In this exclusive panel recorded live at the Retail Collective Summit, top-tier founders and retail executives come together to decode the shifting paradigms of high-end consumer behavior. Hosted by local celebrity Lori Prichard (KSL) and moderated by Rebekah Kondrat (Rekon Retail), this masterclass features an unfiltered look into product engineering, supply chain adaptability, and the transition into quiet luxury.

We explore how luxury has completely redefined itself in modern retail, moving away from loud, logo-driven status symbols toward emotional resonance, extreme convenience, and tactile comfort. The panelists pull back the curtain on how their respective brands navigate volatile global tariffs, execute sophisticated dynamic pricing, and weigh the multi-million-dollar financial commitments of physical retail vs. wholesale channels.

Moderators: Lori Prichard | Journalist & Anchor, KSL - Rebekah Kondrat | Founder & Managing Partner, Rekon Retail

Panelists: Lauren Smith | Founder, Smith Luxe - Ashley Neeleman Cole | Founder, Cecelia NY - Blake Brown | Founder/Executive, KURU Footwear - Hyaat Chaudhary | Founder & CEO, Luxome

In this episode of Retail War Games, I am joined by Jim Umlauf, the founder of 4Knines. Jim is a fascinating operator who spent 20 years at the pharmaceutical giant Merck before pulling the ripcord to turn a weekend-warrior side hustle into a highly efficient, multi-million-dollar pet brand.

We explore how Jim completely re-engineered traditional direct-to-consumer operations by shrinking his internal team down to just three full-time people and leveraging heavy intellectual property, including well over 20 patents. But the most mind-blowing part of this episode is how Jim is completely ahead of the curve on AI-driven shopping. He reveals how 4Knines is already generating nearly 10% of its entire revenue directly through large language models like ChatGPT and Perplexity as consumers shift from search engines to AI purchase agents. We also talk about his high-profile contract deals with auto giants like Ford and Mopar, and how to protect profit margins against volatile tariffs.

In this episode of Retail War Games, I sit down with Ben Baltes, the co-founder and CEO of Toybox. Ben is a brilliant former Microsoft programmer who took a heavily fragmented, complex industrial tool and completely reimagined it for true consumer adoption.

We pull back the curtain on how Toybox built a friction-free "click-to-print" software ecosystem that allows kids aged 6 to 12 to print out high-quality toys with the press of a button. Ben shares the reality of moving from an 8-year, highly predictable DTC framework to landing major retail wins—including an insane 20,000-unit sell-out at Sam's Club in just a couple of months. We also dive into the high-stakes world of entertainment licensing with heavy hitters like DreamWorks, Warner Bros, and NASA, and get the honest, unfiltered story of how a legendary appearance on Shark Tank literally saved the business from shutting down.