The Indicator | June 5th, 2026

After more than a decade with Under Armour, Steph Curry signed a long-term partnership with Li-Ning to expand the Curry Brand across basketball, golf, and lifestyle categories. The Chinese sportswear company is backing his vision for product development and next-generation athlete engagement. (Retail Dive)

Victoria’s Secret is reclaiming “sexy” through a lens of empowerment rather than objectification, a shift credited with removing past brand toxicity. The brand gained market share with broad sales growth. The company raised its top- and bottom-line expectations for 2026 and said net sales would top $7B. (Retail Dive)

In an effort to keep pace with youth media consumption, Refinery29 has joined a rising number of women’s publications embracing a “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” approach. This shift sees legacy titles increasingly collaborating with digital creators or encouraging editorial staff to build their own online personas. Recent examples also include Marie Claire appointing creators like Lydia Okello and Larissa Mills as contributing editors. On the other hand, creators are pursuing the institutional credibility offered by established media brands. (BoF)

Affordable beauty is no longer solely a budget alternative to prestige; increasingly, it is becoming a category consumers actively seek out for products they’ve been influenced to buy online and are genuinely excited to use. While legacy brands like Neutrogena and L’Oréal remain popular, a new generation of affordable beauty labels is gaining traction at retailers like Walmart and Target. This shift can be attributed to product innovation and consumers get educated about formulations and ingredients from creators and experts. (Glossy)

Shopify reported that AI-driven traffic to its stores grew eightfold year-over-year in Q1, with orders from AI-driven searches up nearly 13x — a sign that the platform’s early bets on agentic commerce, including integrations with ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Google Gemini, are starting to pay off. (Marketing Brew)

Sensormatic Solutions is launching two discreet RFID tagging options for fashion retailers that can be sewn into garments. Designed to be permanent and tamper-resistant, these flexible tags help retailers protect merchandise without affecting its look or feel. (Sourcing Journal)