Victoria’s Secret, which is attempting to reposition its business as it heads toward a spin-off from L Brands, has restated plans to move its new stores to standalone locations and away from the malls. What changes to store design, operations and other areas do you think Victoria’s Secret needs to make to be successful going forward?

Nordstrom announced yesterday that it has acquired a minority stake in Asos’ Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT brands.  Do you expect to see more deals similar to this going forward between chain retailers and direct-to-consumer brands?

How could a “Minnesota Badgers” onesie find its way to four stars in Minneapolis from a retail chain with its headquarters in The Gopher State? Target issued a statement to all the “Uff da” responses it was getting to this merchandising mishap. What are typical best practice responses for retailers and brands when mistakes like Target’s Minnesota Badgers onesie mishaps occur?

Zappos announced the launch of Goods for Good, a site featuring over 150 eco- and socially-conscious brands. How would you rate the appeal of a platform featuring purpose-driven brands such as Zappos’ Goods for Good?

Sports Direct, the UK’s largest sporting goods chain, is calling for a Europe-wide investigation into the dominance of Nike and Adidas in sports retailing. Do retailers have any rights to the brands they’ve built their business around?

H&M has selected 15 employees to lead its first employee ambassador program in the U.S. What do you think of H&M’s plan to use employees as influencers as well as its new focus on lifelong ambassadors?

Target has sold Levi Strauss’ value-priced Denizen brand jeans in its stores for years. Now the retailer is adding Levi’s premium red tab 505 and 511 jeans at 50 stores located near college campuses and urban centers. What does the agreement to sell Levi’s red tab jeans say about the strategies of both the retailer and the manufacturer?

Target in July introduced an exclusive line designed for girls aged eight to 12, developed from interviews with girls and their parents. Question is, Where’s the boys’ voice in the tween market? Why do tween boys appear to see less attention from brands and retailers than their female counterparts?

With its new Chicago location, fast-fashion retailer Primark is opening its first U.S. store outside of the East Coast. Does Primark’s relatively slow expansion make your more optimistic or cautious about its future prospects in the U.S.?

H&M announced last week that it had become the first major fashion retailer to bring transparency to its wider supply chain. Do you think a large percentage of the purchasing decisions made by H&M’s customers will be influenced by its openness about product sourcing?

Think Stitch Fix’s fashion subscription service for kids without the stylist fees and four or five curated clothing items arriving in a box at about 50 percent off. That’s what you reportedly get with a newly announced subscription offer from Walmart.com and its partner, KIDBOX. What do you expect Walmart.com to gain from its partnership with KIDBOX?

For the fifth-straight year, H&M is rolling out its Place of Possible recruiting campaign, talking up H&M’s pay, benefits and flexible hours for U.S. employees as well as opportunities for advancement and personal fulfillment. Are retailers missing an opportunity by not using employees as talent recruiters?

One of the oldest and most recognized names in denim is going to be available to stock market investors — again. Is an IPO a wise move for Levi Strauss & Co. at this time in its history?

Victoria’s Secret, wrapping up another tough year, last week reported a seven percent drop in same-store sales in the fourth quarter and announced plans to close 53 stores. Are Victoria’s Secret’s challenges related more to product or marketing issues?

Three retailers — Lord & Taylor, Ralph Lauren and Gap — recently closed or will soon close major flagships in Manhattan. Should the decision to open or close a flagship store differ, in your mind, from other chain locations?

J.Crew is the latest retailer to test the proposition that it makes more business sense to work with Amazon.com while competing against it. Is J.Crew making the right moves by lowering entry prices on its core brand and selling a curated selection of its Mercantile brand on Amazon’s marketplace?

While some retailers are running into hurdles in the new economy, off-price retailer Ross is thriving, and is intent on becoming an even bigger force in the world of discount retail. Do you see Ross Stores becoming a force in off-price retail similar to TJX Companies?

It’s not unusual for visitors at an art museum to wonder what an artist was thinking in creating a particular work. But a new exhibit at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York doesn’t appear to leave much room for interpretation, as pieces used in its construction are available for purchase. Does Eckhaus Latta: Possessed represent art or retail in your mind?

Yesterday, Nordstrom announced plans to open two additional Nordstrom Local neighborhood hubs in Brentwood and downtown Los Angeles in the fall. What do you see as the appeal of the Nordstrom Local hub concept?

A start-up claims to have developed an AI-driven platform that brings the most talked-about styles worn by celebrities and social media influencers to doorsteps within weeks. What do you think of an on-demand manufacturing model such as Choosy linked to style trends created overnight by celebrities or other social icons?

People with disabilities shouldn’t have to sacrifice comfort or fashion. That is the driving principle behind the concept of adaptive clothing, which has caught the attention of designers who are invested in creating functional apparel that helps improve the quality of life of the wearer. Do you see mainstream fashion brands and retailers moving into the adaptive clothing market?

Most of us have heard about how micro-influencers are revolutionizing the face of marketing, but there is a new breed of artisan that is similarly disrupting the fashion and retail sectors: The micro-designer. How do you see micro-designers affecting apparel retailers, particularly fast-fashion, in the years ahead?

Luxury fashion doesn’t always look like it used to. Do luxury retailers run the risk of alienating their traditional customers if they focus on streetwear and other high-end fashions enjoyed by young “hype beasts”?

A new startup has developed a “styling game” that claims to not only solve the challenge consumers face finding items that pair well together but feeds cross-sell recommendations to retailers as well. Is gamification combined with crowdsourcing a promising tool for predicting style trends and unearthing cross-sell recommendations?

Target is turning to a long-time differentiator — a limited edition collaboration with an iconic designer — to further boost its fashion reputation, and sales along with it. Will Hunter for Target continue the chain’s track record of success for limited-edition collaborations with designers?

Luxury fashion houses, once fearful that the internet’s mass access would damage their exclusivity, are now racing to embrace digital, whether by partnering with multi-brand websites, developing their own platforms or both. Why is online selling of luxury goods finally taking off?

Nike has more than 100 million members in its Nike+ loyalty program and hopes to triple that number in the next five years, the company’s chief digital officer, Adam Sussman, explained in a keynote session at Shoptalk. What sort of data should brands base segment profiles on, and how can they get it?

Zara’s customers really like ordering from the fast-fashion chain online before heading to a store to pick up their purchase — so much so that shoppers sometimes encounter long waits. So Zara is turning to backroom robots. Do you see automation as the key for retailers looking to become more efficient and cut costs in their click and collect operations?

In a partnership with WeWork and LinkedIn, J.Crew is hosting a panel discussion series featuring the “next generation of entrepreneurs and goal-getters,” selling items inside some WeWork locations and featuring WeWork members in an ad campaign. Will J.Crew’s partnership with WeWork and LinkedIn help the brand connect with and relate to Millennial workers?

While Millennials overwhelmingly claim to embrace sustainability, eco-friendly fashion items rank far down on their list of purchase drivers, according to a survey from LIM College. What do you think explains the contradictions between Millennials’ stated passions around sustainable practices and their actual buying behavior?

These days, into each retailer’s area of business a little Amazon.com must fall. In apparel, the retailer that is finding Amazon to be its most significant competitor isn’t Macy’s or even Walmart — it’s Target. How can Target improve its apparel offerings to win back share from Amazon?

According to 2017 data from the digital resale platform ThredUP, consignment and resale apparel sales are on the rise. Secondhand apparel is already an $18 billion industry, but the resale biz is projected to keep growing by 11 percent annually to reach $33 billion by 2021. How will the growth of resale and consignment affect mainstream retail brands?

If you can’t beat ‘em (them being counterfeiters), then co-opt them. That appears to be at least part of the thinking behind a pop-up shop opened by Diesel on Canal Street in New York’s Chinatown. What do you think of Diesel’s decision to hawk authentic knock-off merchandise?

Macy’s is introducing a line of women’s apparel online specifically for Muslim women, becoming the first U.S. department store to sell hijabs. Is selling Muslim fashion a win-win for retailers or is it too controversial?

L.L.Bean, which has touted its 100 percent satisfaction guarantee for more than a century, has initiated a new one-year limit on returns and exchanges due to rampant abuse. How important was L.L.Bean’s legendary return policy to its overall success?

L.L.Bean wants to know what you’re doing with its boots and coats after you’ve bought them. That’s why the company is planning a test, placing sensors in merchandise to send data to a blockchain platform. How might L.L.Bean benefit from its planned test?

H&M, once at the top of the fast fashion world, has fallen on hard times. In the face of big challenges, the chain is launching a new store concept — one with even lower prices. What are the root causes of H&M’s recent difficulties?

Sustainability is more important than ever, but the fashion industry is notorious for its wasteful supply chain. In a session at NRF, three fashion startups showed steps they’re taking to solve fashion’s environmental problem. Will shoppers be attracted to these solutions at a high enough rate to significantly reduce fashion’s environmental impact?

While many retailers view Amazon.com as a competitive threat to be fought at every turn, others have found benefits in co-opetition — competing with the e-tail giant on one hand while taking advantage of the site’s traffic to sell on its marketplace. One case in point is The Children’s Place. Do you generally come down on the side of competition or co-opetition when it comes to Amazon?

American Apparel, long criticized for ads featuring women in provocative poses, is being relaunched by a new owner, Gildan Apparel, and many are surprised that its comeback campaign is still somewhat risqué. What do you think of American Apparel’s toned-down yet “sexy, unapologetically so” marketing approach?

Lululemon recently landed as the highest-ranked retailer on Glassdoor’s “2018 Best Places to Work” survey for U.S. companies. One of its unique attributes is its investment in store associates’ personal and career goals. How important to Lululemon’s success is the company focus on personal development?

It was a little over a year ago that Nike opened its experiential flagship store in Soho. Now the shoe brand is planning to replace it with an even bigger concept. Does having an entire floor dedicated to loyalty club members make sense for Nike?

As we continue on toward Christmas, a once popular mall apparel brand hopes to succeed during the holidays and beyond by doubling down on digital. What sort of steps will J.Crew need to take with its mobile and online efforts to turn the brand around?

Many off-price retail chains are reporting same-store sales declines for 2017, leading MarketWatch to question whether off-price retailers are beginning to “cannibalize themselves” as a result of declining customer interest in the segment. Has consumer interest in off-price shopping waned?

When we think of urban athleisure wear, we might think of yoga, pilates or running. Golf doesn’t usually come to mind. But one of the biggest names in athletic apparel is launching a line of clothing aimed at the urban golfer. Could Adidas’s adicross line help push golf apparel beyond a niche to become an athleisure lifestyle segment like basketball and yoga?

In 2012, Michael Preysman, founder of Everlane, the cult online apparel upstart, vowed to The New York Times that he would “shut the company down before we go to physical retail.” What benefits do you see Everlane gaining from opening a physical store?

As with other subscription services, Allume promises to offer curated apparel choices for its users based on their styling preferences. But this personal shopping service goes further by matching users with a styling expert — a “real person, not a bot” — to fine-tune selections. What other hurdles do you think retailers need to overcome to be successful selling clothing online?

Amazon.com is selling an exclusive collection of Calvin Klein underwear this holiday season online and at two pop-ups in New York City and Los Angeles. What significance does Calvin Klein’s exclusive deal have for Amazon, fashion brands and department stores?

As Kroger tries to reinvent itself to head off Amazon.com’s moves into grocery, part of its new strategy includes strengthening its non-grocery offerings with a new private-label fashion brand. What do you think are the factors behind Kroger’s decision to launch its “Our Brands” clothing lineup?

In a partnership with Highsnobiety, the streetwear publication, Barneys is launching “thedrop@barneys,” a two-day event highlighting 30 exclusive capsule collection and product “drops” — or limited-edition launches — at its Madison Avenue flagship in New York City. What’s driving drop culture’s appeal with younger Millennials?