Career advertising entrepreneur Tim Ringel discusses how he thinks about connecting to audiences via advertising strategy for his clients. Platforms, segments, performance marketing vs brand, optimizing for holistic advertising success. This show that you’ve learned to love and watch grow, Fashion Is Your Business…is rebranding soon. We will have an expanded focus beyond fashion, and with new hosts, Alesia Lanzo, Simeon Siegel  along with Pavan Bahl.  Here’s why: The landscape of brand and innovation has evolved tremendously since first launching, and we will now focus more broadly on how innovative brands develop direct engagement & successful relationships with their customers.  We hope you enjoy the new vibe, starting September this show will rebrand as Direct to Community Podcast, presented by Bellwether Culture.

Recorded Jan 2022. How Athletic Greens has bootstrapped to $100M in revenue, and now plans their approach after recently raising $115M on $1.2B valuation!  This show that you’ve learned to love and watch grow, Fashion Is Your Business…is rebranding soon. We will have an expanded focus beyond fashion, and with new hosts, Alesia Lanzo, Simeon Siegel along with Pavan Bahl.  Here’s why: The landscape of brand and innovation has evolved tremendously since first launching, and we will now focus more broadly on how innovative brands develop direct engagement & successful relationships with their customers.  We hope you enjoy the new vibe, starting September this show will rebrand as Direct to Community Podcast, presented by Bellwether Culture. 

As someone says goodbye to "Fashion Is Your Business", the original hosts Marc, Pavan, and Rob reflect on six-and-a-half years of FIYB, including: how it started, international travels, memorable guests, live audience experiences, behind the scenes tales, when they realized the show was really a hit, the origins of guest snacks on the show, how the podcast impacted government, entrepreneurs, and inspired a business, and much more. Plus, what's next?

Indie recording artist and fashion darling Garret Borns reveals the genesis of his creative life from Michigan roots and artistic upbringing, how he connected with the fashion world, a dress-up room with secondhand costumes, the importance of Halloween, and how what you wear is what the audience hears. The way BØRNS dresses on stage is the same way he makes music, borrowing vs. creating something original, vintage shops, and the influence of David Bowie in fashion and music. BØRNS considers the possibility of his own fashion line, recalls ripped jeans destruction and redefining couture, and shares why “grandma-wear” is hip. The FashInvest Investment News gets into the relevance of John Galliano’s Paris show tribute to Bowie on catwalk from Ziggy Stardust era and Alladan Sane era, talent crossing with beautiful style and looks, the crossover of music and fashion, and having relevance while pushing boundaries. BØRNS also talks about a guest house that was instrumental in supporting his creative growth. Plus, a round of Feed the Animals brings polka dot napkins and colorful gluten free goodies that open like a CD. The creative collaboration on music videos and wardrobe, how BØRNS connected with fashion industry, how a Gucci shirt on Jimmy Fallon led to creative partnership, spirit animals, fitting aesthetic with brands, astronaut wear, what doors have been opened by connecting with the fashion world, and the nature of performing a fleeting presentation. Why making album relates to building a fashion brand, avoiding losing artistic grip on shaping of artistry to business partners, accepting the reinterpreting of art and lyrics by fans, how wardrobe choices can accentuate a musical experience, the way we consume and present music is changing and why navigating that as an artist parallels the fashion industry due to global reaction to art. The challenge of trying to recreate successful artistic experiences, the need for authenticity, and what a dream show would be like for BØRNS. And, in a lightning round of Off the Grid Questions, BØRNS attempts a magic trick and we learn about his first instrument, jazzy and provocative bubbles baths, and naps. with guest host Julia Macalaster.

With Poshmark’s recent announcement that they are collaborating with Snap to bring social shopping to Snapchat, we revisit a 2017 episode recorded on location at shoptalk in Las Vegas, with a look at social and participatory fashion commerce mobile and online with Poshmark. Manish Chandra (Founder and CEO) and Tracy Sun (Co-Founder, VP of Merchandising & Strategic Initiatives) for Poshmark (a mobile and online marketplace for primarily women's fashion), join Pavan Bahl, Marc Raco, and guest host Liz Bacelar to talk seller/stylists, connecting to fashion pieces, and participatory commerce, being everywhere, consumers as sellers, and the heart of Poshmark, and discipline, what might be next, and grit and gut.

Brian Mech, CEO (bio) of eSight Corporation (a company producing electronic glasses which can restore vision) and Yvonne Felix (bio), Access and Community Development for eSight and an artist, join Marc Raco and Rob Sanchez at The 2016 Smithers Apex WEAR Conference in Boston, MA. Brian and Yvonne share how it works, what is possible, and what’s next; when to release, wearables for good and Jules Vern; Yvonne, Stargardt Disease, and discoveries; and the Mind’s eye, new data, and new experiences..

To create a world where diversity and inclusion are celebrated and validated during the online shopping experience. Dr. Tope Mitchell, Co-Founder/CEO of Reflekt Me, provides a look into the search to change the fashion and beauty industry’s body representation narrative by diversifying the sizes of and use of real people to model clothing and products on online retail eCommerce websites.

On a mission to bring the most joyful and seamless live shopping experiences to online shops across the globe, LiSA Co-Founder/CEO Sophie Frères Spethmann shares insights into the belief that we are all on the cusp of a new era of e-commerce in which social interaction, entertainment, and product discovery will blend into one seamless experience.

Richard Schnitzel is founder, head chef and chief bottle washer at his company, Bow Tie Bots, a certified Zapier expert which will leverage the power of software and app integration, to create powerful custom automated workflows -- including marketing and client Intake, client management, fulfillment, and personalized operations training. Richard  creates automations responsible for reclaiming thousands of hours in a retailer’s businesses, giving them the systems they need to scale from 6 to 7 figures. 

CEO and Founder of Tiare Rose, Kim Castellano, offers a behind-the-scenes view of the new multi-channel sustainable retailer with a single technologically advanced brick and mortar store, an e-commerce retail platform, text-to shop based shopping and livestream shopping which showcases only sustainable brands.

Drawing on use cases, such as the work with adidas, Max Winograd (Vice President, Connected Products, Avery Dennison) shares insights into digital triggers and how they are enabling brands to create more sustainable, resilient and circular supply chains. Opaque supply chains are one of the most systemic issues in the fashion industry, we have the tech to solve this issue but why is adoption not yet solved? Max is responsible for leading Avery Dennison's digital venture atma.io, which has built the world's leading connected product cloud, enabling any everyday item to have a unique digital identity. It is already being used by adidas which will tag all of the 1.2 billion products it makes each year. adidas is utilizing the cloud-based platform for circularity and unique consumer-product interactions. It means buyers will be able to sell products back to adidas, giving them a second life. As well as adidas, three of the five largest apparel companies in the world are using it. With guest host Simeon Siegel.

Digital-only fashion house republiqe will drop a limited edition, matching pair of bespoke digital outfits, a puffer jacket and a dress, which will be auctioned separately as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), at the forefront of this booming digital revolution. The one-of-a-kind digital outfits will be available online for auction for one month starting today and concluding on Tuesday, 4th May. Additionally, republiqe will donate 50% of the proceeds to Britain's National Health Service (NHS) in tribute to their fight against the ongoing pandemic. Founded in Singapore, republiqe is the world’s first digital-only luxury fashion brand that can be worn in virtual realities. Taking the lead in addressing the detrimental and irreparable climate crisis caused by our fast fashion culture, republiqe first launched the innovative solution to climate crisis via an eco-friendly wardrobe last August. . Founder and Creative Director of republiqe, James Gaubert joins to discuss: fashion brands revolutionizing community support during a pandemic via NFTs; what can we expect next from digital fashion and the cryptocurrency space; and, aside from adopting sustainability methods within the business in fashion, how else is fashion contributing positively on a larger scale to humankind? With guest host Ilan Tito.

Some time ago while we on location at Shoptalk, we invited NewStore CEO Stephan Schambach  onto the show. NewStore is a mobile platform that enables retailers to run their physical stores on an iPhone. Recently on another MouthMedia podcast, Retail is Your Business, Stephen joined Marc Raco and Rebecca Fitts to discuss his new report that assessed nearly 200 brands – while many retailers have done a good job of implementing services during COVID to make the customer experience more convenient and safe, like BOPIS and curbside pickup, online storefronts and physical locations are not truly integrated. Therefore, they have “paper mache” omnichannel capabilities that will soon fail as they aren’t long-term solutions. We thoughts this useful discussion would be of value to our Fashion Is Your Business listeners, so here’s that conversation, right here on FIYB. Enjoy!

With a finger on the pulse of all things culture, Retail Prophet’s Director of Insights Reilly Stephens leverages her understanding and network in the music, tech, marketing and advertising industry to keep the team up to speed on grassroots movement and trends. On "Retail Is Your Business" podcast, she shares insights on how brands and retailers have navigated the pandemic, opportunities and challenges, along with thoughts on drones, user-generated content, and digital fashion, and the roles of media and content in building better bridges between physical and digital commerce. With host Rebecca Fitts.

Paving the path to revolutionize not just re-commerce, but the entire retail industry, Fashionphile announced an investment and minority stake from global retailer Neiman Marcus Group. The strategic partnership makes Neiman Marcus the first major luxury retailer to expand into the pre-owned market, a move that will include the opening of physical Fashionphile selling studios inside Neiman Marcus locations across the country. Sarah Davis is the  Founder, President and fashion technology pioneer who invented the re-commerce category when it comes to luxury handbags and accessories with the start of her company Fashionphile, and she shares her experience launching the largest online platform for buying and selling ultra-luxury handbags and accessories (first as an eBay incubator), the lessons she's learned as the leader of a company that just celebrated its 20-year anniversary this year, and the future of retail and its intersections with innovative authentication technology and sustainability.

CALA is the world's first fashion house technology that makes it easy for creative influencers to design, produce, and deliver their own fully-custom apparel. CEO and Co-Founder Andrew Wyatt takes us inside CALA, including how CALA offers creators the customized elegance of couture fashion with the manufacturing capabilities of the largest mass-market players, instead of the need for creators to try to do it all themselves or limiting their creativity to what print-on-demand companies or single factory cut and sew shops can provide.

Online multi-brand concept store and wholesale e-commerce platform The Folklore distributes luxury designer fashion and lifestyle products from Africa and the diaspora to  global consumers and retailers. Founder Amira Rasool shares the primary mission to supply the world with greater access to luxury goods from Africa and the diaspora in a convenient, ethical and curated manner; the path to building a brand from dragging stuffed suitcases across the world to a major partnership; navigating the pandemic; and serious musical taste.

There's a shift in consumer interest to a digital-first shopping format and retailers have been rapidly reinventing their business operating models to align with the current environment. Karl Haller, Partner, Consumer Center of Competency (CoC) Leader at IBM joins to go inside this story.  

Providing marketing and inventory management services for manufacturers selling on Amazon, SupplyKick executes advertising, marketing, logistics, and brand and intellectual property protection for sellers to build businesses on Amazon. Founder/CEO Chris Palmer shares how SupplyKick acts on behalf of those businesses to increase their Amazon sales, helping protect their brands in the process.

As the largest young women’s media brand in the world, Cosmopolitan really knows their audience, which is why Nancy Berger (SVP and Publishing Director for Cosmopolitan, Women's Health and Seventeen) and team have looked closely at how their shopping habits have changed during this time. In addition, this past August, they have launched the first ever shopping event targeted to Gen-Z and Millennials called Hauliday. Nancy shares trends she has seen and offers insights into successful shopping events like Hauliday.

Courser is the first supercharged, Hyper-luxe performance sneaker. Launched in December 2020, Courser is a radical departure from how most sneakers are built and produced. With Courser, husband and wife duo Michael Petry and Laurie Spiro hope to define a new frontier for footwear, combining athletic style and luxury to create a never before seen third space in the sneaker category: Hyper-luxe. Courser’s revolutionary first of its kind shoe is rebellious, exclusive, and innovative - for the gym and the street, valued at $825. Petry has a reputation as ‘The Brand Whisperer,’ known for growing brands such as Tumi, Prada, adidas and The Frye Company. It's an insightful, smart conversation on luxury-tech, entrepreneurship, the luxury footwear space and how it all interacts.

The post-sales consumer experience is an area of the customer journey that's overlooked by many retailers. Tobias Buxhoidt, CEO and co-founder of parcelLab,  was recently on another Mouthmedia Network show “Retail is Your Business” with Marc Raco and retail expert Rebecca Fitts. Tobias has worked in logistics and warehouse operations for over 20 years and now helps over 500 retailers including Ikea, H&M, Puma, Farfetch, and Nespresso improve their post-sales operations and related consumer experience.

Endear is on a mission to change the way the retail industry thinks about driving and tracking sales. Co-founder Leigh Sevin tells how Endear is on a mission to change the way the retail industry thinks about driving and tracking sales; how as retail's first omni-channel CRM, Endear empowers salespeople to do their best work over remote channels like email and text when face-to-face selling is slow or simply not an option; and how, with Endear's messaging platform, sales teams can reach out to more customers without sacrificing personal touch while the app tracks how outreach converts into sales, both online and in-store, so brands can reward salespeople for their efforts.

The Lead’s Foremost 50 is the annual power list recognizing high-growth D2C brands that are reinventing and redefining the future of the fashion, retail, and consumer industries. Co-Founder & CEO, Noah Gellman and Chief Product Officer Sonal Gandhi offer insights into the Foremost 50 list, and The Lead’s mission to bridge the fashion, retail, and consumer industries with the global Silicon Valley through research, content and executive gatherings ranging from 35 people to 2,000. They share The Lead’s hyper-focus on innovation across the entire fashion-retail-commerce value chain including marketing, e-commerce, stores, supply chain, and more, and the work to reveal what is coming next and to help our community get ahead of it.

Managing director of Cleo Capital and contributing editor at Marie Claire Magazine Sarah Kunst has served as a senior advisor at Bumble where she focused on their corporate VC arm Bumble Fund and on the board of the Michigan State University Foundation endowment. Sarah joins "Fashion Is Your Business" podcast and guest host Simeon Siegel to explore how the need for change is driving innovation. Sarah has been named a Future Innovator by Vanity Fair, Forbes Magazine 30 under 30 and a top 25 innovator in tech by Cool Hunting. She has been recognized for her work in Business Insider as a 30 under 30 Woman in Tech and Top African-American in Tech & Pitchbook Top Black VC To Watch and honored as a top woman in VC by the Wall St. Journal.

Fashion sustainability initiative U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol has welcomed new member global retailer Gap Inc (brands include  Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic and Athleta). Alice Hartley, Director of Product Sustainability at Gap Inc. and Dr. Gary Adams, President of the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol. talk through how Gap Inc., which already sources 57% of its cotton from sustainable sources, is joining the Trust Protocol to enable it to progress towards its target of using 100% sustainably sourced cotton across all its products by 2025. 

Founders and former Athleta designers, Nancy Taylor and Hannah Franco, who are committed to reducing the collective carbon footprint with their collection of well-edited, sustainable, and functional wardrobe essentials, share the inside story of epoque evolution. The company is all about providing well-edited pieces that can be worn 24/7, are easy to wash, quick to dry, and responsibly crafted with functional fabrics in solar power facilities, so women can live their life without having to shop or pack for it. Along with their latest FW20 Collection, epoque evolution chooses sustainable, organic, upcycled, deadstock and post-consumer waste recycled fibers, and works with mills that are committed to best practices.

For the first time, e-commerce will not just be a channel for transactions – people can now actually browse and shop online, just like they did in-store. In this episode of "Retail Is Your Business" podcast, Ben Rodier, Co-Founder & Chief Client Officer at Salesfloor, shares how the company offers a mobile application platform designed for store associates so they can personalize each interaction with consumers, whether that’s in-store, online, on social – any channel, helping clients get a 10x lift in online conversions and 47% increase in average order values, compared to traditional e-commerce metrics. Salesfloor is enabling store associates to go virtual where consumers are met on retailer and brand websites by an associate from a local store near the consumer and can help guide the shopping experience by offering product / apparel recommendations, can demo items via live video chat, etc.

Happy Holidays!

CEO, Board Member, Investor, Operating Partner & Retail Consultant Ken Pilot weighs in on how retail goes forward beyond the pandemic, the need for advancing tech for interactive ecommerce, and what's likely next.

Marci Zaroff coined the term “ECOfashion" in 1995 and is an internationally recognized ECOlifestyle expert, educator, innovator, author and serial ecopreneur. Founder/CEO of ECOfashion Corp - a "Greenhouse of Brands”—including B2B turnkey sustainable fashion manufacturer MetaWear, regenerative in-conversion-to-organic cotton farm project RESET, QVC organic lifestyle brands Farm to Home and Seed to Style (launching Jan 2021), and new D2C ECOfashion brand YES AND.

Bringing his visionary outlook on the future of retail and wealth of knowledge and research in omni channel software and his expertise in innovation technology to his role at Powerfront, Scott Emmons offers insight into a real-time, personalized retailing platform that mirrors in-store luxury-level customer service online. He leverages his expertise to build and circulate ideas and design products that are at the forefront of customer service software. Scott’s motivation to help make magic for customers translates perfectly to Powerfront’s core mission, and his extensive involvement as a Powerfront customer have made him the perfect ambassador.

Go-to retail expert Melissa Gonzalez, founder of The Lion’esque Group, an award winning firm of experiential retail strategists and pop-up architects as well as a Principal and Shareholder in global architecture firm MG2, reveals the journey to and through acquisition, navigating leadership through a pandemic, and likely paths of the retail frontier.

Founder Albert Saniger offers a look inside nate, a digital assistant which transacts online on behalf of consumers, making it the first universal accelerator for mobile checkout.

The TackHack in Williamsburg MI is on a mission to fuel people's passion for horses by offering their favorite equestrian brands at discounted prices. Founder Lauren Garvey offers a look into why and how the business has grown into a blend of new and pre-used apparel and tack. With guest host Alex Batdorf.

Karinna Nobbs joins from Berlin and covers the current state and the future of digital fashion, where and how to find those renegades, the current state of CGI influencers, and why some people have a resistance to getting fashion recommendations from them, how blockchain technology is going to be married to the future of digital fashion as an authentication tool in an industry where exclusivity can be key, and why digital fashion may be the next big thing on Zoom. With guest host Simeon Siegel.

Technology that brings the personalization and convenience of eCommerce shopping to physical stores is exactly in exactly the right moment, and President/Co-Founder Di Di Chan offers a detailed look into why FutureProof Retail is exactly the right company to deliver, as an industry leader in providing retailers frictionless scan and go mobile checkout applications.

Daftboy is an unapologetically bold, provocative fan company inspired by the LGBTQ community and featuring apparel including an array of light-up face masks, for everyone who is tired of the normal, the acceptable, the P.C.; for those who want to define their destiny instead of being defined by another. and a bit social media, politics, street fashion and history with an engaged meaningful community. CEO Timothy Cochran shares a look in, how the company found a path through the pandemic, what makes successful commerce, and how having a relationship with community has been a driving force. With guest host Alex Batdorf.

Imagine an end to end platform solution enabling the fashion industry to harvest the full potential of 3D across channels, including a complete range of X-Reality digital commerce Apps (AR, VR, MR, etc.) for fashion using 3D CGI content. Change of Paradigm CEO Henri Mura joins from Paris to share the amazing possibilities and implications which can come from these innovations.

Co-founder and CRO Tristan Hoy shares how Australian-based Style Arcade helps fashion companies perfect their product offering through analytics and range planning software.

BrandLab Fashion is the complete global solution designed to streamline the wholesale buying experience, with access to 360 Virtual Showrooms and integrated order processing and payment software. With 24/7 access to BrandLab World, brands and buyers can easily and efficiently connect and transact using our industry acknowledged technology. BrandLab Fashion Founder Dan O'Connell joins from Wales to offer an inside look at why this innovation truly offers next-level, unlimited possibilities.

Simeon Siegel, Managing Director and award-winning Senior Analyst at BMO Capital Markets specializing in Retail and E-commerce, offers master class-level deep insights into the state of the union for opportunities within retail, what's likely next, and trends to watch.

Scott Lux, Vice President Ecommerce & Digital, Theory and Helmut Lang & Adjunct Professor of DTC and Ecommerce, Columbia University & FIT, offers insights on moving past pandemic-related challenges and the next chapter in commerce and digital retail.

Michael Colarossi, Vice President, Innovation, Product Line Management and Sustainability for Avery Dennison Apparel Solutions, discusses how in the changing apparel manufacturing landscape, it is no longer enough to innovate for the sake of innovation. To drive lasting impact, garment labeling solutions must meet the needs of businesses, consumers and the environment, all without sacrificing relevancy.

Co-founder and CMO of conversational commerce platform Jumper.ai, Nyha Shree, offers a look into how Jumper bridges the gap between ecommerce and brick and mortar retail, combines the power of brand advisors with chatbots and automation to enable brands drive engagement, offers sales consultation, enables commerce with payments, sends updates, and gathers consumer insights, seamlessly on popular social messaging and web channels.

Imagine creating an enhanced product catalogue and effortless product discovery using Ai help fashion business boost sales by creating an enhanced product catalogue and effortless product discovery using AI? That is Okklular.io, and CEO/Co-Founder Abhishek Vohra joins from Australia to share how the company helps fashion businesses boost sales.

Imagine a plugin that powers video calls from influencers to all their followers at once. Shopify-powered brands can share products to be shopped in realtime (think shoppable FaceTime at scale) AND you can republish your archived videos across social, getting double the value out of your production budget. You could even convert fans to customers by providing participants the chance to interact with creators, influencers and experts directly from their smartphone, tablet or laptop. This could be a game changer for online commerce in fashion, right? Well it's real, and The Call List CEO Amanda Patterson provided an inside look into the genesis, power, and future of this innovative technology.

Mary Cally is an industry veteran who has worked on supply chain and manufacturing logistics issues for many large brands. American Fashion Podcast spoke with her on March 9th, just as the COVID-19 situation was beginning to shut down New York City.

Drones. There has been a lot of talk about drones and how they can impact retail. It seems inevitable that you will be able to get a package delivered by Amazon or UPS from your friendly drone. And that is not all. What about drone delivery on demand? If you could order something from a local retailer and have it delivered in minutes to your own backyard? A company from Iceland is doing just that. And it is closer to being reality than you may think. Yariv Bash, the cofounder and CEO of Flytrex, takes us through what is on the horizon and we talk through many of the obvious public concerns and questions on location at Shoptalk Las Vegas.

Due to Coronavirus, leading brands have cancelled orders for over $2 billion worth of clothes that have already been produced, leaving millions of workers in countries like Bangladesh unpaid, and at risk of starvation and without a safety net. From Scotland, CEO/Founder Cally Russell shares how the team at Mallzee created Lost Stock. Customers can get at least three items of clothing chosen for them, with a massive 50% discount off RRP, that supports these workers and prevents waste. Each order supports a worker and their family for a week. He also discusses why the goal to help 250,000 workers and their families can be achieved.