Jason Goldberg, Host, The Jason Scott Show: That's a lot of pressure to live up to.

Roshan Varma, SVP, Digital, Delta Galil Industries: I try. I try. We'll see what happens.

Jason Goldberg: Is that how you start every day at work?

Roshan Varma: The alien voiceover in that film really helps me produce my best work and helps the teams live up to their own potential.

Jason Goldberg: I'm grateful. Thanks everyone for coming. Super excited. This is going to be the most innovative fireside chat of the entire conference.

Roshan Varma: It's in the title, so it has to be.

Jason Goldberg: One of the innovations that we're introducing for this fireside chat is that there actually is no fire.

Roshan Varma: I'm leaving that behind.

Jason Goldberg: Yeah, the fire marshal apparently did not think combustion was a good idea on the stage.

Roshan Varma: I have proof.

Jason Goldberg: So Roshan, before we jump into it, can you introduce yourself to the audience and tell us a little about Delta Galil?

Roshan Varma: Absolutely. Hi everybody. I'm Roshan Varma. I lead digital for Delta Galil. We're a company that has really three businesses inside it. We're a manufacturer, specializing in intimates. We own licenses for a number of brands such as Polo, Ralph Lauren, Columbia, and others. And we also own brands ourselves—Bare Necessities, Splendid, PJ Salvage, 7 For All Mankind in the US, brands in Germany and France, and the Delta brand in Israel.

Jason Goldberg: That's amazing. I think one of the things that's unique about you guys is you play on all three sides of that equation, right? You manufacture for national brands, you own your own national brands, and then you also are the producer for many retailers.

Roshan Varma: Absolutely, and Walmart is a great partner and customer for us. We manufacture some of their private label merchandise. We've done some innovative things together in terms of not just the fabric and product, but also how we visually merchandise the store—creating a wall of the brand products, which is something new for them. It's a great partnership.

Jason Goldberg: That grounds us. Obviously the topic today is innovation, which is a big promise to deliver to the audience. How do you guys think about innovation at your company? Is it a formal thing or more ad hoc?

Roshan Varma: Luckily it's not my check to cash, but Delta Galil has a real history of innovation, starting from the product and manufacturing side. For example, we've pioneered moisture-wicking fabrics, ways to shape and add stretch zones into one piece of fabric, and seamless materials. There's always room for change, even if change is scary—especially when you're doing a good job. The world around you is constantly changing. Your customers, competitors, and culture are changing, so to keep pace, you need to adapt and innovate. You have to create change within yourself to react to the world outside of you.

Jason Goldberg: Our industry has always been evolving, but the digital disruption we're all living through is especially intense.

Roshan Varma: Definitely. The first time I was here was probably eight years ago in this very room. Back then, I was one of the younger people in the audience. Now I feel more on the other end of that spectrum and feel the same in my organization. As you get to a certain level, you have to be responsible for helping others do the work. So my role is to foster innovation—supporting associates, giving them tools to meet customer needs, and constantly earning customers' loyalty by providing value. Digitally, especially since 2020, it's all about enabling the most engaging shopping experience, as if you're interacting with the world's best sales associate, but from your couch—hopefully in our PJs.

Jason Goldberg: Some companies make innovation a formal function, others fold it into everyone's job. Do you guys have a preference?

Roshan Varma: We believe real innovation comes from deep functional expertise. If you manufacture and thread yarns differently, you can create compression zones and shimmery effects on shapewear, which excites customers, especially with new celebrity-driven brands. That depth matters across our manufacturing, analytics, digital capabilities, and marketing teams. Having that deep functional expertise allows us to meet customer needs quickly. For instance, after a recent high-profile halftime show, demand for wide-leg jeans surged. Acting instantly based on cultural signals allows us to reinforce brand positioning and create unique selling propositions.

Jason Goldberg: Breakthroughs aren't just customer-facing. What about business optimization?

Roshan Varma: Some say a penny saved is a penny earned. Improving efficiency allows you to spend more time on value creation for revenue growth—and of course, to increase profitability. But there's an even greater gain: employee engagement. Retail is a team sport, with manufacturing, supply chain, design, market experts, technology and more. The best teams attract the best people, and those who want to work with innovative tools—not outdated green screens. This creates a flywheel of profitability and growth.

Jason Goldberg: AI is the new buzzword. Most retailers' first successful AI deployment is employee enablement, right?

Roshan Varma: Absolutely. We'll need to think carefully about what AI means for jobs as algorithms scale, but when a script can do a task better, it should. Rather than chasing an "AI strategy," we start with the business strategy—what are our challenges, and can AI or another technology address them directly? 

Jason Goldberg: You mentioned scale and innovation. Should scalability be an early filter?

Roshan Varma: Yes, you need a filter because no team can do everything at once. Especially digitally, it's about doing things faster or at greater scale. Digital provides leverage—allowing finite talent to drive more revenue and lower costs without proportional increases in headcount or infrastructure.

Jason Goldberg: It always seems easier for challengers to innovate—do incumbents have a disadvantage?

Roshan Varma: It's about mentality. We need to do the best job we can, continuously improve, and move at our customers' speed. If we don't, someone else will. The desire and drive to keep moving forward, meet customer needs, and get better every day makes the difference.

Jason Goldberg: That sounds like a good plan. Roe, thanks for sharing your insights with the audience. Hope everyone has an amazing year of innovation as we go through 2025.

Roshan Varma: Thank you all.