Aviator Nation founder Paige Mycoskie shares her journey of building a 15-year-old fashion brand from a personal pain point into a successful enterprise with 90% DTC sales and 13 physical stores. She emphasizes the importance of authentic brand identity, strategic retail expansion beyond tourist traps, and an agile "go for it" mentality for entrepreneurs in the fashion industry.
When Paige Mycoskie launched 15-year-old fashion brand Aviator Nation, she was looking to solve her own pain point. “I was most excited to wear vintage clothing -- stuff that was made in the ’70s and early ’80s. And so I found myself looking for clothes at flea markets and thrift stores. But it’s not easy to find good T-shirts from the ’70s,” she said on the latest Glossy Podcast. “I’d spend a whole day looking for one T-shirt. Then it dawned on me: ‘Why don’t I learn how to make this?’ So I started sewing clothes for myself and I taught myself how to screenprint within a couple of weeks.” That led to a buyer from Fred Segal placing a hefty order, solely based on the shirt that was on Mycoskie’s back. And the brand took off from there. In the last year, with staying home being the norm, the level of comfort that comes with wearing a vintage-inspired T-shirt has been in demand. Brands have been adjusting their product offerings accordingly, which has meant new competition for Aviator Nation. But Mycoskie isn’t concerned: “Now that athleisure is such a big deal, people are [OK with wearing] a tracksuit or a sweatsuit pretty much anywhere they go,” she said. “It obviously works to my benefit -- but it’s definitely what we’ve been doing since day one. The L.A.-based company now has 13 brand stores, and 90% of its sales are direct-to-consumer. Mycoskie said more stores are on the way. “When my friends ask me about business, one of the things I always say is to just go for it,” she said. “Don’t waste too much time on the details; just put it out there.”