US retail brand Pacsun has come a long way since the 1980s, when it was first established as a surf shop.

Since then, the retailer, rooted in a certain kind of California cool, has evolved from a surf-inspired boutique operation into a national chain, landed buzzy partnerships with Kendall and Kylie Jenner, weathered a 2016 bankruptcy, and staged a comeback just two years later.

CEO Brieane Olson chronicles that transformation in her new book, Co-Created: The Cultural Strategy that Redefined Pacsun, which explores how brands can reinvent themselves without losing the identity that made them resonate in the first place.

In a recent conversation with Retail Brew, Olson discussed Pacsun’s reinvention strategy, why heritage can still be an advantage, and what younger consumers want from legacy brands today.

Keep reading here.—JS

Amazon’s recent pattern of building things that work internally and then selling them to rivals seems to continue with AI agents as well. The tech giant will let retailers build their own AI shopping assistants using the same technology that powered its Alexa for Shopping chatbot experience that brought together standalone AI agents Rufus and Alexa+.

On Wednesday, Amazon’s cloud computing unit, Amazon Web Services, launched the AWS Agentic Shopping Assistant (ASA), a new AI retail tool built on the same technology that drove nearly $12 billion in incremental revenue for Amazon last year. Amazon said retailers can plug this new tool in and get an AI agent up and running in roughly 60 days.

Keep reading here.—VC

Lululemon’s CEO succession drama ended in April and this month, the feud with founder Chip Wilson over boardroom picks did too. Now, we can move on to less dramatic, but still notable, retail executive news to know from May:

• Rent the Runway Co-Founder Jennifer Hyman stepped down as CEO, president, and board member of the fashion rental company. Board member Teri Bariquiet will fill in as interim president and CEO.
• Ahold Delhaize President and CEO Frans Muller will retire from the grocery giant next year. The company nominated former Carrefour CEO Thierry Garnier to be his successor.
• PVH Americas CEO Donald Kohler is joining Gap as global brand president and CEO of Banana Republic, returning to the retailer after working a decade there earlier in his career. Adelyn Cheong, president of PVH China, was tapped to take over after his exit.
• Gap-owned Old Navy hired former Target CMO and JCPenney President Michael Francis as its chief customer officer.
• Following Lidl US CEO Joel Rampoldt’s departure in January, the discount grocer named its COO Alan Barry to the position. Company execs Maciej Tylkowski and Jassine Ouali were also named COO and chief customer officer, respectively, at Lidl US.

Keep reading here.—EC

From e-commerce to in-store strategy to all the messy little moments in between, we’re bringing retail leaders together in New York to talk about what’s actually working now. Join us on June 3 before your calendar develops “conflicts.”