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Business Wire
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
WiresConnect Concludes with Game-Changing Vision for the Future of Connected Commerce
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- WiresConnect, the first-ever conference hosted by The Wires, the parent company of the B2B2C platforms FashWire, GlossWire, and PawWire, brought together an invitation-only group of leaders across retail and technology for two days of strategic conversation and actionable insight. With a focus on connected commerce, the event convened founders, executives, operators, and investors who are building the future of consumer engagement for the retail sector. Shannon Maher, Dean of the School of Business and Technology at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, delivered the Welcome Address and Keynote Speech, setting an inspiring tone for the event. 'It was an honor to participate in WiresConnect, a dynamic platform that explores how innovation and education converge to shape the future of retail,' said Maher. 'As we prepare the next generation of founders and leaders, cross-industry collaboration is not just beneficial, it's essential to creating a more connected, inclusive, and sustainable commerce ecosystem.' Kimberly Carney, founder and CEO of The Wires, opened the event by setting the tone for what was to come. "We created WiresConnect to bring the most forward-thinking people in retail and technology into the same room to have real conversations about what is working, what is not, and what needs to happen next," said Carney. "The event went beyond the trends and drilled into the substance of the issues. We saw that in every session and every connection." One of the most memorable moments was a fireside chat between Carney and fashion industry icon Fern Mallis. The audience was captivated by Fern's personal stories and professional journey, including her key role in creating New York Fashion Week. The session sparked laughter, reflection, and ended with a standing ovation. "Interviewing Fern was one of the highlights of my career," said Carney. "Her legacy is extraordinary, and the way she shared her story with honesty, humor, and heart left a lasting impact on everyone in the room." "What stood out to me at WiresConnect was seeing so many founders engaged and open to hearing my story," said Fern Mallis, President of Fern Mallis LLC and creator of New York Fashion Week. "It was a reminder that the challenges and opportunities we face today aren't so different from those I encountered. Sharing my experience felt less like looking back and more like offering a perspective that can help shape what comes next." Another standout session featured Daymond John, founder of FUBU and longtime investor on ABC's Shark Tank, in conversation with Deborah Weinswig, CEO and founder of Coresight Research. Their exchange focused on brand authenticity, innovation, and the evolving expectations of today's consumers. 'It was an honor to be a guest speaker at WiresConnect,' said Daymond John, FUBU Founder & CEO and star of ABC's Shark Tank. 'When I started FUBU, community was at the core of everything we did. That same spirit drives the most successful brands today. Whether launching a new brand or scaling an existing one, consumers crave personalization. And in a post-COVID and AI-obsessed world, we need more truly unique in-person experiences like this to continue building community." Reflecting on their discussion, Weinswig said, "Daymond shared a rare blend of strategic clarity and lived experience. He has an intuitive understanding of how brands build trust with consumers. His emphasis on staying authentic while continuing to innovate really resonated with the audience." "The energy here was real," she added. "WiresConnect created a space where the right people were not just talking. They were planning and aligning around what comes next for commerce." Key takeaways from the conference emerged across panels and sessions: The Future of Beauty pushed attendees to reimagine what personalization really means in a world increasingly shaped by AI. The conversation moved beyond product to focus on trust, transparency, and cultural intelligence. It was a clear reminder that technology alone does not define innovation. Human insight still leads. Winning Brand Loyalty reminded us that today's consumers do not just buy products; they buy into purpose. Loyalty is now built through shared values, compelling storytelling, and authentic community. Emotional connection is not an extra. It is the brand. Integrating AI into Business explored how agentic AI is reshaping commerce while reinforcing that human connection remains essential. The panel emphasized that AI should be seamless and invisible, enhancing experiences without becoming a distraction. As customer journeys become more fragmented, AI can help build consistent, cross-platform engagement. Brandon Kissinger, Executive Chairman of SnapSoft, said, 'If AI brings you closer to your customers, you are on the right track. If it takes you away through automation, you are moving in the wrong direction.' Investing in Tomorrow offered a rare and candid look at how leading investors evaluate emerging brands. Beyond metrics and margins, what stood out most was the importance of founder clarity, adaptability, and the power of trust as a long-term asset. Fundable brands build relationships, not just presentations. Next Gen Circularity Solutions reframed sustainability as both a systems challenge and a business advantage. From material innovation to reverse logistics, the session highlighted how strategy and operations must align to unlock scalable impact. Circularity is no longer optional. It is essential. 'Closing the day with Fern Mallis and Daymond John was a true full-circle moment,' Carney said, reflecting on the event. 'Their clarity, warmth, and perspective grounded the future-focused discussions in real-world wisdom and reminded us why the beauty and fashion industries continue to matter. Overall, the conversations were forward-looking, the connections meaningful, and the momentum is already building toward what comes next.' WiresConnect marked a defining moment for The Wires, as its first-ever conference, and the broader community it brought together. Throughout the event, The Wires also shared its vision for a more intelligent and integrated commerce ecosystem. Upcoming platform features will help brands, retailers, and tech partners collaborate more easily across systems, with an emphasis on clarity, speed, and measurable impact. For more information on The Wires and to get updates on future events, visit: follow @WiresConnect and search #WiresConnect on social media platforms. About The Wires The Wires is a multi-vertical B2B2C technology company behind FashWire, GlossWire, PawWire, and WiresConnect. Its interactive platforms connect fashion, beauty, and pet care brands with consumers through immersive, real-time digital experiences. The Wires empowers global brands with AI-driven insights, actionable feedback, and advanced analytics to inform product development and increase profitability. WiresConnect further extends this ecosystem by enabling direct collaboration and networking between brands, retailers, and influencers. Together, these platforms are reshaping how brands grow, engage, and compete in a digital-first world. To learn more about The Wires, visit To learn more about FashWire, visit or download the app on the App Store or Google Play Store. To learn more about GlossWire, visit or download the app on the App Store or Google Play Store. To learn more about PawWire, visit or download the app on the App Store or Google Play.
Fashion Network
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Fashion Network
COS will be back at NYFW this September
H&M 's Group's London-based COS label is on a roll at the moment and part of what the company has been doing right seems to have been its regular appearances at New York Fashion Week. So it's no surprise that COS will be back on the NYFW runways this September. It will be an in-season event as it will present its AW25 collection on the catwalk, its fourth time at NYFW as part of the Council of Fashion Designers of America 's (CFDA) official schedule. The company said that 'engaging with communities at the forefront of fashion, art, design, and modern culture, COS continues to build its presence in the global city of New York – championing expert craftsmanship, design innovation and a deep respect for materiality on one of the fashion industry's most iconic international stages'.
Fashion Network
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Fashion Network
COS will be back at NYFW this September
H&M 's Group's London-based COS label is on a roll at the moment and part of what the company has been doing right seems to have been its regular appearances at New York Fashion Week. So it's no surprise that COS will be back on the NYFW runways this September. See catwalk It will be an in-season event as it will present its AW25 collection on the catwalk, its fourth time at NYFW as part of the Council of Fashion Designers of America 's (CFDA) official schedule. The company said that 'engaging with communities at the forefront of fashion, art, design, and modern culture, COS continues to build its presence in the global city of New York – championing expert craftsmanship, design innovation and a deep respect for materiality on one of the fashion industry's most iconic international stages'. And CFDA CEO Steven Kolb added: ' Over the years, COS has brought a distinctive perspective to NYFW. Its continued commitment to New York City as the home for its autumn/winter shows is a testament to the power and appeal of our city as a global stage for creativity. We are proud to support a brand that so thoughtfully contributes to the evolving narrative of global fashion through a uniquely New York lens.' The show will take place on Sunday, 14 September at 1pm EDT
Fashion Network
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Fashion Network
COS will be back at NYFW this September
H&M 's Group's London-based COS label is on a roll at the moment and part of what the company has been doing right seems to have been its regular appearances at New York Fashion Week. So it's no surprise that COS will be back on the NYFW runways this September. See catwalk It will be an in-season event as it will present its AW25 collection on the catwalk, its fourth time at NYFW as part of the Council of Fashion Designers of America 's (CFDA) official schedule. The company said that 'engaging with communities at the forefront of fashion, art, design, and modern culture, COS continues to build its presence in the global city of New York – championing expert craftsmanship, design innovation and a deep respect for materiality on one of the fashion industry's most iconic international stages'. And CFDA CEO Steven Kolb added: ' Over the years, COS has brought a distinctive perspective to NYFW. Its continued commitment to New York City as the home for its autumn/winter shows is a testament to the power and appeal of our city as a global stage for creativity. We are proud to support a brand that so thoughtfully contributes to the evolving narrative of global fashion through a uniquely New York lens.' The show will take place on Sunday, 14 September at 1pm EDT and will be streamed live on alongside COS YouTube and Instagram channels.
Elle
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Elle
Why the Fashion World Is Still Enthralled With the Office
Style Points is a column about how fashion intersects with the wider world. Watching Stella McCartney's show at Paris Fashion Week, you might be forgiven for not knowing where to look. There were photocopiers and water coolers on the runway, and pole dancers performing alongside models in glitzy takes on corporate wear. 'Laptop to lap dance,' McCartney called it. Or Anora meets the Adobe Creative Suite, if you like. Either way, it was enough to give an HR rep a tension headache. But while McCartney's fetishization of the office may have been the most actually fetishistic yet, she was far from the only one on the fashion month schedule drawn to this kind of corporate cosplay. The ongoing conundrum of 'what to wear to the office' played itself out at New York Fashion Week, too, as Calvin Klein, Michael Kors, and Carolina Herrera all presented their distinctive takes on the modern-day working woman. At Calvin, which made its return to the runway for the first time since 2018, Veronica Leoni opted to revitalize the brand's '90s minimalist office staples, while Kors and Herrera went for maximalist takes on traditional suiting, perfect for glitzing up your commute. Emerging designer Jane Wade, who has shown an ongoing fascination with modern office life (complete with collections called 'The Commute' and 'The Audit'), got in on the trend with a show called 'The Merger,' where models sported ironic white-collar chic and Lisa Rinna acted out a 'hostile takeover' at the end. Like McCartney, Wade leaned into the idea of office as theater, putting just as much emphasis on the atmosphere as she did on the clothes. It's a tension that comes up in pop culture as well. In movies and TV shows like Babygirl, Industry, and Severance, relatively generic-looking corporate offices become the site of extreme drama and intrigue, and even of sexuality. Even the leisure seekers on this past season of The White Lotus find themselves haunted by work, whether it's Jason Isaacs's character Timothy and his brewing financial-crimes scandal or Carrie Coon's Laurie and her dissatisfaction when she's passed over for a promotion at her law firm. This corporate fixation is part and parcel of our culture's current obsession with the Establishment: people want to dress old money, channel coastal grandmothers, and, apparently, transform themselves into office sirens. Amid economic instability, AI anxiety, and tariff-induced chaos, a job is another asset, even though it's still work. Look at pop culture depictions of office life from the '90s and early 2000s: Gen X cris de coeur like Reality Bites, Office Space, American Beauty, Fight Club, even The Office to some degree, are about people being alienated by a corporate world that now seems incredibly cushy to a modern viewer. Now that that the lifelong, pension-assisted career has evaporated, so has the disdainful portrayal of the office as a cubicle farm where your soul goes to die. As the New York Times reported, influencers are even using generic offices as backdrops for OOTD videos. Office drama has been bubbling up in fashion for some time now. Three years ago, with remote work still influencing WFH-friendly fashion and 'quiet quitting' on the ascendance, I wrote about the way designers were starting to satirize office wear staples, cutting them up, cropping them, or even creating a giant, Office Space-meets-Stop Making Sense suit out of Post-it notes. There was a playful, campy quality to the way designers embraced these shibboleths, a gentle mocking of the costumes of power. ('The suit has always been drag,' author Sarah Jaffe observed when I interviewed her for the piece.) The following year, as the RTO push began in earnest, my colleague Kathleen Hou brought us a treatise on the hybrid-work-friendly 'businesswoman special' aesthetic, which combined oversized blazers and suiting with baggy jeans (think the 2020s answer to the 'corporate at the club' aesthetic). Even non-9 to 5ers like Hailey Bieber and Kendall Jenner were all over this look, suggesting that the status-y connotations of office wear hold true even if you never darken the door of a corporate lobby. Increasingly, those kinds of suiting-as-blank-canvas propositions have faded away. Now that the girlboss era is long gone, more literal, menswear-influenced totems of power seem to be back, both on the runway and in our wardrobes. McCartney's collection featured blazers that were intentionally oversized, trailing lapels and cuffs, the 'boyfriend jeans' of suiting. MyTheresa's Tiffany Hsu joked to Kristen Bateman in our March issue that she wants to dress like Patrick Bateman—who's once again in the zeitgeist thanks to Luca Guadagnino's in-the-works adaptation of American Psycho. And while Severance is an extreme, sci-fi literalization of the craving for (and the ultimate impossibility of) work-life balance, this contradiction does seem to be something designers are eager to explore. When our personal lives and social media feeds can be monetizable, or at least can help us stand out in the attention economy and get work, the divide between workwear vs. 'life' wear is just as muddled—which may be why designers like McCartney and Wade are looking to dress our outies as well as our innies.
