Dagne Dover founders Melissa Mash and Deepa Gandhi: ‘When you make great product, word of mouth happens’

Nine years ago, when CEO Melissa Mash and COO Deepa Gandhi set out to launch their accessories brand, Dagne Dover, they made sure to do things their way. That included being thoughtful about the makeup of their founding team, which also includes chief creative officer Jessy Dover, and getting the brand off the ground before bringing in outside investors.

“We didn't see ourselves reflected in management. [Retail] was and continues to be a very male-dominated industry, despite who they're selling to and who the products are made for and who actually works at these companies,” Mash said on the latest Glossy Podcast. “So we wanted to create a place that felt like it was made for us and was run with a different type of energy than we've seen in our previous experiences working in retail.”

She added, “It was also really important that we had [financial, operational and design] skills represented on the founding team, so that we could move quickly and move longer without having to raise money immediately. We [could instead spend time] testing it out and making sure we did have product-market fit.”

That independence from industry norms has stayed with Dagne Dover since its launch. For example, though the brand is digitally native, the founders haven’t hesitated to strategically expand its sales channels to select retailers, including Nordstrom. They opened the first permanent Dagne Dover store, in NYC, in 2020.

“In many ways, we often run more like a traditional retail brand, but with the efficiencies of tech and of the modern times,” Mash said.