Ba&sh North America CEO Desiree Thomas: '2021 was a record sales year'

Over the last two years, the fashion industry has experienced plenty of ups and downs – but 19-year-old contemporary brand Ba&sh has managed to remain on the upswing for the last 10 months.

“[2021] was a record year,” Desiree Thomas, CEO of Ba&sh North America, said on the latest Glossy Podcast. “Since the middle of March last year, we’ve seen this excitement around getting dressed again; a lot of women are just wanting to take a moment for themselves and celebrate the joys of life.”

As a result, Ba&sh has seen “explosive growth” in each of its sales channels. “We saw retail explode in all of our freestanding stores in North America,” she said. “And digital was also on fire.”

Thomas joined Ba&sh in May 2021, after serving as brand president for 3.1 Phillip Lim and holding top sales roles at BCBGMaxAzria and Nicole Miller. She said she was lured by the brand’s focus on “joy, female femininity and empowerment.” Ba&sh was founded in France in 2003 by entrepreneurs and best friends Barbara Boccara and Sharon Krief, whose first names were combined to create the brand name. 

Moving forward, Thomas plans to maintain the brand’s trajectory by opening more stores, including in first-time markets like Greenwich and Aventura, hosting pop-ups and collaborating with influencers, among other strategies, 

“We have a very ambitious growth strategy in place,” she said. “We are going to see double-digit growth this year, for sure.”