The Glossy Podcast

In a 35-minute conversation, James Miller brought up the concepts of speed and the need to keep up repeatedly."If you stand still for too long, then you're just going to fall behind," he said on this week's Glossy Podcast.Miller would know about those things. He's the CEO of the Collected Group and just took on the added role of chief creative officer last week. That puts him in charge of the design as well as the business side of the clothing company's three brands: Joie, Equipment and Current/Elliott.Still, the group plays within the industry's established timelines: "We do 12 deliveries a year for each brand, and they're sold in seasons," Miller said. It was late January, and he was fresh from reviewing some of the deliveries that would go out this fall.Where the Collected Group does innovate is in its gender-fluid clothing, its emphasis on email marketing over social media and its sustainable practices that extend even to the clothes' labelling.

This week, we bring you a bonus, New York Fashion Week Edition of the Glossy Podcast, featuring Christine Currence, the president and owner of Badgley Mischka. Glossy Podcast host Jill Manoff sits down with Currence to discuss working with Rent the Runway, collaborating with a game app and making big adjustments this season, as Oscar Sunday overlapped with fashion week.

Sali Christeson has worked in industries from banking to big tech, but one thing has remained consistent about her day-to-day work life: "I've always been frustrated with shopping for workwear," she said on the Glossy Podcast.Christeson found the same pain point among her friends, which was further confirmed by a study she stumbled on in 2015. The study's authors measured "the impact of what someone wears on their bottom line over [their] lifetime," Christeson said, meaning that your look impacts your salary and job level. "It ends up being a 20% to 40% difference on your personal income. That was the catalyst for me. I read that, and I was like, 'OK, see ya, corporate world!'"Argent, the women's workwear company she went on to found, has offices in San Francisco and New York, and sells direct-to-consumer items ranging from blazers and pants to dresses.Since launch, the company has raised more than $4 million in Seed funding (with a Series A coming toward the end of the year, Christeson said), and has been worn by the likes of Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, Arianna Huffington, Gloria Steinem, Awkwafina and Amy Poehler.Christeson talked about the benefits of boot-strapping her business, the shifting consumer expectations brought about by Amazon and the joy of pockets.

Whatever the challenges of Mel Peralta's job, he has an honest customer keeping him on track."Kids don't lie to you," Peralta said on the Glossy Podcast. "They'll let you know if they think your stuff is whack or your stuff is dope."Peralta is head of the new Foot Locker-owned brand incubator known as Greenhouse, which partners with both established labels in the sneaker game -- like Fila and K-Swiss -- and up-and-comers who might create the youth market's next cult product. Accordingly, the retailer changed its mission statement last year, saying it aimed "to inspire and empower youth culture."In Peralta's words, "Project Greenhouse is Foot Locker's incubator to find what's next." The company wants to do that by being involved with designs from square one. "Because we are a product creation hub -- and we're not just launching other people's things -- we have to be involved with every single project at the very beginning," Peralta said.The incubator's products are mostly sold via its own app, but they've also been sold at Foot Locker events, at boutiques and, one time, at a restaurant in Paris.Peralta talked about his longtime love for footwear, the passion of the sneakerhead community and the SpongeBob-branded shoe that's all the rage with kids.

Michael Stars wants to strike a balance between evolution and tradition."You could call it quote-unquote sustainable, because my stuff doesn't get thrown away," said Suzanne Lerner, the company's co-founder and president, on the Glossy Podcast. "It doesn't end up in the landfill after that season that it was so trendy."As evergreen as its styles are, Michael Stars' revenue model is quickly changing."Fifty percent of our business is specialty stores," Lerner said. "About 20% is our own e-commerce site, and the balance -- 30% -- is a mix of other [retailers'] e-commerce sites and subscription boxes," she said.Next, the company is looking to rebuild the brick-and-mortar retail network that it "successfully" pulled away from, Lerner said, starting with pop-ups.On the podcast, she talked about how the company has embraced direct-to-consumer model, how she met her husband-slash-business partner and why, when it comes to the company's political engagement, "We've got to be out there speaking."

Luxury brands typically want little to do with the second-hand market, but resale companies like Fashionphile are slowly winning them over.Founded in 1999 by Sarah Davis, the company invites customers to drop-off top-shelf accessories at one of its physical locations, where Fashionphile will buy them upfront. Trained Fashionphile employees verify the authenticity of the item before it's sold online, and the original owner gets a piece of the pie -- often a big one.A 70-30 split is common, with Fashionphile taking the smaller cut, Davis said. "But if the velocity of sale will be quick or if it's a super high-dollar item, or it's very popular, we'll give you much more," Davis said on this week's episode of the Glossy Podcast.Fashionphile limits its inventory to 51 luxury brands, many of which were once worried about resale tainting their brand image -- second-hand isn't exactly synonymous with luxury, after all. What's more, there's been concern from full-price retailers that the resale market will bite into their revenue.In the last few years, Davis said, several luxury companies have come around."I think the brands have recognized [the resale market] isn't going anywhere. And so, more and more, they're thinking, 'What do we do about this?' It's led to some really amazing conversations we've been able to have with them. They're curious," Davis said.One thing that helped Fashionphile's image: a recent minority stake investment by Neiman Marcus, which now hosts some of Fashionphile's drop-off locations.More than 20 years after opening in Beverly Hills, Davis pointed to "a 50% growth rate year-over-year, consistently." The company's since opened locations elsewhere in California, as well as in New York and Texas.Davis talked about the importance of shipping products in unboxing video-friendly packaging, the trick to selling used shoes and the teenage boys who covet Hermès belts.

Plus-size models have made uncertain gains in advertising in recent years, though for Universal Standard co-founder Alexandra Waldman, the problem is also in how these models are often depicted."I always looked at ads of these women in pattern-wrapped dresses and high heels and I thought: 'I don't understand where she's going,'" Waldman said on this week's episode of the Glossy Podcast. "'Where is she going with the bows and the things, and why does she have kittens on her T-shirt? She's obviously in her 30s.'"Universal Standard launched in 2015 to offer all of their items -- no kittens, thanks -- in sizes from 00 to 40. And though they've opened five stores all in the last several months, they've also made sure their website caters to women of all sizes, in a way they might not be used to."That size 8 doesn't look anything like I'm going to look when I put on that dress," Waldman said. "So we thought 'why not photograph everything on every single size and then allow women, if they wanted to, to look at the scope of the range or to click a button and make the entire website just in their size," Waldman said.Waldman talked about the company's insistence on inclusion, the industry's sure but slow progress and how Universal Standard has boosted more than one model's career.

Lately, Naadam co-founder Matt Scanlan has been juggling leading three fashion brands -- on top of being CEO of his 6-year-old cashmere brand, he's the CEO of Thakoon and the interim CEO of Something Navy -- and making regular appearances on QVC.For someone who's easily distracted unless he has a lot of work in front of him, selling stuff on TV is a good outlet. "If you're an instant gratification person like I am, I don't think there's anything better than this," Scanlan said on the Glossy Podcast.It also plays into his strategy of selling Naadam's sustainable cashmere products across as many channels as possible. Beyond TV, "that means online, working with multi-brand retailers and having your own storefront or collaborating with others," Scanlan said. He plans to have eight brick-and-mortar Naadam stores by the end of 2020.Scanlan talked about the marketing value of sustainability, the draw to work with recent Glossy Podcast guest Thakoon Panichgul and the guerrilla marketing campaign that got attention from the police.

Before launching her lingerie brand Fleur du Mal, Jennifer Zuccarini had a stint at Victoria's Secret -- giving her an idea of what to avoid."I think people just got tired of that one note of what sexy is," said Zuccarini on this week's episode of the Glossy Podcast.Launched in 2012, Fleur du Mal is applying all the strategies of a small brand looking to challenge a more established industry giant that's on the ropes, creating a lot of web content and tapping social media influencers to get consumers interested in the brand.Along the way, it's avoiding Victoria's Secret's pitfall by making and marketing products for customers of all body types.