Rethinking the Fashion Industry: Glossier and Rent the Runway Reach Unicorn Status
From sifting through my grandmother’s closet to collecting every single Vogue magazine while growing up, I have long dreamt of participating in the fashion and beauty industries. When I landed my first internship at a major fashion brand, I was ecstatic to finally uncover the inner workings of this glamorous, unique world. However, it wasn’t long before my perception of my own place in the industry was skewed by an encounter with a group of women working at a professional services firm I would soon become closely acquainted with. While dressing them for a fashion show, we began to discuss their roles as consultants and auditors at this firm — as well as my own position as a marketing intern at the fashion company. It wasn’t long before I could see coy smiles appear on their faces as I shared the fact that there were offices dedicated to shoes, bags (etc) and even a conference room disguised as a showroom (I know!). Even more surprisingly, when I shared that I was completing a bachelor of commerce in marketing and information technology, they blatantly asked me why I had chosen to pursue a career in fashion. They undoubtedly had misconceptions about the type of people (?) who joined this industry, and made me reconsider my own goals.
If an 18-year old girl can put into question her dream career path due to these misconstrued thoughts, there is certainly something to be said about such norms permeating numerous corporate spaces, from VC to more traditional industries. For this reason, I was elated to learn about Glossier and Rent the Runway’s milestones — effectively becoming billion dollar businesses (also known as ‘unicorns’, which is quite fitting) (BOF Team, 2019). Women-led organizations like these are shaping what it means to work in the fashion and beauty industries, and are setting a standard for the next generation (aka you and I).
Glossier & RTR Challenge the Status Quo
If you haven’t heard of them yet — something I highly doubt — Glossier and Rent the Runway are exceptional brands with cult-like followings providing direct-to-customer beauty and clothing rentals respectively. What has made them so successful? A focus on building user communities, gathering in-depth customer feedback and usage analytics, as well as growing organically through digital marketing channels (think Instagram). I’d also like to point out that they are both run by #girlbosses, rounding out the fourteen women that make up the leadership of the US’s 130 VC-backed unicorns (Hinchliffe, 2019). Not that that’s a causal indicator of success, but it definitely helps to set the stage for the numerous highly successful, women-run startups that have yet to come.
In fact, Emily Weiss, 33, (Glossier) attended art school before working at Condé Nast as an fashion assistant and starting the blog Into the Gloss that pre-empted the Glossier brand. On the other hand, Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Fleiss come from a more traditional business background, both completing MBAs at Harvard Business School, where they actually met. This goes to show that there is no single cookie-cutter recipe to succeed in the industry, which is great news for many of us. If you’re interesting in learning more about these impressive leaders’ paths— and how they dealt with the misconceptions that fashion and beauty aren’t as legit as they could be — I highly recommend checking out the How I Built This podcast (10/10).
Fashion Isn’t Legit, Or Is It?
Recent years have been incredibly ripe with opportunity for companies competing in the fashion and beauty industries, as both VCs and consumers are buying into strong brands with direct-to-customer approaches and community-led cores. That’s not all. The fashion and beauty industries are expected to reach $826B US and $79B US worldwide respectively by 2022 (Statista, 2019)— which illustrates the sheer number of opportunities in the space. Although growth rates in some areas are expected to stagnate over the next few years, the markets continue to grow at a steady pace — all while maintaining a substantial cap.
A few additional key players to watch out for include the infamous Kylie Cosmetics (currently valued at approximately $900M) (Segran, 2019), Fenty Beauty — which is dominating the cosmetics markets with its inclusive approach and €500M first-year sales (Marine, 2019) — and Pat McGrath Labs, which has also reached Unicorn status (Prinzivalli, 2019). I’d like to also mention Stitch Fix which, valued at a healthy $3B, has made founder Katrina lake the youngest female founder ever to lead an IPO. This unique organization has rethought the customer journey associated with the typical shopping experience, using a carefully crafted approach of data analytics and human-centric recommendations to offer subscription boxes to women, men and children (Forbes, 2018).
What do all the companies discussed so far have in common? Well, for one, they’re run by exceptional young women who have pinpointed elements of the traditional fashion and beauty industries that can be improved — whether that be creating a unique online shopping experience, offering Netflix-esque customized recommendations or allowing the customer to rent thousand dollar dresses for a fraction of the price. Finally, they are all focusing their efforts in digital spaces — using the power of online communities and viral sharing to make a name for themselves. Effectively, while Glossier, Fenty Beauty and Pat McGrath all have well over 1M followers on Instagram, mogul L’Oréal lags behind with 90.6K — a statistic that I’m sure they are working hard on improving.
Parting Thoughts
So, what does this mean for you (I’m assuming) a student or young professional? It means that when you’re looking to apply for your next job, take a leap in your career or even aiming to start your own company in the space, don’t be deterred by misconceptions that it isn’t a strong enough foundation, or perhaps doesn’t have the potential to be as successful as its tech counterparts. As this is something that I personally struggle with, I encourage each and every one of us to see beyond the typical fashion designer/influencer/photographer job description and think of this multi-billion dollar industry as a way for us to leave our mark on the world. As least, that’s what I like to think — although I’d love to hear your thoughts.
References
BOF Team. (2019, March 22). Glossier & Rent the Runway: A Tale of Two Unicorns. Retrieved from https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/professional/glossier-rent-the-runway-a-tale-of-two-unicorns
Forbes, M. (2018, Aug 9). How Stitch Fix’s Katrina Lake Built A $3 Billion Business. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/moiraforbes/2018/08/09/katrina-lake-billion-dollar-business/#5f012acf727f
Hinchliffe, E. (2019, March 21). Rent the Runway Joins Glossier in the Elite Club of Female-Founded Unicorns. Retrieved from http://fortune.com/2019/03/21/glossier-rent-the-runway-unicorn/
Marine, B. (2019, Feb 6). Why Fenty Beauty Will Probably Be Worth A Billion Dollars Before Kylie Cosmetics. Retrieved from https://www.wmagazine.com/story/fenty-beauty-kylie-cosmetics
Prinzivalli, L. (2018, July 20). At $1 Billion, Pat McGrath Labs Is Officially Worth More Than Kylie Cosmetics. Retrieved from https://www.allure.com/story/pat-mcgrath-labs-value-1-billion-higher-than-kylie-cosmetics
Segran, E. (2019, March 21). Rent the Runway is now a unicorn. Retrieved from https://www.fastcompany.com/90323340/rent-the-runway-becomes-a-unicorn-after-new-125m-investment
Statista. (2019). Fashion Worldwide. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/outlook/244/100/fashion/worldwide
Statista. (2019). Prestige Cosmetics & Fragrances Worldwide. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/outlook/21050000/100/prestige-cosmetics-fragrances/worldwide#market-globalRevenue
