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.”

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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/

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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.

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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.

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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,

Download the report at: www.sourcingjournal.com/report

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As the denim industry places greater emphasis on circularity and the full life cycle of a product, AGI Denim is emerging as a key player driving change through innovation and intentional growth.

To build a more sustainable supply chain and manufacturing model, the Pakistan-based vertical denim manufacturer is investing in advanced technologies that deliver more with less. This includes Smartec Dyeing Machine that reduces water usage simultaneously enhancing color vibrancy.

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Is there anything more quintessentially American than blue jeans? Denim is so entrenched in the American psyche that it can be easy to forget that most jeans have been manufactured overseas for decades.

To explore this disconnect—and to dive into the trials and tribulations of bringing domestic denim manufacturing back—Sourcing Journal themed its Summer SJ Denim edition the “Made in America” Issue.

In this episode, Angela Velasquez, Sourcing Journal's executive editor and denim editor, chats with Lauren Parker, director, Fairchild Studio, about what Made in America denim really means.

Read the report HERE.

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As the political and economic landscapes shift amid President Donald Trump’s escalating trade war, the fashion industry—like many others—is bracing for impact by tightening supply chain operations.

To help navigate these disruptions, Computer Generated Solutions (CGS) released the 10th annual edition of its BlueCherry State of Supply Chain and Technology Report.

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Just as cotton sustainability starts at the farm, leather sustainability starts at the ranch.

Leather is a natural byproduct of food production, but cattle farming accounts for about 40 percent of all GHG emissions from agri-food systems, not to mention deforestation when not managed correctly. That’s why the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is teaming up with companies that utilize leather to support the newly launched Deforestation-Free

Listen to the podcast with Fernando Bellese, senior director for beef and leather supply chains, WWF, and Lauren Parker, director, Fairchild Studio to learn:

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Material innovation takes two forms. You can develop new alt materials that have less impact on the planet, or you can take existing fossil fuel-based materials and develop circular recycling systems to keep them out of landfills and use them again. Both innovations are exciting and both are hard.

The good news is that VC funding in the green space has bounced back, albeit with a more selective approach that shifts the investing vibe from "gold rush" to "growth state."

In this episode, Alex Harrell, Sourcing Journal's sustainability and innovation reporter, chats with Lauren Parker, director, Fairchild Studio, about what's new and what's next in material innovation, what "innovation tourism" is and why it's slowing progress.

Download the Material Innovation Report:

https://bit.ly/4lHK5DU

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