Designer Alejandra Alonso Rojas: 'No one is going to judge us for whatever decisions we take right now'
The Glossy Podcast · with Alejandra Alonso Rojas · May 20, 2020 · 39 min
Summary
Designer Alejandra Alonso Rojas critiques the outdated fashion calendar and shares how her brand is adapting to current market realities. Learn how she's driving profitability and supporting her team through innovative strategies like an archive sale, providing a blueprint for luxury brands navigating disruption and seeking sustainable growth.
Key takeaways
Challenge industry norms: Alonso Rojas' willingness to question the traditional fashion calendar highlights the need for brands to critically evaluate long-standing practices that may no longer align with consumer behavior or business profitability.
Leverage existing inventory creatively: The success of the "archive sale" demonstrates how brands can turn dormant assets into immediate revenue streams, supporting operational costs and staff during challenging times.
Prioritize staff and infrastructure: Despite financial pressures, Alonso Rojas’ dedication of archive sale profits to employee support and rent reinforces the importance of maintaining foundational business elements for long-term resilience.
Adapt to generational buying habits: Acknowledge and build strategies around younger consumers' preferences, such as their disinterest in buying products far in advance, to avoid inventory obsolescence and discounting pressures.
Embrace "rebel" thinking for survival: The episode encourages a proactive, innovative mindset, emphasizing that unprecedented times grant permission to experiment with unconventional strategies to ensure business viability and growth.
Designer Alejandra Alonso Rojas is taking these uncommon times as permission to question the industry she operates in.
“I think I’m going to come out of this as a rebel, because I’ve been really analyzing the business and what I want to do, and there are so many things I want to change in order to survive this and to make the business profitable,” Alonso Rojas said on the Glossy Podcast.
The usual fashion industry calendar is one of them.
“The calendar makes no sense at all," she said. "The new generations don’t shop six months before they can wear something. And the fact that, by the time you want to wear it, it's already 70-80% off — the impact on the brand was terrible.”
Alonso Rojas is currently looking to her own items from seasons past -- via her first “archive sale” -- in order to boost sales for the luxury label. The profits are going toward supporting the company’s staff, and to paying rent for the company's combined office, studio and showroom space in Soho.
“We had the inventory, and I think it was the right thing to do,” Alonso Rojas said. “It was a crazy idea, and I’ve shipping boxes like crazy. But at the end of the day, it worked.”
What does this episode say about founder & leadership?
Challenge industry norms: Alonso Rojas' willingness to question the traditional fashion calendar highlights the need for brands to critically evaluate long-standing practices that may no longer align with consumer behavior or business profitability.
What does this episode say about dtc strategy?
Leverage existing inventory creatively: The success of the "archive sale" demonstrates how brands can turn dormant assets into immediate revenue streams, supporting operational costs and staff during challenging times.
What does this episode say about product & merchandising?
Prioritize staff and infrastructure: Despite financial pressures, Alonso Rojas’ dedication of archive sale profits to employee support and rent reinforces the importance of maintaining foundational business elements for long-term resilience.
What does this episode say about finance & fundraising?
Adapt to generational buying habits: Acknowledge and build strategies around younger consumers' preferences, such as their disinterest in buying products far in advance, to avoid inventory obsolescence and discounting pressures.
What does this episode say about founder & leadership?
Embrace "rebel" thinking for survival: The episode encourages a proactive, innovative mindset, emphasizing that unprecedented times grant permission to experiment with unconventional strategies to ensure business viability and growth.
