The Glossy Podcast

Starting with a website and a tiny budget, friends Henrietta Rix and Orlagh McCloskey launched women's fashion brand Rixo in 2015 while studying fashion in London. Eight years later, the brand is growing, with a 70% revenue increase in 2022, plus it's launching new categories and expanding within the U.S. market. Rixo is best known for its vintage-inspired printed dresses and counts Taylor Swift and the Duchess of Cambridge as fans.Rixo sells through its own stores, wholesale channels including independent stores and department stores, and its own e-commerce site. During the 2022 fiscal year, it earned $21 million in revenue, compared to $12 million the year prior. In April, the brand launched a flagship store on London's King’s Road, enlisting McCloskey’s twin sister, Culpa Studio's Gemma McCloskey, to design it The 5,000-square-foot space includes a standalone bridal suite that's available for private appointments, as well as alterations services, a coffee kiosk, cocktails and a private events “apartment” space on the second floor. In January, Rixo introduced product categories including homeware, nightwear and bridal. Rixo is the only brand on the London Fashion Week schedule producing clothes in U.K. sizes through 24. It will launch its first styles available up to size 26 with influencer Abisola Omole in July. On the Glossy Podcast, co-founder Henrietta Rix discusses the brand’s plans for the U.S., its new category strategy, the need for more inclusive sizing in the contemporary fashion market, the brand effects of Brexit and Rixo's mission to redefine accessible bridal shopping experiences. 

On the Glossy Week in Review podcast, international reporter Zofia Zwieglinska and editor-in-chief Jill Manoff break down some of the biggest fashion news of the week.On this week’s episode, we discuss Birkenstock's road to IPO, Prada's beauty expansion via makeup and skin care, and Phoebe Philo's return to fashion, set to kick off in September. 

Thirteen years ago, Brett Heyman launched Edie Parker. Focused on acrylic clutch handbags, which soon became customizable, the brand married Heyman’s lifelong love of collecting vintage with her experience in luxury accessories PR, working for brands including Dolce & Gabbana and Gucci. She got the company off the ground by securing retail partners including Barneys and Bergdorf Goodman and leveraging her stylist contacts to get the bags in the hands of celebrities.“My background was so helpful [in starting the company],” she said on the latest episode of the Glossy Podcast. “I always tell [budding] founders that it's really great to work in the industry that you want to break into, [in order] to meet people and to [make] some contacts and have a leg up. … I knew a lot of people. Plus, I knew what was missing. And I knew how to promote it and who to get to promote it.”In 2016, Heyman expanded Edie Parker’s product assortment to the home decor category. And three years later, she launched the cannabis-adjacent spinoff brand Flower by Edie Parker. Its products include lighters, grinders and rolling papers, all in Edie Parker’s signature colorful, retro aesthetic. Oh, and there’s also a handbag with a retractable lighter that’s taken TikTok by storm and changed the business. With its growth fueled by the Burn Bag's sales, just four years in, Flower by Edie Parker now makes up 50% of the company’s total sales. On the podcast, Heyman discusses how she’s catering to Flower’s “much more engaged,” “much more excited” shoppers, plus how she’s holding true to her brand’s DNA while building a business in a federally illegal industry.

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 talk about LVMH’s earnings and how all of its advertising expenditures are impacting the bottom line. Plus, Mattel president Richard Dickson joins Gap as its new CEO, and Shein is juggling various lawsuits.

Aaron Luo launched the DTC bag brand Caraa in 2015 alongside CFDA Award-winning designer Carmen Chen Wu. Now, eight years into the brand’s life, Luo has another brand under his belt — Mercado — and a new perspective on how DTC brands can grow and be successful in the modern retail landscape.“Back in the day, there were these people who came from a business background and came into DTC thinking, ‘Hey, there’s a waste of space here. We think we can do things better and cheaper and acquire customers quickly,’” Luo said. “I don’t want to say they never paid attention to the product, because many did. But marketing was much more important to them.”But that era of DTC brands being able to grow by forcing customer acquisition and dumping money into Meta is over, he said.

On the Glossy Week in Review podcast, international fashion reporter Zofia Zwieglinska and editor-in-chief Jill Manoff break down some of the biggest fashion news of the week.This week, we talk about what's next for Gucci following its executive shakeup, whether or not Ralph Lauren’s price increase is a good thing, and which brands came out on top on the latest Lyst Index.

Luxury resale company The RealReal, which went public in June 2019, is nearing profitability.“Next year, we will be profitable on a full-year basis,” Rati Sahi Levesque, the company’s president and chief operating officer, said on the latest episode of the Glossy Podcast. And big changes were made to ensure the goal is met: “Last year was really a reset year. [After] looking at our product mix, our operating expenses and our real estate, we rejiggered the business in a lot of ways.”That included making some layoffs, closing some stores and restricting the sourcing of inventory to individual consignors — no more buying products from brands. The RealReal’s total revenue for 2022 landed at $603 million, an increase of 29% year-over-year.Now, Sahi Levesque said the company is focused on “discipline and execution,” when it comes to its 2024 plans. She also discussed the company's strategy for winning sellers, its celeb-fueled launch 12 years ago and its plans to open up to 50 stores within the next 10 years. 

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.This week, we talk through the highlights of Copenhagen's Global Fashion Summit, the factors driving Omega's second price increase within the year and the interesting new experiment by Japan Airlines allowing travelers to rent clothes versus pack them.

In 2021, Kendra Scott passed on the CEO title she’d held for her 20-year-old namesake jewelry company to Tom Nolan, a Ralph Lauren and Condé Nast veteran who’d joined Kendra Scott in 2015 as a member of the board of directors. Between 2015-2021, Kendra Scott became “a very big business valued at more than $1 billion,” Nolan said on the latest episode of the Glossy Podcast. And the brand is still in growth mode. Kendra Scott recently entered the luxury jewelry market, plus it’s actively rolling out new stores. By the end of July, it will have 134 Kendra Scott stores across 35 U.S. states. “We've been aggressively pursuing retail and we've been really bullish on retail, even through Covid,” Nolan said.The stores, which drive 50% of sales, double as event spaces; last year, 128 Kendra Scott stores hosted 20,000 total events. The Northeast is the brand’s fastest-growing U.S. market, and it’s currently expanding internationally through wholesale partners. On the podcast, Nolan discusses Kendra Scott’s philanthropy-fueled success and his own career path which unexpectedly yet perfectly landed him in his current role. 

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 talk about Louis Vuitton’s newly updated watch strategy that pushes its watch price points into the five-figure range, plus a mushroom-based leather alternative's discontinuation and Gabriela Hearst’s exit from Chloé.