Meet Nancy Taylor, a visionary reshaping the fashion landscape with her brand, époque évolution. Her philosophy is simple yet revolutionary: life is for living, not just for shopping or meticulous packing. Nancy's approach to fashion is a breath of fresh air in an industry often mired in excess and extravagance. At époque évolution, sustainable, organic, and upcycled materials aren't just choices—they are commitments to a better world. Nancy's journey from designing clothes to launching her brand in 2018 is a story of bold choices and a steadfast commitment to sustainability. She proves that fashion can be functional, stylish, and conscientious all at once. Nancy's ethos is clear: one adaptable wardrobe can empower you to look good, feel good, and do good, seamlessly fitting into the real-life narrative of modern women.
Nancy Taylor: Great. So I have an extensive background in apparel, from entrepreneurship to small businesses, to corporations. I had a long run with Athleta, helping them grow from about 30 million to about 800 million. When I left, my focus shifted to sustainability. I traveled a lot, seeing our partners and working in a company with high standards in corporate compliance. Yet, I saw the need for industry change. So, I took a leap of faith and joined Gaiam, attracted by their sustainable story. They sold about a year and a half later, but we had significantly boosted their apparel business, which was a new venture for them.
Then, I had to take a step back and reevaluate my passion. It was centered around functional apparel and doing things differently. We focused on being 'responsible' instead of just 'sustainable'. To me, 'responsible' meant everything - it included the supply chain, our partners, human resources, and the way of doing business, not just the raw materials. It was challenging, especially in the beginning. Finding suppliers for smaller units and affordable recycled materials was tough. We mostly worked with European suppliers, who had better production practices, but lacked recycled materials. It took us a really long time to find our base, our raw materials, and strong partners who aligned with our vision.
My vision was about the comfort of athletic wear without looking like I was in leggings all the time. Could we merge comfort and style to create a minimalist wardrobe that works for multiple aspects of life? It was about having core pieces, like that one perfect pair of black pants, which are essential in everyone's wardrobe. The brand was born to create these core, fashion-forward pieces that you could build a wardrobe around, lasting into the next season and year. Reflecting on my journey, it's been a mix of triumph and terror, as a co-founder once described. The advice that stuck with me was to start somewhere, not wait for perfection, and launch. This approach, along with learning from customers and being adaptable, has been key. epoque evolution is about evolving the way we view and purchase apparel, driven by sustainability. Looking back at our initial plans after the recent acquisition, I'm reassured that our core brand vision and values remain as relevant as ever.
Nancy Taylor: Yeah, my background was really in design, sourcing, and the product. I felt very competent in these areas and had a clear vision for the brand. What fell outside of my competencies, we focused more on. So, when building the brand, I knew it had the potential to be much more than just a $10 million profitable brand. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I saw its larger potential. We devoted a lot of time to understanding the market's white space and the brand's potential. A significant effort went into communication and sustainability, establishing guardrails for its growth. The financial modeling was particularly interesting. We worked with industry insiders to shape our digital marketing strategy and raise our first funding round. Hiring an agency took time, but once we did, our investments in marketing and product closely matched our initial financial projections, which was a pleasant surprise. It was challenging at first, thinking that releasing a brand would automatically attract customers. We had a great product, story, and imagery, but we quickly learned that finding the right customer base takes time and effort. It was a revelation that they wouldn't just come, except maybe friends, and that building a business required more. We spent considerable time with external consultants, which was a wise decision in retrospect, as it played a key role in our sustained presence in the market.
We also invested heavily in our brand identity, from the logo and name to the fonts and their applications, focusing on every granular detail. After launching, we attended a women's networking event for businesses and entrepreneurs in the creative space. A seminar there on brand guidelines and deck creation was a standout moment. Walking out of that seminar, we felt a sense of pride and validation for the work we had done. It was an eye-opener, making us realize the importance of those elements in brand-building. We hadn't fully appreciated the impact of this groundwork until then, but it turned out to be crucial for our brand's journey.
Nancy Taylor: I think it's beyond just your name or your logo. We chose a name that we thought people could learn, even though it's still a bit controversial. But it’s really about connecting with the customers. You have to build a brand with a voice that resonates with them because you can’t just sell a product. Unless you have something really unique, something that goes viral, or a celebrity endorsement, you really need to figure out what you're saying to connect with the customer. We hired this wonderful copywriter, a brand voice specialist from New York. She’s been with us from the very start, before we even launched, helping us identify and define what our brand is all about.
The branding, including the logo, was important. It had to be clean and aesthetically reflect our ethos. The logo, featuring a broken circle, represents a moment in time where we’re disrupting what's happening in the industry. Identifying who you are, what you're doing, and what the brand stands for is crucial. It's all about really resonating with that customer and capturing their attention.
Nancy Taylor: We had early success with the digital space, which was good for us. But I think it's changing rapidly now, so we are expanding into wholesale. This way, customers can see the product more. Unfortunately, at the start of the pandemic, we had two pop-up events scheduled - one in Jackson Square in San Francisco and another in New York. These were planned with an amazing experiential concept alongside three or four other brands, and they were set to open in March 2020. The pandemic caused a significant pause for us in this area.
However, I feel that moving beyond just digital is important. Direct-to-consumer can be really hard and expensive, especially in helping customers understand the product. It’s an excellent channel, but I believe an omnichannel approach is essential for fully growing a brand. Now, we're exploring what retail might look like for us. Are we going to express our brand through our own retail outlets or focus on wholesale? We're currently delving deeply into wholesale and seeing good success with it. Our own retail expression is appealing because it allows us more control and lets us show customers the full scope of what we offer. We're also looking into exploring partnerships, which I think is another effective way to expand and get our brand out there. Initially, our primary channel for reaching direct customers was through many pop-ups and digital marketing, though it was mainly digital marketing.
Nancy Taylor: Dealing with our first factory was a real shock. I had given them all of my money, and then they went bankrupt without telling us. We were in meetings right up to the day before they closed, completely unaware. That was a huge shock. But we survived that ordeal and found better partners as a result. Initially, we bought small orders, which led to some significant successes and frequent sell-outs. It took us time to restock our products. In the first few years, we started platforming some of our core fabrics, finding ways to buy the fabric and have it ready at the factory. This approach allowed us to work quickly with our partners to replenish our products, but our core items would still sell out fast.
If our marketing or imagery wasn't right, and we believed in the product, we had to go back to the drawing board to help customers understand and appreciate it again. It was a major learning curve, teaching us not to give up on a product just because it wasn't presented correctly initially. We had to find ways that worked. Digital marketing was particularly interesting, focusing on acquiring customers. We had to discern which products were for acquisition and which would be bolstered by organic marketing. Another learning aspect was not to invest everything into just the acquisition channel. We put a lot of effort into securing the second purchase from customers, as that's where real value lies. Utilizing CRM data was pivotal in this. One of our investors, a key CRM figure from Gap, and my connection from Athleta, provided us with a dashboard that was invaluable for a company our size. This allowed us access to CRM data in ways most larger brands probably didn't have.
This data was crucial in understanding how to re-engage and attract customers. It influenced our inventory decisions - understanding customer preferences and what they might buy next. As we expanded our collection, we strategically considered where to invest our limited funds, heavily influenced by CRM data. However, we faced struggles. For instance, after our acquisition, we changed our production strategy and bought a lot of inventory, expecting a surge in customers that didn't materialize as anticipated. We over-invested in certain key pieces before the brand was ready for such a move. Now, we're recalibrating and addressing these challenges.
Nancy Taylor: I would say that it was multifaceted on all of the issues. The first part was that we had success in digital marketing and we had core products. Then, we had to figure out how to get the inventory and the marketing dollars to get to the next level. We were very grassroots at the beginning, doing all of the shipping and handling customer interactions ourselves. My business partner and I would talk directly with customers, which was fun at first but soon became unsustainable.
We realized we needed a customer service person to manage this. We were doing all the internal shipping out of our office, and people always say to hang onto your inventory as long as you can. We were so lean on inventory that as soon as products were back in stock, we could quickly get them back on the platform and they would sell out immediately. But when we were nearing $3 million in revenue, managing all this internally wasn’t feasible anymore. We began looking at third-party logistics options, which was a challenging but necessary step.
Internal systems were a big decision for us. Coming from large corporations, we started with more advanced systems than we initially needed, but they allowed us to grow. We chose a PLM system from the start, which was crucial. We hired a strategist who helped us figure out what not to do, as well as what to do. Every quarter, we would analyze and model our strategies, making sure they made sense for our limited resources. A good example is our direct mail catalog, which we knew would be profitable. It was a lower-risk way to get out of just digital marketing and helped us with customer acquisition. This strategic modeling helped us make sure that we would at least break even and not burn through our cash flow.
Our motivation to sell epoque to Lolë brands in 2022, was to find a growth partner. I had a relationship with the team and it felt like the right partners to provide the support we needed from marketing to the internal structure. It was a goal of Lolë brands to acquire a few more brands to expand their portfolio and we fit in with a luxury tier.
Nancy Taylor
So, the transition has been challenging in a lot of ways because we went from being this small tight entity to being absorbed into a larger one. There have been challenges, but these are what I see as healthy growth challenges. We’re looking at them and moving through. On the positive side, we now have funding that can really help bring the brand to fruition and move it out there. Another challenge has been the change in iOS and how digital marketing works. Relying on it as your sole channel, as we did, isn’t really possible anymore. The footprint and the landscape are very different than they were four years ago.
I feel that understanding how to expand and use different channels has been a significant learning point. Change is always good, and the transition, especially the acquisition and making sure they truly understand our voice, has been a journey. We rolled into a system with many automated processes and realized we missed some of the personal touch, which we’re now going back to. It’s been a learning curve, realizing the need to constantly learn from both the ups and the downs.
Now, there’s excitement as we have a fuller expression of our brand. We’ve really dialed in our supply chain in a better way than before, and we have a stronger vision of where the brand is going. We’re expanding our channels, and 2024 looks super exciting, especially with the expansion of wholesale partners. This will allow customers to experience our products outside of the digital platform. I've experienced similar challenges and learnings with other brands, like with Athleta and its acquisition by The Gap. These experiences, though challenging, taught me a lot about growth and potential. For 2024, we’ve expanded with some of our key production partners and added to our core fabrication offerings, things we couldn’t do earlier due to financial constraints. It’s based on what our customers have been telling us they want, and I’m really excited to see these new launches in 2024.
Nancy Taylor: I would say you have to start somewhere. It doesn't have to be perfect. That's some of the best advice I've received. You need to find ways to understand things outside your expertise, which means you have to be open to learning. Every day, I learn something new and face new challenges, and I love that part of the process. But I would say that you need to have tough skin to navigate all the ups and downs. It's about understanding and embracing the journey. Weathering that storm is crucial, and if it's not in your DNA, it can be an extremely challenging journey. Even amidst many wins and successes, it remains one of the most challenging experiences.
I would compare it to raising children as one of the most challenging tasks I've ever undertaken in my life. But the love for it is essential. You have to be incredibly passionate about it. Another crucial piece of advice is understanding what you're not going to do. Deciding what to avoid is just as important as deciding what to pursue. That approach was key for me.
Chris Choi: That's really valuable advice, Nancy. Thank you for sharing your insights!
