Conversation with Vasumathi Soundararajan, Service & Interaction Designer, Fjord
Vasumathi Soundararajan describes her role and ethos as a service and interaction designer, focused on how customers experience brands digitally and physically. She shares insight, as an entrepreneur, on growing a customer-centric business.
Conversation with Donald Rattner, Architect & Author
Donald Rattner discusses the science behind space design with a focus on how retailers can connect more organically and successfully with customers. He coins a new term, “retidential” design, a mash-up of retail and residential, to describe a movement towards more intimate, home-like retail spaces.
Conversation with Dr. Guido Lang, Associate Professor, Quinnipiac University
Dr. Guido Lang shares his insights on developing new ideas and bringing them to the market, especially in the technology space. He reinforces the idea that staying focused on solving one particular problem first, before trying to scale, is key to a successful new business. And he discusses the need for a more inclusive education in digital skills.
Fashion & Racism + Special Episode of "Retail Revolution"
In this special episode of Fashion Consort News Bytes, founder Joshua Williams shares his thoughts on the current issues of racial injustice and how they effect the fashion industry. This episode includes the Retail Revolution episode “Fashion & Racism” with Sabrina Lynch.
Fashion & Racism, A Conversation with Sabrina Lynch, Integrated Marketing Specialist
Producer Joshua Williams joins host Christopher Lacy to share in a special conversation with Sabrina Lynch, an integrated marketing and communication specialist about the issue of race and fashion, specifically as it relates to black people. This episode includes frank discussion about the systemic racism inherent in fashion, the commoditization of black culture and the lack of black voices in the industry, and concludes with a challenge for fashion brands to listen, reflect and act for equity and inclusion.
Press Release: Retail Revolution Podcast
Retail Revolution is a new podcast series based in New York City which delves into fashion retail, it’s current systems and new systems, in order to create a better and more sustainable future. Produced by Joshua Williams and hosted by Christopher Lacy, the Retail Revolution podcast features in-depth conversations with experts in omni-channel retailing with myriad perspectives: technology, consumer engagement, data analytics, merchandising and more. Expert guests include Ron Thurston, Vice President of Stores, Intermix; Meisha Brown, Vice President of Department Stores for Kering Eyewear; Brandon Roe, marketer and author of Why Fashion Brands Die; and Noam Levavi, Chief Executive Officer of ByondXR.
Creation and Fashion Inspiration
Joshua Williams speaks with fashion designer and haute couturier, Gilles Montezin, about his creative sources and sources of inspiration.
Building Brand Values Virtually
In May 2020, Joshua Williams shared his insights on brand building in special livestream event in partnership with WindowsWear. This is the transcript.
What really is education and how can we think about that in terms of brand values, beyond just going to college: taking a class, reading a book, and so on. Really, at the core of education is sort of ongoing personal development and learning things or sort of expanding our knowledge base so that we have the tools that we need to, to make better decisions, to know how to interact. And obviously in this kind of time of crisis, this is come to the forefront. in addition, I think that education from my perspective as a professor is not just about what you learn or it's about how you learn and who you learn with.
Conversation with Sam Cotton, Creative Director, Raiment
Sam Cotton shares insight on the fashion design process within the context of the full supply chain, from sourcing materials and production to retailing and end use. He discusses the fashion industry within the wider lens of philosophic and economic models and shares his ideas for a more sustainable future.
Bonus Conversation: Emily & Jessica
Global Fashion Management students Emily Wiens and Jessica Tsai share their retail strategies for Net-a-Porter and Mujui, as part of their “Retailing and Service Design” final projects. They also provide insight on youth culture, consumer engagement and post-pandemic retailing.
Bonus Conversation: Jeanette & Glenda
MPS Fashion Management students Jeanette Gong and Glenda Widjaja share their retail strategies for Aimé Leon Dore and Urban Outfitters, as part of their “Retailing and Service Design” final projects. They also provide insight on Gen Z customers and how brands can better engage them.
Conversation with Jon Harari, CEO, WindowsWear
Jon Harari shares his insight about the digitization of fashion and the work WindowsWear is doing to aggregate the creativity of store designers, visual merchandisers and packaging specialists. He equates information as power in a digital economy.
WWD Features "Retail Revolution" podcast
As students transition from the classroom to virtual learning, Parsons School of Design has launched a Retail Revolution podcast that features weekly episodes with experts from a variety of fields offering insights and perspectives on how retailers can weather the coronavirus crisis.
Conversation with Xia Feng, E-Com Expert & CEO, The How Consulting
Xia Feng illuminates the major shifts that are happening in the fashion digital space. She discusses how the Chinese market may hold answers for American and European brands and their quest to connect more authentically, and in real time, with consumers online.
Conversation with Brandon Roe, Marketing Expert & Author
Brandon Roe provides insight on how luxury brands can better engage customers by understanding the unique cohorts that shop for luxury products and services. He also provides clear steps that fashion brands can take to ensure they manage through the Covid-19 crisis—internally and externally—and come out stronger post-pandemic.
Conversation with Meisha Brown, VP Department Stores, Kering Eyewear
Meisha Brown shares her deep experience and perspective in multi-label luxury merchandising in a time of major retail disruption. She discusses everything from developing brands on the store floor through thoughtful merchandising to dealing with vendor relationships. She also offers advice to future merchandisers, including the need to understand both retail math and fashion trends.
Conversation with Noam Levavi, CEO, BYOND XR
Noam Levavi challenges our concepts of what retail might look like in 3 to 5 years, discussing how the shift into the virtual world will be accelerated post Covid-19 pandemic and how adopting new technologies will unveil new opportunities for brands, retailers and designers. He elaborates how the virtual transformation will allow brands to be more innovative, personalized, efficient and sustainable in how they design, showroom and sell their products and services.