Modern Retail Podcast: Tariff deals, American Eagle’s ad controversy and the rise of postpartum care market
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This week on the Modern Retail Podcast, reporter Julia Waldow joins co-host Melissa Daniels to discuss how brands are handling the new trade deals being announced after the August 1 expiration. Then they get into the cultural controversy around American Eagle Outfitters’s Sydney Sweeney ad campaign, which has been criticized as promoting eugenics.
Daniels is then joined by Sarah O’Leary, the CEO of femtech company Willow Innovations, and Jen Saxton, founder of family services marketplace TotSquad, for a discussion about the developing market for products for postpartum mothers. They get into:
- Why this space has typically been seen as medical versus mass market
- The lack of founders and funding for women who understand the postpartum life stage
- Target’s new ways of meeting moms’ needs in the baby aisle
Editor’s note: On August 1, 2025, the day after this podcast was taped, American Eagle issued the following statement about the campaign on its Instagram page: “‘Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans’ is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story. We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone.”