“There is this power in terms of what brands can have on impacting human emotion and we need to bring that back. That’s our job as retailers, is to really inspire and impact human psyche.”

“Success begets success. As success leads others to want to participate. So if you launch a retail operating system for small and medium companies, now third-party businesses want to partner when they see gaps. DTC is the wave of the future.”

“Because these companies [like Away] are able to scale a lot faster now, and because the consumer has shifted so much online, the [direct-to-consumer] category has become one that venture capitalists are a lot more open to.  There are a ton of opportunities here.”

“Since these founders are usually Millennials them­selves, DTC companies speak the mother tongue–Instagram, experiential market­ing, brands as lifestyles.”

“Today, it is necessary for brands to have a strong digital platform that perfectly reflects the brand universes and new platforms with brand content and social communication. We know that 60-70 percent of all consumers do research online before visiting our boutiques.”