← The Glossy Podcast
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- [00:05]
A
Hello and welcome back to the Glossy Podcast. I'm your host, senior fashion reporter Danny Parisi, and I'm here with our international reporter, Zofia Zviglenska and our editor in chief, Jill Manoff. Hello, guys.
- [00:15]
B
Hey, Danny.
- [00:16]
C
Hi.
- [00:17]
A
Good to see you both. Happy New Year. This is our 2026 year ahead episode where the three of us are going to be unpacking what we expect to see in 2026. Some of the big questions we're thinking about heading into 2026, trends predictions we have for the year, we each have come with sort of a macro trend or macro question that we want to talk about. We also have at the end we'll do a little in and out for the next year, what we expect to see. We have a lot of big topics to cover and we'll kind of trade off a little bit, but I think Jill is going to start us off. Jill, go ahead.
- [00:51]
B
Thanks so much. We'd love to get your take on all that. I'm going to lay out here because it's been an interesting year in fashion. So I for 2026, I really just want to ask like, what is fashion in 2026? I mean we've seen a lot of blanding of fashion, recycling of fashion, all the things. So why I'm asking this are for three reasons. Like the first one is obviously designer brands are recycling the same designers. We talk about this a lot on the pod. They're bringing with them their signature esthetics and they're going into the brand's archives and really just making existing brand fans happy. I would say like we saw this with Demna and what he did with the Gucci collection recently. I think it was earlier this month in December. It looked like a copy and paste of 90s era Gucci by Tom Ford. And also there are various instances recently when a new designer has come in, has done something fresh and their appointment has been very short lived. We saw that with Sabato Desarno at Gucci. I mean he was there two years, he had mixed reviews. But did he really get a chance to prove himself and maybe do something fresh also? Obviously Dario Vitali Versace lasted nine months, but it just seems that brands need designers to drive big sales out of the gate. And to do that, the collection really needs to resonate with the brand's current customer base. So it seems like for customers like retention everyone always says is easier than acquisition and that means playing it safe. I think that they're just continue to play it safe with a known designer or. Or somebody that's been with the brand for. For a long time. So it's. It's kind of, I don't know, stifling newness. And, I don't know, it could be that in my take, like, fashion is going too deep into nostalgia and kind of losing the plot. So, like, as consumers are pinching their pennies and they also want authenticity, they would probably rather go buy the OG version of the bag, like a bag design rather than a design that was, like, revived from the archives. And they'd rather go to Fashion File and Free bag than say, this is a bag that was remade, that was. It's brand new, but it's like the 1985 bag or what have you. So I just. They're misdirected. And my take on all of this and would love to hear yours is just that, you know, luxury resale will boom, and luxury is going to continue to kind of struggle until they maybe do something else or maybe give a new designer a chance. And if the brands could benefit from the luxury resale boom, if they kind of. They're willing to play in that. That territory, which I know. Sophia, you're going to talk about luxury resale as well. Definitely something that is going to be, I think, continue to boom throughout 2026 and beyond.
- [03:39]
A
Jill, I think you make so many good points. The re. Releasing or remaking something from the 80s when the actual thing from the 80s is readily available is very, very true and very funny that I just don't see the appeal of that. It's interesting, though, I think you're so right that, like, there's a lot of sameness, and every Fashion Week and every, you know, big moment, people comment on all their red carpet looks. It's like just recreating something that, like, Julia Roberts Wore in the 90s or something like that. But then at the same time, I feel like a lot of the conversations I have with brands, they're always saying how important it is to be original, how to be daring. I mean. I mean, I spoke with Craig Bromers from American Eagle for our glossy 50, and he said that, like, the worst thing a brand can do is be boring. He was talking about the Sydney Sweeney campaign, which definitely was. For whatever else it was, it was definitely not boring. So I think he was right about that. But it's funny that, like, the brands seem to know that. They know that originality, or at least they say originality, and something that breaks the mold is what people want to see. And then they kind of just like recycle and do the same old boring stuff. I wonder if there, there's a little bit of disconnect with like, what the creative people know or believe people want and then what the business people are willing to fund, you know, and it's like re. Re. Making some iconic bag from the 80s is like an easier sell to like the money people because there's more, there's more evidence, there's more data. I don't know. Whereas, like, here's this brand new idea I had that we have no data on whether it's going to work or not. Might be a little bit hard to justify to like the CFO here.
- [05:14]
B
Probably more clash between the creative and the business than ever before. We know that's always existed, but. Yeah, really good point.
- [05:21]
C
Yeah, you don't want to do anything risky. And God forbid, you know, if you end up doing something from the archive and it doesn't work out, like people end up going to go to resale channels rather than to the main brand. It's a, It's a good point that totally.
- [05:35]
B
Well, the second reason I'm asking, what is fashion in 2026? It has to do with something you're going to talk about, Sophia, but just AI is about to make it very easy to get exactly what you know you want in your specifications. When you're doing a search, entering a search, you. You can include your measurements, your favorite cut, your favorite color, and you'll see that really easily. And brands we know are investing really big in personalization to deliver to customers what they browse, the brands they love. So. And at the same time, social algorithms are serving up what users already love. So this discovery, it's increasingly taking more effort because many people are interested in convenience, and maybe they're not more so interested in convenience than like looking fashionable or being fashion forward. So they're just going to kind of wear the same thing. And it just means fashion ruts for everyone is what I think. So I think we're going to see more extremes, like my prediction between like fashion people in quotes and everyone else. Like people who are going out of their way to find, to be inspired. Otherwise everybody can really easily get that kind of their basic looks are things that they've worn before. What do you think?
- [06:45]
C
I agree with that. I think that there's a lot of sameness out there. And if every single brand is doing the same thing, then hunting around for that originality. And we've seen channels like Substack explode as a result of that. People going into Private archives, special collections, those kind of things are inspiring fashion shoppers or those that are in the know a bit more. And as a result, also niche brands are becoming bigger. You know, you've spoken to metier, I've spoken to Janessa Leone. You know, that's. Those are, you know, brands that are maybe slightly more niche, but getting a really kind of loyal audience because of the fact that they aren't so referential. You know, their product, it doesn't look like everything else that's out there. I think there is more of that and it won't be something that just applies to luxury. You know, if customers are having a tough time parting with their money, if there's going to be something they're going to spend on, it has to be worth it.
- [07:43]
B
That Janessa Leone bag is really good. Yes, check it out. But yeah, my last point on this topic is just casualization is ongoing. Like, despite what we're seeing on the Runway, the runways are showing preppy and business business. And it seems like it's aimed at like, winning the consumer, going back to work. But we know like Gen Z and the youth has always driven fashion trends. And what they're wearing is big jeans, big tees, style sneakers, sneakers to homecoming, zit stickers out of the house. Like, it's as casual as you can get. So I think that, like, anything fitted is cheugy and whatever, like the whatever look like, I don't care is really in. And so I think that, well, you know, at the same time, alternatively, they're showing a lot of skin, which is nothing new for like the younger generations, but it's definitely casual. So I think that, you know, anybody trying to make fashion happen in the current climate, it's going to be an uphill climb. And my prediction for all of this is that, you know, brands which are also trying to save money will be working harder than ever to kind of go viral or be embraced by a community. This goes back to the, the AI kind of idea as well. Just so that like when, when a consumer is shopping, they'll name the, the brand by name and they will go to their search, they to their stores also to seek out what they're doing that's new or to take their selfie in store because they want to be associated with that brand and at the same time they'll see the newness and all the things. So I just think like 2026 from brands because they have to sell, they're going to like more marketing stunts, more celebrity ambassador ambassadors that people can Kind of relate to or, like, aspire to be like. And more kind of community activations to, again, create, like, photo ops and kind of. Yeah, try to. Try to build up. I guess I build up the brand. Yeah.
- [09:44]
A
Well, I was just going to say one thing on the casualization note, Jill. I so agree. And, like, I wrote this story the other day that we talked about the quarter zip movement and which people told me at the time. It was like, you know, young people are reacting against casualization. They want to dress up or whatever. I think that's true. But it's definitely, like, it's notable because that's not dominant. It is because it's notable, because most people are wearing sweatpants and zit stickers. And like you said, same with life. Feel like a year or two ago, it was like, everyone's wearing loafers now instead of sneakers. And it's like, no, people are still mostly wearing sneakers. It's notable that there's a little bit.
- [10:19]
B
More loafers and Uggs, like, on the casual. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
- [10:23]
A
So, like, even when there's those little bubbles of, ooh, actually, like, dress shoes are coming back or something, it's like, it's coming back a little bit, but it's still 90% sneakers, you know, So. I agree. I think casualization is definitely like, the. The hegemonic mode for dressing. It's like, that's the default. Anything else is kind of notable because it's a departure.
- [10:42]
B
Right on.
- [10:43]
C
A lot of that casualization has to do with the fact that that community is so important to Gen Z that they don't really want to stick out. And we saw that with, like, previous subculture movements. But, like, you know, this is also, in a way, you know, a subcultural style where, you know, if someone's wearing tank tops and baggy jeans, then I also want to be wearing tank top and baggy jeans. So no one wants to be sticking out, even if it does mean following a wider trend.
- [11:09]
A
I remember my conversation with Federico Lovato from Bain earlier this year. She was like, Gen Z, they want to stand out, but they want to fit in. It was like, okay. I mean, I think she's right. I think it was a good point, but she was noting the contradiction there, that they want to be unique at standout, but they don't want to stand out too much.
- [11:28]
B
Like, they value sustainability and they shop at Shein. Like, what do they.
- [11:32]
A
Yeah, exactly. Yes, exactly. On that note, should we move on to Zofia's topic?
- [11:39]
C
Yeah, absolutely. And a lot of this has got to do with what Jill's already mentioned. But 2025 has been the year that kind of has changed shopping and how we shop. Search has completely been moved around, whether that's brand discovery through new platforms. So thinking about kind of AI and the way that that's kind of been a big change in how people experience shopping, how people are looking for things, price comparison has become so much easier that now customers are even more discerning because they can shop across so many different networks, get those comparisons, track them as well, which is a big feature. And we've seen that the launches of Google's kind of expanded updates of its AI mode over the last couple of months have really shifted that conversation. Whether that's the try on that they've got. But also showing the price ranges, stock availability, even seller comparisons, all of those things are factoring into a new experience with search. And then we've also had a couple of newer players that we have spoken to either on this podcast or in our articles. Julie Bornstein, who's founded Daydream, has made it a fashion specific search field. So being able to shop by occasion, for example, or if you're going to a wedding in a specific place and you need to know what to wear for a weather condition, that's something that's now possible. And then resell has also kind of popped up in this. So you're not shopping across new brands and resell almost as separate channels, but you're doing it together so that if you find something that you really like, you can also look at it whether it's available in resale channels almost in the same transaction. And FIA has been doing that. And obviously we've had them on the glossy 50 list this year. So exciting to kind of see where that space goes, because that is also the next bar that I wanted to talk about. I think that there's AI in shopping on the one hand, but also the growth of resale as a channel. It's been so much easier to shop resell than ever before. And it's been such a big part of how people are exploring, experiencing fashion because they don't really care if something is secondhand anymore. And that's got a lot to do with the fact that prices have gotten up so much. We've seen price increases across the board with fashion categories this year because of tariffs, but also just generally costs going up or a company's price gouging for products with the fact that they can see what customers are shopping for. And surge pricing has been a Massive issue across many industries. And that's why with fashion makes sense that people want to go to resale. But it also has to do with what Jill talked about, with quality and kind of originality. Resale is now the place to go to, to find that, to find unique pieces, archive pieces, something that you might not be able to get on the high street. And that has been a massive change in how people are experiencing that. We've seen platforms like ThredUp and the RealReal doing very well in Europe. We've seen Vestia, Vinted, Depop and eBay growing massively. This year, I think Vinted became Europe's most downloaded shopping app. Depop's returned to double digit transaction increases and it's now under Etsy. And ebay has reported its strongest luxury resale momentum in years. So I think there's been a huge push towards resale as a channel. Have you guys bought anything through resale this year and are you doing it maybe more than you had before?
- [15:25]
A
I have bought a ton of secondhand stuff and I have been covering that world for years now. And I think you're so right. It has just been every year it's bigger and I think there is no indication that it's not going to be anything but even bigger again this upcoming year. It's like we were talking about during Jill's section, like, why would you buy a new bag that looks like something from the 80s when you could just buy the bag from the 80s and it's going to be cheaper. The interesting thing about resale to me is that one of the main things I have covered about it over the years is like, how involved are the brands going to be? And for a long time the resale companies were telling me like, the brands see the value, they're definitely interested in partnering with us, all this kind of stuff. And I think that is true. It's notable to me that it feels like a lot of the big resale companies are getting huge without much involvement from the brands and like almost where they don't really even need it just because there's so much demand from the consumer. So I think maybe early on some of those companies were expecting they would need buy in from the brands to grow. And so they were kind of willing that into existence by saying it was going to happen. But now it kind of feels like they don't really. It doesn't matter if Chanel cares, you know, whether you buy second hand or not. I mean, maybe Chanel's a bad example since they sued the Real, real. But like there's. As long as like the brands don't interfere legally, I don't think they really need much support from the luxury brands to, to make a killing on secondhand.
- [16:49]
C
So it's actually going the other way where I feel like now brands are vying to try and get partnerships with these resale channels. You've seen like Chloe and Vestier kind of working together so that the brand is able to get data, you know, post purchase and kind of have that resale data as well from its customers. I think that there's more of that than maybe, you know, resale channels having to call brands like they did before.
- [17:14]
B
Yes. And it's like it works to both, both parties advantage. It's like how people are shopping today or at least a lot of fashion people that I follow, like they're buying things new and then they're selling it on resale and then that's funding their next purchase and they're buying new. And it's just like a rotating. I don't shop this. I just buy everything used and I'm buying it irl and like luxury resale shops, I like to try things on. But what I was going to say it ties to your AI section you were talking about, Sophia, is just that, wow, these resale platforms have gotten so smart. It used to be kind of like you'd get in there and it's overwhelming and you can't really find anything. And even different, like, I don't know, things are labeled the wrong brand and it's just like, but it's so smart now and easy to navigate. And on top of that, on top of the platforms that are emerging that are driven by AI, like even things like image search has gotten so much better.
- [18:15]
C
So if Google and yeah, it's so smart.
- [18:20]
B
And so if you see something you love, like you can enter it, upload it and you see so many things. There's even a. I go to this, I'm sharing my inside secret. Like I go to this furniture site or home furnishing site called dupe.com. you just put the link of the, I don't know thing that you found on First Dibs. That's $5,000. And it brings up. I, I'm not a, I'm not proponent. I'm not saying that you all should buy. Not a sponsor, sponsor that you should buy. I'll go and go buy the dupe. But they do have quality things that there are lookalikes as well. So anyway, I feel like there's no Reason that you can't find something that looks just like what you want this these days. And it's come a long way, very fast. It's exciting.
- [19:00]
C
Yeah, yeah, I agree. I think just one more point on that. When it comes to luxury, especially like when you're thinking about resale channels, a lot of younger customers, especially Gen Z now don't even think it's cool to buy new items from the brand. So therefore, first kind of point of contact with brands will actually come through buying a used good. And that's something that I don't think a lot of luxury brands are really considering. I don't think they're really understanding that. If you're talking about this next generation, you know, maybe it might be worth getting into those resale channels. And that's something that I'll definitely be watching in, in 2026 to see if more luxury brands will be interested in how Gen Z see luxury and as a result, by extension, how they see resell in this new kind of shopping environment. I think that, you know, the other thing that with all of this transparency around pr, around visibility, and we've spoken about this a lot, Danny, the fact that there's more lawsuits against companies for price fixing, that's all kind of become involved. And I think that that environment is definitely an interesting one to follow as the EU Commission ends up putting in more fines for brands like Gucci or Loewe. And I think there's going to be more focus on resale marketplaces as a result. The pricing structures around that. I think it's a very interesting almost fashion economics topics to follow for 26.
- [20:32]
A
Yeah, I have one more question on the topic of how people shop and then we can move on to our third topic. But the AI search thing is interesting to me. I have spoken with Emily Jensen and Lexi Levsack both on our beauty side about this. But the AI search shopping platforms like through ChatGPT or something, it's very algorithmic driven. It's obviously like you type something in and then hand it to you. And we were talking about the difference between sort of like a curation approach versus a algorithmic approach where something is just served up to you based on inscrutable data analytics in some data center somewhere versus buying something because you saw like a person wearing it or a friend recommended it or something like that in not necessarily in style, but in music. One of the things I've really been trying to do is like ask my friends what they're listening to instead of just like going on Spotify and like, seeing like what the algorithm tells me to listen to, I just, I personally find that more fulfilling. It creates a better like, sense of, I don't know, community with, with people that I know. Do you guys feel that in the fashion side of like, not wanting to just buy what the. What chat GPT tells you to buy and wanting to seek out like a more curated, I don't know, selection of stuff?
- [21:50]
B
Yeah. I've never bought anything from a social platform and I, and I do think, like, I see, when I start to see the same things, I'm like, oh my God, I gotta get off this platform or I need to shake things up and yeah, seek inspo elsewhere. But yeah, that's a good point. It adds diversity spice to your life. Let's look elsewhere.
- [22:10]
C
Yeah, yeah. I think that that actually brings us really well to the third topic of kind of affiliate commerce and where that environment will be for 2026. We've seen that recommendations from influencers across socials are starting to kind of wane. I don't think there's as much interest and that's only because Platform, Shopify or LTK have game the system so well that now brands know to attract users through that. So, you know, maybe watching some of those more curational channels like Substack or even Reddit, you know, have become much bigger and maybe that's going to be something where, you know, creator economies will be shifting in 2026 because there's so many of these new, like retailer or even platform economies. I think on the beauty side, you've got, you know, my Sephora with affiliates, you have vet from Conde. So it seems like that's a space that's really going to grow. But at the same time I think a lot of customers will be pulling back because those recommendations won't feel as organic as that number of products goes up.
- [23:18]
A
Yeah, I definitely think that there's an eternal chase with like those platforms where it's like a new platform pops up, a bunch of people join and then brands at large realize that people are on this platform, they get on there, it becomes extremely monetized and like, then nobody wants to use it anymore. Like, not always like that, clearly. But I remember when TikTok Shop and TikTok, like affiliate links and everything first came out, it was like I saw people saying like, suddenly my entire feed is like ads. It's like, it's like ads. And then you see a real video and it's like actually that real video is also an ad and substack I think is kind of headed that way. ChatGPT definitely as soon as. Cause like whatever value you could get from those search like chatbot things is because it's pulling information from real people's recommendations and Reddit threads and things like that. As soon as brands can sort of pay to like be shown up, it's like stops being useful because then you're just being advertised, you know what I mean? That's my feeling on how those things work.
- [24:19]
B
Yeah, we're seeing a lot of success. Our brands telling us about their success via Shop My, another one of our glossy 50 honorees. But like, like, yeah, I think when it's kind of not directly tied to the main social platform, probably better it's through influencers there. And we, we consistently hear to this day that brands, when they come to our summit, one of the challenges they all bring up is like, how are you profitable on TikTok shop? Like, they all feel like they have to be there. Nobody's making any money. So yeah, I think that anyway, everybody's playing in the space. They know they need to be there, but. And we've got a ways to go there too.
- [24:57]
A
Yeah. Do we want to talk about our last topic, our last like sort of macro question? So mine is, this is the depressing part of the show, unfortunately. The question I was, I know, I'm sorry, that this one's not going to be as fun, but I was thinking about, like we talked about, what are people going to be shopping for? Like what fashion is, how are they going to shop for it? My question is how much are they going to shop at all? How much are they going to spend? And I think the biggest factor here is what seems to me a very obviously precarious economic situation propped up entirely by AI. There is like some very chilling statistics that's like 90% of the US's GDP in the first half of 2025 was software related. Nvidia is, was briefly valued at over $5 trillion. Like the amount of the American economy that is just propped up by AI speculation, hoping that it will play out is very concerning. I remember like a year or two ago talking to someone for a story about like fundraising and they said, you, I'm going into investment meetings. No one wants to give us any money. As soon as I say the word AI, they're like the wallet opens. It was kind of like funny at the time, but now that kind of is how the actual economy is structured. It's like if you take out, like, if you look at the economy at the as a whole, there are lots of articles using terms like surprisingly resilient, but it's like if you take out AI and just look at everything else, it's like horrible. It's really not a good situation. And a lot of these big AI companies are pushed way past like.com levels of overinvestment. So my theory is and feeling is that when, or if, or maybe when that bubble bursts, it is not going to be good for the American consumer. And even the that K shape that we talk about, like the top end, I think even they are going to be affected. A lot of like the high net worth people are invested in AI companies. So if they all sell off at the same time, like I think it will be bad for everybody. And people are already spending less, particularly the people in that, the bottom rung of that K shape. And I think if the AI bubble bursts, it's just going to, there's going to be so much cutback on spending and I think it's going to be extremely impactful for all, all brands in our fashion industry, but just across the whole country and the world. Okay, I'll stop.
- [27:24]
B
Still afraid to tell us? Did you think that whole time he was like, I'm sorry. Anyway, yeah, I think it's so, it's so funny. I talk about it a lot in earnings calls. The, the, the must have of the mention of AI by every CEO and how they're leveraging it. Yeah, it's a given. Like I don't think AI, the entire AI industry is going to burst. Like other elements that are going away or do you think I.
- [27:54]
A
No, I think it's just that it's way over invest. Like I think there is way, way, way more money being put into it than it can ever possibly return. And the thing to remember is even if AI can make a lot of money, running a generative AI program is very expensive. It's very capital intensive. You need these huge data centers that they're literally spending trillions of dollars on. You need these Nvidia chips which don't last forever. They wear out and need to be thrown out after two or three years. So even if OpenAI, for example, can make billions of dollars, it also costs even more billions of dollars to do what they're doing. And I think that's the part that's like not sustainable to me.
- [28:37]
C
Yeah, I think that makes sense. And even though I'm maybe not quite as big a skeptic, and I do think it might ripple out if there is an AI bubble and We've already seen so many bigger companies let go of so many workers. I think that if that does happen, what does that mean for the worker economy? And as a result, how do you retailers and brands, like, how will they be affected if they have also done layoffs within the last year? Will that mean that you'll have huge reductions in numbers of workforce across the fashion industry and as a result, kind of implosion at the level of service, for example, that you could get or the level of quality that you'd be getting from brands? And if not, does that mean there's going to suddenly be a massive hiring spree to make up for all of those things that AI has been doing for the last year?
- [29:31]
B
Man, you're so right. The whole retail industry is transforming and you see these layoffs of thousands or tens of thousands of people at a time, like, where are they all going? Yeah, it's a scary time.
- [29:44]
A
Yeah. And we've talked about this Zofia, but it's grimly funny to me where it's like, well, we'll replace our workers with AI. And I'm like, but you can't replace your customers with AI.
- [29:55]
B
Nobody would normally say that, ever. The backlash got Covid. I know, but we all know what's happening. Yeah, yeah.
- [30:02]
A
You don't think people would say openly we're replacing our workers with AI? I feel like that's been said.
- [30:06]
B
Well, the PC thing to do is like at all of our summits they say it's not replacing, it's supplementing or making their establishing new efficiencies so that they can do the creative work or the blah, blah, blah. And we know that what's actually happening and what we're hearing from certain workers is that that's how it's sold to them, but the opposite is actually happening to them. And when we see it in marketing and the creative is all AI driven and I don't know, the people on the back end are running the busy work anyway. The opposite.
- [30:39]
A
No, I think you're right about that. I feel like there have been some business executives who are maybe less media trained who have said it out loud and then maybe backtracked. But you can replace, I mean theoretically you could replace your workers with AI, but you can't replace your customers with AI. And it's sort of like who's going to buy your stuff if like nobody has a job, you know? And I think that's like sort of the short sighted view of things. One more thing I want to say about like the data Centers and just this huge investment in AI. If you look at the construction business over the last year, it's a really good microcosm where it's like the home building is down, non residential construction is down. Anything that's not an AI data center is like not being built because all the construction companies are like, they're seeing their revenues go up, but it's like 90% from building data centers in like small towns across the country, which also don't even really like bring jobs because once the data centers are built, they only take like a couple dozen people to run. They're mostly just empty buildings. So I just feel like there's so much money being poured into this and I just, I'm like concerned about how that's going to affect the economy. I'll pause there.
- [31:53]
C
No, I mean, we've seen so much go on with the US economy in particular and kind of how much the worker aspect has been affected this year. I mean, cost of living has gone up. The fact that there's been less jobs to go around, and I think there's a real push across that middle market. Referring back to what you're saying about the K shaped economy, those middle jobs, especially in fields like marketing or consultancy, those jobs are the ones which are most at risk of AI. And therefore if you don't have those workers because they lost their jobs and then you don't have those salaries coming in as kind of free income for spend, you end up with a much lower rate of growth. And I think that's something that retailers might have to actually accept next year, that, that it might be similar to Covid, where if you have tons of people out of work, you just don't have the same spending power.
- [32:49]
B
And on the flip side, there are tariffs happening and you know, people are trying to make a go of US Manufacturing and they're saying, nobody, they don't have the skilled workers here to hire. Like those kind of workers aren't existing here. And when they're trying to build out a factory, they're talking about the tariffs on the building materials. So anyway, you can't win.
- [33:10]
A
I'm glad you brought up tariffs because actually my prediction for this year is slightly more positive. I actually think that we might see more significant tariff rollbacks this year. And I don't really want to give any credit to the Trump administration since they started in the first place, but I think the blowback will be so powerful and the potential political defeat in the midterms will be so resounding that I think A lot of tariffs are going to be rolled back in the next year. The Trump administration has already softened on a lot of them. They start with really high and then they back down after some person from whatever country comes to the US and gives Trump a gold watch or something and then he changes his mind. It's already happened. And I just think the pressure from the American consumer, but more pressingly from the American business world will be enough, I think to that a lot of that is going to roll back, which I don't know what that's going to do for the companies that did start to invest in US Manufacturing, if they'll change or what. But I could see that happening in the next year.
- [34:14]
C
Yeah, I agree. I think those tariffs were way too sane, way too fast. And dependency on US Manufacturing when you're at the same time targeting that migrant workforce is not going to end up with you having massive growth the next year.
- [34:28]
B
A brand founder did tell me off the record or the same thing about pulling back on tariffs before midterms specifically. And then we'll see what happens from there in 2027.
- [34:38]
A
Yeah, cool. Should we do our in and outs, Ins and outs?
- [34:42]
B
Let's do it. You guys first.
- [34:46]
A
Okay, I'll do mine because it's sort of related to what we were just talking about. I'm stealing one from our in and out list that I submitted. But I think out buying cheap things and buying fewer things, that's, that's what I'm going to say. I think people can, can go cheaper, they can shop discount, they can shop, resale all the things we've been saying. But eventually I think you get to the point where like, you'd rather just not buy the thing at all rather than buy like some cheap knockoff of it. I don't know. That's how I feel sometimes. Like, I will definitely I like a deal. I'm, I'm willing to buy an older secondhand version of something to get a better price. But like, at a certain point I'm like, I just will skip that thing. I don't need to buy it if it's, if the only option is like a, a super cheap, like shitty knockoff or the full price that I can't afford or something like that, I just would skip it. So I think a lot of people might do the same.
- [35:37]
B
Yeah, it's interesting there. Obviously everyone is buying cheaper. All the holiday data is showing that, like, sales are up. Wait, wait, wait. How's it going?
- [35:46]
C
Yeah, so AOV is down across the board, but sales are up. So basically people are buying more of cheaper things rather than buying one or two high ticket items, which I think is what retailers count on during Black Friday when those discounts are around. And that actually kind of leads me very well into my prediction where I think there won't be this kind of blind trust in retail pricing. I think this pricing aspect is something that will be a big issue in 2026. We've already talked about kind of surge pricing and that affecting other fields. It hasn't really affected fashion but. But there is a lot of cross platform selling. Shoppers now have all of the different platforms at their fingertips so they can compare those prices. And it kind of relates to what you were saying, Danny. Shoppers are just going to be far more discerning about what they're buying, what price they're buying it at and what's the real kind of value of the item that they're buying, whether that's new or old. What is it that that's, that's actually going to give them that, that satisfaction of the purchase? Right on.
- [36:56]
A
Yeah.
- [36:57]
B
All of our ins and outs have to do with pricing. But I'll give you my fun one first. That is has nothing to do with pricing. I was, I put this in our in and out list too. That was just like outstanding in line for Black Friday. And that's because things are on sale for weeks at a time and there's no reason to. And then I was like in standing in line for free stuff or an Instagram moment, like people will stand in line for that. But my in and out that has to do with pricing. That's more serious is and unfortunate is what is out will be absorbing the costs on behalf of brands. And what will be in is passing the costs on to consumers. Like there's only so long that they can not just absorb the cost. And everyone's saying that. A lot of people are saying it's going to hit in spring 2026. The big price increases in categories we haven't seen yet. So brace yourself, it's all good news here.
- [37:47]
A
I agree with that one. I agree with all of these. I think these are good ins and outs and I think all of our predictions will come true.
- [37:52]
B
Just like we're very wise.
- [37:56]
A
This was a great conversation. Thank you guys for sharing your thoughts on what we're going to be thinking about this year. And you know, for those of you listening, keep listening to the Glossy podcast, keep checking out Glossy Co because we'll be covering all of these things throughout the rest of the 2026 Happy New Year. Happy New Year and thank you for listening to the Glossy Podcast. Don't forget to give us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify wherever you listen to this, because that helps us out so much. And don't forget to subscribe to the Glossy Podcast to hear interviews with industry insiders and we can review segments where we break down the news. The new episodes come out every Friday. Until the next time. Thanks for listening.