The Glossy Podcast

Eyewear brand founder Garrett Leight discusses the success of his brand, collaborations with other brands, and opening nine stores. He shares plans for a website refresh and marketing strategies. The podcast also covers challenges of selling eyewear online, unisex designs, current trends in frames, and navigating economic ups and downs.

On the Glossy Week in Review podcast, senior fashion reporter Danny Parisi and editor-in-chief Jill Manoff break down some of the biggest fashion news of the week.This week, we discuss the diverging fortunes of Pandora and De Beers and how they exemplify what’s happening in jewelry; the CFDA Awards, including the big winners; and The RealReal’s continued efforts to reach profitability.

In 2016, Molly Howard, Valerie Macaulay and Meredith Melling launched the fashion brand La Ligne determined to do fashion and business differently. For their part, Macaulay and Melling had been Vogue editors for years and had grown tired of brands "that felt like they had to reinvent themselves season after season," according to Howard. Meanwhile, Howard had spent a couple of years working long hours in investment banking for Credit Suisse. At the time, she'd decided that, when her time came to run a company, she'd give everyone a voice by doing away with traditional hierarchies. What's more, she'd start the workday at 10 a.m. Now CEO of La Ligne, Howard’s made good on those promises, she said on the latest episode of the Glossy Podcast. And Macaulay and Melling have successfully disrupted the fashion system by fulfilling their desire for a "timeless, democratic" brand. La Ligne’s pieces center on the classic stripe pattern, yet the brand offers plenty of versatility — it even sells denim.  Howard, Macaulay and Melling were first introduced after a common acquaintance noticed that they were all consulting brands but in very different ways: Howard was offering business assistance, while Macaulay and Melling were supporting creative teams. Since coming together to launch La Ligne, their complementing strengths have served the business well. For one, the brand just launched its fifth retail location, in Marin County, California, plus it’s currently expanding internationally. And, it’s worth noting, its styles were “Anna Wintour’s preferred Covid attire,” said Howard, referencing images of the Vogue editor during lockdown. 

On the Glossy Week in Review podcast, senior fashion reporter Danny Parisi and editor-in-chief Jill Manoff break down some of the biggest fashion news of the week.This week, we discuss some of the challenges facing Canadian outerwear brand Canada Goose, the reason Watchbox underwent a rebrand and the reports that Alo Yoga is seeking a $10 billion valuation.

For Hervé Léger, the early aughts — and its big celeb-driven PR moments — are back.  “I wanted to be back in Us Magazine,” said Melissa LeFere-Cobb, division head of Hervé Léger, while discussing her plans to reignite the brand on the Glossy Podcast. She was referencing Hervé Léger’s original heyday, when the brand’s signature bandage dresses were a style staple for every “it” girl from Paris Hilton to Britney Spears. In 2021, three years after stepping into her role and getting the brand’s new products into the hands of stylist Law Roach and others with fashion influence, LeFere-Cobb’s wish came true. Celebs including Jennifer Lopez began re-embracing the brand, and Us, among other publications, took notice.“The bandage dress will always be a pillar” of Hervé Léger, said Michelle Ochs, who was enlisted by LeFere-Cobb to join the brand as creative director in June. Prior, she was one-half of the creative duo behind the fashion brand Cushnie et Ochs, before going solo via the Et Ochs brand in 2021.However, today, thanks in large part to the fresh eye that Ochs is bringing to its collections, Hervé Léger is much more than body-con minidresses — and it’s in growth mode. Together, LeFere-Cobb and Ochs are setting plans for product category and international expansion as they build toward the brand’s next great era. This episode was recorded during a Glossy+ member event at the Hervé Léger showroom in the Empire State Building. 

On the Glossy Week in Review podcast, senior fashion reporter Danny Parisi and editor-in-chief Jill Manoff are joined by Glossy’s new West Coast Correspondent, Lexy Lebsack, and break down some of the biggest fashion news of the week.On this week’s episode, we discuss how luxury brands are dealing with the many factors slowing their growth, why Steve Madden acquired the apparel brand Almost Famous and how beauty brands are dealing with Prop 65 lawsuits.

After working 20-plus years in investment banking sales and trading with a focus on retail companies, Louisa Schneider was inspired by her daughter to create the brand Rowan in 2018. Schneider realized that the ear-piercing category was focused primarily on fashion and convenience rather than the piercing procedure and healing process. Since then, the company has focused on a procedure-first approach, with nurses performing its piercings. It leveraged insights from its nurses and medical board to create single-use hand-pressurized devices for piercing that are more sanitary and precise than traditional piercing techniques. Rowan is the only piercing company that has its own medical board, which includes a plastic surgeon and a pediatrician.Now, Schneider is growing the business while keeping practicality in mind. In January, Rowan launched earrings that can be worn while playing sports. And It launched its first standalone store in 2019 in New York. Creating an inclusive working culture for nurses and making stores a place where customers can celebrate special moments have remained priorities.Rowan has raised more than $30 million to date from Kevin Durant's Thirty Five Ventures and Beechwood Capital, and it's now focused on a country-wide mall expansion. It currently has 30 freestanding locations, with six more underway. Rowan expects to double the number of its locations within the next year. Schneider also plans to tackle global expansion over the next three years with hundreds of stores. The company briefly experimented with a “store-within-a-store” model at 300 Target locations in 2021, but it now focuses on its own locations, where it has greater control over the customer experience and culture. Schneider joined the Glossy Podcast to talk about the brand and its recent openings. In October, Rowan opened its doors in Preston Royal Village Mall in Dallas. It is the fourth ear-piercing brand to move into the Dallas market in the past three years, joining Wildlike, Maria Tash and, most recently, Studs. The Preston Royal store is the brand’s fifth Texas location, following stores in Southlake and Fort Worth.

On the Glossy Week in Review podcast, senior fashion reporter Danny Parisi and international reporter Zofia Zwieglinska break down some of the biggest fashion news of the week.On this week’s episode, we discuss how Adidas has fared since its decision to cut ties with Kanye West, why TikTok launched a new authentication service for vintage handbags and to what extent the collapse of one of the largest lab-grown diamond manufacturers will impact the industry.

Century 21 was once known as the go-to New York City destination for bargain hunters looking to find a treasure amid racks of off-price clothes. But the pandemic had a negative impact on the company, which was overstretched with 13 stores, and it was forced to close down in 2020.But according to Larry Mentzer, COO of the newly relaunched Century 21, plans for the store’s big comeback were already being laid out before it even closed.“Once the decision was made, that we needed to permanently close the business, it was probably that same day or the next day that the conversation started about reopening the business and relaunching the brand,” Mentzer said on this week's episode of the Glossy Podcast. “We are fortunate that we have passionate owners that just have a love for New York City, a love for retail and a love for the Century 21 brand, which was not only a New York City institution, but a family institution.”Mentzer and Judy Duzich, vp and general merchandising director of Century 21, joined the Glossy Podcast to talk about the store’s grand reopening in May of this year. Lots of changes were made, according to Duzich, including paring the retail fleet down from 13 stores to just one.

Digiday Media and WorkLife is proud to present season two of The Return, a podcast about what it’s like for Gen Z to enter the workforce for the first time in a post-pandemic world.In season one, The Return followed an Atlanta-based advertising agency as the company returned to the office after a two-year pandemic hiatus. There were clear challenges among this population of workers who knew what a “normal” office used to look like. But what about a generation that is entering the workforce post-pandemic and has nothing to compare it to? That’s what we uncover across eight episodes in season two of The Return.We see headlines repeatedly accusing this generation of being lazy, unmotivated, quiet quitters. But what's the real story behind this generation's attitude about work?In season two of The Return, we speak with Gen Zers across the country to lift the lid on what motivates and inspires this young generation of workers, and how they’re not as work-shy as they’re often depicted. We also speak with seasoned workplace experts who can put the changing expectations of these young professionals into context.We dive into why values are so important to Gen Zers, whether or not they are loyal to their employers, how they use TikTok for career advice, what it means to be a young professional who is a boss to older workers, and so much more.Season two of The Return is hosted by Cloey Callahan, a Gen Zer and senior reporter at Digiday Media’s WorkLife, and produced by Digiday Media's audio producer Sara Patterson.Subscribe to the WorkLife podcast now on Apple Podcasts – or wherever you get your podcasts – to hear the first episode on Wednesday, Oct. 18.