The Glossy 50 celebrates individual changemakers. Explore other honorees in The Accelerators, The Changemakers, The Dealmakers, The Heavy Hitters, The Icons, The Leaders, The New Class, The Newsmakers and The Trendsetters.
These founders and CEOs are taking their influential brands into the next phase of growth.
LoveShackFancy’s 10th year in business has proven pivotal. The contemporary fashion brand entered the beauty category, collaborated with Gap, opened its 17th store, invested in new executive hires and grew its direct-to-consumer sales to 70% of the business. Founder and creative director Rebecca Hessel Cohen said she owes her brand’s growth, both this year and every year prior, to trusting her gut. The company has reportedly doubled its sales over the past two years.
Since Kyle Leahy took the helm as CEO, Glossier has sped up the cadence of its new launches — now every 4-6 weeks, versus 10 weeks. In addition, it’s embarked on its first national college tour, launched a foundation through a second partnership with the WNBA, reopened its Soho flagship and, most notably, shifted from selling solely direct-to-consumer to leveraging Sephora as a sales channel starting in February.
When John Koryl joined luxury resale platform The RealReal as CEO in February, he hit the ground running. And eight months later, the company’s investor trust was restored. In early November, The RealReal reported its third-quarter earnings for the period ending on September 30, revealing both revenue and profit that exceeded analysts’ expectations. Most notably, its adjusted EBITDA loss had dwindled to $7 million, compared to $28 million in the same quarter last year. The RealReal will reach its goal of profitability by 2024, Koryl said.
Tanya Taylor celebrated the 10th anniversary of her namesake brand this year, which included transforming her brand’s first store — opened in September on Madison Avenue — into a museum of her career. Taylor, who owns her brand, said the brand is in growth mode, with additional stores and new product categories on the way.
Vancouver-based Aritzia has recently experienced exceptional growth, going from $857 million in the fiscal year ending in February 2021 to $2.3 billion in sales three years later. Fueling that success has been the company’s increased prowess in digital channels, expansion in the U.S. and organic virality on TikTok, where #aritzia has 2.1 billion views. Two of the three have been actively driven by Jennifer Wong, who was named CEO in May 2022. “Getting more famous is one of our objectives,” she said.
Explore all of the 2023 Glossy 50 honorees here.
