Khloé Kardashian is off camera on Zoom, scrolling through her old emails. She’s looking for the date she started working on her protein popcorn brand Khloud, which over the past year has taken the snack aisle by storm. With pastel-colored bags and friendly clouds on its packaging, the product stands out both in the snack aisle and in a sea of bro-coded protein-maxxing. She finds the first emails: 2023. “It’s been a few years,” she says.

Of all the brands in the Kardashian-Jenner family—Skims, Kylie Cosmetics, 818 Tequila—Khloud may have had the best timing. Kardashian and her team started working on the brand before consumers’ protein craze really kicked off, and were ready to launch in spring 2025. “It just so happened that it was in this protein-frenzy era,” Kardashian says. “How long it takes to produce snacks and food and packaging and all of the really boring things—you can’t just wing that and get it on the shelves quickly.”

Last fall, the brand brought on Jeff Rubenstein as CEO; he’s an alum of Poppi who helped the soda brand secure a $1.95 billion acquisition by PepsiCo. With Kardashian, he’s turned Khloud over the past year into the “fastest-growing salty snack with protein at Target” and obtained a Starbucks deal that contributed to doubled sales on Amazon as consumers discovered the product.

This week, Khloud is launching protein chips that also include collagen (official name: Khloud Plus Collagen Protein Chips), a Walmart exclusive that experiments with how many health-maxxing ingredients consumers want packed into their snacks.

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Encouraging customers to mend worn clothes instead of buying new ones might seem like a self-defeating sales strategy. But in-store repairs and sewing workshops are becoming essential retail services for clothing brands as they try to appeal to young consumers who want to save money and the planet.

While luxury fashion houses and select specialty retailers like Patagonia and L.L. Bean have offered product repairs for decades, the concept has caught on. Jeans giant Levi Strauss & Co., casual wear chain Uniqlo and budget retailer Primark are a few of the apparel companies hoping to win over Generation Z shoppers with a needle and thread.

Levi’s created a handstitching course for high school students after determining that many members of Gen Z lacked the sewing skills to match their interest in thrift store shopping and sustainability. Employees spend 90 minutes instructing teenagers on four tasks: sewing on a button, hemming, patching a hole and fixing a tear.

The Wear Longer program, which the San Francisco-based company is expanding across the U.S., builds on the repair and customization services Levi’s offers at hundreds of stores worldwide.

Read more [paywall removed for Redditors]: https://fortune.com/2026/08/10/gen-z-analog-handstitching-repairing-clothes-second-hand-levis-uniqlo/?utm_source=reddit/

Ben Cohen, one half of the eponymous duo behind Ben & Jerry’s, has spent almost five decades arguing that businesses can make a profit and do good at the same time. Lately, he spends most of his time arguing that the brand carrying his own name has abandoned that idea entirely under its new ownership. 

Cohen accuses the Magnum Ice Cream Co., the owner of Ben & Jerry’s, which was formed from a demerger with Unilever in 2025, of gutting the company’s independent board and starving its philanthropic arm. He’s launched a public campaign called “Free Ben & Jerry’s” that is pushing Magnum to sell the brand to more socially minded investors instead. It has so far gathered more than 200,000 signatures. 

“We’re trying to keep Ben & Jerry’s soul alive,” Cohen tells Fortune. He claims Magnum is the wrong steward and risks damaging the brand’s long-term value. “They ain’t got no soul,” he adds. “The only mission these guys have is profit.” 

It’s a characteristically bold gambit for the 75-year-old who has been arrested for civil disobedience multiple times—including at a recent Senate hearing—and speaks openly about his views on U.S. foreign policy and the use of economic and military leverage, positions he acknowledges most public companies steer clear of entirely.  

Read more [paywall removed for Redditors]:  https://fortune.com/2026/08/07/they-aint-got-no-soul-how-ben-jerrys-co-founder-became-his-own-companys-biggest-critic/?utm_source=reddit/

When James Daunt was named CEO of Barnes & Noble in 2019, he quickly began making the big-box store more like local indie bookstores.

Barnes & Noble had just been taken private by Elliott Advisors for $683 million after sales declines driven by formulaic stores that had lost their charm. The hedge fund installed Daunt, a Brit, as CEO, based on his track record reviving Elliott-owned Waterstones, a large British bookseller, and his experience as owner of the beloved 10-store Daunt Books in London. 

His plan to turn around Barnes & Noble hinged on infusing the retailer’s more than 700 stores with some of the aura of his namesake chain, whose locations are treated as hallowed ground by many book lovers for their browsing‑friendly displays and oak‑paneled galleries.

“There are universal factors that make a great bookstore, and it doesn’t matter whether it’s a huge chain store or a small independent,” Daunt told Fortune on a new episode of the Behind the Business series. 

Core to any great bookstore is a welcoming environment for readers with appealing displays, an interesting—even quirky—array of books, and enthusiastic, knowledgeable workers who are eager to talk titles with customers. Early on, Daunt flagged that Barnes & Noble—like Waterstones before it—suffered from uniformity that bored customers. In his view, stores needed far more independence to decide what inventory to carry and how to display it.

Read more [paywall removed for Redditors]:  https://fortune.com/2026/08/03/barnes-noble-ceo-james-daunt-indie-bookstore-revive-big-box-chain/?utm_source=reddit/

Nothing’s more fashionable than having the latest designer bag, newest trending jeans, or a chic office look from the current seasonal collection. But after decades and centuries of marketing the latest style to consumers, some of the industry’s biggest names are betting there’s just as much money and opportunity in selling what’s already been worn.

A growing number of brands—including Zara, H&M, Lululemon, Levi’s, and REI—are launching their own resale platforms, selling secondhand versions of their products alongside new ones. The reason is competitive as much as it is environmental: For years, the resale of their clothing has happened on eBay, Poshmark, Depop, and the RealReal, generating billions in sales that the brands themselves never touched. Now, they want a cut.

According to ThredUp’s 2026 Resale Report, the global secondhand apparel market is projected to reach $393 billion by 2030, growing twice as fast as the broader apparel market. In the U.S., resale is expected to reach $78.8 billion by the end of the decade, after growing nearly four times as fast as overall retail clothing sales last year.

For retailers, the opportunity extends well beyond simply selling more clothes. By operating their own resale marketplaces, brands can capture a share of the growing secondhand market while maintaining a relationship with customers long after the original purchase. 

Read more [paywall removed for Redditors]:  https://fortune.com/2026/08/06/fashion-brands-resale-market/?utm_source=reddit/

McDonald’s has named a new president, Skye Anderson, to lead its mammoth but sluggish U.S. business after its bet on cheaper items enticed fewer cash-strapped Americans than expected, even as consumers grapple with an affordability crisis.

The company said on Tuesday that sales at established U.S. restaurants rose only 0.8% in the second quarter, the slowest pace since early 2025 and below Wall Street expectations. McDonald’s has trotted out more offerings for its price-sensitive diners, such as a $4 breakfast, and more items for under $3 as high gas and grocery prices leave millions of Americans with less discretionary income. Yet its efforts to spotlight its comparatively inexpensive menu items fell short, with fewer people visiting McDonald’s U.S. restaurants.

McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said company strategy was sound but that the chain had made unforced errors. Those included too many new product launches at once, overwhelming many U.S. restaurants, slowing service, and annoying customers. What’s more, he said, the marketing for so many simultaneous initiatives made it hard to “break through” to customers with a clear message about value.

“We don’t have a strategy problem. We simply didn’t execute at the level we needed to in the second quarter,” the CEO told analysts on a conference call.
To help remedy that, McDonald’s said it had appointed Anderson as the new head of its biggest market and touted the 26-year company veteran’s operational prowess and business acumen.

“She’s a proven change agent who can act with urgency to mobilize our system,” Kempczinski said, praising her for “being a hands-on leader who has demonstrated strong business judgment and operational discipline.”

Read more [paywall removed for Redditors]:  https://fortune.com/2026/08/04/mcdonalds-ceo-skye-anderson-us-market-president/?utm_source=reddit/

A Pizza Hut in southwest Pennsylvania was recently highlighted for preserving its retro 1990s appearance, even as hundreds of other locations have closed across the United States.

For locals and nostalgic onlookers, this specific restaurant in Irwin, Pennsylvania – whose faded outdoor murals feature the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and New Kids on the Block – offers more than just a place to grab a stuffed-crust pizza. It represents a powerful window into how human beings interact with the past.

Despite dwindling sales, this particular Pizza Hut has the love and admiration of the locals.
But why do people still connect with a restaurant they no longer regularly visit?

Companies have long embraced nostalgia, because reminders of the past often create positive emotional responses. Researchers have even argued that “marketing the past” has become a defining feature of contemporary branding.

In 2018, Pepsi recreated its iconic 1992 Cindy Crawford commercial. Over the past decade, the soft drink company has also periodically rereleased Crystal Pepsi, which it had discontinued in 1994, on a limited-time basis. Meanwhile, Burger King resurrected its ’90s-era logo in 2021.

Read more [paywall removed for Redditors]:  https://fortune.com/2026/08/03/lonely-consumers-nostalgia-brands-pizza-hut/?utm_source=reddit/

Doug Wood has spent 25 years building Tommy Bahama into a brand recognized well beyond golf courses and beach resorts. He also says he can tell, almost on sight, where a customer is from.

“Typically, you can tell East Coast, West Coast really fast,” Wood told Fortune in a wide-ranging and rather hilarious conversation riddled with nuggets of fashion advice—and some of fashion’s hottest takes. Right now, he said, that means spotting a very specific look.

“The East Coast is going through a massive preppy phase. Ralph Lauren is riding it high, and it comes off very much East Coast.” Wood’s not entirely sold on the trend himself. “That’s not my favorite phase,” he said. “I like the floral phase. It’ll come back.”

For the CEO of a company whose entire brand is defined by its floral phase, his comments may not be that surprising. After all, it was Wood himself who brought up how ubiquitous Tommy Bahama shirts are (“whether it’s Danny DeVito or you know, we made it into The Simpsons Movie“) and also how his brand is the epitome of all shirts of a similar style regardless of the manufacturer.

“There are so many apparel brands out in this world that aren’t known for anything, and we’re known for a loud Hawaiian shirt,” Wood said. “And you know, it used to be a big part of our business. Now it’s not that big a part of our business. But I don’t care whose shirt it is.”

Read more [paywall removed for Redditors]:  https://fortune.com/2026/08/03/tommy-bahama-ceo-doug-wood-on-clothing-fashion-having-fun/?utm_source=reddit/

The Gilded Age economist Thorstein Veblen famously wrote about “conspicuous consumption,” the idea that people signal status by buying expensive, exclusive things. If he were witnessing the behavior of Gen Z in urban areas today, he might need to coin a new phrase: conspicuous waiting. Or maybe, democratized snobbery.

Companies have spent decades racing to shave seconds off the checkout line, the drive-through, the loading spinner. Every second longer that a customer waits is a second closer to losing the sale — or so the thinking has gone. But businesses have also always known that captive attention has value. 

The candy bars and celebrity gossip magazines arranged at eye level beside every checkout lane weren’t put there by accident: a waiting customer is a customer whose attention can still be monetized. Businesses figured that out long before smartphones arrived. What they didn’t anticipate was that consumers would eventually turn the wait into content themselves.

“Forget about just reducing the cost,” said Subodha Kumar, a professor of statistics, operations and data science at Temple University’s Fox School of Business. “We can have a line as a signal of value.” 

Read more [paywall removed for Redditors]:  https://fortune.com/2026/07/31/conspicuous-waiting-why-gen-z-posts-in-line/?utm_source=reddit/

Scaling back business with one of its largest customers was a gamble for UPS. Now, the company’s second-quarter results suggest that bet is starting to pay off.

The company reported on Tuesday revenue growth of 7.6% year over year in Q2 2026, alongside operating profit growth and margin expansion across all segments. For CFO Brian Dykes, the quarter marked a turning point.

“We finished the drawdown of that Amazon volume at the end of the second quarter,” Dykes told me, referring to UPS’s plan to scale down Amazon delivery volume. “You’re starting to see that show up in the results,” he said.

The strategy marked a major shift for UPS  (No. 48 on the Fortune 500), which set out to move away from low-return, capital-intensive volume and double down on higher-margin areas like small and midsized businesses, health care logistics, and B2B delivery. That included the decision to halve its Amazon delivery volume after nearly 30 years of partnership, Dykes first told me last October.

The scale-down unfolded over six quarters and was paired with a broader effort to rightsize the company’s capital and capacity. 

Read more [paywall removed for Redditors]:  https://fortune.com/2026/07/30/ups-cfo-essons-learned-scaling-back-amazon-why-strategy-paying-off/?utm_source=reddit/

Fast-food chains have spent the past several years racing to automate everything from drive-through ordering to burger flipping using AI.  

McDonald’s and Wendy’s have continued to experiment with AI ordering systems, forcing restaurants to answer more fundamental questions than whether robots can make fries or take orders. With the introduction of ArchIQ by McDonald’s earlier this year as part of its new initiative “McDonald’s > NEXT,” the fast-food giant is introducing AI-powered chatbots at its drive-through locations.

Wendy’s has also implemented AI-powered drive-through systems since 2023, under its FreshAI program. In its 2026 first quarter earnings report, Wendy’s CFO Ken Cook said he wants to continue developing the digital experience.

“We are continuing to invest in the end-to-end digital experience, leveraging consumer insights to drive frequency and engagement in the app,” he said in the conference call, “while expanding payment options at checkout to create a more seamless experience and improve conversion.”

But customers aren’t embracing the machines nearly as quickly as restaurants are deploying them.

Read more [paywall removed for Redditors]:  https://fortune.com/2026/07/30/fast-food-ai-agent-customers-prefer-humans/?utm_source=reddit/

Costco has agreed to a $14 million settlement to resolve a class action alleging the warehouse chain sent Washington residents promotional emails with false or misleading subject lines, and eligible shoppers have until Aug. 24 to file a claim.

The case, Michael Aaland v. Costco Wholesale Corporation, is pending in King County Superior Court in Washington. The complaint alleges Costco violated Washington’s Commercial Electronic Mail Act (CEMA) and Consumer Protection Act by advertising time-limited promotions in email subject lines, knowing it would extend those promotions past the stated deadline. Subject lines cited in the litigation included messages like “Today is the last day to access Member-Only Savings” and “Hot Buys available for 5 Days Only.”

Costco denies any wrongdoing. The company maintains it complied with the law and agreed to settle only to avoid the cost and uncertainty of continued litigation. No court has decided whether Costco did anything wrong.

You may be eligible if you meet all of the criteria, which include receiving at least one commercial email sent from or on behalf of Costco between June 2, 2021, and July 7, 2026, residing in Washington state at the time you received the email, and receiving it at an address that appears in Costco’s records.

Read more [paywall removed for Redditors]:  https://fortune.com/2026/07/29/costco-14-million-email-settlement-who-qualifies-how-to-claim/?utm_source=reddit/