The Glossy Podcast

This week, we unpack the fashion spotted at the NBA Draft, including tonal suiting, bold jewelry and designer partnerships. Then, we take a look at Skims’s new swimwear collaboration with Roberto Cavalli, a nostalgia-soaked collection that taps directly into the Italian house’s early 2000s archive. Finally, we explore the return of men’s sandals at Paris Men’s Fashion Week, including Louis Vuitton’s crocodile leather flip flops, and what the open-toed moment says about the future of men’s fashion — and heatwave dressing. Then, Glossy’s Zofia Zwieglinska sits down with Lisa Yamner Green, co-founder and chief brands officer at Daydream, a newly launched, AI-powered shopping platform aiming to overhaul the e-commerce experience. With previous leadership roles at Google, Condé Nast and The Yes, Green brings deep tech-meets-fashion insight into what it takes to rewire the online shopping journey — not with more options, but with smarter discovery.

On the Glossy Podcast, senior fashion reporter Danny Parisi and international reporter Zofia Zwieglinska break down some of the biggest fashion news of the week. This week, we discuss three big news stories: Kering has hired its new CEO, Luca de Meo, who comes from the automotive world, rather than the fashion or luxury sector. It’s an inspired choice at a time when Kering desperately needs a new direction. We also talk about FIFA, the international governing body of soccer, announcing the launch of its own luxury fashion brand. And we discuss a bill passed in the French Senate that would curtail fast fashion brands like Shein and Temu, requiring them to pay extra taxes and banning them from advertising. Later in the episode, our editor-in-chief Jill Manoff sits down with Warby Parker’s chief product and supply chain officer Kim Nemser. The conversation was recorded at our annual Glossy E-Commerce Summit, held this year in Miami in early June. Nemser spoke about Warby Parker’s omnichannel strategies, with a particular focus on how it’s integrating AI into many of its back-end operations.

This week, senior fashion reporter Danny Parisi, editor-in-chief Jill Manoff and international reporter Zofia Zwieglinska talk about Victoria’s Secret’s earnings report and the expected impact of its three-day web outage due to a cyberattack on the company. We also talk about the mall brand Torrid closing down 180 stores, and discuss a lawsuit filed jointly by NBCUniversal and Disney over AI image generator Midjourney’s alleged copyright infringement. Later in the episode (19:39), we talk about recent probes into the manufacturing practices of luxury brands like Dior. One probe, conducted by an Italian competition authority, found that Dior was sourcing products from workshops in Italy where underpaid immigrants worked in grueling conditions to create its handbags. These workers, some of whom were undocumented, worked long shifts, with energy signatures indicating that the workshops were running 24 hours a day. As part of a settlement, Dior agreed to pay $2.3 million over five years toward initiatives to reduce labor exploitation. Both the probe and its settlement put a spotlight on some of the luxury industry’s open secrets.

On the Glossy Podcast, senior fashion reporter Danny Parisi and editor-in-chief Jill Manoff break down some of the biggest fashion news of the week. This week, we’re talking about the state of Saks Global and bringing you some takeaways from the Glossy E-Commerce Summit in Miami. Later in the episode (17:16), we host a roundtable discussion with luxury leaders about the state and future of the luxury sector. First, we break down two big pieces of news regarding Saks. The company is reportedly looking to form a joint venture to operate Bergdorf Goodman. It also secured over $300 million in new financing to help it get back to a liquid state. But Saks still reportedly owes more than $700 million in overdue payments to its brand partners. Saks’s non-payment was a frequent topic of conversation at the Glossy E-commerce Summit held in Miami this week. We share some of our takeaways from the event, including how brands are meeting the demand for content and planning for the holidays. And lastly, Jill Manoff led a discussion with Bradley Carbone, deputy CEO of luxury retailer Luisaviaroma; Joëlle Grunberg, a partner at McKinsey and head of its apparel and fashion division in North America; and Tanner Graham, CEO and co-founder of the luxury branding agency General Idea. The conversation touched on how luxury is faring, how its reliance on China may have held it back in recent quarters, and how the divide between a high-net-worth luxury customer and a more aspirational customer is impacting the segment.

On the Glossy Week in Review podcast, senior fashion reporter Danny Parisi and international reporter Zofia Zwieglinska break down some of the biggest fashion news of the week. This week, in our news segment, we break down Nike’s return to Amazon as it rolls back the DTC-focused strategy it launched five years ago and returns to wholesale. We also discuss a lawsuit between Steve Madden and Adidas, which points to Adidas’s zealous protection of its stripe motif. And finally, we talk about Maria Grazia Chiuri stepping down as artistic director of Dior’s women’s collection. Later in the episode, we take a deep dive into AI-powered search. Google announced last week that it is revamping its search function [https://blog.google/products/search/google-search-ai-mode-update/], infusing every step with its Gemini AI technology. For fashion brands, the most notable announcement is a new AI-powered virtual try-on option in the Google Shopping tab of search results. The tool lets users pick nearly any item of clothing from a Google Shopping result, upload a photo of themselves, and see an AI-generated image of the clothing fit to their body. The result is a bit lackluster. We test-ran the program and found it prone to jumbled text and strange outfit choices. Additionally, it sometimes alters the item itself, making it appear different from the listing. But Google’s AI try-on feature does raise an interesting question for brands about the future of search engine optimization. For years, brands have structured their strategies around keyword optimization and other tactics designed to float them to the top of traditional search bar results. But as ChatGPT becomes a go-to search engine for many consumers and Google rolls out AI Mode, in which consumers can shop through a chat interface rather than a traditional search bar and results, those strategies may change. Moves like optimizing product listings to be more readable by an AI program may help get a brand to surface better in an AI search. For now, ChatGPT [https://community.openai.com/t/advertising-on-chat-gpt-web-search/1000442] does not have ads in its AI search programs, but that will likely change. Google is still testing out exactly how ads will work in AI mode. But once ads become normalized within AI search, a whole new set of best practices around search optimization will need to be defined.