it's kind of like the annual peak, or the annual Christmas, of [other retailers]. It's our nirvana. You could not find anything else that's absolutely spot on to our bullseye customer," he comments. The fast fashion multi-channel retailer saw its sales spike 40% during the show this summer, which all came down to reigniting and re-energizing lapsed customers of more than six months, he notes. Product placement, which is essentially what this was, isn't new in strategy – but it's effective when it's done right, he explains. In this instance, his team designed looks and dressed all of the stars in the show. Wall's strategy is focused primarily on relevancy to the shopper, much of which comes from the fact his team internally are those individuals themselves. "One of the big big advantages we've got as a business, is that our customers are actually our team... Our average age in our business is 25, and guess what, our average customer age is also 25. You cannot overemphasize the advantages you get when every single day you are walking amongst your customers. It's a tremendous advantage." It's that laser-sharp focus on who they're targeting that also let's Missguided play with partnerships, he adds. The brand launched a collaboration with Playboy this summer that was met with a heavy dose of debate, but ultimately succeeded because of how relevant it was to the shopper it was intended. "It again hit the nail on the head for our customer," Wall explains. In conversation with Rosanna Falconer at a FashMash event in Missguided's hometown of Manchester in the north of England, Wall also shares his views on what's coming next in influencer marketing, which of the big social channels he's focused on, and just why he likes to court a little controversy along the way.

CGI models are having a moment in luxury fashion right now, but it's up for debate as to whether they hold true value for the brands embracing them, according to the latest episode of the Innovators podcast by TheCurrent. Co-hosts Liz Bacelar and Rachel Arthur, who discuss various technologies pertinent to the industry every month on this show, bring opposing viewpoints to the table. CGI or virtual models have been used in fashion advertising campaigns to an increasing degree over the past few years, with big name brands including Louis Vuitton, Prada and Balmain all employing them. Some of those involved, including one called Lil Miquela, and another named Shudu, have generated enormous buzz and impressively large social media followings as a result, as though they were indeed influencers in their own right. Most recently, Lil Miquela featured in UGG's 40th anniversary campaign, blending in seamlessly alongside two real-life influencers as though she were a natural part of the cast. For the unsuspecting onlooker, it's not immediately clear she's not. One of the questions raised during the episode is whether such a move is merely about gaining from some of the hype such models currently present, or if they can in fact drive ROI for the brands making use of them long term. Rachel presents some interesting statistics that show how engagement of for CGI remains significantly lower than any example of a 'human' influencer, but Liz counters that view with the argument that what we're looking at here is a form of artistic expression. The duo also dive into what such flawless representations of women mean for beauty ideals in the era of fake news we currently live in, as well as the notion that we may all have a CGI or avatar version of ourselves in the future, not least the real life influencers who could ultimately gain increased revenue opportunities for themselves, even posthumously. Catch up with all of our episodes of the Innovators podcast by TheCurrent here . The series is a weekly conversation with visionaries, executives and entrepreneurs. It's backed by TheCurrent , a consultancy transforming how consumer retail brands intersect with technology. We deliver innovative integrations and experiences, powered by a network of top technologies and startups. Get in touch to learn more.

It’s not incumbent on the consumer to change behaviour, but on businesses to take responsibility, says Tim Brown, co-founder of direct-to-consumer footwear brand Allbirds on the latest episode of the Innovators podcast, by TheCurrent.

“The clean beauty revolution is the next big thing that’s going to hit this industry,” says Amanda Baldwin, president of suncare brand, Supergoop! She explains that from day one, Supergoop! has maintained a singular focus: convincing people to wear sunscreen every day by making it with the cleanest ingredients possible.

Designers need to reposition their businesses as startups to tap into much-needed investment, says menswear designer, Ozwald Boateng, on the latest episode of TheCurrent Innovators podcast. In conversation with Liz Bacelar at a Spotify event in Paris, Boateng, whose body of work propelled the craftsmanship of London's Savile Row to international recognition, says he believes the creative world needs to learn from technology in terms of how it approaches funding. The fashion industry's model of investors taking control of designers' names early on is broken, he explains, saying that we can all learn from new direct-to-consumer businesses that have overcome this by approaching differently the way that they're backed instead. "What amazes me is when you see these young creative talents, still owning sizeable chunks of the business after raising so much money and getting these valuations of a billion plus – you kind of go, my god, can that really happen, it's almost like a dream, but in the tech world, it's the norm," he notes. "This creates a huge amount of independence and opportunity for the designer – you're no longer forced to follow the rules, so that's exciting. For me as a business, I'm looking at ways to take advantage of that." Conversely, he says the technology world also needs to learn from creatives. "I think if more designers looked at the world of technology and applied their creative to the tech, I am sure we would see some very interesting and groundbreaking ideas ," he comments. He explains that designers are trained to always look forward, to spot trends and understand needs, so it's something he believes would work exceptionally well when applied to technology. "I would happily use a body scanner [for my made-to-measure suits], it makes a lot of sense. But there's a lot of things I could add in terms of how I need the technology to work," he notes. "So I see a partnership. Eventually both [designers and tech companies] will see they need each other, and then they'll just make it work." During the conversation, the duo also talk about his new uniform designs for British Airways, his time as creative director at Givenchy and the role of race and diversity in the industry. Catch up with all of our episodes of TheCurrent Innovators here. The series is a weekly conversation with visionaries, executives and entrepreneurs. It's backed by TheCurrent, a consultancy transforming how consumer retail brands intersect with technology. We deliver innovative integrations and experiences, powered by a network of top technologies and startups. [Get in touch](mailto: contact@thecurrentglobal.com)to learn more.

"I think you'll be surprised in a couple of years if you speak to a device and it doesn't reply," says William Tunstall-Pedoe, the British entrepreneur who created the technology that became Amazon's voice assistant, Alexa. Speaking to Liz Bacelar on TheCurrent Innovators podcast earlier this year, he says his vision for future of voice technology really is about everything around us being connected. Artificial intelligence (AI), which is the overarching phrase for the tech behind it, is fundamentally revamping how we live our lives, how we do business, and even how we shop, he explains. And it's doing so at an ever-increasing pace. Just recently Amazon released a myriad of new devices – including a microwave and a smart plug – that aim to facilitate greater connectivity in the home, taking us one step closer to Tunstall-Pedoe's vision. "The really big goal is totally horizontal, that you can talk about anything you want and be understood on any topic," he adds. On this episode, the duo also talk about Tunstall-Pedoe's passion for creating world-changing products powered by AI, how voice tech could change retail, and which one of the Alexa Skills is really the most useful to him.

A new feature of TheCurrent Innovators podcast is a monthly discussion between our hosts, Liz Bacelar and Rachel Arthur. The two of them – also partners of TheCurrent's innovation consultancy – come across a lot of different technologies, tons of startup entrepreneurs and many big ideas through their day jobs. Doing so means they generate many big opinions of their own – but, unsurprisingly, they don't always agree. So, they've now put what normally stays behind closed doors in the office, on record for podcast listeners. In this first episode, the two explore what virtual reality (VR) really means for the retail industry. That comes off the back of recent news that saw Walmart filing for two patents that suggest it will launch a virtual reality-based shopping experience in the future. The world's largest retailer detailed the idea of a virtual showroom and a fulfillment system that will enable shoppers to both explore and purchase products using the technology. The news follows Walmart's acquisition of Spatialand, a software startup focused on creating VR experiences, which now sits within the retailer's Store No. 8 in-house tech incubator. What's more, Alibaba and Amazon are also playing in this space. The latter has already launched an example of VR shopping with Macy's for Singles Day, while Amazon recently opened 10 virtual reality kiosks in India to promote its Prime Day shopping event. Yet, there's an argument that much of VR, when we're talking about application beyond gaming and entertainment, really is just gimmick. At a time when there's little space left for technology for technology's sake, the question is, are these retailers actually one step ahead of the game, or still just playing with something for the sake of it? Liz has some strong views on the lack of headset penetration and what that really means for consumer uptake in the long term, while Rachel argues there's still space for PR opportunities with such a technology all the same. What it comes down to is relevancy in terms of both business objectives and the target consumer. Between them, they also dive into some further case studies, explore where VR really could impact retail down the line, and jump into the virtues of other technologies in the same space as alternatives.

"We only have one planet, and the toll [the fashion industry] has on resources today is simply unsustainable," says Anna Gedda, head of sustainability at the H&M Group, on the latest episode of TheCurrent Innovators podcast. She was referring to the company's goal to move towards a 100% circular model by 2030, which means that everything it uses will go back into the system to be either recycled or reused. Speaking to TheCurrent's chief innovation officer, Rachel Arthur, at a FashMash event in London, she said the aim of the business is to keep all that is good with the fashion industry – from providing clothes to an ever increasing global population, to contributing to job opportunities and development – but doing so within the planetary boundaries. "If you do that, if you only use what is in the system in terms of resources, then we believe that you can continue to consume fashion in the future and you will be able to have prosperous communities that depend on the fashion industry in a good way," she explains. It's a cumbersome road ahead to get there of course, with the industry needing to rethink everything from design, materials, consumption, recycling and more. And while there are already plenty of ideas out there – with H&M's non-profit Foundation leading the way with an annual award for startups in the space – time, effort and big investment is needed to get many of them to scale. "At the moment there is not much out there in terms of what is scalable, but if we look at the pipeline of innovation that is coming, it's fantastic," Gedda notes. She's particularly enthused by some of the work that's going into recycling technology to get us to high quality upcycled fibres. She adds that what's really needed in the industry today to make all of this a reality for mass brands however, is a coordination of innovation efforts so things don't happen in siloes. "If we're going to have fast acceleration of this, then whatever is invented needs to complement something else so you can get an effective chain – whether it's materials or production – to happen. I think that from a challenge perspective, it's the lack of coordination, or the lack of a bigger platform where all this collaboration can really happen, that's the key thing I would point out." During the conversation, the duo also explore what will make the consumer really care about sustainability, how collaboration in the industry is critical, and just why AI is so pivotal to the future. Catch up with all of our episodes of TheCurrent Innovators here . The series is a weekly conversation with visionaries, executives and entrepreneurs. It's backed by TheCurrent , a consultancy transforming how consumer retail brands intersect with technology. We deliver innovative integrations and experiences, powered by a network of top technologies and startups. Get in touch to learn more.

Luxury has a lot to learn from the way streetwear brands trade on creating desire, says Ferdinando Verderi, co-founder and creative director of NY-based agency Johannes Leonardo, on the latest episode of TheCurrent Innovators podcast. As the creative lead behind the adidas Originals and Alexander Wang collaboration, his experience shows that relevancy in today's market is all about bringing the customer close, but keeping products scarce. Accordingly, tapping into a mentality of belonging is at the heart of what makes the streetwear industry so successful and as a result, a strategy that luxury is keen to follow, he explains. "It's easy to forget how the streetwear phenomenon started. [It] started with the will of people to belong to a real community that has a point of view that is different from others," he says. His award-winning work for adidas Originals has involved unpicking what creativity stands for, and how a sportswear giant can challenge the status quo. This has meant ideas like crossing out the brand's iconic three stripes, expressing the importance of being a work in progress (see "Original is never finished") and even turning the brand's logo upside down. When the agency helped broker adidas Originals' partnership with Alexander Wang, it consequently ended up almost laying the groundwork for what luxury-meets-street collaborations, now popularized through many other deals, entail. The collab was built on the concept of purposively disrespecting industry rules, says Verderi. Over three seasons they have done everything from a reseller-inspired retail strategy to analog marketing activity that involved text messaging. During this conversation with TheCurrent's innovation strategist, Bia Bezamat, Verderi dives into what all of that has meant, all the while also talking about why brands need to think like publishers in the way they drop content over product, how another movement will come to replace streetwear now that it's become so mass, and why distilling a point of view needs to be done in a very careful way.

"The scariest thing [in the world] is doing something different and not having an example to follow," says designer Misha Nonoo on the latest episode of TheCurrent Innovators. Speaking at a MouthMedia Live recording at Spring Place in New York with TheCurrent's founder Liz Bacelar, the designer discussed how she pivoted her contemporary namesake brand in 2016 to focusing on selling direct-to-consumer instead. "It was scary and I was doing something completely new, but at the same time it was very exciting," she explains. Such disruption is something that has become second nature to Nonoo in recent years. In 2015, she was one of the first in the industry to forgo an official fashion week presentation and host an Instagram one instead. The next year, she returned to the platform with a see-now-buy-now presentation, which users could shop via influencer platform, rewardStyle. For a designer who sees herself as an entrepreneur holding the reins for her brand's success – and her personal happiness – switching to selling directly to the consumer was a very clear direction, she explains. That said, challenging the industry's statusquo comes with a lot of hard work, which Nonoo does not shy away from. "One of the most enlightening things that I was ever told was by Anna Wintour (...) she said to me 'an overnight success is 10 years in the making'," Nonoo explains. Seven years on, she feels she is just 'making it' now. Time has also given Nonoo the confidence to know that a lot of the industry is based on smoke and mirrors. As a small, independent brand, she now feels confident in having the choice of what to subscribe to. During this conversation, Nonoo also talks about the importance of building a business based on values, how fashion week has become obsolete, and the challenges of running an on-demand business.

Risk, authenticity and understanding your consumer are the keys to innovation, says Avery Baker, chief brand officer of Tommy Hilfiger, on the latest episode of TheCurrent Innovators podcast. "When you're trying to do something that really creates an impact and is somewhat revolutionary, then you've got to put all the chips on the table," she explains to TheCurrent's founder Liz Bacelar, at a live recording at Neuehouse in New York. She was referring specifically to the brand's Tommy Now runway experience, which first launched in February 2017 and most recently took place in Shanghai for Fall 2018. A tech-enabled interactive fashion event, she refers to it as "the right sweet spot in terms of being aspirational and accessible" for the Tommy brand. Across the market, its set the benchmark in terms of what a digitally-enabled, see-now-buy-now runway experience could, and should, look like; arguably by putting both entertainment and commerce at its heart. "From the beginning we didn't think of it as a fashion show as we know fashion shows to be. We see this as a totally shoppable fashion ecosystem that at its heart is a media and content platform. It has a moment of theater, but it also has many layers in terms of engagement and shopability and experience and shareability. It is a multilayered platform," Baker explains. And importantly, that got big internal buy-in, catapulting the team behind the launch to make it happen: "What I found was that everyone was so excited about being part of something that was innovative, risk-taking, that was breaking the rules and writing our own story. There was a tremendous amount of excitement, rather than fear and pride to be a part of a program that was trying to be groundbreaking." That mentality of how to create experiential fashion show moments targeted to a Gen Z audience, is only a small manifestation of Tommy's bigger ambitions towards innovation, however. Beyond digitally-enabled retail experiences, the brand has also been investigating new ways to communicate with consumers through its evolving product – from smart clothing that rewards users per wear, through to speaking to a highly underserved audience through an adaptive line for people with disabilities. During the live conversation, Baker also talks about how the brand has translated its American roots and values to a global audience, how it overcame the unexpected lull, and why magic and logic need to work together.

Blockchain will have the same impact long-term as we have seen the internet have on commerce, says Laurence Haziot, global managing director of IBM, on the latest episode of TheCurrent Innovators podcast. A leading woman in the STEM industries, Haziot looks after IBM's Worldwide Consumer Industries division, which includes retail, consumer products, wholesale and agriculture. She believes strongly in the potential of blockchain for the future, from the impact it can have on the supply chain to the role it will play in sustainability and transparency. While it's nascent right now, the fact that this digital ledger was designed from the beginning to be more secure than current systems we rely on, is key, she explains. That doesn't make it a silver bullet, but it does make it an opportunity. IBM is already trialling use cases of the technology as a result, including provenance for food safety at Walmart, shipping efficiencies for Maersk, and diamond authentication for the jewelry industry in a project called TrustChain. For retail specifically, Haziot is bullish on the results it could drive in terms of efficiencies throughout the entire supply chain, as well as traceability for a consumer only seeking ever more knowledge of what they're buying. It's for that reason she sees blockchain infiltrating numerous job roles. "This is not an IT play," she explains. "This is really a business topic – I think it will touch probably most of the functions in the company, from marketing to manufacturing, transportation and more." In this episode with Rachel Arthur at a live FashMash recording in London, Haziot also answers some tough questions on the limitations of the tech to validate authenticity, and leans on her experience of 30+ years at IBM to explore some of the surrounding innovations that are needed to make it viable long-term.

The type of experiences a retailer brings to their stores shouldn't be determined by what the competition is doing, but ultimately what's relevant to each brand, argues Tim Kobe, founder and CEO of strategic design firm Eight Inc , on the latest episode of TheCurrent Innovators podcast. Kobe is known as the designer behind the original Apple store, which arguably paved the way for what modern day customer experience in retail looks like. But his view is that too many brands are jumping on the "experience" bandwagon because their peers are, and not thinking about how important it is to be sincere to their values. "People have started to expect that the values that the brand is standing for, the thing its known for, is going to come through in the experience," he explains. It's only by doing so that will you create experiences consumers want to share, he notes. He's been doing that since he founded Eight Inc in 1989 and first worked with Apple, under the direction of late founder Steve Jobs, in 1996. His focus was on moving the store from "a transaction space into a culture space". Retail has of course evolved significantly since then, largely thanks to the evolution of technology, e-commerce and the mobile devices shoppers now carry everyday. But what hasn't changed is human connection, Kobe explains. "To me the human interaction supercedes all of the tech, all of the AI... I use the iPod as an example. No one remembers how much memory it had, no one remembers how many centimetres thick it was, or millimetres – what they remember is a 1,000 songs in your pocket. It goes back to, ultimately, any product has values if it delivers on human outcomes." It's for that very reason, he argues that the future of retail has to be about the future of human interactions. "[It's about] understanding what people are doing and how they're interacting with one another... We have to get back to understanding a bit more about the most successful human interactions that you can create. Put the technology in the background, put it behind, but let the human interactions and that contact be the thing that we get smarter at, the thing that we get better at." In this episode with TheCurrent's Rachel Arthur, he also talks about the idea of "monochannel retail", which is all about using digital and physical spaces simultaneously, dives into his work in China with brands including Xiaomi and Lincoln, and explains just how brands can get past the format fatigue we're seeing in stores worldwide today.

Emotion holds huge value for modern business, says VP of international marketing and communications for Bumble, Louise Troen, on the latest episode of TheCurrent Innovators podcast. Speaking to Rachel Arthur on-site at the British Fashion Council's annual Fashion Forum in London, Troen says that while there is no shortage of entrepreneurs and incredible ideas, Bumble's success is based on a very simple premise. "Often people turn around and say 'what is the magic?' And really it's the fact that we built a business based on kindness," she notes. "We really think that there is a value in a company that bases itself on fundamental values." Bumble launched in 2012 as the antithesis to successful yet problematic dating apps that had been crowding the market with their models of placing men in charge of making the first move. From the get-go, founder Whitney Wolfe Herd wanted to create a platform where women could feel both empowered and protected. This, paired with the notion of kindness, is particularly resonating at a time when movements like #MeToo and #TimesUp are taking hold. As a society there's a shift in behaviour happening, Troen notes, which the business has always been focused on. What's been critical, she explains however, has been to do this with authenticity. Her advice to every other business in the space is to think about it in the same way – to question whether it is authentic to the brand to be taking a standpoint that is affecting the social agenda, or placing messages that are politically charged. For Bumble, it's working. Since launch, it has evolved into two new verticals – Bumble BFF and Bumble Bizz – which similarly take the startup's motto into other areas of their female users' lives, in this case friendships and careers respectively. It now has a reported 22 million users across all services. But this has only been made possible because users have helped the platform evolve, Troen explains. Her second piece of advice to brands is to give the product to real people and have them tell the story. "We do our focus groups and we can understand what they want from protection services, what they need feature-wise in the product, what they can see, and manage the algorithm based on feedback, as opposed to drafting a marketing plan set in stone 12 months in advance, which obviously will change within a month." Through this approach, the business is able to be nimble with its responses, evolving in time with its community and the broader societal conversations alongside. Tune into the interview for a further deep dive with Troen on the importance of giving female users a voice, how the company's consumer-facing values seep into its own office culture, and how Bumble is dreaming of global domination with its steady country-by-country rollout.

"We are such a closed, centralized system. Being open and transparent is the only way forward," says designer Martine Jarlgaard with regards to applying blockchain to the fashion industry, on the latest episode of TheCurrent Innovators podcast. In 2017, Jarlgaard piloted a blockchain system hoping to address the level of transparency that she believes is missing in the fashion industry. Today, she continues on a mission to push an open supply chain that not only enables consumers to make more informed decisions, but allows those in the chain to be held accountable, and receive the exposure they deserve. The overarching result, she hopes, is that brands will start acting more responsibly. From her perspective, systemic change is needed in this regard. "The fashion industry as it stands today is ancient, and I'm struggling to understand why it hasn't realized that and why it's not using this incredible opportunity to stand in and really show vision, and to see what the future is." Since the inception of her namesake fashion label, Jarlgaard has been investigating ways to extend the value of a physical product through tools that facilitate transparency and sustainability. The blockchain project, for example, registered and traced each step of the journey of a garment via an app from London-based startup, Provenance, which customers could access by scanning a QR code found on the label. This was one of the very first examples of fashion applied to such a digital ledger. Jarlgaard is passionate about decelerating the damage that people and the industry have already done to the planet, and deploying technology is one way she is striding towards that goal. She's also exploring mixed reality, the role of art, and what the textiles lab of the future looks like, as further crucial fields. In this conversation with Rachel Arthur, she emphasizes the huge responsibility that sits on the industry's shoulders to start driving sustainability forward, how brands need to redefine the value of a product to change the way consumers shop, and why she believes innovation is what will enable a radical difference for good.

Direct-to-consumer brands don't often live up to the hype placed on them by endless amounts of VC funding and Silicon Valley fandom, says Jen Rubio, co-founder of travel brand Away, on the latest episode of TheCurrent Innovators podcast. Speaking to Liz Bacelar, founder of TheCurrent, at the British Fashion Council's annual Fashion Forum in London, Rubio explains that from its inception in 2016, she and her co-founder Steph Korey (who she met while both working at Warby Parker), were careful not to run their business like a lot of other brands in the space. "If you go back in time a little bit, a lot of new brands and e-commerce companies were positioning themselves as tech companies and raising a lot of VC money at tech valuations that would never live up to the public market at how retail companies are valued, and then run into the trouble of needing these stores and claiming they are a retail company and not a tech one," she explains. "We saw a lot of this happening in the industry and from the beginning Steph and I said, this is not how we are going to run our business. "If you go back in time a little bit, a lot of new brands and e-commerce companies were positioning themselves as tech companies and raising a ton of VC money at tech valuations that would never live up to the public market at how retail companies are valued. And then run into the trouble of 'oh we actually need these stores so now we're a retail company and not a tech company'. They've raised too much cash, they've burned too much cash," she explains. "We saw a lot of this stuff happening in the industry and from the beginning Steph and I were like, this is not how we are going to run this business." After pitching Away as a brand aiming to make travel more seamless, as opposed to simply making luggage, the business famously received a first round of investment before even having a physical product, for instance. From the lightbulb moment for the brand's concept through to its launch, Away spoke to over 800 people about what elements would make the perfect suitcase. It is that open approach to constant feedback that it continues to focus on to this day – helping to inform its product collaborations, new features and color palettes, and even locations for pop-ups and permanent retail spaces. In this conversation, Rubio also tells Liz how its first major hurdle – airline regulation that meant their smart suitcase was no longer allowed onboard – was an important opportunity to strengthen the relationship with Away customers; how retail landlords are finally giving non-legacy brands a chance; and why understanding your consumer is key to constant innovation.

The mass appeal of 'wellness as a lifestyle' may be something trending with consumers today, but it's a mindset that's been central to Equinox since its inception in 1991, says Vimla Gupta, CMO of the premium fitness brand, on the latest episode of TheCurrent Innovators podcast. Equinox has paved the way by offering consumers support and service beyond typical gym classes by understanding how their fitness behaviors have always been a pivotal part of their lifestyles. In doing so it's become not just a 'gym' brand, but an entire lifestyle group that will even open its own hotel in New York in 2019. Its success comes from the fact it quickly understood that with the rise of the internet, consumers were going above and beyond normal exercise behavior to better understand their needs and goals. "What we seek to do as a brand is intrinsically understand our consumer and what her needs are; what drives her," says Gupta. "And what we are seeing is the consumer has a PHD in everything; unlimited access to information." Modern gym-goers, Gupta says, are information-obsessed and think of every step of the journey, from understanding their nutrition and dietary needs, to researching the efficacy of the latest workout and even what sportswear they wear. This pushes brands like Equinox to become the vehicles to satisfy their learning needs and provide them with an experience that will correspond to their high performance expectations. At the heart of Equinox's interaction with its clients is the need to keep innovating by introducing services and technologies that help maximize the potential in their consumers lives, she adds. Technology in this case acts as an engagement and recommendation tool through leveraging individual data, such as the recent launch of a digital coach – or a bot – to its 10-year-old mobile app, which learns from a user's activities and helps them stay on track. During this conversation with Liz Bacelar, founder of TheCurrent, Gupta also divulges more on what tech means for the Equinox gym experience, how the company is evolving from fitness to lifestyle and retail, and its upcoming plans to keep enabling clients to live their best lives.