The Future of Luxury Brands: An Executive's View of the Digital landscape and how Retail & Brands Companies can Accelerate

Sway Ventures Advisor; and SVP of Product and Manufacturing Innovation within Global Operations of the Ralph Lauren Corporation, Jason Berns, joins the Sway Ventures Master Minds Podcast to share his thoughts on retail in a post-pandemic world from both a customer and brand perspective; the emerging trends, and where he believes retail, and perhaps luxury brands in particular are going; and what technology will fuel the next wave of innovation.

Meet Jason Berns

Jason Berns is the Head of Product & Manufacturing Innovation at Ralph Lauren Corporation. Berns leads a team that identifies unique, consumer-focused opportunities in key product areas. Notably, this includes the launch of the world’s first scalable apparel serialization and authentication programme – Digital Product IDs – which has been implemented on hundreds of millions of items globally. At Ralph Lauren, Berns has led the implementation of 3D design and development, the creation of a recycled, waterless version of the iconic polo shirt, and marquee, innovative technologies for the U.S. Olympic team uniforms – such as Intelligent Insulation, a first-to-market fabric that adapts to cooler temperatures by expanding and creating a layer of insulation. He has also supported Ralph Lauren’s investment in NFW, a leading sustainable material science startup. With his leadership, the Company has used NFW’s CLARUS® and MIRUM® technologies in its products. In August 2020, Berns was appointed to serve as an NFW Board Member. Through his work at Ralph Lauren, he continues to drive initiatives in recycling technologies and on-demand manufacturing to support a circular economy. Prior to joining Ralph Lauren in 2016, Berns led the open innovation team at Under Armour Inc. He has also spent part of his career at Salomon Sports, Arc’teryx Equipment, and Fisher Price. He holds a Bachelor of Science Industrial Design from the University of Cincinnati. In addition to serving on NFW’s Board, he is an advisor at Sway Ventures.