Fashion & Founders The Podcast

A big thank you to all the guests who came onto the podcast this year. I learned so much from each conversation and feel so grateful for the opportunity to connect so many amazing people and share their stories. I put together a bonus episode with snippets of advice that founders shared from their experience. This ranges from fundraising, building a team, finding a co-founder the struggles of entrepreneurship. Mental health as a founder. What not to do tips on getting started, books and resources, finding your motivation. How to stay motivated and so much more. This includes 13 different episodes. And even if you've listened to all of these, trust me, I think I have listened to each at least 20 times through and I found this still such a great and powerful reminder. I love these different snippets, so let's get into it and let's hear from them. In this episode:Trinity Hislop founder of ThirdClaire Stepanek founder of ErgoJade Begueling founder of 4AM SkinJen Keane founder of Modern SynthesisMary Korlin-Downs founder of Cropd.co Fashion TechKate Sanner founder of BeniKristine Locker founder of LockerNaama and Manya founders of Threads of TechJulia O'Mara founder of Pickle Genia Mineeva founder of BEEN LondonDiana Kakkar founder of  MAES London Georgie Hyatt founder of RotaroNatalia Ohanesian founder of BiptyFollow Fashion & Founders:Podcast IG: @fashionandfoundersPodcast Website: fashionandfounders.comVictoria TikTok: @vfsmith11Podcast LinkedIn: Fashion and FoundersVictoria Pickle Closet: @victoriasPodcast Substack: Fashion and FoundersThank you for listening!

Welcome back to Fashion and founders the Podcast my name is Victoria Smith and this week I spoke with Trinity the founder of Third.  Third is an AI-powered search, compare and discover platform for preloved luxury handbags, featuring the largest range of rare and hard-to-find pieces available at present.This episode is not just for the luxury handbags and vintage lovers, this is one of the first episodes in which a founder really talked about the mental health component of being an entrepreneur. She discusses obstacles, how she still priorities her mental health, building confidence, and more.Trinity shares about her journey building a fashion tech business, her experience in London, and more so let’s get into the episodeFollow Fashion & Founders:Podcast IG: @fashionandfoundersPodcast Website: fashionandfounders.comVictoria TikTok: @vfsmith11Podcast LinkedIn: Fashion and FoundersVictoria Pickle Closet: @victoriasPodcast Substack: Fashion and FoundersFollow Third:IG: @thirdfindTikTok: @jadebeguelinLinkedIn: Website: https://thirdfind.com/ Follow Valore:IG: @shop.valoreTikTok: @shopvaloreWebsite: https://www.shopvalore.com/shop Thank you for listening!

Welcome back to Fashion and Founders the Podcast. My name is Victoria Smith and this week I am joined by Claire Stepanek, the founder and CEO of Ergo. Have you ever wondered how brands decide on the price of an item. Or why it seems like brands always have a 10% off sale? Maybe you would buy something if it was $25 instead of $28? Claire is building Ergo, a shopify tool that allows potential customers to make an offer of their best price when shopping. Providing brands with real time pricing analytics and empowering customers to have a voice in the shopping transaction. If youre used to sending an offer on second hand platforms like ebay or depop Ergo is bringing a version of this to everyday online shopping by allowing customers to tell brands their desired price. Claire went to MIT and worked at Goldman Sachs, Apple, and Doordash before starting Ergo in 2023. She has so much knowledge to share on fashion tech, fundraising, and more. Follow Fashion & Founders:Podcast IG: @fashionandfoundersPodcast Website: fashionandfounders.comVictoria TikTok: @vfsmith11Podcast LinkedIn: Fashion and FoundersPodcast Substack: Fashion and FoundersLocker Links: VictoriaSVictoria Pickle Closet: @victoriasFollow Ergo:IG: @ergo.offersLinkedIn: ErgoWebsiteWishlist GiveawayFollow Larson:IG: @larsonthebrandIG: @camrynlarsonnWebsiteThank you for listening!

Welcome back to Fashion and Founders The Podcast. My name is Victoria Smith, and this week I’m joined with Jade Beguelin the co-founder of 4AM SKIN. You may have seen Jade from one of her TikToks about what hot girls in New York City are gatekeeping or wearing her viral under eye masks for her brand 4AM SKIN. She is how I found out about Pickle and the big silly trivia game, and she shares her best tips for growing on TikTok and some rumblings of what the hot girls are currently doing. 4am is not your regular skincare brand. Their launch party was at a club, they’ve partnered with 818, and their inspiration comes from the downtown girls that are up all night but still look great in the morning. Focusing on minimalism, they’ve created skincare that’s easy enough to do at 4AM and actually works. You can find them on REVOLVE and urban outfitters and they just became part of Sephora’s 2025 accelerate class. Jade and her cofounder Sabrina were also named Forbes 30 under 30 class of 2025.Jade and her co-founder met at Georgetown and as a fellow alum it was very fun to connect with someone else in the beauty fashion space. She shares some really great knowledge on starting a business in your 20s and more so let’s get into it. Follow Fashion & Founders:Podcast IG: @fashionandfoundersPodcast Website: fashionandfounders.comVictoria TikTok: @vfsmith11Podcast LinkedIn: Fashion and FoundersVictoria Pickle Closet: @victoriasPodcast Substack: Fashion and FoundersFollow Jade:IG: @jadebeguelinTikTok: @jadebeguelinLinkedIn: Jade BeguelinFollow 4AM:IG: @4amskinWebsite: https://4amskin.com/ LinkedIn: 4AM SKINFollow Philippa Made:IG: philippa__madeWebsiteThank you for listening!

Fashion Tech Talk: short, bite-sized information answering your most asked questions about fashion tech! This series is with Naama and Manya the founders of Threads of Tech a community for fashion creatives and technologists. Topics this week How to pitch your skill set to fashion companies or fashion tech startups?What can current students do to get involved in fashion-tech?Current job openings and summer internships for students?They also share they have an upcoming Fashion Tech event for NYFW in February so follow them to stay updated!Follow Fashion & Founders:Podcast IG: @fashionandfoundersPodcast Website: fashionandfounders.comVictoria TikTok: @vfsmith11Podcast LinkedIn: Fashion and FoundersVictoria Pickle Closet: @victoriasPodcast Substack: Fashion and FoundersFollow Threads of Tech:Instagram: @threadsoftechJob BoardLinkedIn: Threads of Tech Substack: Threads of TechFollow Naama:Instagram: @mieuxnaamaLinkedIn: Naama PaulemontFollow Manya:Instagram: @manyaownbusinessLinkedIn: Manya JainThanks for listening!

Hello and welcome back to Fashion and Founders The Podcast. This week I spoke with Jen Keane the Co-Founder and CEO of Modern Synthesis. Modern synthesis is a London-based biotech company bringing life to new materials by working with bacteria to produce an entirely new class of nanocellulose based materials for fashion without using any plastic or animal inputs. Jen’s background leading up to founding her own company is so impressive and she has accumulated so many experiences in textiles and circularity. She did her undergraduate degree at Cornell University with a major in fiber, science and apparel design. She then worked at Adidas for five years getting so much experience in this large company. And then did a masters in material futures at Central Saint Martins of University of Arts London.If you are interested in the bio technology and material innovation side of fashion Tech, this episode is for you.They’ve worked on some really cool projects like “growing a shoe.” A collaboration with Ganni on their iconic Bou Bag, and theres so much more to come so let’s get into the episode.Follow Fashion & Founders:InstagramWebsiteYoutubeTikTokSubstackFollow Modern Synthesis:InstagramNewsletterThey’re hiring!WebsiteFollow Baggy:InstagramWebsiteThank you for listening!

Hello and welcome back to Fashion and Founders The Podcast, my name is Victoria Smith and this week I spoke with Mary Korlin Downs. She has become a fashion tech thought leader through her Tiktok, Instagram, and Substack where she posts weekly job boards, fashion tech news, and more. Mary used to work at Bipty, a fashion rental company and I actually have an episode with the founder Natalia. She then went to Recurate a company powering brand owned resale. She then started her own agency Cropd working with fashion tech clients. Mary talks about how she got started in fashion tech by working on a startup while at a full time job in medical device sales. So if you have questions on how to transition into fashion tech listen to this episode. She shares great advice on how to build your portfolio, get started as a student, and her transition into being a founder and starting an agency working with fashion tech clients. This is the fashion tech episode to listen to, it’s a bit longer than other episodes because I went through all the comments and DMs I had gotten on fashion tech so I could get Mary’s take to share with you all so lets get into the episode. Follow Fashion & Founders:Podcast IG: @fashionandfoundersPodcast Website: fashionandfounders.comVictoria TikTok: @vfsmith11Podcast LinkedIn: Fashion and FoundersVictoria Pickle Closet: @victoriasPodcast Substack: Fashion and FoundersFollow Mary Korlin Downs:IG: @marykorlindownsTikTok: @maykorlindownsSubstack: All Things Fashion TechLinkedIn: Mary Korlin-DownsFollow Pink Antique:IG: @pinkantique_IG: @emilyanndeutschThank you for listening!

Welcome back to Fashion and Founders The Podcast. My name is Victoria Smith and this week I spoke with Kate Sanne the Co-Founder of Beni. Beni is a google Chrome extension that shops alongside you, helping you find secondhand pieces. Kate shares some great insight into what the future of the fashion tech industry holds. She recently moderated a panel at Harvard Business School’s Retail and Luxury Goods Club and shares learnings including AI in fashion, consumer discovery, and the future of search.If you haven’t already downloaded Beni, it is a hack that once you use it, you wonder how you lived without it, and Beni just launched their resale registry for the holiday season so that you can make a wish list of some vintage secondhand things you want and then it’s super easy because then you can just text it to someone.Follow Fashion & Founders:Podcast IG: @fashionandfoundersPodcast Website: fashionandfounders.comVictoria TikTok: @vfsmith11Podcast LinkedIn: Fashion and FoundersVictoria Pickle Closet: @victoriasPodcast Substack: Fashion and FoundersFollow Beni:IG: @join_beniTikTok: @join_beniWebsite: joinbeni.comFollow Grandpa’s ShirtsIG: @grandpasshirtsLinkedIn: Grandpas ShirtsThank you for listening!

Welcome to the first episode of season three of fashion and founders the podcast. This week I am joined by Kristine Locker founder of Locker, the Pinterest for online shopping.In this episode, Kristine talks about the founding of Locker the amazing community that she has built, all about fundraising, working with Maggie Sellers as an angel investor, and so much insight into her founder journey.Kristine has some really exciting things lined up for Locker and they’re really innovating how we online shop. If you haven’t already definitely sign up for the Locker shopping club, they send out monthly challenges that you can participate if you choose to and the winner will get a $500 gift card to a certain brand of the month. You can also join the waitlist for the Shopping Payback feature locker is offering. We were able to film this in person in New York and I got to meet Hanna, the Locker social media manager.I’ve recently been getting a lot of questions and interest in fashion tech and Kristine has described Locker as shopping tech before which I think definitely falls into this category of fashion tech so this is definitely a great episode to listen to if you’re interested in learning more about companies in this space and hearing how people got it directly from the founders themselves.Follow Fashion & Founders:Podcast IG: @fashionandfoundersPodcast Website: fashionandfounders.comVictoria TikTok: @vfsmith11Podcast LinkedIn: Fashion and FoundersVictoria Pickle Closet: @victoriasPodcast Substack: Fashion and FoundersFollow Locker:IG: @wantlockerTikTok: @wantlockerWebsite: wantlocker.comFollow Kristine:IG: @kristinelockerTikTok: @kristinelockerThank you for listening!

Hello and welcome to the first episode of Season 3 of Fashion & Founders The Podcast, Conversations in Fashion Circularity, Tech, and Innovation! Formerly Interwoven Stories, but all those episodes will still be available!Intro in what's coming and some changes, I have lots of amazing episodes lined up! Conversations with founders and innovators working in different sectors of the fashion industry, offering an opportunity to get involved in this growing space. Hear directly from the people building the future of fashion about entrepreneurship, job opportunities, fashion tech, circularity, biomaterials, and more.Follow Fashion & FoundersPodcast IG: @fashionandfoundersPodcast Website: fashionandfounders.comVictoria TikTok: @vfsmith11Victoria Pickle Closet: @victorias