The Resonance Test 83: Consumers Unmasked Fashion Insights with Michelle Grant and Pierre Kremer

The EPAM Continuum Podcast Network

It’s a weird moment for fashion. Think about refashion, digital fashion, and the challenges of brand loyalty in a complex and increasingly expensive world. What’s a fashion brand to do in the face of all this change? Well, a smart place to start is the recently published third installment of our *Consumers Unmasked* research. And that’s exactly where our *Resonance Test* guests—Michelle Grant, Director of Strategy and Insights, Retail, and Consumer Goods at Salesforce, and Pierre Kremer, Senior Director, Retail & CPG, Digital Engagement Practice EMEA at EPAM—center their conversation. Kremer asks about brand loyalty in recessionary times and how niche companies like Allbirds can have a slightly higher price point, compared to legacy shoe companies, and still compete. Grant points to materials as key element of innovation. She talks about cutting water usage in making denim or replicating leather with mushrooms. “Sustainability is a really important value to Gen Z in particular, so that material innovation, where you're being as careful about environmental resources as possible, will read as it resonate with that generation,” she says. Grant and Kremer consider many important topics: the resilience of physical retail in hybrid shopping (“Stores are well positioned you to be fulfillment centers… They're essentially mini-fulfillment centers, and in some cases,” says Grant), the current state of hyper-localization, the fashionable topic of NFTs, and more. Pull up a chair and listen as they walk their ideas down the virtual runway. Host: Macy Donaway Engineer: Kyp Pilalas Producer: Ken Gordon