Brieane Olson can now add author to her résumé.
The chief executive officer of Pacsun, the California-based specialty retailer, has penned her first book: “Co-created: The Cultural Strategy That Redefined Pacsun.”
The book traces how Olson, who joined the retailer in 2007 and was elevated to the top post in 2023, transformed the company by embracing its Gen Z consumer base. Her strategy is centered around building what she describes as a “purpose-driven” company at the intersection of fashion, music, art and sport — all categories important to today’s youth. Under her leadership, Pacsun has collaborated with everyone from Formula 1 and the Metropolitan Museum of Art to Yohji Yamamoto, Selena Gomez, A$AP Rocky and Fear of God’s Jerry Lorenzo, positioning the retailer for success while many of its teen-oriented competitors have struggled or disappeared.
Pacsun nearly went down the same path. By the time Olson joined, the company had lost its relevance as shopping malls disappeared, fast-fashion retailers took market share and consumers moved on from Pacsun’s focus on surf and skate culture. This led to a bankruptcy filing in 2016, a wakeup call that forced management to dig deep to find its way back.
The company pivoted and put more emphasis on its own private brands, brought in emerging vendors that connected more effectively with its target customers, and started a dialogue with its shoppers to understand what they wanted from Pacsun. A turning point came when the company established a presence on TikTok and allowed its followers to create content for the channel.
In the epilogue to the book, Olson relates a story about how an influencer named Lyla Biggs posted a video on TikTok right before Black Friday in 2023 featuring the company’s Casey low-rise baggy jeans in the Astrid wash. That video launched a viral demand for the jeans, resulting in sales of hundreds of thousands of pairs in stores and online.
Brieane Olson
Courtesy Photo
Although the sales were welcomed, Olson said what was more significant was the “validation of a strategic approach to brand transformation that could be replicated, not only by Pacsun but also by other companies,” she writes. “The Astrid phenomenon demonstrated how legacy brands can successfully evolve by becoming purpose-driven, shifting their culture to prioritize community and then bringing that community into the conversation and further empowering them through the creator economy.”
She said this viral moment can serve as a lesson to companies that a path to success can be paved by listening first, building together and then stepping back to let the community lead the way.
Olson acknowledges that many companies “fear losing narrative control” if they allow their customers to speak on their behalf, but Pacsun has found it can now identify trends “years before the mainstream adopts them,” bolstering its bottom line.
To promote the book, which will be published by Simon & Schuster’s Forbes book division on Tuesday and sell for $32, Olson went on a cross-country tour with stops in New Orleans; San Francisco; Miami; Washington, D.C.; Boston; Los Angeles; London, and Paris that included lectures, dinners and pop-ups. On the launch day, the company will hold an event at its store in SoHo in New York City, and on May 28, Olson will be the host of a dinner, conversation and private tour at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for invited guests.
