We created the design process from a place of genuine inclusion and truly wanting everybody to feel great, yet that’s not a talking point for us—it’s just something we do and we’ve always wanted to do and has continued to be really important to the depths of our product development. When that’s truly core to how you create the product, it then bleeds into how the customers react to it, and how the campaign is shot, and which models you use. I have friends who I want to wear this product; I want my 65-year-old mom to feel amazing in this product; I want my 15-year-old niece to feel great in the product…all of those things. I never got a great taste in my mouth from brands that make you feel like you have to like be a certain level of coolness to wear them. There’s a power in being uncool. I’ve been cringe since I was born.
Retaining our team. Everyone has been here since those dark first four months. To me, that’s the ultimate measure of success as a leader—being able to foster a team that builds with the business through all its different phases. It’s very humbling for me to have people come in and bring their own vision to it. Also, giving up the idea of perfection. Even with Instagram, there would be times where I would sit there, ready to post, but it would not feel like the most on-brand, amazingly captioned photo, and I would get stuck and then just not post anything. I’m proud of moving through that and no longer experiencing inertia and getting paralyzed by choice. I think we’ve done that in a way that’s very true to the brand, by evolving our identity and not getting bogged down by perfectionism.
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