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Chris Riedy, chief revenue officer at Ibotta, speaks with Ian Fredericks, CEO of Hilco Global Capital Solutions and executive director of Hilco’s consumer and retail platform, about how retailers and brands can create value, what promotional tactics work well for discretionary and premium categories and how Ibotta is partnering with retailers like Walmart and last-mile delivery firms like Doordash. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the help of brands and mills, Hyosung TNC is bringing bio-based spandex into the fashion industry in a bigger way. The South Korea-based synthetic fiber manufacturer’s parent company has invested $1 billion to set up a plant to produce bio-BDO, an input for spandex. Whereas BDO (aka 1,4-Butanediol) is typically made from fossil fuels, Hyosung is creating the compound out of sugarcane. Commercial-scale production of bio-based spandex using this sugarcane BDO began in August, allowing a growing number of partners to develop products using the lower impact stretch fiber. “We have a quite a robust matrix of mills, spinners and suppliers across the value chain that have been some of those early adopters and willing to really test the boundaries and the grounds of what bio-based spandex can do,” said Malvina Hoxha, director of U.S. marketing at Hyosung TNC. This fireside chat features Hoxha in conversation with Jasmin Malik Chua, climate and labor editor at Sourcing Journal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Following multiple years of supply chain volatility, the leading logistics priority for fashion firms is resilience. Creating agile, adaptable supply chains starts with visibility on two fronts. Firstly, knowing where merchandise is positioned so it can be routed properly. Companies should also keep on the pulse of current events to anticipate disruptions. “You cannot build a resilient supply chain without knowing the details of it, without having the full end-to-end visibility,” said Lene Dalsgaard, chief commercial officer of air & sea at DSV. Helping companies adapt when needed, DSV has a global presence across multiple modes, including road, sea, rail and air. By leveraging its scale as well as services like automation and warehousing, brands can access these capabilities without having to build them out themselves. “We realize that fashion is a cost-competitive industry, so you have to keep an eye on the ball in terms of cost,” said Ronald Poort, executive vice president of the consumer vertical at DSV. This fireside chat features Dalsgaard and Poort in conversation with Sourcing Journal’s logistics editor Glenn Taylor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

True Religion’s chief executive officer Michael Buckley speaks with Ian Fredericks, chief executive officer of Hilco Global Capital Solutions and executive director of Hilco’s consumer and retail platform, about True Religion’s marketing approach, what factors have allowed the brand to successfully navigate supply chain challenges and Gen Z’s role in the brick-and-mortar revival. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Roller Rabbit's chief executive officer Ed Bertouch and chief marketing officer Carolyn Phillips speak with Ian Fredericks, chief executive officer of Hilco Global Capital Solutions and executive director of Hilco’s consumer and retail platform about the brand's collaboration strategy, how it is engaging Gen Z and the company’s DTC pivot. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More than 15 years ago, two childhood friends decided to make the switch from finance to fashion, and Marine Layer was born. What began as a small operation with a single 450-square-foot storefront today counts 55 locations, with more retail openings in the works. On this episode of WWD Voices for Retail Rx, Michael Natenshon, cofounder and chief executive officer of Marine Layer, Adam Lynch, cofounder and chief operating officer of Marine Layer, chat with Ian Fredericks, chief executive officer of Hilco Global Capital Solutions and executive director of Hilco’s consumer and retail platform, about their company’s early stages, how they are approaching product development and what is next for the brand. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the last few decades, the industry has been reliant on ever-expanding production volumes to achieve continued sales growth. Although a few super-fast-fashion giants are often criticized for their overproduction contributions and low prices, the general mass manufacturing trend across the fashion landscape has collectively led to excess. For 8 billion people, the industry is creating upwards of 80 billion pieces per year.Suzanne Ellingham, director of trade show Source Fashion, made the case for tamping down on overproduction and adopting a “post-growth” strategy. This leaves margins and profit intact by right-sizing inventory, reducing discounting and waste.“What we should be looking at doing is producing how much we can actually sell,” Ellingham said. “[There’s] this constant need to be producing more and more and more. The reality is volume doesn't do anyone any favors, apart from continuing to drive the profits at the cost of people and planet.”Listen to the fireside chat, with Ellingham in conversation with Jasmin Malik Chua, climate and labor editor at Sourcing Journal, to learn more about why the current production and pricing models are so harmful to people and the planet and what post-growth actually means for operations and profitability. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With news headlines shouting doom and gloom in every direction, is the National Retail Federation’s record-breaking $1 trillion holiday forecast wishful thinking? Or something more nuanced? “The consumer is sentimentally weak, but fundamentally sound,” explained Mark Mathews, chief economist and executive director of research for the NRF in a special podcast episode for Retail Rx with Ian Fredericks, chief executive officer of Hilco Global Capital Solutions and executive director of Hilco’s Consumer and Retail platform. That’s important because the consumer is powering our economy more than ever before. Today, 68 percent of GDP is driven by consumer spending—the largest percentage in the past 15 years. “While lower-income households are definitely struggling, what we have seen over the course of the year is that all households have protected their spending on loved ones,” said Mathews. “Mother's Day, Father's Day, Valentine's Day, Back to School, Halloween… we've had at or near record levels of spend across all of those events.” Essentially, it’s the nature of spending that has changed, and to safeguard that spending, many have pulled back in other areas like recreation or travel. Consumers have also shifted to more promotional spending that squeeze margins. “The retailer is constrained because prices are rising, so while retailers will offer sales that are important to consumers, we may not see the breadth of sales that we’ve seen before,” Mathews said.   The NRF has been analyzing data and advising retailers for over a century. The November/December season represents roughly 20 percent of the year’s retail sales for many retailers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the fashion and textile industry increasingly seeks out greener fiber options, India’s Birla Cellulose is rising to meet the demands of a more exacting market.The manufacturer, which specializes in the production of man-made cellulosic fibers (MMCF) such as viscose and modal, is expanding the production capacity for its Birla Excel lyocell, investing in the closed-loop fiber that is even more eco-friendly than its MMCF peers.Listen to the fireside chat between Vadiraj Kulkarni, business head of Birla Cellulose, and Sarah Jones, senior editor, strategic content at Sourcing Journal, to learn more about what sets lyocell apart in the fiber field and the business impact of responsibly sourcing inputs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” so it’s encouraging to see that sustainability advocates are reconsidering old ways and thinking outside the box. Hence the title of Sourcing Journal’s latest Sustainability Report, titled “A New Way of Thinking.” But despite industry progress, the headwinds have never been greater. So where are we in the quest for a more sustainable fashion industry? In other words, is sustainability sustainable? In this episode, Jasmin Malik Chua, SJ’s climate and labor editor, and Alex Harrell, SJ’s sustainability and innovation reporter, sit down with Lauren Parker, director of Fairchild Studio, to dive into the report and see if the industry is doing all it can to prevent a “sustainability retreat.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The holiday season is make or break time for retailers, as the last two months of the year can account for more than 20 percent of annual sales for many businesses. But this season is expected to be like none other, as 2025 marks the first year with agentic AI rewriting the retail playbook, from marketing to customer support. In this podcast for Retail Rx, David Dorf, global head of retail solutions at Amazon Web Services (AWS) chats with Ian Fredericks, chief executive officer of Hilco Global Capital Solutions and executive director of Hilco Global’s retail and consumer platform. They explore the many ways agentic AI is being used to help retailers seize this next chapter, and whether retailers should have a chief AI officer.  “When we talk about agentic AI, it's really based on the word agency, so we’re giving the [large learning model] autonomous ability to go out and act on our behalf,” said Dorf, explaining that there’s a “litmus test” he uses to see if it’s really an agent. One, can it reason? Two, does it have access to tools – like a weather site – that can help it make a decision? And three, is it autonomous? Answer engines with AI summaries are another growth area. “Around 75 percent of people have said that they have used an answer engine to start their shopping journey before,” said Dorf. “We’re going to see more of that. Walmart said has about 20 percent of their referral traffic is coming from these answer engines; people asking it a generic question and ending up at the Walmart site. So this pretty impactful.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SJ Denim turned 10 this year, and after a decade reporting on the business of denim, one thing is clear: trends might be constantly looking to the past, but innovations and sustainability attitudes are all about the future. In this episode, Sourcing Journal executive editor and denim expert Angela Velasquez chats with Lauren Parker, director of Fairchild Studio, about the latest issue of SJ Denim and the industry at large. With the Kingpins denim show in Amsterdam fresh in her mind, Velasquez also offered forward-looking trend and business insights on the future of denim. https://sourcingjournal.com/report/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the rapid growth in e-commerce, retailers increasingly collect and store customer data to deliver personalized shopping experiences. Yet without proper safeguards in place, unsecured data can introduce significant risk. It’s not just consumer personal data that’s increasingly at risk, but corporate information as well. “The retail industry is one of the most IP-intensive industries in the world, and it needs to protect its trade secrets as well as intellectual property,” said Alexander Niejelow, executive director, Hilco Global Cyber Advisors, in a fireside chat for Retail Rx with Lauren Parker, director of Fairchild Studio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Any brand can claim sustainable materials, but words mean nothing without third-party testing and certifications. In fact, unverified sustainability claims—even if they are valid—can often lead to suspicions of greenwashing. Here, Min Zhu, senior director, technical services and operations, US & Canada Softlines, of global testing and certification company SGS, and Haley Gershon, marketing manager of SGS Beta (formerly Beta Analytic), a leading Carbon-14 testing lab for biobased materials that SGS acquired in November 2024, discuss why biobased materials need verification. Watch the fireside chat to learn: The current status of circular fashion and its key progresses  The journey of SGS and Beta’s combination and synergy SGS solutions to material sustainability and circularity   How SGS collaborates with fashion brands to test and verify biobased materials SGS’ IMPACT NOW sustainability initiatives Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When it comes to logistics and technology, machines and humans continue their symbiotic dance to get goods loaded, shipped, railed, trucked, stored, sorted, picked, packed and delivered with ever-greater efficiencies. And what they’re achieving, is nothing short of amazing, although not without its challenges. In this episode, Lauren Parker, director of SJ and Fairchild Studios, dives into SJ's "Logistics Report: The Technology Issue" with two Sourcing Journal editors, logistics editor Glenn Taylor and business editor Meghan Hall, business editor. They discuss what's now, what's next, and what it all means for your business. Download the report at: www.sourcingjournal.com/report Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices