Ten years ago, Pacsun filed for bankruptcy. But the brand today is in a very different financial position.
“We have delivered 12 quarters of positive comps, nine of which have been double-digit positive comps, and have improved profitability each quarter,” CEO Brieane Olson said, speaking at the Semafor World Economy summit in Washington, D.C., Wednesday. “And from a tariff standpoint, a macroeconomic standpoint, I think the reason that we've been able to be so successful over the last three years is the power of our model of co-creation.”
Olson champions co-creation, a philosophy that Pacsun has been developing behind the scenes for the past five to six years to include the brand’s customers in the process of reinventing the brand.
“It starts on the inside of the brand first, and then we invite the consumer, our community, to really have a seat at the table and to build the future alongside us,” Olson said. “So it's a real shift in terms of really pushing traditional modeling of control and the commands of the control relationship with the consumer, to actually inviting them in to be a part of the process.”
Pacsun isn’t alone in enlisting customers and employees to help tackle pain points and create new products or features. Earlier this month, Lyft launched its annual hackathon to ask drivers and riders about what they need from Lyft.
But Pacsun is unique in that it's not just a product they’re looking to create — it's a strategy. And its target customers are younger: Gen Z and Gen Alpha.
The retailer established an advisory council of 14 participants, ranging from ages 13 to 26, to offer their insight throughout a 12-month period.
“They don't just come in like a traditional focus group and advise us on what product to create,” Olson said. “They're advising us on strategy. They're looking at technology innovation, such as social commerce apps and community apps that we're building. So we're really giving them a true voice at the table.”
When customers help design services, tools or processes, adoption and satisfaction are higher, according to Michael Hinshaw, president of McorpCX. “The end users actually adopt at a higher pace with solutions that are co-created with customers like them.”
Rather than chasing trends, the retailer aims to build community at the intersection of sports, music, fashion and art — pillars that Olson says are key to ensuring that the brand stays on a consistent path for the consumer.
The brand also looks to follow customer values. Last fall, Pacsun published its Youth Report, powered by GlobalData, to more deeply understand the behavioral shifts of Gen Z and Gen Alpha and changing consumption patterns.
“And in that research, we recognize so much in terms of how a corporation needs to scale and for brands to really have a defensible position in the future that they need to bring the consumer inside,” Olson said.
Such research has led Pacsun to expand its PS Vintage program, with the retailer announcing last week that it would bring it to a slate of its brick-and-mortar stores.
“Vintage shopping has become central to Gen Z’s sense of individuality, alongside a growing focus on sustainability and self-expression,” Richard Cox, chief merchandising officer at Pacsun, said in a press release last week. “At the same time, we're seeing renewed interest in intentional, in-person retail. PS Vintage brings these behaviors together, offering discovery, community, and one-of-a-kind product in a way that feels relevant to this generation."
Community-focused co-creation can be good business. Executive satisfaction is often higher, Hinshaw says, “because the business outcomes are almost always better.”
Pacsun’s Olson says better results are no coincidence.
“And so I do think that there is a very important correlation that businesses can be community focused, they can do good, they can be a source for good, they can give back to the consumer, and they can put the community at the center, at the heartbeat of what the company stands for, and produce really phenomenal results,” Olson said.
