Lululemon, Ralph Lauren, Levi’s — Gar Lenett has worked with the largest brands in the industry but 5 years ago, after three decades in the denim business, he wanted something different. That was the start of DUER, a fast-growing “adventure-ready apparel” brand based in Vancouver, Canada.

Highlights:

• 3 critical factors needed for any brand that wants to grow fast (and yes, luck is one part of it)
• A primer on the new market segment DUER is helping to build from the ground up
• A counterintuitive — but still accurate — assessment of the sustainability movement
• The challenges and opportunities for the denim industry going forward

To listen to the interview, click here.

It’s an often-overlooked segment of the market. But the silent majority, in the words of our guest Jennifer Mackey-Mary, can represent a good opportunity for certain fashion brands willing to make the effort to serve them.

Highlights:

• Why it makes good sense to sell a solution instead of just another nice piece of clothing.
• Keys to serving the silent majority market effectively.
• The best way to get inside your client’s head… and how you win by doing so.
• A surprising insight into body image issues… a strange side effect of the body positivity movement of recent years.

To listen to the interview, click here.

An overheard comment prompted artist and sculptor Rosemary Goodenough to print 150 copies of her work onto silk scarves. That simple act launched a luxury brand that has become something of a hidden gem for consumers who want something you can’t find in every luxury retailer.

Highlights:

• The key to serving a luxury consumer well in a highly competitive market
• The best product-pricing advice anyone has ever shared on our program
• Great advice for any artist who wants to stand head and shoulders above the competition (in fashion and other arenas)
• An easy way to expand a brand without spending a lot of money

To listen to the interview, click here.

Gender diversity often makes people uncomfortable. But it’s important both from a societal viewpoint as well as in strictly business terms. To help us better understand this topic, we welcome Joshua Williams, assistant professor at Parsons and a founder of QueerCut, a marketplace for queer shoppers.

Highlights:

• How Gen Z is driving gender diversity… and why it’s a mistake to ignore them
• The human cost of the so-called bathroom wars
• Practical steps you can take to appeal to a gender-fluid consumer
• A new way to think about fashion for “men” and “women”
• A key question to ask yourself — “why do we ______ ______?”

To listen to the interview, click here.

Maurice Mullen has spent more than 30 years in the media business, working on titles including Elle, Red and the Evening Standard where today, he’s the Head of Luxury & Fashion Goods. He serves on the advisory board for the British Fashion Council, holds a visiting Fellowship at the London College of Fashion and sits on quite a few fashion-industry judging panels.

In this wide-ranging interview, we discuss:

• The good and the bad side of a growing luxury industry
• What you must not do if you want to sell to a Millennial or Gen Z consumer over the long term
• The next natural step in sustainability marketing… and why consumers like brands that do it
• The one time a social media strategy isn’t really needed

To listen to the interview, click here.

Sustainability is a hot topic in the fashion business. Major brands have promised to become “more sustainable”. Yet most players aren’t always sure what that means or how to go about it.

Enter Common Objective, a London-based B2B sustainable fashion platform that helps brands and suppliers better work together to bring more true-sustainable products to market. In this interview, Head of Product & Marketing, Qiulae Wong, shares:

• The Sustainability Roadmap: How to turn a desire to do good in the world into practical action.
• The 50-year old idea that is driving modern sustainability in a time of global climate change.
• …

I first saw them on Dragon’s Den (the Canadian version of Shark Tank) back in 2007. They didn’t get funded but, since then, SAXX has gone on to dominate the world of premium underwear for men. In this interview, we speak with VP of Brand Michael Dalzell about:

• The huge shifts in men’s underwear since SAXX’s founding in 2006
• The hardest part of selling a $30 pair of underwear (a lesson for any brand built around technical innovation)
• How to take an idea from an unrelated industry (in this case, tech) and use it to drive new product development
• Big opportunities in the men’s underwear business today

To listen to the interview, click here.

She’s been a model, art director, CEO and worked in retail. She’s produced fashion films and is a media personality and lifestyle contributor. In fact, there are few things Tamiko White has not done in the world of fashion. And, to cap it all off, she’s the author of Careers in the Fashion Industry, a reference book to help new members to the business find the right career for themselves.

Naturally, this gives her a great perspective on the business and how to succeed in it.

In this interview, we focus on the consumer side of things, specifically:

• Why the…