Welcome to the Fashion Retailing Conference, organized at McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management in Montreal on April 27-28, 2018.

This conference is one among other  premier events that will culminate with the opening of the new Bensadoun School of Retail Management at McGill University. The aim of this conference is to provide a forum for both professionals and academics, from the leading firms and universities of the world, to foster discussions about the latest research, industry practices and approaches, as well as trends and challenges related to retail.

To facilitate the cross-pollination of ideas, the event is highly interdisciplinary and will feature speakers/participants with  a wide range of expertise (e.g., supply chain management, marketing, technology, computer science, sustainability). While the conference aims to highlight topics centered on the retail fashion industry, these discussions will more broadly touch on aspects pertaining to:

• operations,
• branding and pricing,
• new technologies,
• big data,
• AI/machine learning
• social responsibility

Most importantly, this event aligns with the Bensadoun Retail School’s vision of equipping future students with the “tools, knowledge and skills they will need to be prepared to meet the demands of the retail industry today and to help shape its future” (Professor Suzanne Fortier, Principal and Vice Chancellor of McGill University). As such, this conference has placed an extra emphasis on the extent to which various innovations, including some in computer science (e.g., artificial intelligence, computer vision) and sustainability (e.g., responsible consumption and sustainable materials and processes) have impacted fashion retailing, especially given the rapid transformation that the retail industry is experiencing overall (i.e., changing consumer behavior, technological innovations, rise of E-commerce).