Courage

Shifting Economic Gears Present Challenges for Retailers

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The Federal Reserve has dramatically raised interest rates over the past few months focused on taming inflation. While some data [and hopeful thinking] suggest that inflation may have recently peaked, we have yet to see major price moderation. The economy however has started to shift gears indicating that deceleration may be at hand. Four emerging factors will impact the retail economic picture in coming months. We are seeing big changes in real estate, consumer preferences, shopping channels and human capital. Real Estate Stumbles Into a …

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Gary Friedman: The Poster Child of Retail Radicals

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How did I define the CEO of RH, Gary Friedman? As a true radical, and more. Perhaps even an iconoclast. Friedman is unique and complex. A conversation with him can be surreal; he’s a philosopher, an uber-character, energizer bunny, stream-of-conscious rambling brilliant visionary, and unstoppable (until he hits a wall traveling at the speed of light – which is rarely). He’s the poster child for all radicals. And he didn’t just become a radical; he’s been one his entire career. Sometimes he’s flirted dangerously close to failure, but more …

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Chexit: The Great March Out of China

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You could call it the ultimate Chinese take-out order: American companies are in the process of an unprecedented migration out of China, seeking new places to make products that U.S. consumers have become used to. For much of the past four decades China has been the go-to resource for just about any and everything sold to American consumers. From the most sophisticated Apple iPhones, electronics and apparel to home merchandise and the most rudimentary novelty item – can you say Fidget? – chances are it all came from China. When Richard Nixon …

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How Web3, NFTs & the Metaverse Fit in With Fashion

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The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) recently announced it will be celebrating its upcoming 60th anniversary by “looking to the future” with a metaverse, Web3, and NFT exhibition in December. While the subjects of the event may be unfamiliar to many, organizers hope to use it to show fashion players the opportunities that are becoming available in the digital world. “Our vision at 5Crypto and with this partnership is to empower and educate Web2 brands on the limitless opportunities Web3 presents, and create special moments that …

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Halston and Calvin Klein Were Major Change Agents

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Roy Halston Frowick established his own look, introduced a spectacular new fabric, and reinvented functional glamour. During the 1970s he was right at the very top of American designers. Halston’s ideas were original, sensual, and wearable. His elongated silhouettes skimmed the body, capturing a sophistication that was just as at home at an elegant black-tie dinner or a disco. Fluid and Sensual Halston told me the “the natural flow of fabrics allows the body to create its own shape.” This set him apart from virtually all the other …

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Missed Signals

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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. …

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What Do Zuckerberg, Musk and SBF (Who?) Have in Common?

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Zuck, Musk and SBF: What do these entrepreneurs have in common? A large dose of hubris, ultimately soaring to failure. And they are not alone. However, they are arguably the best well-known, anti-hero poster children of the moment, largely due to their dizzying ability to shed billions of dollars in value and thousands of shareholders and employees literally overnight. By the way SBF is the moniker for Sam Bankma-Fried, headline making founder of FTX, a crypto exchange he started in 2019 that soared to a value of $32 billion by January of 2022, …

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Happy Holiday Shopping

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It’s no secret the holiday season is a key sales period for retail, travel, and many other industries, so much so that these sales can make or break a business, large or small. With high inflation and fears of consumers pulling back, there are a lot of unknowns this year. To that end, Commerce Signals has produced a Holiday Spending Forecast to help companies with scenario planning. They do this through permissioned and anonymized view of consumer spending that includes both Visa and Mastercard, credit and debit for 40 million …

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