Not long ago, I used to own a few multi-brand clothing boutiques and my own fashion label. We used to have a very personalized touch to fashion, which was far beyond the items that we sold in our store. I couldn't count the number of times that that level of personalization led us to making house-calls for clients at all hours during the night. Frankly, why wouldn't we? We would be in our clients closets on a weekly basis- helping with everything from curating daily wardrobes to packing suitcases for holiday. The relationship would extend to actually helping them plan their holiday— choosing the hotels, advising on which business class seat on American Airlines had the least amount of radiation and noise, organizing private drivers to collect the entire family at the airport, and booking my friends restaurants globally which happened to also be year-long waitlists. Nothing was out of reach and I solved the impossible for my clients time and time again, and anytime of any day. Why? Because when you have clients that have loyalty to you, you have to offer a service that people cannot get elsewhere. That is your edge. For the first four years of having my clothing stores, I hand wrote every single client that purchased anything a thank you note. I am known for this in my industry. It has always been a level of personalization that has been paramount to my brand. We threw events at luxury five-star boutique hotels, where we would have champagne and and sell hundreds of thousands of dollars in crafted frocks in a given evening. How did I do this? It’s my magic. I created an experience that everyone wanted to be apart of. One random Thursday, I even sold over a million dollars of merchandise to a select few clients in a single evening.
It's a wonderful feeling when you are able to walk out of a fun evening where your customers have a smile across their faces, and you, as a business, are able to make your entire months plan with only a few sales. I often ask myself, “How is this my job?”. Our job was to understand my clients lifestyle and to do that well, we had to deeply understand our client. I would conduct these large interview projects on my clients— having them divulge things to me that you would normally not even tell your shrink. I would take them for lunch. I would be there for them if they needed me to watch their daughter in an emergency. I would care. For some reason, still somewhat unknown to me, it worked, and it worked well, and worked time and time again. My interview projects helped me understand why my customers chose me, what they wanted, what they didn’t know they needed, and how I could help them. I love fashion and there was nothing more exciting to me than helping people bring out their personality through clothes and help complete that “dream lifestyle” that my clients were so trying to achieve. We offered a line of credit to some of our more seasoned, trust-worthy customers; the same kind of house account you can find at luxury jewelers like Cartier (Red Card) and Tiffany (Time Account). We didn't have a name for this service, and upon reflection, I wish that we did along with one of those fabulous membership cards that make you feel like you are part of the "in-crowd". There is nothing more that I love than building a community of dedicated customers so loyal to me, they feel almost pain for shopping elsewhere. Besides, this service was created exclusively for those customers that would spend over $100k USD all the way up to $500k USD. These customers accounted for less than 1% of customers, but more than 40% of sales: the kind of women that would spend $250K USD a go. If someone we knew wanted a few months to pay for their purchase, we always thought, "Why on earth would we ever say no?". Ultimately, I was comfortable underwriting the credit, and these were people who would do anything to be included in my club and fear the moment they weren’t invited back. Those were the days; money was growing on trees and we could sell anything.
Since the high-times of the mid-2000's, the fashion business has since changed rather drastically. When I first opened shop, brick and mortar retail was something you did. There were a select few companies that were online and doing relatively well, but those were big-brands or fashion conglomerates that had built their name during the late 90's during the initial dot com e-commerce boom. We didn't understand customer acquisition, purchasing behavior, or big data. We understood psychographics, demographics, and trend. I deeply understood my customer and what they would be willing to do in order to stay in my world.
Boy, times have changed. I always thought I should have opened up some sort of online e-commerce store; whether it would have sold clothes, design items, or curated pieces (or experiences) from around the globe- you name it, it's most likely been done, but I do happen to have a lot of respect for those entrepreneurs that have taken the plunge and built such wonderful stores in the digital era. I launched an AI-based fashion brand a few years ago with clickable technology throughout the site and videos that allowed for seamless three-step check-outs, but I am bored with fashion lately and I am more interested in bigger ideas that are going to transform markets. That I believe is truly going to be bitcoin.
Coco wears an Etro Silk Blouse (updated version from this season, since mine from was last season & you won't be able to find it), Vince Skinny Trousers (similar, but I got mine at the outlet store for $110 on sale and they are my new favorite pants), Pierre Hardy Suede Heels and a Saint Laurent Tote. Photography: Bethany Halbreich