Interview, Fireside Chat
Rebecca Minkoff: Fashion Designer
- Rebecca Minkoff plans to launch initiatives in home, beauty, kids, extended sizing, and loungewear, alongside a new store concept iteration, within the next five years.
- A zero-waste garment line utilizing specific printing and cutting methods is expected to launch in 2020, featuring single-unit ordering capabilities.
- The company anticipates a workforce at headquarters of 65 employees with 90% women and a 50% ratio of women of color or non-Caucasian staff.
- Future store technology, the "shoppable screen," is projected to allow customers to adjust lighting, check out, and call associates without leaving the dressing room, mimicking web interfaces for item recommendations and potentially adopted by major retailers like Nike and Amazon.
- The Female Founder Collective currently includes over 5,000 companies and aims to have its seals on over 2.5 million products within a year, with plans to expand the directory and transition to an education platform.
- Long-term predictions include consumers making purchases from women-owned businesses mainstream behavior, the closure of the gender pay gap across all demographics, and a cultural shift in workplace hours to 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for working mothers.
- Sustainability goals involve prioritizing recyclable packaging and creating less wasteful garments, while avoiding the return of trends like beading and bedazzling.
- Strategic business goals include achieving 50% wealth representation by women to drive operational changes, closing the gender pay gap if this threshold is met, and eventually seeing women-owned businesses as common as Fortune 500 companies.
- Market forecasts suggest the existence of 12 million women-owned businesses in the US, starting at a rate of 1,800 new entities per day.
- The company expects to survive economic recessions by adjusting price points to $195, $295, and $325, contrasting with competitors who failed to adapt.
- Growth strategies involve a podcast launched in September to interview female leaders and entrepreneurs, expanding the reach of the "Rebecca Minkoff" story to a wider audience.
- The organization envisions a shift where consumers travel further or prioritize buying from women-owned businesses to close the gender pay gap, supported by a new website to facilitate member connections and promotion.
- Operational evolution includes a brother transitioning from a distant partner to a crucial business partner to move the company beyond pure design into business fluency and investing.
- Diversity is expected to remain a standard rather than a trend, with the company having always showcased diverse models, and a commitment to instilling self-reliance skills in the next generation.