The Glossy Podcast

The word “suit” may elicit visions of measuring tape, tailors and brick-and-mortar stores filled with crisp jackets and slacks. However, as consumption evolves from being within the mall to on the computer, and from cashmere to casual, Sene, an apparel brand that started with a focus on being the Lululemon of suits, has adapted accordingly. Since the brand launched in 2015, Ray Li, co-founder and CEO, has spearheaded Sene’s transition into an online purveyor of custom suits under the brand values of sustainability and inclusivity. In 2019, Li decided to close down Sene’s Los Angeles location and relaunch the brand on Kickstarter with a SmartFit Quiz to hone in on the custom sizing aspect of Sene. This changed the trajectory of the business, Li said. “Our mission was always to make custom clothing possible for everyone,” he said on the Glossy Podcast. “But it was a very long journey to get here.” After moving the brand fully online, Sene introduced its FlexTech Suit, a “custom suit [made of] athleisure fabric,

With 25 years of experience at luxury brands like Burberry and Céline, Ulrik Garde Due’s reputation for revitalizing companies led him to his current position as president and CEO of Mark Cross, America’s oldest luxury accessories brand.  “I saw a real opportunity in creating a lifestyle positioning," he said on this week’s episode of the Glossy Podcast. “[Not only with] women's accessories, but also [by] relaunching men's, which we [did] last year ... [and] creating more of a gifting destination for top-class quality and American luxury." When the pandemic hit, however, “We went from this survival to contingency planning to then, as I like to call it, ‘thrival’ mode,” said Garde Due. “It was our job to start thinking of the opportunities that this pandemic created for the industry and for the luxury consumer, and look at the post-pandemic era and what was needed to get executed during the pandemic to be ready for that.” That meant focusing on developing Mark Cross’ wholesale and directly operated channels an

To be able to say that you’ve been an influencer for almost half of your life is a feat -- even for digitally native Gen Zers.  Multihypenate Amanda Steele, 22, has spent 12 years creating content for social channels including YouTube and also boasts the titles of fashion brand founder of Steele and working actress.  “Most of my success came from me doing it so early,” said Steele, of her influencer career. “When it gets overly saturated, whatever platform you're using, it's just hard to get your content seen.”  Steele, who launched her YouTube channel in 2011 with dreams to become a fashion designer, branched into makeup as the beauty industry took over social media. Now, as the founder of her own clothing line, Steele -- which she describes as “model-off-duty style" -- her aspirations in fashion have come full circle. The line includes “leather pants, so it’s edgy and sophisticated,” along with blazers and baggy jeans. “It’s not super trendy,” said Steele. “But you can walk into a business meeting or you ca

As the power of social media has grown, public opinion has become paramount in determining the next ‘"it" girl. Style and reliability are key components, but what the public often fails to consider is the impact of the motor behind the superstar machine, specifically as it pertains to a stylist. Law Roach, the fashion stylist to Zendaya and Celine Dion among his extensive résumé of A-listers, has proven the impact that refining one’s style can have on catapulting them to style icon status. Roach’s success in styling celebrities from TikTok to the silver screen -- see Addison Rae for the MTV Movie Awards and Anya Taylor Joy for both the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards -- is less formulaic and more “organic,” he said on the latest Glossy Podcast. “I don't necessarily have a wish list,” said Roach, of who he’d like to dress. “I work with people when it feels good or [when] I feel there's something that I can help them achieve, or vice versa.” Logistically, the process behind styling his star clients also

Platforms like Depop may be synonymous with virtual thrifting and sustainability today, but Nasty Gal, the online fashion retailer under the Boohoo group, is trying to tap back into its early associations with sustainability. “Sustainable products have been what the business is built on” since it launched 15 years ago, said Kelly Byrne, Nasty Gal’s commercial director, on the latest episode of the Glossy Podcast. “Our vintage collections are still some of our fastest selling collections.” Byrne, whose main task is to “ensure the business reaches its commercial goals,” has been at the forefront of Nasty Gal’s responses to changing trends over the past year. That's included adapting to the pushes for comfort and eco-consciousness within the fashion industry. “We can react [to trends] in around 3-4 weeks,” said Byrne. For example, Nasty Gal quickly added casual items like sweatsuits to its online store in 2020. However, consumer preferences have begun to get “back to normal” since March 2021. “We’ve started to s

As she has experience as a founder -- of fashion brand Bow & Drape, launched in 2012 -- Aubrie Pagano, a general partner at venture capital firm Alpaca VC, is adept at identifying whether or not a founder is worth investing in.  “It's understanding what your customer needs from the brand and how you can augment the brand with that founder voice,” said Pagano, on the latest Glossy Podcast. Pagano founded Bow & Drape at a time when customization, whether of a Chipotle bowl or a T-shirt, was growing in popularity. “We were super excited about creating more personal, expressive fashion,” said Pagano. She set out to focus on the millennial demographic at the time. “[We] launched our sweatshirt that became an eponymous product,” she said, referring to Bow & Drape’s best-selling style that reads "Goal Digger" in gold lettering. It was sported by Serena Williams in 2015. Although Pagano sold Bow & Drape in 2019, the seven years she spent growing it allowed her to experience the evolution of brands. When Bow & Brand e

The move to working-from-home may have correlated with a rise in comfortable fashion, but as the work pants came off and sweatpants on, the desire for luxury brands did not falter. “Jewelry and accessories were favored because so many people were on Zoom all day long, [and] the only thing that you could [use to] accessorize were earrings," said Ippolita Rostagno, co-founder and CEO of Ippolita, on the Glossy Podcast. In addition, for Ippolita, the timelessness of the brand aligned with consumer desire for jewelry that can last beyond the pandemic. Rostagno, who founded the brand 20 years ago, said she focuses on “designing things that are relevant at this moment, but that, at the same time, have a classic enough feel that you know at the time of purchase you’ll love it 10 years from now.” Whether it can be attributed to Zoom or Ippolita’s philosophy or both, the brand’s recent success cannot be denied. Ippolita saw a “very steep increase” in online sales to 10% of total sales, up from 2% before Covid-19. “Pe

The bridal industry, one of the many markets that rely on in-person customer experiences, was not spared by Covid-19. However, “snowmageddons, hurricanes, Covid, murder hornets -- nothing can cancel love,” said Kelly Cook, chief marketing and IT officer at David’s Bridal, on the latest episode of the Glossy Podcast. “It’s a fun time to be in our business,” said Cook, who spent a year facilitating virtual wedding gown and bridal face mask shopping. She expects a 25-40% increase in weddings in 2021, “now that vaccines are out and the country’s opening up.” The height of the pandemic last year did not equate to a full stop in the bridal industry, however. While “about 10% of the brides just canceled their weddings,” according to Cook, “out of the remaining 90%, about half of them already moved their weddings into this year. The remaining half moved their weddings into fall of [2020].” For the brides that did get married during the pandemic, David’s Bridal was quick to adapt to their needs with solutions, like th

Sam Edelman co-founder Libby Edelman is a step ahead when it comes to knowing what shoe trends are going to take off. “It’s our job to come up with what's happening in fashion,” Edelman said on the latest episode of the Glossy Podcast. “So every time we design a product, it’s got to [reflect] a trend that’s going to hit the following year.” Trendspotting is a skill she’s perfected over the last 40 years at Esprit Shoes, and co-founder of Sam & Libby and Sam Edelman footwear brands, along with her husband, Sam Edelman. The latter brand launched in 2004 and is now sold at retailers including Shopbop and Nordstrom, as well as through its own e-commerce site and 13 stores. But that’s not to say that it’s easy to get a leg up on the industry’s direction. The reason: "It's hard to move fast in the footwear industry,” Edelman said. “There are a lot of components. You have to own the right leather, you have to buy it, it all takes time.… It’s 180-plus days to take [a style] from an idea to a store.” Luckily for Sam

Erin Carpenter, Nude Barre founder and CEO, quite literally walked a mile in “pink ballet shoes” and “beige tights,” and felt the pain of finding hosiery in the right shade. It's a struggle that has been experienced before by current customers of Nude Barre, which offers hosiery and underwear in 12 complexion-matching shades. “I’m sure you see this in the market where you go to stores: You ask for something in nude, and usually they bring you options that are beige. I’m not beige,” said Carpenter, who is a former professional dancer and actress, on the most recent episode of the Glossy Podcast. “What I would have to do, and many other artists would have to do, is dye their tights and undergarments to match their skin on a weekly basis to be in uniform.” People of color and white dancers alike have long complained about the lack of hosiery options and the fact that most are “[a] strange shade of beige,” said Carpenter. That led her to start Nude Barre.  The demand for diversity in the industry has not yet died

In the age of Covid-19, Ministry of Supply is a work-from-homer's go-to brand for comfortable yet professional clothing. While the concept of wearing sweatpants to a work meeting may be new, the lovechild of workwear and athleisure came into fruition in 2012, at a time when “performance materials,” such as moisture-wicking fabrics, first started to explode among the athletic wear industry.  “We designed an entire line of machine-washable, four-way-stretch suiting and clothing for the office and commute,” said Gihan Amarasiriwardena, Ministry of Supply president, on the latest Glossy Podcast. Amarasiriwardena co-founded the tech-focused apparel company with fellow MIT graduate Aman Advani in 2012. “What's been interesting is that, in the past year -- while people are not wearing dress shirts nearly as much as they used to, nor are they wearing suits -- this idea of the importance of comfort has been elevated. Our days are so integrated, both in terms of where we are and what we have to do. Our clothes should b

Marketplaces were among the big retail winners of the past year, and Farfetch was no exception. “We performed really well, as an overall company,” said Kelly Kowal, chief platform officer at Farfetch, on the latest episode of the Glossy Podcast. In its first-quarter earnings, released on May 13, Farfetch reported a 46% year-over-year revenue increase, to $485 million. “Nobody ever wants to capitalize off of a pandemic, but one thing that we were really excited about, and something that we really championed on the marketplace side, was keeping our boutique [partners]online and able to trade. And then on the platform side, we saw an increase in new clients and in new technology being adopted. We were really fortunate to be able to have both sides of our business firing on all cylinders.” And that’s despite the fact that new competitors, including The Yes and Amazon’s Luxury Stores, entered the market. What’s more, some luxury brands remained hellbent on keeping to their own sales channels. “What we find sometim

Often worn by influential women including Michelle Obama on the red carpet, 12-year-old fashion brand Sachin & Babi is best known for its eveningwear. But luckily, prior to the pandemic and the mass cancelation of formal events, founders and married couple Sachin and Babi Ahluwalia had started to expand their product focus. “For the last three years, we've been looking at the business to see how we can make it a little bit more 'all things occasion,' [for] day or evening,” Babi Ahluwalia said on the latest episode of the Glossy Podcast. “We made a deliberate attempt at [around] the start of 2019 to showcase how you could wear certain pieces of clothing during the day. [So] that gradual shift had started. And the pandemic helped us to push it a little further, faster.” Now, Sachin & Babi customers can shop styles from linen shorts to peasant blouses. What also changed during the pandemic was the brand’s sales-channel split, moving from 60% wholesale to 60% DTC e-commerce sales. “It's [all] such a shift at the

Vanterra Capital was better positioned than many businesses going into 2020. “The pandemic just pushed us to double down on our thesis,” said Steven Himmel, partner at Vanterra Capital, on the latest Glossy Podcast. “Everything that we were focused on before is even more relevant today.” With its venture-specific fund, launched about two-and-a-half years ago, Vanterra invests in mission-driven consumer companies, which on the fashion side include Naadam.  “A big focus for us is what we call the ESY [Investing]: [companies that are] better for the environment, better for society and better for you,” he said. And those businesses are set to especially resonate in the post-pandemic world: “As the media cycle scales down the Covid conversation, we believe it's going to scale up the conversations around better-for-the-environment initiatives... It will [create] more of a 360[-degree] awareness around: How are you living? That’s in terms of: What are you eating? How are you treating your body? How are you treating

Heading up a startup, as opposed to a large corporation, has its pros and cons, said Mickey Drexler, the former CEO and chairman of J.Crew Group and CEO of Gap Inc. Today, Drexler is the executive chairman of Alex Mill. The fashion brand was founded in 2012 by his son, Alex Drexler, and Somsack Sikhounmuong, who formerly led design at Madewell. "When I started Old Navy, I had the bank of Gap to fund it… Then I started Madewell, which I owned the name of and sold to J.Crew, and [it was] the same thing: I had the bank of J.Crew,” Drexler said on the latest Glossy Podcast. “But with this business, there are no big banks. There's my bank and my son's bank; we don't have any investors other than us. And it's much more difficult.” Still, he said, “I love it. Because you're involved in every decision. You're looking at everything in detail. And you're micromanaging like crazy, which I like to do.” Rather than investors, Alex Mill has an "unofficial" board of directors, largely made up of people who work in the indu

When Paige Mycoskie launched 15-year-old fashion brand Aviator Nation, she was looking to solve her own pain point. “I was most excited to wear vintage clothing -- stuff that was made in the ’70s and early ’80s. And so I found myself looking for clothes at flea markets and thrift stores. But it’s not easy to find good T-shirts from the ’70s,” she said on the latest Glossy Podcast. “I’d spend a whole day looking for one T-shirt. Then it dawned on me: ‘Why don’t I learn how to make this?’ So I started sewing clothes for myself and I taught myself how to screenprint within a couple of weeks.”  That led to a buyer from Fred Segal placing a hefty order, solely based on the shirt that was on Mycoskie’s back. And the brand took off from there. In the last year, with staying home being the norm, the level of comfort that comes with wearing a vintage-inspired T-shirt has been in demand. Brands have been adjusting their product offerings accordingly, which has meant new competition for Aviator Nation. But Mycoskie isn’

When Karla Welch and Clea O’Hana launched fashion styling app Wishi in 2019, the idea was to democratize the fashion styling experience, which is usually reserved for celebs. “Karla’s dream was to bring styling to everyone,” O’Hana said, on the latest Glossy Podcast. “It’s a great partnership -- because I had the technology and the business idea, but I didn’t have the styling or the fashion part of it…[Together] we’re replicating the relationship that she has with her clients, online.”  Welch has 20 years of experience as a stylist; her clients to date have included Justin Bieber, Tracee Ellis Ross and Karlie Kloss, among others. Meanwhile, O’Hana’s background is in business and finance, though she’s worked in merchandising for fashion companies including Net-a-Porter and Belstaff.  In February, Wishi secured a partnership with Farfetch, granting the retailer's high-spend loyalty members access to Wishi’s styling services. (Typically, clients pay Wishi $40 to be styled in two looks and $90 for five looks -- s

When Carolyn Murphy started modeling, she didn’t have a long-term plan. But thirty years later, her career is still going strong.  “I didn't develop a business sense … until much, much later [in my career] -- probably until after I gave birth to my daughter,” she said on the latest Glossy Podcast. “And it was like, ‘Oh! I'm a mom, and I've got to get it together.’ This year, Murphy is celebrating 20 years as the face of Estee Lauder, making her the longest-reigning spokesmodel in the industry. Among her latest jobs was walking in the Michael Kors 40th anniversary runway show, for fall 2021, which played out online last week.  “There's a lot of dialogue around what's going to happen to fashion week [after] Covid, and there are adaptations that have taken place -- it's been more about filming,” she said. “But I hope that actual fashion week does come back. Because, no matter what, connection is so important; we're all stronger and happier together.” Murphy’s career took off in the mid-’90s, when she landed a Fr

The team behind 120-year-old Saucony is no stranger to the competition in the running shoe market. But within the last year, as former gym rats took up running and more brands entered the space, they’ve been stepping up their game. "The running boom is real,” Anne Cavassa, president of Saucony, said on the latest Glossy Podcast. “So we're making sure that we're connecting and engaging with consumers where they're at -- whether that's around what shoes they need, what their training should look like, what their diet should look like. When it comes to [anything] around the running lifestyle, we've been working on it from a communication perspective and from an inspirational perspective.” At the same time, the brand has continued to roll out innovative launches, including its “most eco-friendly shoe ever,” the Jazz Court RFG sneaker, in March.  According to Cavassa, being one of 12 brands under the Wolverine Worldwide umbrella enabled Saucony to be “nimble and agile,” which was required throughout last year. Acc

More than 100-years-old, Moscot's Lower East Side store is decidedly a New York institution. And worldwide, the eyewear company has 15 retail locations. But that's not to suggest that physical retail is the company's sole focus. "We started our transition [to go] fully into digital several years ago," Zack Moscot, a fifth-generation Moscot and the company's chief design officer, said on the latest Glossy Podcast. "So when the pandemic hit, we were able to pivot and really step on the gas when we needed to." Along with the company's direct-to-consumer sales channels, it has wholesale distribution in Europe, retail partners in Asia and "selective distribution" through retailers in the U.S. "We partner with those that help tell our story, and understand who and what we are, and don't view us as just another eyewear brand," said Dr. Harvey Moscot, a fourth-generation Moscot (Zack's father) and the company's CEO. The company's history is a key differentiator, said Zack Moscot. "Very few businesses, especially in A