Introducing Modern Retail’s Brands Briefing
Since 2020, one of Modern Retail’s core offerings has been the DTC Briefing, a weekly newsletter for our Modern Retail+ subscribers covering all things direct-to-consumer.
When we launched this briefing, startups were proud to identify themselves as “DTC brands.” Companies like Away and Glossier raised hundreds of millions in venture capital money based partially on the bet that staying direct for as long as possible would pay dividends.
Fast forward to 2025, and today, the most promising startups like Vuori and Poppi aren’t solely DTC brands. The fastest-growing startups are striking deals with other brands and retailers faster than ever before, as evidenced by the Skims-Nike deal.
At Modern Retail, I’ve spent a lot of time talking to people about how to cover the direct-to-consumer space as people’s feelings around the term “DTC brand” have changed. There are a lot of new terms being thrown around to refer to the fast-growing, cutting-edge brands that are a defining part of the retail landscape: disruptor brands, digitally-native brands, challenger brands.
But I kept coming back to one line of thought: Distribution tactics will fall in and out of favor, and at the end of the day, the throughline between all of these companies is that they are modern brands.
That’s why I’m thrilled to announce the launch of a new product: the Modern Retail Brands Briefing. It will have the same spirit as the DTC Briefing; our mandate with the Modern Retail Brands Briefing is to cover the growth strategies of modern brands.
We’ll cover everything from marketing playbooks to retail expansion news to M&A trends to hiring strategies. We’ll strive to break news and deliver exclusives, and we’ll be writing honestly about the pain points companies are running into while trying to build a loyal customer base during an economically challenging time.
With this rebrand, we will be offering more snapshots of more topics, with sections like “by the numbers” and “job openings to watch.” Current readers may have already noticed some tweaks we recently made. The newsletter each week will be curated by me, executive editor Anna Hensel, and I’ll be tapping the expertise of some of our top reporters:
- Gabriela Barkho, senior reporter covering food and beverage.
- Melissa Daniels, senior reporter covering home goods and personal care.
- Julia Waldow, reporter covering footwear and apparel.
My goal with this briefing is that, each week, you’ll leave feeling like you’ve learned five things that will help you do your job better and navigate the modern brand ecosystem with savviness, whether you are a CEO, a marketing vp, an investor or an analyst.
We’re excited for you to read all the stories we have in store with our new Brands Briefing, which will go out every Tuesday morning. You can subscribe to the briefing by becoming a Modern Retail+ member. If you join this week through this link, you can get 40% off a three-month subscription. And you can read the first edition here.