December 29, 2025

Here are our picks for top news impacting retailers today:

  • Lululemon founder Chip Wilson launched a proxy fight by nominating three independent directors to the company’s board. The move comes following news of the exit of CEO Calvin McDonald. “The recent CEO change announcement was the third total failure of board oversight with no clear succession plan in place. Shareholders have no faith that this board can select and support the next CEO without input ⁠from a board with stronger product experience,” Wilson said (via CNBC).
  • YouTube content is now comprised of at least one-fifth (or about 21%) “AI slop,” according to recent data from video editing firm Kapwing. Tested by creating entirely new YouTube accounts and registering how many YouTube Shorts were AI generated, the data suggested the U.S. was third in “AI slop” consumption, behind South Korea and Pakistan (via PCMag).
  • Luxury goods produced nowadays may lack the quality and construction standards of those belonging to previous eras. Several fashion influencers, as well as industry insiders, allege that high-end products — from handbags to boots to apparel — are falling apart in record time as labels shift production away from artisans to mass-production facilities (via CNN Style).
  • Novo Nordisk has managed to secure FDA approval for its Wegovy oral pill, the first GLP-1 drug to be delivered in this fashion. “With more choices, HCPs are better equipped to tailor treatment approaches and support patients who want to gain control of their weight, and this milestone approval underscores exactly that kind of choice,” Timothy Garvey, MD, and professor of medicine and director of the Diabetes Research Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said (via press room).
  • U.S. small business owners remain “squarely optimistic” about their business prospects in 2026, according to Comerica data. A full four-fifths (80%) indicated confidence in their future success, with only a marginally smaller cohort (79%) suggesting they expected sales growth in the year to come (via Comerica).