How fashion retailer Pacsun’s viral jeans moment on TikTok is part of its bigger bet on creators

The jean’s success was driven by a video from creator Lyla Biggs, a member of Pacsun’s TikTok affiliate creator program, whose viral video on the low rise jean was shared with her 5,000 followers.

Despite expectations for an uncertain second half of this year, Olson said she doesn’t expect “large shifts,” in how the company works with creators, a channel that the company views as invaluable to connect with consumers. It is also not bracing for big changes to its strategy on TikTok, which the company sees not just as a media channel, but a revenue driver.

“We have strength in digital, we’re one of the top shops on TikTok Shop, and we’re seeing shifts around the creator economy and social commerce,” Olson said. “At the same time, we’re seeing double-digit traffic in our stores and a real desire to return to stores and have experiences.”

Olson and Digiday spoke at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2025. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How were you thinking about engaging with users across social, particularly whether TikTok does ultimately face a ban in the U.S.?

Most of the consumers are multi-platform and multi-touch, and so we have so many different ways to reach them. It’s most important to show up where our consumer is. If there should be a TikTok ban, there will be a new, emerging platform. Consumers will definitely still find places to express themselves. It’s important to engage with them authentically in those spaces.

How has working with creators evolved for you as a brand?

Creators have been an important part of our collaborative content creation process for the last decade, or longer. So I absolutely think that their voices are an incredibly important and relevant piece. In particular now, more than ever before, that push towards really including your community in the conversation, having them lead the conversation, is increasingly necessary. Creator opportunities are becoming increasingly important.

How are current economic headwinds and the geopolitical cycle that we’re in affecting you as a brand?

We have had a really nice acceleration in the last two years. So far, consumer spending has been positive and all indications have been good in terms of brand equity and brand health and the engagement from the consumer and our corresponding sales. 

Clearly, there’s a lot of trepidation with what’s happening in the world and we’re taking a more cautious approach to the back half of the year. We’re going to continue to ride on the momentum of the past and just continue to monitor inventory very carefully.

What does a cautious approach look like for you?

I think it’s really read and react in terms of inventory. We’re almost in our back to school cycle, but more for Q4 to see if there are broader impacts to the economy that will cycle into some differences we’re experiencing right now in terms of sales. Sales continue to be very strong in the first and second quarter.

How do you see AI impacting your customer journey?

AI plus human capital is transforming the industry as we know it and we’re applying it across every area of our investments. The area that we have done the least amount of exploration so far, but I’m not saying that we won’t explore it down the line is product design and the more creative function.

I think there’s a lot of efficiencies that can come out of proper use, but so far, the tools that we used — or explored — have had pretty mixed results. But definitely in terms of planning, allocations, even store management, it’s a transformational mechanism for moving us into the future.

When you talk about mixed results, have you had negative results — or is there anything that you were surprised by with AI?

Across all of our different functions, we’ve got 20 to 30 different types of tests happening or explorations in AI, whether the teams are finding that it’s doing what it was supposed to do or something different. We’re really in a learning cycle, and there has been some good adoption in certain areas and there’s been areas where, ‘hey that wasn’t what we were expecting’ and so then we drop it. We have an 18 month roadmap for AI and we’re looking at it in that way. And we’re going to continue to test and learn, and if you’re seeing everything succeed, then you’re probably not pushing hard enough.

Do you have concerns over how Google AI Overviews could impact traffic to your brand sites?

It certainly will impact over time. And it’s something we just have to be very watchful for and reactive to.