The Glossy Podcast

Fashion is a notoriously damaging industry for the environment. "It was clear to me that the industry was a solid 7-10 years behind a number of other major consumer industries like food and CPG -- in owning up to the problems, putting in place solutions and educating the consumer," Another Tomorrow CEO Vanessa Barboni Hallik said on the Glossy Podcast. Another Tomorrow is a certified B corp, making it for-profit, but with a clear set of social responsibilities. Its industry peers in that regard include Patagonia and Allbirds. Each of the company's garments include a QR code that can be scanned for "the customer to see the entire provenance journey," Barboni Hallik said, adding that most customers use the function.

7 For All Mankind is nearly synonymous with the top-shelf denim trend of the early 2000s. "Premium denim didn't exist [prior]; we really launched this category," company president Suzanne Silverstein said on the Glossy Podcast. Twenty years after its founding, the company is now doing a bit more reacting to established trends. The pandemic has put a premium on comfort above all, so the jeans maker is fast-tracking a few articles that focus on just that -- via an "elastic waist, forgiving fit," Silverstein said. One focus of 7 For All Mankind that has remained intact is sustainability. The denim industry has a notoriously wasteful reputation, which it's "probably earned," Silverstein conceded. Two-thousand gallons of water are typically required to create one pair of jeans. But by 2023, 7 For All Mankind expects that 80% of its products will clear certain scores by the Higg FEM standard. "The only thing that's really slowing us down, quite frankly, is our existing raw materials," Silverstein said. "All new mat

It took a pandemic for Daniella Kallmeyer to put more of her own voice in the self-named fashion brand she started in 2012. "I'm being more vocal about my personal experience and my political views," Kallmeyer said on the Glossy Podcast. "I've given some really raw interviews over the past couple of months, and I certainly have had people reach out to me and tell me how much they appreciate that." Taking a stand on social issues is a big part of what companies are expected to do now, she said. And for those that don't? "You could become irrelevant." Kallmeyer had projected "major growth" for the calendar year -- "January was our best month in business, to date," she said -- but then the pandemic hit. Since March, she has temporarily closed and reopened the company's newly opened physical store, and has launched a range of digital services for Kallmeyer customers.

As the CEO of digitally native menswear brand Bonobos, Micky Onvural has experienced both extreme challenges and lucky breaks in getting the brand through 2020.  “We've always been predominantly e-commerce, so we didn't have the same catch-up game to play as other retailers did,” she said on the Glossy Podcast. “The biggest catch-up game we had to play was on the product side -- because we were ‘wear-to-work,’ but now we want to be ‘wear-everywhere.’” To swiftly transition the product, among other untimely elements of the business, the Bonobos team kicked its operations into high gear. As Onvural sees it, that expedited pace is set to define the company’s new normal.  “We’ve all gotten used to the fact that change is normal -- and that we have to be very fleet-of-foot, and we need to be half a step ahead, if possible, of what's going on with the customer, the competition and the industry,” she said. “[Five month ago] we were innovating fast, and we've just gotten used to that new pace of working.” In addition

Todd Snyder is a master of collaborations.  “I've always looked at brands I want to work with, and they're almost all originators in their space,” Snyder said on the Glossy Podcast. “They’re authentic and real, and American -- and the first of their version.” Snyder launched his namesake brand in 2011, after stints as a lead designer at Ralph Lauren, Gap and J.Crew. The brand now averages 2-5 collaborations per year, which account for 50% of the business and vary in length: Its first, with Champion, is eight years running. Most recently, the brand linked with LL Bean on a fashion collection and a lodge in Kennebunkport, Maine on a room’s decor.  “Part of our business plan is we look at: How do we expand our audience and also do things that are original, different?” he said. “I lean heavily into the design piece, just because I'm a designer by trade. It's not just, ‘Let's do some cool stuff, I want to slap my name on it.’ I really get into the weeds with the design team; that's the part I love.” The 30-year fa

Joe's Jeans is heavily invested in working with influencers. It's a relationship that has to make sense to work, said Jennifer Hawkins, the brand's svp of marketing and innovation. "It's not just plucking someone off a list and saying, 'Let's do a collaboration,'" Hawkins said on the Glossy Podcast. "It's finding people that you organically fit with from a product standpoint and working with them." Hawkins talked about why she's bullish on Instagram Checkout, why Joe's needs a TikTok strategy and what separates a Nordstrom shopper from an Amazon one.

In Clearbanc president Michele Romanow's view, regular banks are pretty clueless. "Banks don't understand digital business," she said on the Glossy Podcast. "They understand if you're a restaurant with a pizza oven, and that if your business goes out of business, they can sell the pizza oven, as it has residual value." But they're less likely to accurately value inventory or to understand that a strong customer acquisition strategy -- if a DTC company has gotten there -- is a valuable asset in itself. Founded in 2015, Clearbanc provides funding for widespread companies -- each of which are typically bringing in at least $10,000 in monthly revenue -- for a flat fee. To date, it's invested $1 billion in more than 3,000 brands, including Public Goods, Nectar and Haus. By the numbers, these companies are more diverse than the ones venture capital typically underwrites. A year and half into the company's existence, "we had funded eight-times more women than the venture capital industry average, which I'm super pro

People may not be getting dressed and going out like they used to, but for Bombas, sales are up. The sock company is beating the target it set for itself back in January, before the pandemic kept people at home (where socks are a little more optional). "Sales are up," Bombas co-founder and chief brand officer Randy Goldberg said on the Glossy Podcast. "There's that response to comfort and a response to community. And people are looking for these little moments for themselves." Bombas was founded in 2013, starting with an Indiegogo campaign. For every pair sold, the company donates one to the homeless -- "but also people who are at risk and in need," Goldberg said, through a network of more than 3,500 "giving partners." "Those are anything from a small shelter in a small town to big organizations like the VA [Department of Veterans Affairs] and the Special Olympics. We're in all 50 states." Bombas has also recently moved into different categories, including cotton T-shirts. Goldberg talked about how Bombas aim

After a summer of virtual fashion showcases, Paris is going back to the real thing. Among the labels on the (outdoor) catwalk schedule for the upcoming Paris Fashion Week is Ami, the company founded in 2011 -- but which only got into womenswear in 2018. "I do this job, for nine years now, because of the show. The show is a magical moment. It's a rendezvous which is not replaceable," founder Alexandre Mattiussi said on the Glossy Podcast. The coronavirus hasn't slowed Mattiussi's roll much in general. The company hasn't had to lay anyone off, just opened a new store in South Korea (making for about 10 stores in total) and had strong sales for its latest spring/summer collection. "I don't want to scream it too loud, because I feel very grateful, but the business has been wonderful during this time," Mattiussi said. As a result, the company has had the resources to take on certain responsibilities, like supporting struggling wholesalers by maintaining longstanding partnerships and making its production more sust

Maison de Mode CEO Hassan Pierre knows that if sustainable fashion doesn't look as good as everything else on the market, it's not going to make much of a positive impact on the environment. "I always say that if a shirt saves a thousand lives, but it's ugly, no one's going to buy it," Pierre said on the Glossy Podcast. "So we need, as a retailer, to make people dream and to really make people want to buy things -- not just because they're good, but also because they want to wear them." Maison de Mode launched in 2015 as a two-part business -- it's an online platform selling sustainable fashion from different labels (both off-the-rack and made-to-order) and a consulting firm, too. Maison de Mode makes a cut of every purchase on the marketplace side, and as a whole, the business grew 161% between March and April, Pierre said. Like every online retailer, Maison de Mode keeps an eye on purchasing data. During the pandemic, consumers have turned to many of the categories you'd imagine -- "anything that is really

Ronny Kobo's self-named fashion line is nearly synonymous with "party dress," and there aren't many occasions for those these days. "Luckily, we have not seen a lot of canceled styles and canceled orders," Kobo said on the Glossy Podcast. But the brand is still pivoting to selling online, including for the swimwear line it will be launching in the spring. "Retail's going to change drastically in the next year. We're all going digital," Kobo said. "Even the local boutiques are going to need to figure out a way to communicate with their customer."

The pandemic has been hard on fashion brands -- but especially for Billy Reid, which hosts an annual arts festival in its hometown of Florence, Alabama that has become part of its identity. "I can't tell you how many texts I get per week from friends, going, 'What's up with Shindig this year?' And you have to let them down easy," Reid said on the Glossy Podcast. The menswear-first company is looking forward to doubling-down on the event next year, and Reid said he's just glad to see it surviving the economic downturn. Personnel cutbacks have leveled off, he said, and all of the company's 14 stores have opened, though traffic is down. "We believe that, eventually, it will come back," Reid said. "We're bullish on it." Womenswear makes up 20-25% of Billy Reid's sales and is only carried in its own stores.

The direct-to-consumer brands that have sprung up in the last decade have promised to deliver quality at a better price by cutting out the middlemen: retailers. Italic wants to do the same, but is taking a different approach by working with multiple manufacturers that supply top brands. Its result is a lineup of quality products, without brand names or premium price tags. The company launched in 2018 with a different membership than the model it recently adopted -- the annual cost is now $100, which can quickly pay for itself in savings, according to founder and CEO Jeremy Cai. The company sells products ranging from leather jackets to handbags to cookware. For each one, Italic's site specifies which companies its manufacturer supplies (like Hugo Boss, Armani and Longchamp, in the case of backpacks). "Italic is actually a very easy math exercise to just do in your head: 'Hey, am I going to make my money back on $100, if I purchase one time?' And over 90% of the time, that is correct," Cai said on the Glossy P

To forecast the next fashion trends, Soludos founder Nick Brown looked to past crises. Before the 2008 crisis, "it was all about ornaments and stuff being very sexy and over-the-top," Brown said on the Glossy Podcast. "Then in 2010, it shifted toward minimalism and modernism." Brown wagered that fashion will stay on the minimalist side. But either way, shoes are a tough category. "In some of these customer surveys, and certainly in my own life, I'm only buying what I need to, and I'm not going out that much," Brown said. As a result, Soludos is focusing on fewer products and sustainable production. Product delivery has also evolved. Soludos' sales have moved online; 70% of its sales now come through its own website, Brown said. "We've all seen the numbers that, in two months, there's been 10 years' worth of e-commerce penetration," he said.

In fashion, the small businesses have suffered more than the big ones since March. But Commando founder Kerry O'Brien thinks that, for those boutiques that can survive a tortuous shutdown, the other side will be a lot brighter. "I think they're going to have a resurgence if they can make it through these times," she said. "Women are going to want to go to their local shop, and they're going to want to have a conversation with someone they know in a small setting." Boutiques were where Commando, which started off in the underwear category, got its start. It's still carried in more than 1,000 boutiques, as well as at major department stores. O'Brien launched the company in 2003, a few years after having quit her job at public relations giant Edelman the day after 9/11. The company has since grown, playing a role in the surge in popularity of bike shorts, according to O'Brien. Bella Hadid wore a pair by Commando at Paris Fashion Week in 2017. O'Brien thinks women shopping for clothes are now looking for two thin

The ongoing demand for LaQuan Smith's signature sexy designs is both a blessing and a curse, as he put it on the Glossy Podcast. "It was a very humbling experience, because I had to find alternative ways to still be able to produce these orders," Smith said. "Thankful they didn't get dropped, but also, damn, because I'm now in a compromised position: How do I get these done, how do I fulfill all these orders on time?" Smith pulled it off by having his cutters work from home while "packing and shipping from my living room," he said. To him, the fact that his designs are in demand despite a pandemic gives him further confidence in his self-named brand, which he said faced significant doubts when it debuted in 2013. But he said he's recently faced tokenism, whereby his achievements as a designer have been flattened by his grouping with other Black designers. "You can't group me with [someone] who just started designing three months ago on Instagram. That's not fair," Smith said, referring to the lists of Black

After a pandemic-caused delay, influencer Arielle Charnas' clothing company Something Navy finally relaunched last week as a direct-to-consumer brand, after selling exclusively as a Nordstrom collaboration. For her and interim CEO Matt Scanlan, it was worth the wait: Online, Something Navy grossed $1 million in just 30 minutes, according to Charnas and Scanlan. "The velocity and speed of sales totally broke our back end," Scanlan said on the Glossy Podcast. Charnas has a considerable Instagram following of 1.3 million to thank for the marketing push. In fact, Something Navy didn't spend a dollar on traditional marketing, Scanlan said. But a massive following can also come with scrutiny. Back in March, Charnas drew criticism for the way she handled a Covid-19 diagnosis -- withdrawing to a house outside of NYC, rather than staying home. "People wanted me to be more sensitive about what was going on in the world, and I should have been," Charnas said. Scanlan and Charnas talked about the lessons learned, the fut

Putting on a digital fashion show isn't especially revolutionary. But Anifa Mvuemba, the founder of Hanifa, gave her Instagram Live show a novel twist: there weren't any models, whether digital or real. "This will be a great way to get everyone's attention," Mvuemba recalled thinking, on the Glossy Podcast. Her virtual runway was stalked by Hanifa dresses, moving of their own accord as if draped over moving ghosts. It was a painstaking endeavor of animation and design, but it paid off. Tens of thousands tuned in, according to Fast Company. "The sales, it was immediate -- probably the best month we've had since I started my company," Mvuemba said. The attention was big enough to push Mvuemba into a more significant public relations hire in the Hinton Group. Next, Mvuemba plans on turning heads again with technical feats (even though "we're still coming down from the high from the first one") and launching shapewear for women of color in the coming months.

Speaking for her corner of the fashion industry -- luxury denim -- Warp+Weft founder Sarah Ahmed said that discussions around racial issues should only be beginning. "If everyone was always receptive to this -- to racial equality -- we wouldn't be having these problems," Ahmed said on the Glossy Podcast. "We all need to take a look: maybe the joke that we make, the model choice that we made -- why did we make that?" she said. Warp+Weft is progressive on other fronts. Its manufacturing process consumes a fraction of the water that jeans -- a notoriously resource-intense garment -- typically do, according to Ahmed. And because of the impact of the pandemic, Ahmed hopes to make the family-owned businesses she's a part of (Warp+Weft is one, DL1961 is the other) smarter about human resources. Ahmed said the company saw a spike in e-commerce sales -- yes, even though they're jeans, not sweatpants. But it still had to make layoffs. For the future, Ahmed said, "I talk to people on the team and tell them 'Listen, let'

Before the coronavirus pandemic, Trina Turk's self-named fashion label made 15% of its sales through e-commerce. But with Neiman Marcus' filing for bankruptcy in May and an ongoing lack of foot traffic at mall stores, Turk ideally wants that percentage raised to 50% or more. "If they weren't shopping online prior to this whole thing, they are jumping online now," Turk said about shoppers on the Glossy Podcast. "I don't think we're alone in really examining how we can pivot our business to be much more e-comm-focused. Turk talked about managing her relationship with department stores to minimize the excess inventory brought about by the global retail shutdown, exploring the potential of client meetings done via Zoom and hiring more diversely once the company recovers from its layoffs and hiring freeze.