Podcasts about richer poorer

Sit Down with Christine Russo as she hosts a key technology provider in the ever-evolving ways Gen AI will help retailers and brands. Eric Best, CEO of SoundCommerce, explains the challenges of measuring order profitability due to dispersed data sources. In his experience with Richer Poorer, he found that while they could measure site traffic, conversion rates, and ad campaign performance, they struggled to answer basic questions about profitability after converting a shopper. This issue drove the creation of SoundCommerce to address the industry problem with a commercial product. Eric describes the complexity of calculating profitability by accounting for various costs: the cost of goods sold, acquisition discounts, digital marketing expenses, and variable costs like storage, fulfillment, and shipping. With data scattered across different systems, such as digital marketing platforms and parcel carriers, it becomes difficult to consolidate and analyze this information effectively. Brands may use systems like NetSuite ERP to integrate data, but more detailed calculations, like customer lifetime value, require tracking shopper identity and purchase history over time. Understanding order profitability offers a clearer picture of business performance compared to customer lifetime value. Eric points out that repeatability in customer behavior indicates successful customer service. However, many businesses fail to identify why some customers are not loyal, potentially due to pricing or return issues. Comprehensive data analysis of orders, including hidden costs like returns processed through different platforms, provides retailers with crucial insights for making informed decisions and improving overall profitability.

Lots of discoveries this week! Including amber wine, UHNWs, Mike's Bites, people as fonts, customizables, and MORE. Mike's Bites probably deserve a whole documentary, honestly.Some great customizable things: a whole lot of stuff in Ralph Lauren's Polo Create Your Own Shop (including a perfect plain baseball cap), Artifact monogrammable canvas bags from Omaha. Monica Vinader's Nura Tiny Fine Chain Bracelet and Signature Signet Rings, and Anya Hindmarch's The Bespoke Collection (also: her T mag profile about decluttering). If you haven't read Miuccia Prada Vogue cover story yet, do it!Some basics we're loving: Donni's pointelle tee, Favorite Daughter's The Mischa jeans and The Jordie jeans, and Richer Poorer's perfect gray sweatshirt. Worth the resale-site stalking: Wardrobe.NYC's denim jacket (via Poshmark) and Proenza Schouler long-sleeve tissue jersey tees (via The RealReal).Ok, what are your thoughts on Costco's rotisserie chicken? Give us the lowdown at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, @athingortwohq, or our Geneva!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Our guest this week has 3 Decades of experience in Action Sports as Regional, National, andDirector of Sales. 20 years of which, has been focused in the eye wear category working forArnette, Spy, and Filtrate. Add in experiences with working for Vans, Richer Poorer, and SaltyCrew has helped him catapult him to where he is today. We stoked to sit down andcongratulate him on his new position as US Sales Director of Rhythm…. Mr Sean “ FLERS “Fleuriau. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Listen to this episode to hear: • Why transparency in business is so important • How “imperfection” and progress are just part of the sustainability path • How to break out of a co-dependent relationship with your business • Why its so important to honor yourself and in the midst of building a business • What it's like exiting a do-good business you started from the ground up and why it's necessary to grieve • How to know when it's right to sell your business • Separating who you are from the business you run This episode is presented by Richer Poorer. The purpose at Richer Poorer is simple -- they are making the world a more comfortable place. They create and deliver thoughtful, elevated wardrobe essentials for the modern life. The classics, but better -- a little softer, a little cooler, more sustainable, always attainable, and on you on the daily. Use code YELLOWCO for 20% off your purchase of $50 or more. ABOUT HEATHER: Heather McDougall is the co-founder of Bogobrush, along with her brother John McDougall, which they recently exited earlier this year. Both are children of a dentist who pursued careers in other fields but they have come full circle and returned to the toothbrush. More importantly, they are using this single, everyday, taken-for-granted item and using it as a means for social change. More than just another toothbrush company, Heather has some very inspiring ideas about the ways in which the toothbrush can affect our environment and under-served communities, as well as communities in other impoverished areas outside of our borders, in a positive way. The Bogobrush is a great example of how the items we choose in our lives could carry a value that goes way past a monetary number. She's an honors law school grad, a yoga teacher, and a social entrepreneur - bogobrush and a think tank with her brother. She's worked on venture finance and non-profit lobbying, and she loves singing, dancing, art, and the great outdoors. Connect with Heather on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heathermcdougall/ Follow, subscribe and leave a review! Find out more about Yellow Co.'s community of women creaeting meaningful work: yellowco.co | @yellowco.co • Connect with Joanna at joannawaterfall.com and on IG @joannawaterfall :) Music Written by Jonny Pickett (check out his music on spotify) Thanks for listening!

It's always so refreshing to have real, honest conversations about entrepreneurship with women who also have big visions. I'm joined by fashion powerhouse sisters Gorjana Reidel and Iva Pawling to talk all about what drives their creativity, how they lead from their intuition, and ways that they support themselves mentally as businesswomen, mothers, and wives. Gorjana and her husband Jason are behind the multi-million dollar gorjana jewelry brand, and Iva is the CEO and Co-Founder of Richer Poorer, an elevated essentials brand. They share how growing up in an immigrant household shaped their work ethic, what their biggest business challenges are, and what they do to relax and recharge. Plus, Gorjana and Iva share the story and design process of their first ever co-designed capsule collection for charity.    IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT: Gorjana and Iva's advice for people who are at the beginning of their entrepreneurial journey  The difference between visionaries and integrators  Creating impactful brand experiences  Relying on blind confidence to make decisions  How they lean on each other for support  Pushing back on the hustle mentality  The idea behind their gorjana x Richer Poorer collection    RESOURCES Shop the gorjana x Richer Poorer collection at gorjana.com/gorjana-x-richer-poorer  Sign up for The Spritz newsletter at litepink.com! Text PODCAST to 310-496-8363 for updates and a chance to be featured on the show!   CONNECT WITH GORJANA  Shop gorjana: gorjana.com  Follow gorjana: @gorjana    CONNECT WITH IVA  Shop Richer Poorer: richer-poorer.com  Follow Richer Poorer: @richerpoorer  Follow Iva: @ivapawling    CONNECT WITH LORI Follow me: @loriharder Follow Lite Pink: @drinklitepink Follow Earn Your Happy: @earnyourhappy Follow Girlfriends & Business: @girlfriendsandbusiness Listen to Girlfriends & Business   ABOUT GORJANA & IVA Gorjana Reidel was born and raised in Serbia until she was seven years old and later made her way to the United States by way of Canada. She lived with her grandparents who were a significant influence to her creativity. Gorjana's childhood home was full of handmade trinkets, which ignited her passion of creation and ultimately led her to visualize gorjana as a brand.   After completing her degree in Marketing at Arizona State University she moved with her (now) husband, Jason, to California. While working in the jewelry department at Neiman Marcus, Gorjana realized she had a love for jewelry design. She soon started working with a local designer to learn all aspects of the jewelry-making business. She set out to design fun, versatile jewelry that all of her friends would want - at an accessible price point.   At 26, she did just that. Gorjana launched her namesake jewelry collection with an accessible price point that had the look and feel of high-end jewelry. During their humble beginnings, Gorjana and Jason would drive thousands of miles selling their collection and fulfill orders from their apartment. The pair ultimately grew out of the apartment and into an artist's studio in the canyon of Laguna Beach, California.    gorjana has since grown into a multi-million dollar business with high-profile customers that include the likes of Michelle Obama. Gorjana still maintains the welcoming price point and customer experience, which has allowed the expansion of their DTC stores across the country, with more store openings announced in 2022.  ABOUT IVA Iva Pawling is the CEO and Co-Founder of Richer Poorer. Iva has taken the company through fundraising, an early acquisition, and a founder buy back over the last decade. She leads the company's strategic planning, brand direction and product category expansion with an irritating level of persistence. Iva has been featured in Forbes, Inc., LA Times and included in the 100 Powerful Women of 2020 in Entrepreneur Magazine. She has spent her entire 20-year career in the fashion industry, starting out in the PR closet at Kate Spade and ending in overseeing Brand Development for her sister's namesake jewelry brand Gorjana, prior to founding Richer Poorer. Iva holds a B.S. in Communications from Arizona State University.

To be an entrepreneur is to be constantly adapting. In a world where the market is ever-changing, it's important to be able to shift, to refocus and rebrand… to be ready for whatever is coming next. Iva Pawling, the Founder & CEO of Richer Poorer, a California-based inner wear company with a cult following, knows a thing or two about having to think on the fly. “It was completely the opposite of what we expected, and they ended up filing for bankruptcy within thirteen months of acquiring us,” Pawling said of Richer Poorer's ill-fated acquisition. “It was just insane. It really taught me to always have a Plan B. Like… if things don't go how you plan, how are you handling it?” So how did she handle it? How did Richer Poorer survive huge obstacles like a failed acquisition, over-complicated marketing tactics, and a major supply-chain stallout? Find out on this episode of The Journey.  Main Takeaways:Sometimes, it's okay to not run on pure passion: The old saying goes something like this: “Motivation is for amateurs, discipline is for professionals.” There might come a time when a brilliant opportunity presents itself, but it's not something that completely lights your fire. It's not your dream. There are times when you might need to look at the bigger picture and think long-term. It might not be the most exciting thing, but maybe it's the right next step. Successful careers take both passion and smart moves done at the right time.  Pay if forward: When Iva was just starting out, she reached out to a lot of her contacts, all of whom were eager to point her in the right direction. That's because, she explained, that all entrepreneurs have had someone do the same for them when they were just starting out. The business world can be very cutthroat, but it can also be full of camaraderie. Keep an eye out for those moments when you can help someone… it will come back to you, eventually. Vulnerability can be a strength: Every business will face curveballs and moments of uncertainty. Good leaders will turn to their team and ask for help with blind spots instead of pretending to have all the answers. By being vulnerable, you invite your team to find the best solution. ---This season of the Journey is produced by Mission.org and brought to you by UPS. To learn how UPS can help your small business, go to UPS.com/pivot.

On this episode of the podcast, we sit down with Co-Founder of Richer Poorer (https://richer-poorer.com/) Tim Morse. Tim talks to us about how he and his co-founder developed a company that started in socks to now one of the most sought-after fashion brands for both men and women. He shares his journey of starting the company, selling it, and buying it again. Tune in!!! PLEASE MAKE SURE TO SHARE - LIKE - & SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEW CH: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZSodlehY6CMiwh2IDJJU2w Keep up with us on Social Media: - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheFightWithinPodcast - Twitter: https://twitter.com/TFW_Pod - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefightwithinpodcast/   Follow Our Host - Manny Lara on Social Media: - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bambam_lara/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/bambam_lara - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mannybambamlara Follow Our Host - Ben Briggs on Social Media: - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benlbriggs/ - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benjamin.briggs.58 Listen to The Fight Within Podcast on Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-fight-within-podcast/id1459014905 Listen to The Fight Within Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1KKIKqwCO2B9ZdHNd1Uxj1 Listen to The Fight Within Podcast on iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/256-the-fight-within-podcast-31156121/ Listen to The Fight Within Podcast on Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-fight-within-podcast   #RICHERPOORER #FASHIONINDUSTRY #TIMMORSE 

Sometimes, it’s best to get back to the basics. Whether you are talking business or just general human interaction, it’s easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of overthinking things when really all you need to do is keep it simple. Ellen Bennett knows this more than most, and she’s built her company, Hedley & Bennett into an undeniable success by sticking to that principle. Hedley & Bennett produces high-quality kitchen wear that has been featured in more than 4,000 restaurants and cafes, adopted by celebrity chefs like Martha Stewart and David Chang, and is used by hundreds of thousands of home chefs every day. But the story started much more modestly.  Ellen began with a true grassroots approach, selling aprons out of her Mini Cooper, talking to and pitching every chef she knew, and working her connections to keep growing her business.On this episode of Up Next in Commerce, Ellen shares the story of how she hustled to build Hedley & Bennett and all of the early struggles she had to work through to keep the train rolling. She gives advice to any young company dealing with production or shipping mishaps, and she explains how you can go about expanding through creative and authentic collaborations. Plus, she explains what it took to shift the company from exclusively selling B2B to now selling more than 80% DTC. Ellen brought a level of energy and ambition to the interview that didn’t disappoint, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Main Takeaways:Howdy, Partner: One way to expand your product line without taking on the entire risk and expense of production, testing, etc., is to form a partnership with companies that already make products you are interested in selling. By partnering with Madewell and Richer Poorer socks, Hedley & Bennet was able to expand its product line and grow its audience and customer base without having to add to or adjust the supply chain. Pick Up The Phone: As a young company, any mistake could be a dagger to the heart. But, things happen and sometimes you have to swallow the cost of a mistake for the overall good of the business. The best way to do that is to be honest, take responsibility, and do it one-to-one. Make the hard phone call instead of hiding behind an email. Your customer might be upset that their order was messed up, but you will build respect and trust when you show them you’re making a personal effort to make it right.From B2B to DTC: It may seem obvious, but moving from almost exclusively selling B2B to having 80% of your products sold DTC is a massive shift. Tune in to hear what that looked like for Hedley & Bennett, and advice for any company considering this move.For an in-depth look at this episode, check out the full transcript below. Quotes have been edited for clarity and length.---Up Next in Commerce is brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Respond quickly to changing customer needs with flexible Ecommerce connected to marketing, sales, and service. Deliver intelligent commerce experiences your customers can trust, across every channel. Together, we’re ready for what’s next in commerce. Learn more at salesforce.com/commerce---Transcript:Ellen Bennett:Great. Hi guys. My name is Ellen Bennett and I'm the founder and CEO of Hedley and Bennett.Stephanie Postles:Hey everyone. And welcome back to Up Next in Commerce. This is your host, Stephanie Postles, co-founder and CEO at Mission.org. Today on the show, we have Ellen Bennett, the founder and CEO of Hedley and Bennett. Ellen, welcome to the show.Ellen Bennett:Thanks for having me.Stephanie Postles:Yeah, I'm very excited to have you on. You're the first person with a outfit change that we've had before getting on. So it's a good day to have a new thing occur on a podcast interview.Ellen Bennett:I love color and I brought a light yellow cat and I had a dark yellow hat. So I just changed to a dark yellow hat in case everyone's wondering, what the hell is she talking about?Stephanie Postles:Yep. This is working for me more now. So now I'm ready to get into it. So your company looks awesome. I saw that Hedley and Bennett, you guys are creating handcrafted aprons and you're in over 4,000 restaurants and coffee shops, which is wild and crazy. So your story seems like one that I want to go back to the early days. Like before, you're in all these restaurants and coffee shops, how did you start? How did you even get into this industry?Ellen Bennett:So I used to cook professionally. I worked at a two Michelin star restaurant, hated our uniforms, and I wanted to make them better. I wanted to make people feel empowered and awesome. And you hear, oh, she has an apron company and you might think frilly, curly aprons, but I need you to stop what you're doing right now, go to our website to hedleyandbennett.com and check it out because you'll understand pretty immediately that we are the polar opposite of that. We are a really awesome collection of colorful, very well-made, very high quality products, which are kitchens, gear and aprons.Ellen Bennett:And it began with this idea of just make a good apron for the restaurant world, make the perfect apron. And it quickly evolved into this giant community of chefs that also felt like they needed that same product. And it was just me out of my house, out of my mini Cooper, running to farmer's markets, talking to chefs, really doing a very grassroots marketing approach to everything because frankly, I didn't have any investors. I didn't have any outside capital. I had me, myself and I against the world and my product. So I began with that and just built off of it, reinvested every penny I made back into the business and grew it chunk by chunk brick by brick. And it took time, but I believe that the good things take time. So I've been happy with our journey. We are eight years in now.Stephanie Postles:Awesome. So for anyone who has not worked in the restaurant business, which I have but I've not been back in the kitchen. I was like server, bartender, shot girl, hey. What makes a bad apron and what did you hear when you're going out and interviewing people and kind of doing that market research to create what you have today, which is an awesome, but sturdy looking apron. I saw one on your website with really cool pockets, but it was very trendy, but also look [inaudible]. How did you get there and what were you wearing before we were like, this sucks?Ellen Bennett:Yeah, totally. So before Hedley and Bennett was born, aprons were very much just a commodity as something you didn't think about, you didn't look at, it was just a very, very thin piece of material probably made out of polyester with a strap that wrapped around your neck. And that hung probably below your boobs, like really not fitting on a man or a woman or whoever. And it also had like shoe lay strings around the waist. It didn't adjust in any way and that was it. There was nothing else to it. And what I did with Hedley and Bennett is we made it a whole world. We made it a community. We made it mean something. And from the get-go we had people like Martha Stewart and David Chang and Nancy Silverton. And if you watch any show on TV right now from Top Chef to any show on the food network you will see this little red and on the chest and that is the heavily amended apron.Stephanie Postles:Wow. Okay. You [inaudible] right to the crazy success story now. Now, [inaudible] how did you get in front of Martha Stewart? How did you secure all these partnerships like that, that's crazy.Ellen Bennett:Believe it or not. And this is the 80 year old within me. I always say I'm like an eighty year... I'm secretly an 80 year old man, because I do things the old school way sometimes. I believe in really high quality always. And from day one we made a product that really worked and I've always listened to our customers deeply. Do you know what an NPS score is?Stephanie Postles:Yeah.Ellen Bennett:Yes.Stephanie Postles:Net Promoter Score.Ellen Bennett:Yes. So our NPS score is 80. And that's very high above industry standard, which ranges in the 60 camp. And we are constantly at 80 plus. And the reason we're in that camp is because we've never skimped on the quality of details. The fabrics that we use are everything from Japanese denims, to Italian chambrays to materials that you can beat up again, and again, and again, and this thing is going to last you forever. So you have the craziest chefs out there in the world wearing our products for so many years. Believe me, I got feedback throughout the years. So these kinds of guys, they just love the quality. They loved that it had a point of view and that you could have your own vibe. You didn't just need to be wearing a white apron. Why not have yourself have an identity in the kitchen that was more than just strap a white apron on.Stephanie Postles:Yep. But how did you get in front of them? Did you send them free samples to try and show them quality? How did you even get in front of these top shows?Ellen Bennett:A lot of it was word of mouth. So one chef would take it to an event and another chef would see that little red patch on the chest and be like, "what is that?" And then they'd say, "oh, there's a girl, her name's Ellen." They would call me the quote unquote apron lady. "Oh, you got to contact Ellen. She's making awesome stuff. These were the early days of Instagram. And when I went and met with David Chang, for example, in New York, I was introduced to him by a chef I met in LA. The chef from LA was like, "if you're ever in New York, let me know." And I of course let him know. So I reached out before I showed up to New York and I was like, "chef, I'm coming to New York. I'm so excited to come see your spot."Ellen Bennett:I was very interested in what he was doing and I happen to have aprons with me. So I obviously was going to show him when I was in New York. And he said, "yeah, come by my restaurant." I stopped by, I showed him aprons. He bought some from me and then he's like, "well, how else can I help you?" I was like, "you know what, I'd love to meet a few other chefs who do you know?" And he's like, "oh, David Chang is a good friend." Like, "can you reach out to him right now for me? I'll come over today." And he was like, "yeah, sure." And so then that chef emailed David Chang. He responded in like an hour later. I was standing inside Momofuku, convincing David Chang to buy aprons from me. And David was like, "I don't know who you are."Ellen Bennett:He was really nice, but there was nothing about Hedley and Bennett that existed the way it does now in the industry. But I was so excited at the idea of getting him aprons that I was like, "all right, do you need it on consignment? Do you need net 60? What do you need? I'm going to give it to you, but I'm not walking out of here without you wearing Hedley and Bennett. Because, I promise you're going to love it." And I had enough conviction in my product that I knew once he actually had his team wearing it, they would love it. And sure enough, David Chang and his restaurants have worn Hedley and Bennett for six plus years now.Stephanie Postles:And did they buy that day when you-Ellen Bennett:They did. They ordered 50 aprons, custom aprons from me. And he's like, "I don't even know how you did that, but all right, I'm excited." And I was like, "yay." And then I took a picture with him, put it on Instagram. Just using what I had, honestly, it was like focused on what you have and not what you don't have. And I was like, I have myself, I have this great product and I have a new customer. I'm going to talk about it. It was very basic, but I kept doing that again and again and again. And the flywheel just started spinning.Stephanie Postles:Yeah. That's such a good reminder too, about asking your current customers or your network for referrals. I think a lot of people feel awkward and uncomfortable about doing that. Especially when you make a sale to someone to then be like, and now I'm going to ask for that extra thing. But I found that usually people always say yes, like "yes, I'll try and find someone else in my network to help you. Yes. There's someone else that I know," but they wouldn't think about offering that up right from the beginning. But when you ask it's like all these doors open, I think not enough people ask though.Ellen Bennett:I agree. And one of the things that I've always championed within our organization is never treating people like a transaction. So when you are being friends with people and you actually care about them, and you're not just caring about making that sale, people are willing and much more willing to help you. And also if you are excited about what you're doing and you genuinely are there because you're trying to help in some capacity, I've just found that everyone is willing to get on that bandwagon. Like when that chef reached out to David Chang, he's like "this girl she's got hustle. She's figuring out. She's got this business." They appreciate when people try. And so you just kind of want to help people that are out there going out of their comfort zones.Stephanie Postles:Yeah. I completely agree. So how did you go about, getting back to the earlier days, like you're not a designer, you didn't have background in that. What was it like getting into that industry and trying to figure out, how do I get a product manufactured? How do I pivot that when I have feedback? Somethings going wrong. What did that look like? And what were some of the lessons from those early days?Ellen Bennett:I had some orders go south very frequently at the beginning. And they were very expensive as a tiny, small business. One of them being Bryan Voltaggio he ordered the biggest order I'd ever gotten. I think it was 150 aprons. And we had a mishap in sewing land and the sewers just didn't get it done in time. And we were on them and we were hounding them and they had a restaurant opening. And so you can imagine delivering 150 aprons after the restaurant opens on the other side of the United States is not right. And we had to just suck it up and make it right. I refunded part of it. I overnighted stuff. I covered the cost of it. I called the assistant and spoke to her personally and said, "I'm so sorry. This is what occurred. It's on us. We really messed up and we're going to make it right." And just owning your mistakes, especially when you're a small business hiding behind emails, this is where my 80 year old man comes out, pick up the phone.Ellen Bennett:There's nothing like human contact, especially when things go South. Do not try and resolve a problem or a deeply rooted issue on an email, have the balls to call the person and fix it. And people really appreciate that. For as technologically savvy as we all are, human connection will never surpass an email. I mean the other way around. So, that was a lot of what I did at the beginning when things went South. I would pick up the phone and call people and be like, "tell me what happened. How can we make this right. We'll take care of it." And we bid it many times where we covered costs on stuff.Stephanie Postles:Is it usually delays type of issues that-Ellen Bennett:It was delays, or there were errors on the fabric, or maybe it was a new fabric we were testing. We didn't test because we didn't even know to test fabrics. And so it may be a bled on their clothes. You name it, it happened. And there were times when customers absolutely were like, nope, you ruined it. And we had to go out and find other customers. But overall we were always very humble about our mistakes and just listened, fixed and course corrected pretty immediately. So if there was an issue with one type of material and we had several customers, we would proactively reach out to the other customers and say, "hey, it turns out there's something wrong with this. We need to fix it. We'd like to recover those products. We'll send you other ones. Let's make it right."Stephanie Postles:Yep. Got it. So how do you go about ingesting feedback now that you're in the 4,000 plus restaurants and locations? How do you take feedback like you did in the early days, which was probably much more like, one-off where you're like, "oh, good tip. I'm going to change it." What are you doing now with everything coming in.Ellen Bennett:Right. Yeah. Back in the day I was the windshield to the business. So I could kind of take it all in every single bit. Now we have a pretty extensive set of meetings and spreadsheets from every part of the business. So our social team online is feeding information in from Instagram and TikTok and direct messages that we get. My platform at Ellen Marie Bennett is pretty front and center too. So people will reach out to me directly and say things. When things are wrong, you hear about it. So I funnel that over to our social team, and then they aggregate it all and have a weekly meeting like an interdepartmental meeting between marketing and sales and production to ensure that those things are getting changed or fixed.Ellen Bennett:You can put a lot of technology behind that and aggregate surveys and things of that nature too, which we do. But I've found that just getting the right people on a cadence of a phone call has been really helpful to ensure that our e-comm team is making corrections to the site where things are difficult for customers or our product team hears about that one trending topic where this one apron is wrinkling in a way that none of the other ones do, so then we start course correcting on that. One of our values as a company is never stop improving. So we are constantly tinkering, and fixing, and tweaking, and editing and adjusting. And because we're also controlling the supply chain, it's easy for us to do that. It's not like we product one year out and then we can't adjust it. We're constantly adapting it.Stephanie Postles:Yeah. That's really great. Controlling that entire process from start to finish. As you've started to scale and grow, and you bring on more executives onto the team, you've got a CFO, have you ever felt a pull to kind of sacrifice quality here and there in the pursuit of better margins, because that seems like something a lot of businesses struggle with as they get bigger. Sometimes there's a point where you're like, eh, I remember the early days it used to be this and now... Have you felt any of that pull yet? And if so, how do you think about that?Ellen Bennett:Such a great question. Honestly, I've found that because we have a bigger team, we are able to scale with more infrastructure. It's just easier. And we actually have time to negotiate and we actually have time to buy in bigger volume on raw materials. So it helps our margin in the long run. So we've actually been able to maintain a lot of the same suppliers we used from the get-go, but grow with them. And because I started with them with one roll of fabric, and now we're buying tens of thousands of rolls monthly it's a very different relationship and they really appreciate us. Because also, back to my being an 80 year old man days, I never had any debt and I always paid everybody on time. So our vendors really valued us and value us to this day, because we're not on net 60 terms or anything with them. We pay them every month with no delays. So, that creates a lot of partnership. They want to help you because you've always helped them.Stephanie Postles:Yep [crosstalk].Ellen Bennett:So I've actually found the margin has gone up as we've scaled versus gone down. There was a long time there in Hedley and Bennett that we sacrificed quite a lot of margin to hit the quality that we wanted. And we did it anyway because we believe in quality first and foremost.Stephanie Postles:Yeah. That's awesome. And such a good point, too, of like, if you're scaling and growing your margins should get better. You don't always have to sacrifice on quality, but especially leaning into that relationship with your partners can really work wonders which is great.Ellen Bennett:Exactly. And just because somebody's price, what they offer you is the price that they're offering you doesn't mean you can't have a conversation. Just like I asked that chef do you know anybody? It's like, hey guys, is there anything else we can do to get this down? Are there other costs that we can adjust to bring your costs down? Is there anything we can do on our end to help mitigate some of this? And you find ways of being collaborative and your partners tend to say, yes. It's not just the hard balling them and trying to squeeze a penny down, but really listening to them and listening to your needs and finding a happy medium, a solution.Stephanie Postles:Yeah. Awesome. So at what point did you start to think about introducing new products? When were you like now's the time to have a new product come live?Ellen Bennett:Yeah. When we first started everything was pretty much B2B. So business to business and the company, all of these restaurants that we were in, and chefs we were outfitting like that was our bread and butter. And it created a lot of great cashflow because we would take a deposit at the beginning and ship the product once it was made, collect the other half. And the business was able to grow in that way. Organically though, behind the scenes, our D2C our direct consumer business was growing because all these people were seeing us on Food Network or Top Chef, you'll see that little red square ampersand patch on the chest and say, what is that? Oh, my favorite chef is wearing, I want to wear it.Ellen Bennett:So we were building this like online presence without even meaning to in a way. And I wanted to make product that resonated with all of our newer customers online and make something special for our restaurant customers. So I thought collaborations, that's the best way to do it. And that's where I got our toes dabbled into the world of new product. And we started with I believe one of our early collaborations was with The Hundreds, which is a really cool street wear brand here in LA. Then we did something with Parachute home, we've since gone on to do a collaboration with Vans and Madewell. But every single one of those collaborations brought us new eyeballs, it brought us new community and it brought something really fun to talk about.Ellen Bennett:And we never did it with anyone we didn't actually believe was a good partnership. It's like when you see a brand team up with, I don't know, they could be something totally different. And they team up with like an airline. And you're like, what does that even mean? What are you guys doing? We never did that. It always had to be genuine. And that really helped us get into new products because we were able to test and see what people responded to. So we launched a line of chef socks with this one company called Richer Poorer and everyone was like, "chef socks. What do you even mean with that?" And, oh my God, these chefs socks to this day, we still sell them. And we have an ongoing partnership now where they make our socks.Stephanie Postles:What are chef socks? Is it just comfy or thicker.Ellen Bennett:So you could wear them. They have compression but they're super colorful because obviously Hedley and Bennett is a really colorful fun company. And they also have fun sayings at the bottom. So it'll say like wake up and fight or whatever. So you've got, put your socks on and get out there and like kick at life.Ellen Bennett:So, that was a way that we got to test a new product be resourceful. Because, we didn't have to go make our own supply chain to create SOPs. And then we were able to tap into their network of community and world.Stephanie Postles:What does the breakout of work look like when you're partnering with someone like Madewell, because maybe it's not a sock company. It's like, we'll make the socks you target them to your audience, we'll do our thing. What does it look like if it's more of a big brand or like a Vans where it's like, okay, you've got your designs and things like that. Like who's doing what work?Ellen Bennett:Yeah. Such a good question. So when we did our collab with Madewell, we created the aprons. We manufactured them and they manufactured all of the apparel. So we did a jumpsuit and shirts and bandanas and a few other items. So things like a 12 piece collection and all the aprons were made by us. The designs came from their design team, combined with our input and edits. And the way we did it was we brought the function and the core base. And then they brought the design elements that they wanted to kind of plug in from the world of Madewell, and those are the best collaborations. When you find somebody that does something that you don't do and vice versa.Ellen Bennett:So with Vans, it's like they make shoes we don't. We made aprons, they don't. With Madewell we make really high pro-grade, high function product that's really beautiful and lasts forever and they have great designs. So you bring those two together and you end up with a jumpsuit that's made out of a beautiful stretch denim that has a towel loop on the side for towels for when you're cooking. But its also snaps instead of buttons so you can get in and out of it because if you're going to go pee while you're cooking or whatever, you don't have time to sit there and unbutton 40 buttons. So just thinking about it from a function standpoint, it really ended up being a perfect collaboration.Stephanie Postles:Got it. And do they feel pretty similar or is it very one-off, like very different kinds of relationships because I'm even thinking about like how do you break up the sales or who gets what on the backend?Ellen Bennett:I think it's really important when people are doing collaborations to be very open at the beginning about what your end goal is. And for Madewell we really wanted to tap into their audience and they wanted to tap into ours. So it was like, "okay, we're going to go heavy into marketing." I also really wanted to make a jumpsuit. We had never done work wear in that capacity. And so they were like, "great, we'll make those products. You make the aprons, we'll hit that consumer from a home and pro angle, but with the same product" and it was a perfect split. So you work it out based on what everybody's needs are. And you kind of like lay out all your cards on the table. And if someone is a bigger company, typically the larger company will cover more of let's say the marketing costs.Ellen Bennett:So Madewell did a lot of the photo shoot for our collaboration or when we did our launch with Vans, we did a huge party with them. We had it at our 16,000 square foot factory in LA, but then they brought people from the strokes to perform. So it is-Stephanie Postles:Go Vans!Ellen Bennett:Go Vans! I mean, music is their world. So that is how it ends up being really effective. You have to both pull in and pitch in from both sides or else it's not really a collaboration, it's not really a partnership. You're inventing some false thing behind the scenes in marketing land for a good reason to talk to your audience, but everyone can smell through bullshit these days. Like if it isn't genuine, don't do it.Stephanie Postles:Yeah. Have you had any partnership fails? You don't have to say any of the names that have been like, oh, this didn't work out and here's maybe why or what I would avoid next time that this is why it didn't work out well.Ellen Bennett:Yeah. I love that you asked me that because truthfully at the early days of Hedley and Bennett, we did so many partnerships with so many people. And we said yes to everything because we were learning, we were exploring, we were trying things. And I found that a lot of times we had the kind of chutzpah and initiative to make it work and sometimes the other side didn't. And so we found that we were doing a lot of the work, a lot of times. Not in any of the partnerships I mentioned, but somebody would reach out and they'd say, "oh my gosh, we love your brand. We'd love to collaborate." And next thing you know, we're like throwing them a party and I'm like, "wait, why is our marketing department throwing a party for a brand that doesn't even have any of their people coming in to support or help."Ellen Bennett:So we kissed some frogs and learned what we needed to ask. And I don't fault anyone for it, but learning to say no is just as important to learn than to say yes. You need to be able to draw the line. But if our team hadn't done all those different events, I don't know that we would have learned that. So we learned it the hard way, but sometimes experience teaches you.Stephanie Postles:Yeah. I love that. And how long does a... I'm diving deep because I've not talked about partnerships a lot on the shows that's why I'm really going in.Ellen Bennett:Oh, yeah. Go for it.Stephanie Postles:When do you start seeing the ROI kind of trail off? At what point does the excitement die down and then you kind of are like, okay onto the next partnership or how long does it normally last?Ellen Bennett:Oh yeah. That's great. Let's say it depends on how much ramp up you make to the partnership or the collaboration, and then how quickly the product sells out. So I'll give you one example. We did a big print with a print collection with a company called Rifle Paper Company. I don't know if you know who that is, but if you Google that you will recognize the floral print. Ellen Bennett:So we did a print with them and we had a 40,000 person sign up waitlist for when the product launched. And that was done three weeks before the product launched. And so we were able to pull in all these people top of the funnel and bring them in and have them be excited about it. And we were hitting them with different emails, talking about the product and when it was going to land. And then once the product landed, it was pretty exciting for I'd say like about a month, it was that time. And that product sold very well and drove a lot of traffic for the entire period it was not sold out. So we had it up, I think for two and a half months. And this was three years ago.Ellen Bennett:Now everything feels so accelerated. It's like, you get a product up, it's cool. Then something happens. And then the United States implodes in some way. And then we're off to the races. Talk about that. And then something happens on Reddit and then it goes over there. So I don't know, I think the news cycle and everything else has sped up dramatically from 2017.Ellen Bennett:So, I'd say a good two-ish months is usually the range. And with them, we did lots of social media posts on both accounts. And so she was posting about it. We were posting about it and that helped just build the hype and momentum on it. And then once it sold out, it was gone and then people were bummed because they didn't get it. So when we brought it back, like almost a year later for a limited drop, it sold so fast. I think it was gone in a couple of weeks.Stephanie Postles:So I want to circle back a little bit to the B2B, to D2C transition and talk about, how did you guys think about your tech stack and your website, because when you're doing B2B orders, they're probably used to a different, sometimes archaic system of I'm used to logging in and making my purchase or talking to my guy at this location. How did you think about that switch? And did you really change the user interface and how customers were interacting or did you just let it go and see if they would adapt to your new D2C way of selling?Ellen Bennett:We have a pretty unique kind of split in our organization because you have one team managing two very, very different channels with very different customers. And when we were smaller, it was manageable and you could figure it out. But now that we've grown so much and that we are, we're now 80% direct to consumer, it's a dramatically different tech stack. It's a dramatically different backend.Stephanie Postles:80% because the pie just grew bigger. You still probably have a lot of those B2B ones the pie just got bigger. Yeah. Okay.Ellen Bennett:That's right. So it used to be 50/50, and now it's 80/20, but growth on all levels. To your point, the 80% D2C really surpassed the B2B. So we would blend everything, which was really painful. It was really hard because you had one customer service team servicing a chef who needed something for his opening and then you had Maria from Minnesota, calling in who needed a strap change on her apron. And you had two people helping both so that was a little confusing and convoluted, but we were too small to be able to do anything more and to resource it fully in a different way.Ellen Bennett:And now that the business has expanded, we actually broke out B2B and created its own P&L. It has its own P&L, it has its own team and its own sales force that... We've always had a separate salesforce, but it was blended into the rest of the company now it's fully broken out. And on the backend, we are automating it. So we're creating a portal where our B2B customers can go log on, get the discounts and have it be a little bit more easy and automated for them.Stephanie Postles:Yeah. So what portal are you finding success with? Because, I could see a lot of businesses wanting to go the other way. Like there's a ton of D2C right now. And B2B is sometimes where people also, they wish to be. So what backend, what tech are you using to make that easy from a log-in perspective versus consumer?Ellen Bennett:We have basically cloned our site and have done a wholesale site as a V1 and are working based off of that, seeing what works and what doesn't. I've also gone the polar opposite direction when we added new things on like last year, we built a brand new site from head to toe and everything was new and we tested nothing. And that was not great either. So we kind of, over-indexed on like, let's go really basic with the B2B portal and learn what is and isn't working and then build off of that with surveys and conversations with our B2B customers to learn what is working and what isn't.Ellen Bennett:Sometimes you don't have the resources. Sometimes you don't have the time. You have to find what works for your company. And perfect sometimes gets in the way of progress. So for B2B, we just said, let's do a portal. It'll be easier. It'll help our sales team. A lot of our leads are inbound because people just love our products, so they reach out to us and we have a way to have them just buy straight from inventory without talking to someone.Stephanie Postles:That's great. I always hate when it's like contact us and we'll let you know the pricing on things. I'm like, what if I just want to buy?Ellen Bennett:Exactly. And we got that feedback from our customers where they're like, "hey, I have a restaurant I'm working all day. I don't always have time, even though your staff is awesome. I don't have time to wait for Kate to get back to me. I need to just order this and be done with it." And so we thought, oh, okay, let's just do this online and take it from there. So that's how B2B has kind of evolved and began to stand on its own two feet next to D2C.Stephanie Postles:That's cool. And do you allow for customization within that platform.Ellen Bennett:Offline, online that would have cost us a $100,000 to build that feature and I'm just not sure that we're ready to make that commitment because we're still on V1, but we'll learn. We'll learn and see how much demand we get. We have an entire ERP system offline that you can do customization within Hedley and Bennett, but you do have to talk to a sales rep.Stephanie Postles:Yeah. That seems like a tricky place. I'm even thinking about companies like Swag.com which we've had on the show. And I've used them before and thinking about trying to even get this logo, I'm pointing to my hoodie that I'm wearing, like what's hard for... And there was many times back and forth and it was a [inaudible] they were like Steph that's like weirdly centered or that's like too big. It was actually helpful having someone tell me, that looks crappy let us help you.Ellen Bennett:Yeah. So it is definitely merging an old school industry that required a lot of hand holding to optimizing it in ways where people are willing to make a few concessions because they want to ease or they want the speed and they're like, "okay, fine. I won't talk to Kate, but I'll get to order it right now. Maybe I won't get embroidery, but I'll get the aprons by Monday." And so you just have those trade-offs and people are willing to make them.Stephanie Postles:Yep. All right. And the last thing I want to talk about before we happen to the lightning round is your facility in LA it's known, and it's kind of famous for its features. I think I read it had tree houses or zip lines. And after meeting you now, I'm actually not surprised at all, but tell me a little bit about how you thought about building your facility in LA and why you built it that way.Ellen Bennett:Yeah. So when we got the factory, about six years ago, it was an awful giant, ugly, ugly building. And my team thought she's lost it. What are we doing here in the middle of Vernon and next to downtown LA. So I thought, "no, guys, we're going to build a kitchen and we're going to add a zip line and there's going to be a slide and just tree houses, and it's going to be amazing and everything's going to be done here." None of that existed in the building, but I had a vision of how I wanted it to be.Ellen Bennett:And sure enough, we now have all of those pieces in here. And we teamed up with Samsung and built this gorgeous kitchen where we've hosted a lot of events. And it's been a really wild evolution of Hedley and Bennett going from this very chef oriented company to now this very home cook oriented business with so many more customers than just our restaurant customers. But at the heart of it, it's still a kitchen. And in our factory, the kitchen still brings our B2B and our D2C customers together.Ellen Bennett:Now we shoot videos for TikTok and social media and Instagram out of that kitchen. Yet we also used to host cookbook events for a chef that was launching a book. So kitchen is at our heart, no matter what we do and Hedley and Bennett land, whether it's B2B or D2C it will always be connected to that core which is empowering and inspiring people to cook.Stephanie Postles:That's awesome. Yeah. And such a good reminder too, of how to really get the most use of a space. So many people buy it for just one little small purpose and then when that purpose is gone, they're like, "oh, shoot, I shouldn't have maybe gotten that retail location," but for you, it's like you're using it for social, and video and events, which hopefully will come back soon. So yeah [inaudible].Ellen Bennett:Yeah, exactly. I think that's in Hedley and Bennett's DNA. We're all about multi-use, being resourceful and having everything have a dual function. Our aprons are not just for chefs they're also for home cooks, they are for potters and painters and designers can wear them to protect their clothes. So it's kind of for everyone, but built specifically with chefs in mind.Stephanie Postles:Awesome. All right, well, let's move over to the lightning round. The lightning round is brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. This is where I'm going to ask a question and you have 30 seconds or less now to answer.Ellen Bennett:Okay.Stephanie Postles:All right. First one, what one thing will have the biggest impact on e-commerce in the next year?Ellen Bennett:Ooh. The one thing in e-commerce. It's such a cliche word, but it's the truth. I do believe that authenticity and brands that are real brands, not just pretty packaging and then you get a shitty product inside the pretty packaging. I believe those are the brands that will survive. There are people that care about what they're actually making and they believe in that product having longevity in life and more than just one click and then your customer is upset because they bamboozled. So, quality and authenticity in the products that you are making are always going to be important in e-com. Next year and the year after.Stephanie Postles:Yes. I love that. What's the nicest thing anyone's ever done for you?Ellen Bennett:Every person that has said yes and no to me has always... I believe all the yeses and nos that I've ever gotten have been the nicest thing that I've ever gotten because they've opened and shut different doors along the way that have forced me to be resourceful. That have forced me to experience hardship and have forced me to experience amazing feelings. And when you have a robust set of life experiences, you can tackle more things, never think about, oh my God, woe is me. This happened to me. It's like, hell yes, that you got through that. And that you now have that notch on your life belt of experience. And I believe you got to live life and feel life and go through the ups and the downs of it to come out on the other side with that much more context. And then you have that much more to pull from.Stephanie Postles:[inaudible]. That is a good one. That's one of my favorite answer so far. What's up next on your reading list?Ellen Bennett:My book.Stephanie Postles:Tell me about it.Ellen Bennett:I wrote a book. It took me two and a half years and it launches in April.Stephanie Postles:Interesting.Ellen Bennett:Yes, it launches with Penguin Random House and it's called "Dream First Details Later: How to Quit Overthinking and Make It Happen."Stephanie Postles:[inaudible].Ellen Bennett:That's high up on my reading list. Also, I'm obsessed with the entire series of Lencioni books.Stephanie Postles:Okay. I actually don't know what that is.Ellen Bennett:It's very nerdy, but it's like "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team," "Death by Meetings," "The Advantage."Stephanie Postles:Oh, got it.Ellen Bennett:They're all these story telling books that are about business and they're digestible and easy read. So I make my entire leadership team read all of them when they join.Stephanie Postles:That's good. And I can't wait to read your book that also sounds really good. What's your favorite e-commerce tool that you're experimenting with right now or you're having success with?Ellen Bennett:So it's not directly e-comm, but it really helps it. And it's called Dash Hudson. And it is a really incredible social media tool that drives a ton of data and analytics and helps show your team how much... We have a hard time figuring out how much traffic is being driven from social and where and how many purchases are coming from it. So this has given us a heavy dose of visibility. You're more empowered if you have more data and you can track things. So I really love Dash Hudson.Stephanie Postles:Cool. I have to check that one out. All right. Ellen, well, it's been a blast having you on, obviously you're super fun. Your company is amazing. Where can people find out more about you and Hedley and Bennett?Ellen Bennett:Yes. They have to go to our website, www.hedleyandbennett.com. And that's H-E-D-L-E-Y. And then our Instagram and our TikTok is also Hedley and Bennett. And my personal account is Ellen Marie Bennett. Our TikTok is highly amazing and packed with great videos about tips and tricks for the kitchen and how to just make you a bad-ass when you're cooking, whether you like cooking or not. So go follow all of them. And I have a pet pig that's 200 pounds.Stephanie Postles:That's enough of a reason [inaudible].Ellen Bennett:That one's on Ellen Marie Bennett. So just go join our wild world on the internet and say hi and say you heard me on this podcast. And thank you so much for having me, Stephanie. This was so much fun.Stephanie Postles:Yeah, I agree. We'll have to have you back and then maybe you'll bring your pet pig and we'll call it like a round table with your pet. That's great.Ellen Bennett:With Oliver.Stephanie Postles:Oliver, that's my son's name, how perfect [crosstalk].Ellen Bennett:Oh, my Gosh. Amazing.Stephanie Postles:All right. Thank you so much, Ellen.Ellen Bennett:Thank you.

This week I have the Creative Director of Richer Poorer, Jenny Alaimo! In the episode, we discuss navigating 2020 as a fashion brand, crafting thoughtful basics, giving back to the community, California, and a lot more! Jenny Alaimo IG: @somethingsomeonejr Richer Poorer IG: @richerpoorer Richer Poorer Website: https://richer-poorer.com/ Support Boys & Girls of Metro LA: https://www.bgcmla.org/donate/holidaywishlist Support Midnight Mission: https://app.mobilecause.com/e/1sIwQQ?vid=fgeqw&_ga=2.41070562.150758555.1602883023-743173310.1599067055 Support South LA Cafe: https://www.southlacafe.com/ Hello, I'm Alexander Walker of The Fashion Collective Podcast! If you're a returning listener, welcome back! If you're a new listener, then thank you for taking the time to check us out! The Fashion Collective Podcast is a place for creatives to learn, share, collaborate, and support each other. Each week, you'll get in-depth interviews with creators talking about their creative process, inspirations, giving advice, and sharing their opinions on the industry's major topics. If you're interested, I would encourage you to follow us on social media to get updates on all new podcasts. Website: Link: https://anchor.fm/thefashioncollective/support Support: https://anchor.fm/thefashioncollective/support Social Media: Instagram: @thefashioncollectivepodcast & @alexwalkerph Twitter: @TFC_POD Available Platforms: The Fashion Collective Podcast will be available on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, and Patreon. Patreon: To get full access to all the podcast episodes, private playlists, live streams, videos, and much more, you can sign up to be a patron on our Patreon page for only $5/month. Link: https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=35257084 The Fashion Collective Mix Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/the-fashion-collective-mix-2/pl.u-MDAWvJjFGaBqkR Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2pe55VPWVvt04XiqT4cS0z?si=AzriDzDCRAGh4CvMBactuA --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thefashioncollective/support

Are you wearing sweats right now? We’re guessing the answer is yes. The pandemic has changed the way many of us are approaching our daily wardrobes, but Richer Poorer has been designing “loungewear for anywhere” for 10 years. Today, we talk to Co-Founder and CEO Iva Pawling about the growth of the business since March and how staples like boxer briefs, bralettes, and stylish fleece are delivering confidence to people in comfort.

In a three-week period shortly after the pandemic outbreak, Richer Poorer sold three times as many sweatpants than in all of 2019. That was a small part of an overall trend for the basics clothing brand: The first five months of 2020 have greatly boosted online sales, transforming it into an e-commerce business first and foremost. "We essentially had to kind of rebuild and restructure our team overnight to now go, 'OK, we're a DTC brand,'" the company's CEO Iva Pawling said on the Glossy Podcast. Richer Poorer had already been planning to gradually shift to a focus on e-commerce over wholesale. The plan was to grow direct sales to 40% of revenue in 2020 and reach parity next year on the way to a primarily DTC model. Now, Pawling estimates e-commerce is set to make up roughly 75% of the company's bottom line this year. Pawling said that a pivot in branding, already underway before the pandemic struck, has helped the company pitch its products as right for the moment. "We very much had rebranded under this belief that what we're here to do is deliver confidence and comfort -- that your comfortable clothes don't have to be these items that are just stay-at-home because they look sloppy and you don't feel comfortable going outside in them." In a stroke of luck, the company's fall 2020 collection -- planned as far back as last November -- conceptualized around "being the most comfortable at home," Pawling said. And because it's now seeing a much higher return on digital advertising, it's increased spending on that front. "We had suddenly way more eyeballs on us and traffic coming to us, which helps. And then on the other side, a lot of people that we were competing against from an ads perspective, digitally, had completely just turned their ad spend off when this happened. So we really were able to fast forward quite a bit of growth based on those things." As for retail, Pawling said that a previous plan to open a brick-and-mortar store in late 2020 is now completely off the table. The earliest the company will tackle physical retail is 2022, she said. Pawling is pretty used to tumult. She co-founded Richer Poorer in 2010 -- as a purveyor of midrange socks for men, exclusively -- before she and her co-founder Tim Morse sold it to Shoes.com in 2015. But their new owner's business model wasn't as sound as they had expected. "The whole thing just imploded," Pawling said. She and Morse had to convince two board members to buy the business out. Weeks later, Shoes.com filed for bankruptcy. Richer Poorer's ownership has since returned to Pawling and Morse, who have turned it into a clothing line that caters mostly to women. As for the socks? "They make up about 8% of the business at this point," Pawling said.

Iva Pawling is the co-founder and CEO of Richer Poorer. Founded in 2010, Richer Poorer has been on a mission to make everyone’s top-drawer staples a little cooler, a little softer, and fit a whole lot better. Iva was lucky to start her career in the PR closet of Kate Spade in 2003. With some serious determination, luck and grit, Iva and her co-founder Tim Morse have led the company through fundraising; a successful acquisition to Shoes.com, followed by a repurchase of the brand to be privately owned by the two co-founders again. Richer Poorer now works with over a thousand retailers globally, maintains operations out of their corporate office and in-house fulfillment center in Southern California, and employs nearly 40 incredible people whom she is passionate about leading. Social Media: @richerpoorer @ivapawling

Tim Morse of SoCal apparel brand Richer Poorer discusses building an omnichannel DTC brand. In this episode you will learn from Tim:How a high-growth apparel brand successfully expanded from wholesale to direct-to-consumerCreative retail problem solving in the era of COVIDTransitioning from niche product categories to cross-category assortment and promotionTransitioning from a 3PL warehouse to owned distribution centerKey DTC KPIs including contribution margin ROI analysis of marketing campaigns and decisioning on customer lifetime value (CLV)Using ecommerce and DTC as demand signals for your wholesale buyers for omnichannel successYou can subscribe to the SoundCommerce Podcast on Spotify, iTunes and Stitcher to ensure that you do not miss any upcoming episodes.

“None of us are coming out of this the way we went in” While COVID-19 has had a significant impact on all of us, its impact on New York creatives has been particularly difficult. With that, I wanted to use this time to check back in with some of your favorite Naked Beauty guests who are finding new ways to define their craft and themselves. Featuring Raisa Flowers, Illeisha Lussiano, and Vic Styles, this episode is all about quarantine self-care, DIY beauty routines, and optimal Netflix binging. Tune in and enjoy! Links to Products/Resources Mentioned: CLOTHING: Free People New Intimates , Richer Poorer, Soft FocusHAIR: Cold-Pressed Castor Oil , Davines Sea Salt Scrub, Act + Acre Scalp Detox, Mo Knows Hair, Prose Hair, Aveda Sea Moss Conditioner, Bonnet Hood Hair Dryer, Mixed Chicks Deep ConditionerSKIN: StackedSkincare Dermaplaning Tool, Flamingo Face Wax Kit, Drunk Elephant Babyfacial, Wipeout Makeup Brush Cleaner, Raisa’s Dazed Beauty Makeup TutorialTV & MOVIES: The Kingmaker (Showtime), Unorthodox (Netflix), Diana: In Her Own Words (Netflix)Join the Naked Beauty Community on IG:

It’s total mid-February vibes around here, as evidenced by the fact that we’re entertaining ourselves with new egg preparations and spending our weekend nights getting our jewelry in order. And when we do leave the house? Well, we’re pulling on the tallest, warmest socks we can come by.   The linkage: It’s all about tall socks for wide-leg pants in the winter, especially ones from Richer Poorer and Raey. Alert, alert: Weleda Skin Food now comes in body-butter form. We’re living in a peak organization era. Shout out to The Container Store (for Elfa, of course, and also linen drawer dividers), Yamazaki (see: this TP stand, this side table trash can, this towel rack, this leaning coat rack, and whole slew of jewelry organizers), Muji (see: more jewelry organizers), Marie Kondo’s shop, Hay (very into these plastic crates), Kept (this excellent laundry hamper), Open Spaces (especially nice-looking shelf risers), and Food52 (we won’t shut up about them, we know). Dims furniture is real cute. Claire has their bar cart, and we both want their vanity. The latest in (our) egg prep: cooked in cream, Julia Turshen’s fried eggs with yogurt method, and a French omelet via this Bon App video (start at 17:07). Are trendy egg brands a thing? Happy Egg Co. and Vital Farms make us think so. (Sidenote: Kate’s Homemade Butter—try it.) Give Biossance Squalane + Lactic Acid Resurfacing Night Serum a go. It’s 20% off with the code ATHINGORTWO20. YAY.   Produced by Dear Media

In Part 2 of this feature, Richer Poorer Co-Founders Iva Pawling and Timothy Morse continue to share their journey of building a premium apparel brand with values.    In part 2, Iva & Timothy share their journey including, Why you should let the product do the talking, Why their Dirty Hands Club is Key to building an emotion connection with their customers, Why the community, curation, and experience concept is so important, Why Brands are really an extension of human beings, Why Richer Poorer resonates with their customers through their values, How "Brands grown in the Lab" can't compete in the long run, Why Brand can't hide behind a corporate veil anymore, and What the future holds for Richer Poorer, and so much more.    Join us while Ramon Vela interviews Iva and Timothy in Part 2 of this episode and listen to them share the inside story of a brand. For more on Richer Poorer visit: https://richer-poorer.com/ Visit the partners who make this show possible: Privy - https://www.privy.com/cf Churn Buster -  https://churnbuster.io/pod Retention Science - RetentionScience.com      

In the beginning, Richer Poorer Co-Founders Iva Pawling and Timothy Morse thought they would slow roll the launch of their new brand.  They thought it would be less risky and they could slowly fund the business while keeping their day jobs. That all changed when Iva's sister and brother-in-law (Co-Founders of Gorjana), strongly suggested that if they were going to do it, they had to go all in. Nearly 9 years later, Richer Poorer is growing faster than ever, still focused on making clothes that feel comfortable, fit great, and are available at a great price point.    In part 1 of this incredible episode, Iva & Timothy share their journey including How the casual dress trend first started with dotcom boom, Why they originally wanted to slow roll the launch of their brand, How they self-funded the company, Why you must really really understand your unit economics, How building the brand using wholesale margins, helped them when selling digitally, Why you never really know what you're getting yourself into when starting a brand, What role the group, The Black Keys played in their success, Why having a co-founder is a lot like marriage, and so much more.    Join us while Ramon Vela interviews Iva and Timothy in Part 1 of this episode and listen to them share the inside story of a brand. For more on Richer Poorer visit: https://richer-poorer.com/ Visit the partners who make this show possible: Privy - https://www.privy.com/cf Churn Buster -  https://churnbuster.io/pod Retention Science - RetentionScience.com    

— Show Notes —The Guest: Richer PoorerEdited by George Drake, Jr.Music by Lucas Brahme— About Loose Threads —Subscribe to our weekly newsletter for the latest analysis and podcasts: http://eepurl.com/buLQY9TwitterFull TranscriptThe Loose Threads Podcast explores the intersection of consumer, retail and commerce. Hosted by Richie Siegel, the founder of Loose Threads, each episode features an in-depth conversation with one guest about their founding story and how it fits into the current state of the industry. Guests come from all different backgrounds, spanning the consumer goods, fashion, retail and technology industries. The unifying thread is always the rapid change facing the industry and how entrepreneurs are responding. You can listen to the podcast on any player of your choice, in addition to on LooseThreads.com.

Iva Pawling is the co-founder and CEO and Chief Fire Put-ter Out-ter, of Richer Poorer, a multi-million dollar men’s and women’s elevated basics brand. Founded in 2010, Richer Poorer has been on a mission to make everyone’s top-drawer staples a little cooler, a little softer, and fit a whole lot better. https://richer-poorer.com In this episode, Iva shares great advice on creating company culture in your business because it is a vital part of your foundation. Taking care of your people, so they are happy to come to work, listening to the customer, and how to balance work and life. Yes, it’s okay to hire a Nanny! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nancymensahtw/support

After studying communication, Iva Pawling, co-founder and CEO of Richer Poorer, found her start in fashion at Kate Spade's rotational program a young professional. After learning the ins and outs of every department, from answering customer phone calls to working in production, Iva realized she wanted to create a brand that represented her own vision. Her brand Richer Poorer starting out as a sock company, Iva talks about how she entered a business that she knew nothing about. On this episode, Iva shares her tips for new entrepreneurs, how Richer and Poorer grew as a successful brand, tips on time management and being productive, as well as the role of resilience in the start-up world. 

After studying communication, Iva Pawling, co-founder and CEO of Richer Poorer, found her start in fashion at Kate Spade’s rotational program a young professional. After learning the ins and outs of every department, from answering customer phone calls to working in production, Iva realized she wanted to create a brand that represented her own vision. Her brand Richer Poorer starting out as a sock company, Iva talks about how she entered a business that she knew nothing about. On this episode, Iva shares her tips for new entrepreneurs, how Richer and Poorer grew as a successful brand, tips on time management and being productive, as well as the role of resilience in the start-up world. 

Iva Pawling, Co-Founder/CEO/Chief Fire Putter-Outter of Richer Poorer joins Baily to talk about how she and her Co-Founder, Tim Morse have maintained a successful partnership for nearly a decade (lots of communication and complementary skillsets), the big lessons learned from doing tons of product collaborations over the years (be clear about what you need for the partnership to be successful and make sure you know what your partner's goals are too), and why they don't buy into influencer marketing and instead focus on human collaboration (like the time they took five entrepreneurs to Hawaii for a “Workcation”.) Visit bailyhancock.com/scl/2 for the complete show notes

On this Episode:Iva Pawling, Co-Founder/CEO/Chief Fire Putter-Outter of Richer Poorer joins Baily to talk about: How she and her Co-Founder, Tim Morse have maintained a successful partnership for nearly a decade (lots of communication and complementary skillsets) The big lessons learned from doing tons of product collaborations over the years (be clear about what you need for the partnership to be successful and make sure you know what your partner’s goals are too) Why they don’t buy into influencer marketing and instead focus on human collaboration (like the time they took five entrepreneurs to Hawaii for a “Workcation”) Show Notes:Follow Iva on Instagram at @IvaPawling Follow Richer Poorer on Instagram at @RicherPoorer Iva’s favorite collaboration tool: Asana Join the Collaboration Coalition Facebook Group Submit a question for the Collaboration Q&A segment at the end of the show About Iva:Iva Pawling is the Co-Founder/CEO/Chief Fire Putter-Outter of Richer Poorer, a men's and women's elevated basics brand founded in 2010. The independently-owned brand is sold in over nine hundred retailers across the globe, and maintains operations out of their California based office in San Juan Capistrano. Iva's career began in the PR closet of Kate Spade in New York City, back in 2003. It was there she learned about the inner workings of the fashion world where she knew her interest would keep her. From there, Iva continued down the PR path to the furthest location possible in the US, Hawaii. There, she was an Account Executive at Bennet Group Public Relations, focusing on clients in the fashion and lifestyle space. A move to California propelled her back into the brand side, joining her sister's namesake jewelry brand, Gorjana. She was the VP of Business Development there, and after four years of cutting her teeth at the start-up, she took the leap to start Richer Poorer. Iva resides in Laguna Beach, California with her husband, Andrew, and their son, Ford and baby daughter, Joanie.

Not every startup can say that they bought back their brand after being acquired, but Richer Poorer did — just in the nick of time. The company is seven years old, but co-founder Iva Pawling admits that they're still scrappy, and they use that versatility as a tool on both their ecommerce and traditional retail platforms. In this episode, Richer Poorer founder, Iva Pawling talks about balancing distribution channels, learning from big mistakes, making decisions based on data, making a mobile ball pit, and staying inspired amidst the chronically glamorized entrepreneur hustle.