This is an episode of the Glossy Fashion Podcast, which features candid conversations about how today’s trends are shaping the future of the fashion industry. More from the series →
This year, the Glossy Podcast featured top executives from fashion’s leading companies discussing the challenges they’re navigating and the strategies they’re investing in, among other topics. Throughout the conversations, several topics surfaced repeatedly. They included the changing role of department stores, the importance of opening stores and the perks of a strong brand heritage at a time when a brand story is everything. Navigating the right time to fundraise and catering to new consumer shopping behaviors, especially as a result of inflation, were also top topics.
This special Year in Review episode features highlights from the year’s podcasts broken down by these topics. Have a listen to hear from industry insiders including Carolina Herrera creative director Wes Gordon, Tibi founder and creative director Amy Smilovic, and Etsy president and Chief Growth Officer Kruti Patel Goyal.
The changing role of department stores
Wes Gordon, creative director of Carolina Herrera: “Department stores are as important as ever. Herrera is a very big partner with all the main department stores. It’s the Neiman Marcus Group, including Bergdorfs. It’s Nordstrom, it’s Saks, it’s Bloomingdale’s — it’s stores that have really defined and shaped the American luxury culture for the past century, and they remain really important. And, obviously, we know that they face challenges — we read about them in the news. But at the end of the day, they still have amazing customers and amazing sales associates and managers. And I’m so grateful to them every time they point their women toward a Herrera piece because she has a lot of options. But the department store is not the only thing anymore. Now we have our own e-commerce, and we’re growing a network of our own boutiques and stores. And there are specialty stores and amazing smaller stores — when I say a specialty store, I mean a small, cool boutique. There are lots of those that we work with who do extraordinary business. At the end of the day, it comes down to who has and has fostered amazing relationships with amazing clients. And that could be a little shop in a small town or it could be a Bergdorf Goodman sitting in the middle of Manhattan. But what it comes down to is that it doesn’t take a lot of customers for a store to be wildly successful. It takes the right customers.”
Remaining self-funded vs. fundraising
Ricardo Larroudé, co-founder and CEO of Larroudé: “We own outright. We got a friends and family round in the beginning — I think the whole amount that went in was $1 million. And we do give stock to employees. Whoever’s building significant value gets a little piece of equity — some people are doing well now. But it’s [just] us. We don’t have institutional capital behind us. We’re thinking about whether we should do that in the future — but the whole idea that we’re doing this for us and how we think that this company should be 50 years from now allows us to build it right. So there’s no rush. We have our own rush, but we’re not doing it for other people. We’re doing it for us.”
The rise of resale amid price increases, inflation
What Goes Around Comes Around co-founders Seth Weisser: “For us, [luxury brands’ price increases] have been a benefit, of course, because customers want what they want. And so, when the brands — with their exclusivity and their interesting practices — make it harder for the consumer to get exactly what they want when they want it, the consumer is then looking for choices. And, of course, when you can’t buy from the brand, then you’re gonna have to buy things from the secondary market. And for us, that’s been a bellwether to help people enter the pre-owned funnel and to enter the vintage funnel. … Plus, a lot of the products we sell are discontinued and they aren’t even available anymore from the brand — so it’s a two-way street, in terms of how sales are trickling down to us.”
