The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
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Within a decade, Colm Dillane, the New York-based founder and designer of streetwear label KidSuper, went from selling T-shirts to fellow students out of his New York University dorm room to winning the Karl Lagerfeld Special Jury Prize at the LVMH Prize in 2021 and designing a one-off menswear collection for Louis Vuitton.
But it wasn’t a straight shot to success. The now 32-year-old has had to learn the ropes of fashion the hard way, maxing out his bank account, and taking risk after risk to figure out how to transform his creativity into a bonafide business.
Through it all, Dillane has focused on community-building as an end goal.
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“It’s always funny when brands reach out to me, and they’re like, ‘We love the community you created’. I would always be like, ‘They’re creating community to sell product. I was selling product to create community. What are you doing this for? If it’s not to meet interesting people?” says Dillane.
This week on The BoF Podcast, BoF founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed sits down with Dillane to discuss his journey as a designer and his lessons for emerging fashion designers and entrepreneurs.
The Coach owner’s results will provide another opportunity to stick up for its acquisition of rival Capri. And the Met Gala will do its best to ignore the TikTok ban and labour strife at Conde Nast.
The former CFDA president sat down with BoF founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed to discuss his remarkable life and career and how big business has changed the fashion industry.
Luxury brands need a broader pricing architecture that delivers meaningful value for all customers, writes Imran Amed.
Brands from Valentino to Prada and start-ups like Pulco Studios are vying to cash in on the racket sport’s aspirational aesthetic and affluent fanbase.