Published October 2024

Insights: How Brands Can Better Connect with Customers

Expert advice on improving what matters and boosting your business.

The nuances of building and sustaining a successful business are changing as rapidly as the culture and consumer landscape. And while there’s no blueprint for how to create a product, get it in front of the right customer, and turn a profit, there are ways to stay in-tune with how the world is evolving — and how that impacts how people shop.

At this season’s MAGIC Las Vegas, live on-site education sessions provided an in-depth look into topics that ranged from the tangible (increasing traffic, growing your following, and sales conversion) to the tech-minded (the good and bad of how AI will impact the future of fashion). The resulting discussions were engaging and informative and provided strong takeaways that can be considered and implemented by brands in the future. In case you missed the sessions IRL, here are some key learnings from three of the featured panels.

Empowering Women in Business: Insights from Create & Cultivate

In 2011, Jaclyn Johnson decided to build what she, an entrepreneur in search of a community, was looking for. Nearly 15 years later, Create & Cultivate has become a brand synonymous with female leadership and success, providing content, tools, and events for small business owners — and making millions in the process.

In her discussion with MMGNET president Kelly Helfman, Johnson shared the strategies and tactics she uses to keep her company thriving, and where others should be focusing their time and attention. Previously, brands were leading the charge and dictating trends. Now, influencers and content creators are deciding the culture, and there’s been a flip from brand to content, she says. “Keep building your community and build a niche audience that become loyalists,” she notes, and “go for UGC creators with less than 10,000 followers who create really beautiful content that can be leveraged with paid marketing” across platforms. That understanding of omnichannel marketing is so important, ranging from events and experiential to social media and influencer. “There's a pay-to-play space that you can go really deep in and get creative, and there's the brand space,” she adds. “The people who are going to win are doing a combination of the two.”

"Keep building your community and build a niche audience that become loyalists."

- Jaclyn Johnson, Create & Cultivate

Jaclyn Johnson, Founder & CEO, Create & Cultivate

Kelly Helfman, President, MMGNET GROUP

The Plus-Size Paradox: Making Better Clothes for the New American Average

Despite the majority of women in America being a size 16 and up, an overwhelming white space for plus-size shoppers still exists in the boutique realm. In a conversation moderated by industry innovator Emily Benson, founders Lauren Gray (What Lo Wants) and Tracy Christian (Sante Grace) opened up about what it really takes to be inclusive as a brand — and that starts with getting fit and quality right. “You can tell when the bust seams are in the right place, or when the armhole is not at the middle of your bicep,” Gray says. “There's intricacies for plus-sized bodies that need to be taken into account, which is why there has to be new development for creating those sizes,” including, she notes, separate development versus grading up and working with people living in bigger bodies to fit test. Christian adds: “I don't know if you can change other brands, but you can change consumers to forget about what the number is and think about the way they want to look.”

"There's intricacies for plus-size bodies that need to be taken into account..."

- Lauren Gray, What Lo Wants

Fashion Technology in 2025: Previewing the Transformation and the Tech

From radical shifts to rapid trends, a brand needs to be ahead in technology and innovation in order to be relevant. Ben Hanson, Editor-in-Chief of The Interline, and Teodora Nicolae, VP of Marketing at MMGNET, sat down to discuss exclusive insights from real brands, designers, and decision-makers in a soon-to-be released collaborative report, which highlighted the differences in how companies and customers view the role technology should play in fashion.

“People are working off this assumption that if they buy into this idea of transformation, that that translates into success,” Hanson says. “You need to make sure that what you spend translates into real value, not just perceived value.” He adds: “Brands are keen to rush to new channels and opportunities, but it sometimes might be better to cater to the market you already have.” Nicolae agrees: “We’ve seen implementation and investment in technology without a clear goal, so it’s important to identify that first; know, what you're trying to solve for and what's a priority to your customer.” As a result, she says the real opportunity brands have with Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and AI is “to create more efficiency within teams, or better products and fit, or using free and open tools to write better social media copy that converts to your online channels.” For the investment to be successful, it doesn’t need to be a major time or financial investment.

"Make sure that what you spend translates to real value not perceived value."

- Ben Hanson, The Interline

We’re looking forward to bringing even more exciting and insightful speakers to our can’t-miss education programming in 2025.

Be sure to follow our updates to stay ahead of what’s to come at our upcoming events in Miami, Las Vegas, New York, and Nashville.

CHECK OUT OUR 2025 EVENTS