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Sarah Holbrook

About Sarah Holbrook

Sarah Holbrook is a futures thinker and a strategic consultant with a master’s degree in Strategic Foresight from the University of Houston's Graduate School of Technology. She is a graduate of FIT's Global Fashion Management master's program. She writes about future trends, innovative technology, and their significance to the retail and fashion industries.

Consumers Shrug as China-U.S. Tensions Rise

By Sarah Holbrook   |   June 4, 2023

The clash of geopolitical, economic, and technological forces has grown from a murmur to an annoying clamor as tensions ratchet up. A paradigm shift from an era of globalization into splintered, regional fiefdoms, broadly characterized by the East, led by China and the West, and dominated by the U.S., is changing how we view markets and ourselves. While the macro impacts of this change are significant, the question for retailers and brands is how and where will the clash impact our industry. Motherland Meddling Let’s start with how …

Consumers Shrug as China-U.S. Tensions RiseRead More

Retail Tech Opens a New Chapter

By Sarah Holbrook   |   April 10, 2023

As the vernal equinox flips the calendar to Spring, festivals and innovation summits have emerged from hibernation. At the South by Southwest festival in Austin Texas, retail was downgraded from previous headliner presentations to a minor topic, but it did reinforce the mega-themes of climate change and climate-related technologies. To its credit, BoF grabbed the retail-tech baton that SXSW fumbled. The BoF Professional Fashion Tech Summit, held at the New York Times Center in Manhattan, avoided any mention of sustainability, instead exploring …

Retail Tech Opens a New ChapterRead More

After the Crash, NFTs Are Repurposed for Retail

By Sarah Holbrook   |   March 14, 2023

NFTs have sprinted through the hype cycle, from frenzied enthusiasm to disillusionment in less than 24 months. Signals are hinting that they may have reached the ultimate stage of the cycle: productivity. The crypto winter chilled a large cohort of investors previously emboldened by a steady upward march in digital asset valuations. Bored Apes, secured by FTX-stored tokens sailed from their virtual yacht club to oblivion, as the celebrity-backed craze ran aground while the speculative NFT market plunged by 97 percent between January and …

After the Crash, NFTs Are Repurposed for RetailRead More

Take Notice: Smart Systems Are Accelerating

By Sarah Holbrook   |   January 30, 2023

Speculation surrounding the future of retail continues unabated. But a stroll through the Innovation Lab 2023 at the NRF Big Show revealed the bets that startups have placed on retail’s future priorities and pain points, offering tech-based systems and services to either exploit or solve them. The startups offer a glimpse into the innovation process. It operates on a continuum, where what starts as a murmur, evolves into a fad, and eventually becomes a business. Or the opposite where 90 percent of startups fail. This year’s crop demonstrated …

Take Notice: Smart Systems Are AcceleratingRead More

Uniqlo and Avery Dennison Innovate with RFID

By Sarah Holbrook   |   January 24, 2023

The spatial footprint of companies touting computer vision and just-walk-out-the-door technology on the Expo floor at the NRF Big Show 2023 was large. AI is the talk of the show as retail’s latest technology trend. It dominates the conversation, even as it is not well understood, or worse, misunderstood. Just look at the obsession with ChatGPT and you get a taste of the industry’s love affair with the latest, buzzy fad. Talk is one thing, implementation totally something else. In a deeper examination, the hard reality of building these …

Uniqlo and Avery Dennison Innovate with RFIDRead More

Missed Signals

By Sarah Holbrook   |   November 20, 2022

Most of us went to sleep on November 8, 2022, expecting to wake up to a new political landscape. Some were dreading the morning and some couldn’t wait, but as the sun rose, I would argue that all of us were surprised. But really? Consider our behavioral changes in recent years; we have jettisoned our landlines, block calls from unknown sources and ignore unwanted texts. So many of our habits have changed in fundamental ways and it is increasingly obvious that the polling methodologies on which all political predictions are made are archaic. …

Missed SignalsRead More

A Marketing Paradigm Shift

By Sarah Holbrook   |   November 1, 2022

While the metaverse has been waving its avatar hands, garnering the attention of Chief Marketing Officers now lined up in starting blocks, the starter pistol in the metaverse marketing race won’t echo with any scale for years. Exploration and testing in the domain are prudent, but they should not distract attention from the paradigm shift that is already unfolding. Artificial Intelligence has entered a new phase that will change many things, but the focus of this screed is how it will affect the marketing of brands, and retailing. The New …

A Marketing Paradigm ShiftRead More

Is the Time Right for a North American Supply Chain?

By Sarah Holbrook   |   July 4, 2022

Powerful forces are weighing on existing supply chains. We needn’t look far to notice the effects that shipping delays, rising costs, geopolitical headwinds, climate instability, and the need for secure access to goods have inflicted on our industry. Rather than moaning or gnashing our teeth, we should view these systemic disruptions as an opportunity to create change. While we excel at avoiding disruption and uncertainty, when backed against the wall, we innovate. Experts Converge In a session at the Milken Institute Global Summit 2022, …

Is the Time Right for a North American Supply Chain?Read More

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Copyright © 2023 · Robin Lewis, Inc. All rights reserved. Copying or reproducing, by any means whatsoever, of The Robin Report, or any distribution hereof, in whole or in part, without the express written consent of Robin Lewis, Inc. is strictly prohibited. The Robin Report is published for senior executives in the retail, fashion, beauty, consumer products and related industries. The opinions expressed herein are not, and should not be construed as investment or other advice. All expressions of opinion are subject to change without notice.