The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
As the pandemic is pushing retailers to think harder about the purpose of physical stores in today’s world, join us on Jun 30, 2021 to understand the future of post-pandemic retail. Broadcasting live from Selfridges in London, BoF’s editor-in-chief Imran Amed will be joined by leading global experts and thought leaders including retail futurist and BoF columnist Doug Stephens to outline a new playbook for bricks-and-mortar retail. The BoF Professional Summit is presented by Afterpay.
The Store as Brand Billboard
Michelle Lee, editor-in-chief of Allure and Tricia Ruane, head of e-commerce merchandise and branded property, global at Condé Nast, will unpick the shift we are seeing in retail where stores are becoming branding and marketing tools to acquire customers and create content.
The Store as Community Hub
Edison Chen, founder and creative director of Clot, will discuss stores as community hubs, clients don’t just want to purchase products anymore, they want to meet friends, share experiences, have great food offerings and immerse themselves into the retail experience.
The Store as Immersive Experience
Krishna Nikhil, chief merchandising officer and chief marketing officer at Montréal’s Ssense will uncover his learnings from reimagining Ssense’s flagship store as a space at the intersection of commerce and culture, while Web Smith, founder of media company 2PM, will discuss the future of digitally native, vertically integrated brands (DNVBs) as physical retail reopens.
The Store as a Service Touchpoint
What does the service experience within a store need to look like to attract customers? Retailer Elyse Walker, whose namesake boutiques and concept shops have grown synonymous with LA fashion, will discuss stylists as sales associates at her stores, while Adam Levene, founder of digital customer service platform Hero, will unpack how technology can be used across physical touchpoints to improve the experience.
The Most Important Metric in Retail
Brittany Hicks and Jessica Couch, co-founders at Fayetteville Road and Alexei Agratchev, co-founder and chief executive at Retail Next will join Doug Stephens to discuss how to utilise modern technologies to gather crucial customer data to optimise the in-store offering and shopping experience.
Access to the Summit is exclusive to BoF Professional members. Existing members simply register now to reserve your spot.
If you are not a member, register now to reserve your place and receive further details on our trial membership offer.
Support your employees’ development and benefit from volume discounts by attending the summit with your team of 5 or more. Discover the details here.
To learn more about the role of the store in the age of e-commerce, download our case study, “Tapping Into the Future of Physical Retail.”
Confirmed Speakers include:
Alexei Agratchev, Co-Founder & Chief Executive, RetailNext
Alexei Agratchev is the co-founder and chief executive of RetailNext, the world’s first technology company dedicated to providing advanced in-store analytics for brick-and-mortar retail businesses. Previously he spent eight years at Cisco Systems. Prior to Cisco Systems, Agratchev was a consultant at Accenture in its electronics and high-tech operating unit.
Edison Chen, Founder & Director, Clot
Edison Chen has been shaping pop culture for the last 20 years. This entertainer and entrepreneur is a Canadian-born Hong Kong actor, singer, rapper and fashion designer. Chen has been recognised as one of Asia’s most ambitious and versatile talents, with the launch of Clot, his successful apparel brand; Juicestores, the multi-label store selling the latest streetwear fashion brands; Innersect, the highly influential streetwear festival; and his on-going Nike collaboration.
Jessica Couch, Co-Founder, Fayetteville Road
Jessica Couch is a fit technology expert, co-founder of Fayetteville Road Agency and founder of Luxor & Finch Research Agency. Couch has published over 80 articles on the matter of fit and fit tech, a thesis on fit and perception, and curated events and panels on the subjects of consumer-focused retail technology. As a consultant, Couch works to resolve supply and demand pain points through the integration of technology as well as the use of niche data analysis.
Samantha David, President, WS Development
Samantha David serves as president of WS Development, one of the country’s largest privately held commercial real estate firms. David cares deeply about building places people want to be while supporting the businesses within them and the communities around them. David is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School. She serves on the leadership councils of Facing History and Ourselves and Beth Israel Hospital’s Bowdoin Street Health Center. She resides in Boston with her family.
Brittany Hicks, Co-Founder, Fayetteville Road
Brittany Hicks is a supply chain expert, process consultant, strategist, educator and the co-founder of Fayetteville Road Agency, an inclusive community of women at the intersection of technical and creative careers, which she co-founded with Jessica Couch. Most recently, she worked at Amazon Fashion buying contemporary denim and fast fashion before transitioning to their global private label product development team.
Andrew Keith, Managing Director, Selfridges
Andrew Keith is managing director of Selfridges, and former president of Lane Crawford and Joyce Boutique. Keith joined Lane Crawford in 2001 playing an integral role in the introduction of western brands to China. Appointed managing director of Selfridges in February 2021, Keith brings his breadth of experience in the fashion industry to the UK as he takes responsibility for the company’s four stores in London, Manchester and Birmingham, as well as its online business.
Michelle Lee, Editor-in-Chief, Allure
Michelle Lee is the editor-in-chief of Allure. Since assuming the role in 2015, she has been committed to championing diversity and expanding the definition of beauty. She was named Adweek’s 2017 Editor of the Year while Allure won Adweek’s Magazine of the Year, and her work at the brand also earned her a place on the Glossy 50 “Modern Media” list in 2017. Prior to joining Allure, she was editor-in-chief and chief marketing officer at Nylon.
Adam Levene, Founder, Hero
Adam Levene is the entrepreneur and creative force behind Hero, the company he founded in 2015 aged 26. With a vision to accelerate the digital reinvention of physical retail, in just three years the company has grown to a global team of over 100, and has forged partnerships with Nike, Adidas, LVMH, and Levi’s, among others. Levene has given keynotes on the theme of the future of commerce at Web Summit, NRF Big Show, PSFK and Shoptalk.
Nick Molnar, Co-Founder & Co-Chief Executive, Afterpay
Nick Molnar is co-founder & co-chief executive of Afterpay, the leading retail instalment payments innovator and one of the fastest growing global fintech companies. He launched Afterpay in Australia in October 2014 and listed the company on the Australian Securities Exchange in 2016. The company expanded into the US in May 2018 and soon after expanded into Canada, France, Italy, Spain and the UK.
Krishna Nikhil, Chief Merchandising Officer & Chief Marketing Officer, Ssense
Krishna Nikhil is the chief merchandising officer and chief marketing officer at Ssense, where he oversees the buying and marketing departments. Prior to joining Ssense, Nikhil was executive vice-president, print & chief strategy officer at Indigo Books & Music, where he was the head merchant for books, magazines and vinyl, while also leading the company’s strategic planning function. Nikhil previously spent over 11 years at McKinsey & Company as partner in the retail and global fashion and luxury practices based in Toronto.
Tricia Ruane, Head of E-Commerce Merchandise and Branded Property, Global, Condé Nast
Tricia Ruane is head of e-commerce merchandise and branded property at Condé Nast. She sits within the consumer marketing team — the main objective of which is to identify new ways to engage and grow relationships with consumers. Ruane is leading Condé Nast’s step into content commerce in a fixed retail setting.
Doug Stephens, Founder, Retail Prophet
Doug Stephens is one of the world’s foremost retail industry futurists. His intellectual work and thinking has influenced many of the most widely known international retailers, agencies and brands including Walmart, Google, L’Oréal, BMW and LVMH. Prior to founding the consultancy Retail Prophet, Stephens spent over 20 years in the retail industry, holding senior international leadership roles. He is currently writing his third book to be released in spring 2021 titled Resurrecting Retail: The Future of Business in a Post-Pandemic World.
Elyse Walker, Founder & Chief Executive, Elysewalker
Elyse Walker is one of fashion’s most powerful retailers. Over the last 20+ years, with her namesake boutiques and concept shops, towne by elysewalker, for men and women, Elyse Walker’s name has grown synonymous with LA fashion. A hybrid of astute stylist and fastidious entrepreneur, Elyse Walker is serious about the business of fashion while never taking fashion itself too seriously. What started as a small business in 1999 has grown to include seven storefronts, elysewalker private label, and numerous exclusive collaborations, events and partnerships.
Access to the Summit is exclusive to BoF Professional members. Existing members simply register now to reserve your spot.
If you are not a member, register now to reserve your place and receive further details on our trial membership offer.
Support your employees’ development and benefit from volume discounts by attending the summit with your team of 5 or more. Discover the details here.
WS Development are a partner in the BoF Professional Summit.
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