← The Glossy Podcast
The Glossy Podcast
Valentino's new CEO, Guess's acquisition, TJ Maxx's earnings — plus, a chat with Off Season's Vicky Picca
00:39:13
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- [00:04]
A
Business growth doesn't just happen. Brands get blocked by bad data, slow decisions, and media that doesn't pull its weight. Tenuity is the only agency that helps brands eliminate waste and unlock real growth with strategy, with tech, with people who treat your business like their own. Love growth, hate waste. Find out what your media is really doing. Visit lovegrowth hate waste.com hello and welcome back to the Glossy Podcast. I'm your host, senior fashion reporter Danny Parisi, and I'm here with our international reporter, Zofia Zyglinska. Hello, Zofia. How you feeling?
- [00:48]
B
Yeah, great. So fun to be doing the episode today.
- [00:53]
A
Yeah, I'm happy to have you here. We have a lot to talk about this week. We're going to be talking about Guess, which was just acquired by Authentic Brands Group or at least a majority acquisition. Pretty massive billion dollar deal and one of many, many mergers and acquisitions happening in fashion in the last year. We'll talk about what that means. We're also going to talk about Valentino getting a new CEO, fashion veteran Riccardo Bellini. Lots of interesting stuff there. The parent company Mehula is a really interesting company. Valentino is in an interesting spot. We'll take dive into that then. Lastly, I want to talk about earnings this week from tjx which is the parent company of TJ Maxx. They were very, very good, better than anyone expected, including tjx. We'll talk about what that means for the state of discount retail. Then later in the episode we'll take a short break and when we come back, we have a recording from our sports opportunity event. This is a virtual event we hosted this week. All about the crossover between fashion and sports which we have talked about on the podcast many times. There's so much going on at the intersection of those two. Jill had a great conversation, I should say our editor in chief, Jill Manoff had a great conversation with Vicky Pica, who's the president of off season, that's a sports apparel brand, very buzzy. And they talked all about the sports opportunity. So after a short break later in the episode you will hear that. And one more quick announcement before we get into the news. It is back to school season. Glossy is planning a segment of the podcast in the next couple weeks about what kids are wearing these days, what's popular and back to school fashion, all that kind of stuff. If you listener are a high schooler or unlikely that you're a high schooler, but if you are a high schooler or if you have a high schooler in your life and you want to share your thoughts about teen fashion trends, what kids are wearing, anything like that, we would love to hear from you. You can reach out to us on social media. You can DM us on Instagram. We are Glossyco, Glossyco, no space or underscore or anything like that. You could also email me at dannylossy Co. Or you can call us and leave a voicemail at 347-746-0006. I'm going to read the number again. You can call us and leave a voicemail. No one will pick up. It's just voicemail. Only at 347-746-0006 you can leave a voicemail, share your thoughts on what kids are wearing, what, what brands are popular among young people, anything like that, we would love to hear from you. And if you send us a voicemail, we may get your voice put onto the podcast, which would be really cool for you and make you very popular and make everybody jealous of you. Okay, with all of that out of the way, let's jump into the news. The first story I want to talk about is Guess so Authentic Brands Group, who also we've talked about on the podcast quite a bit, acquired 51% of the shares of Guess this week. And they're doing it in partnership with Guest2 co founders, Maurice and Paul Marciano, who the two of them already own 40% of the shares. But now they're working with authentic to acquire 51%, which would basically give them a controlling stake of the company. They're immediately taking the brand private, making it no longer a publicly traded company. And I'm sure they have lots of plans, but it's a big deal in the literal Sense. It's a $1.2 billion deal, I believe, to make this happen. Authentic has acquired a million other brands in the last couple years. But also this is the latest in a wave, I think, of mergers and acquisitions. We talked last week on the podcast, me and Jill, about Gildan buying Hanes Brands, but also Skechers went private. Authentic bought Dockers, Andy Swim bought Rich or Poorer, Dick's Sporting Goods is buying Footlocker. There's just been a million of these mergers, some small and some really big, in the last year. We can start with focusing on Guess in particular and then maybe touch on some of those, you know, why all these mergers are happening. But Zofia, what's your take on Guess being bought by Authentic?
- [04:52]
B
Yeah, I mean, I think it's a very interesting acquisition. I was actually just wondering what's been happening with Guess over the last couple of months because it's always a brand that kind of pops up quite heavily on the high street. And they have very specific campaigns and boutique. I think they kind of go into that sex sales direction that, you know, American Eagle would be going into as well, but more with an Italian flair. But I'm not quite sure if they've ever been very clearly positioned. Like, is it a luxury brand? Is it fast fashion? Is it more of a mall brand? So I think there's an opportunity for Authentic to kind of almost mine it. From some of the research that I did, I saw that Guess holds over 100 trademarks and has a lot of different sub labels. So brands like Guess Jeans, Martiano or G by Guess. It also has an expanding accessories business. And, you know, I think it can follow a similar model to what Authentic did with Juicy Couture, where you're kind of looking at licensing out some of those kind of sub brands and then positioning the whole brand as this kind of unique nostalgia fueled piece. I think it's also one of those brands that is very strong internationally. I don't know what the like presence is for guess in the U.S. but I think it still has some opportunity there. It's quite well known in Europe, in the Middle east and Latin America. So obviously there's a lot of different markets. It's not really penetrated yet.
- [06:27]
A
Yeah, I think you hit on. I think you hit on a bunch of the same things I was going to say definitely. I feel like Guess has always been positioned kind of weirdly. They're like a little too fancy to be like fast fashion, but they're a little too, I don't want to say cheap, but a little bit not super luxurious. But they're kind of in malls. But then they kind of have this sort of Ralph Lauren million different sub labels like you said. Yeah, kind of a weird spot. But also it's the kind of brand that I think Authentic would love to mess around with. I spoke with Authentic brands somewhat recently about Champion, another brand that they acquired recently and got a little bit of a glimpse into their strategy. And I think this holds true for a lot of the brands they bought. But basically they took a hard look at the Champion business and identified a couple of things. And one big one was like, they were like, champion is not in. Is not really a name in professional sports, like professional sports teams. And it should be like they were like, that's a big opportunity. It's something that we're not doing. We need to make Champion Visible and in professional sports, they immediately started, you know, reaching out to all the big leagues. They now have like an NFL partnership between Champion and, and the NFL. Like, so I think they. That is something they do is when they acquire a brand, which they often acquire brands that are maybe not in the best place. And you mentioned Guess has their strong international presence actually not doing so well in the US they're closing like 20 under underperforming stores in the US and just in general, I think their earnings were. Their net earnings were down around 30% earlier this year compared to last year. So I would guess that Authentic is going to take a really hard look at all of Guess's, you know, all of the levers they have, which is like all of their stores, all of their sub brands, the name recognition. They have all these things and try to identify like, the opportunities and the stuff to just cut or, or license out. Like you said, another thing Authentic is very comfortable doing is licensing out ip. So I was trying to think, like, if I were Authentic and I had just bought guests, what I would like, do with it. And I mean, I don't really know because I don't have access to all of the same information they do. But I definitely think the thing you said about not really understanding what Guess's positioning is is a big one. I would try to figure out like a strong kind of singular identity for the brand. I don't know about you.
- [08:53]
B
Yeah, no, definitely. I think that the branding itself is quite strong. Like, they've got a good logo. I think they're almost like their identity is relatively recognizable. Like if I see a Guest or Guess jeans most of the time, I'm able to tell that from like quite a while away. Either it has a little triangle logo or, you know, the shape will be kind of very specific. I think that's something that is a strength for the brand. Obviously. It seems like it's got very kind of widespread for different distribution for, you know, what is its presence going to be like for wholesale? Like, what's the, I guess, like, identity value of the brand going forward and how is it relevant to customers today, especially young ones? Obviously it's also kind of important to bring up that Marciano is still involved and he's had some, you know, sexual kind of misconduct allegations in the past. I don't know how close he wants to be to the brand. I'm wondering if this sale is also a way for that to be, you know, distanced from the brand itself. He still holds 28% of the company and is an active kind of participant in the deal. But it might raise some questions and I'm wondering how Authentic is going to deal with that too.
- [10:10]
A
Yeah, for sure. And one more thing I want to mention is it's interesting that they're taking it private and I feel like that's another sort of mini trend we've seen over the last probably 12 months or so. A lot of big publicly traded companies going private, particularly right before a transition phase. The Nordstrom family is doing that with Nordstrom, taking it private so that they can make the changes they want to make without kind of shareholders and the public peeking over their shoulder. Guest Going private right after being acquired by Authentic, I think is probably so that they can make some of those changes without needing to, you know, report every single move and, you know, have everything scrutinized. Good for us as journalists. But I also understand can be frustrating to make business decisions when you have to be doing that. So, yeah, there's a lot of interesting stuff to see with Guess in the future as Authentic takes over and hopefully it'll be for them. Hopefully it'll be one of their better performing portfolio assets. Sometimes I feel like Authentic buys a brand and it kind of disappears and other times that does really well. I think they have a fairly good track record with a lot of the brands they've bought. Let's move on though, and talk about Valentino. Riccardo Bellini is taking over as the new CEO of Valentino and he is an industry veteran. He worked at Chloe, he worked at Maison Margiela. He also worked at like Procter and Gamble and for a while now he has been the managing director of Mehula, which is a Qatari investment firm owned by the Qatari royal family. And they also own Balmain and they own two other brands that honestly I had not heard of before, Paul Zoleri and Bayman. Maybe I'm out of the loop, but I didn't know about either of them. So they have. Sorry, I got off track. Bellini has worked at Mehula for a couple of years now and is now going to be taking over as the CEO of Valentino after Jacopo Venturini announced his resignation. So a lot to get into here, but how about you go first? What's your take on Bellini taking over at Valentino?
- [12:14]
B
Yeah, so I think it's interesting to get into the timing of things. Obviously there's a creative director shift happening at Valentino. At the same time you have Alessandro Michele, who's kind of been brought in. And Venturini was known for kind of supporting Pierpaolo Piccoli, who obviously made Valentino a little bit of, like a hot thing, I'd say in the last couple of years. I don't know if the results had kind of stayed on after the kind of initial buzz of that pink collection. I don't know if you remember that one, but that was a very big one for Valentino. And if this was a planned exit, it was kind of poorly communicated because there's still no reason given for why Venturini left in terms of, obviously, the newcomer. The kind of experience that he's bringing from Chloe and Margiela and Diesel and even Procter and Gamble, I think are both great brands and interesting in terms of their buzziness and kind of success. And all of them have been, you know, buzzy when he was there. I'm wondering if he's going to bring a little bit more of that kind of stability and financial success to the brand, you know, as it undergoes these shifts.
- [13:36]
A
Yeah, definitely, for sure. And Alessandro Michele taking over at Valentino is a big part of the story. I feel like if things work out for them, Bellini and Michele could be a good team. And it's probably what Mehula is hoping for, I should say. Valentino is also partly owned by Kering. Now Kering owns 30% of Valentino. Valentino has not been doing super well at the moment. I think they've had a 22% drop in profits this year so far. I'm sure that had something to do with the CEO departure, but, yeah, sort of in a weird spot and needing some fresh leadership. I think they have fresh creative leadership through Alessandro Michele. They needed fresh business leadership as well. But there's been persistent rumors now that Kering and Mehula both may try to sell off Valentino or sell off their parts of Valentino. Both have denied it, but Kering has been having a lot of problems with Gucci and the rest of its business. So I could see them wanting to offload Valentino if they feel like they've got too many brands that need their attention at one point.
- [14:44]
B
Yeah, I mean, at the moment, I think that the details of that deal is that they have an option to acquire 100% of the company by 2028, so that way Kering would own Valentino fully. And I think the valuation at that point implied by the deal was that Valentino was worth about 5.7 billion euros, and as a result would be a very big brand in Kering stable as well, and as you mentioned, I think that there's a lot of existing problems already pairing with its other brands. Maybe it isn't quite the right time, but I do think that under the Mehula leadership, and obviously since Bellini is kind of coming in from Mehula as well, it kind of signals a bit more tightening of control around the brand. It seems like they want someone who's got a little bit of experience in the boardroom as well as with leading a big brand. And even though he's kind of less flamboyant, I guess, than the predecessor, he understands the brand storytelling a lot better. So perhaps he might lean into Valentino's Roman heritage. Obviously, the kind of maximalism that Alessandro brings is kind of typical for Roman fashion. So I'm wondering if that's something that we'll see with this new direction.
- [16:08]
A
Yeah. And one more thing I want to say about this before we move on is Mehula is kind of an interesting company. They don't own that many brands. It's just Valentino, Bauman, Pozzallari and Bayman. They used to, I think, license M by Mazzoni, but now that's back with Mazzoni. So it's really just those four. And they haven't bought any new brands since 2016 when they acquired Baumann. There's been no additions to the portfolio, I believe. So I do wonder if they are looking to expand at all, if any more brands might join that portfolio in the future. But there is no news on that as far as I can tell. We'll have to circle back to it when that happens. Let's talk about TJ Maxx. Tjx, the parent company of TJ Maxx, released their earnings this week and it blew past a lot of people's expectations, including their own. Revenue was $14.4 billion compared to an estimated $14.13 billion. Earnings per share were $1.10 versus $1, which is pretty good. It's 10% higher. They raised their overall guidance for the entire year. And it's funny because they were sort of preparing people for the worst before the earnings. They were saying tariff costs were going to impact their second quarter earnings. But then in the report this week, they basically were like, oh, costs weren't. Actually costs weren't as bad as we were expecting. And that was a big part of it. So there's a lot we could pick apart with their earnings. I think just the biggest thing for me is clearly shows that discount retail is. Is like very valuable, right Now, a lot of the analysts were saying tariffs and other economic factors are making people trade down into kind of like discount retailers like TJ Maxx or Ross or whatever. I think that seems very true to me based on what I've seen and my kind of intuition. I feel like that's definitely what's happening here. What do you think?
- [17:57]
B
Yeah, I mean, I think that the most interesting part of, you know, TJ Maxx or TK Maxx as it's known over here is a different name in the uk.
- [18:06]
A
I did not know that.
- [18:07]
B
It's very, very weird. But yeah, it's probably less popular here, I think, than it is over there. You do occasionally get like very good designer like things at a discount if you go there. But I'm not sure what it looks like in the States so you're going to have to dig into that. But I was very interested in the way that they source because obviously we've done a lot of different tariff stories and we know how many things can get held up at the border actually end up buying the product post import and at a markdown. So they don't really get that involved with tariff pricing because they're not necessarily buying that cost when they're making those purchases. And as a result, it kind of essentially means that all of the brands and the companies that they're buying from are selling to them already at a discount and already with those kind of import costs, costs factored in. So that's something that I think has contributed majorly to their earnings. And obviously with people worried about costs and money in general, they are turning more towards discount chains to buy the same products. And I think that with the name recognition, I think that TJ Maxx has got definitely a bigger presence and as a result it's probably one of the most well known discount retailers in the States.
- [19:28]
A
Yeah, no, I think you're 100% right. It's my understanding as well that a lot of their inventory is purchased after it's already been imported. It's a lot of excess inventory that brands couldn't sell or other retailers couldn't sell. And so they are not paying tariffs, which I think is, you know, obviously good for them. It is a little bit like. Well, it's only. They can only do that if stuff's still being imported and, and being handed off to them. And if tariffs are making people not import stuff, that will kind of trickle down to affect their inventory. But until that time happens, I think it's very clear that they're benefiting from like you said, people's wallets being under pressure. Also fun fact, I just looked it up. It is called tkmax in the UK because they could not trade under the initials TJ due to the British discount chain TJ Hughes. Dina, TJ Hughes.
- [20:20]
B
No idea. Honestly, I think TK Maxx has kind of taken over the high street. It's the only one that's big. And that's not just a charity shop where you buy secondhand stuff.
- [20:30]
A
Well, that's why it's TK Maxx there. They literally just went one letter down the Alphabet. I did not know that. That's very interesting. I think that's all the time we have this week, but thank you for being here, Zofia. It's always great to have you.
- [20:43]
B
Thank you so much. It was a pleasure.
- [20:46]
A
Like I said at the top of the episode, we're going to take a short break and then we have a great conversation between our editor in chief Jill Manoff and Vicky Pica who's the president of off season sports apparel brand talking all about the crossover of sports and fashion. And one more time I want to remind you, if you are a high schooler or you have a high schooler in your life or you just have opinions about teen fashion trends, we want to hear from you. You can DM us@glossyco on Instagram, you can email me at dannylossy co or you can leave us a voicemail at 347-746-0006. I would love if you left us a voicemail because then we could use it on the podcast. Every brand says they want growth, but here's the thing about growth. Most of the time it's being held back by waste. Waste in your media plan, waste in your measurement, waste in the way decisions get made. Tenuity is here to end that. Tenuity is an independent media agency built for brands that want to grow. Their humans are brilliant, Their technology is powerful. Tinuity tech shows you exactly what's working, what's wasting, budget and what to do next. They don't just talk about growth, they engineer it. Tenuity. Love growth. Hate waste. Find out what your media is really doing. Visit lovegrowth hate waste.com.
- [22:18]
C
But for while Vicki's coming back on. I'll let you guys know. Kristen is a wag. Her and her husband is a an NFL player. She was caught on the sidelines, not necessarily wearing other brands gear. But no, no, she was creating her own clothes for the game, decked out in logos which was awesome. Like fashion forward, very on trend Looks like clothes you would see at maybe forward or revolve. Just something that's cute and chic. A little bit sexy actually. And also Emma Greed, who is co founder of Good American with Khloe Kardashian obviously involved in Frame and some of these other fashion brands that are very much booming skims. So definitely a powerhouse couple of founders. And yes, she, Vicki told me on our prep call that she, she's. She's sports doesn't know anything about fashion and the other founders were fashion didn't know a thing about sports. So it proved the perfect match.
- [23:22]
D
She's married to Kyle Juszczyk, who's a San Francisco 49er fullback and cut her digital chops on dressing for his games every Sunday. And a lot of the exposure. She taught herself to sew through YouTube and was making her own outfits and ultimately got a lot of interest from celebrities and other wags and so forth to dress them for the games. And it doesn't hurt when Ms. Swift decides to wear one of those jackets to a game.
- [23:56]
B
Yes.
- [23:56]
C
Was that a big game? We were talking about the Taylor Swift effect. Where did she wear it?
- [24:01]
D
I don't remember which of the Chiefs games she wore it to, but it was huge. And she's a market mover in fairness. So we were very fortunate. We'd had a lot of celebrity pickup already, but that's a whole different ball game. Literally.
- [24:17]
C
Exciting. I can picture the jacket right now. Hey, well tell us about the brand. The brand started, I more so know it for its NFL products. Is that where your kind of solely residing right now with the intention to expand to other teams or you've already gone there catch up me.
- [24:34]
D
Well, I'm so happy to tell you all today we announced our first non NFL league collaboration with the WNBA and you can. It will launch on September 4th and we are incredibly excited. Obviously women's sports, the growth of it, you know, someone who's been in sports as long as I have to see this moment is really incredibly heartwarming and, and just a really powerful thing to see the fans of women's sport. And so yes, this is our first league new league collaboration beyond the NFL. There'll be others announced later this year and we continue to move on to, to find the right partnerships for next year as well. All that being said, look we, you know, the NFL is home. That's where, that's where Kristen and you know, cut her tops and really has her, her, her, you know, origins and so you'll see a lot more fun things Coming later this year and also next year for the NFL. You know, one of the things we, I think our most frequent comment we get in our channels is that we more teams want off season, which is a really nice thing to hear. And so as anyone who's dabbles in licensed sports know, you take on not just, not just one property, you take on, you know, 30 or 32 teams at a time. And so as we continue to try and roll out more and more product to satisfy more and more fans across the various leagues that we're partnering with.
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C
Yes, let's talk about the discrepancy. Discrepancy in what's available for male fans and what's available for female fans.
- [26:13]
D
Yeah, well, listen, apparently a lot of people like a boxy T shirt with a logo. And listen, in fairness, that's really what Sports License has been about fore it was driven by the male fan. And I'm not even gonna say the male consumer because what, what we do know is that more than 50% of sales are coming from women, but they're buying male proper products to, to dress their fan at home, whether that's their, you know, son, boyfriend, husband, friend, whatever. So. And that, you know, hasn't. The fashion hasn't been really the focus for those consumers to date. And again, we see that changing as well. Obviously the change in, in fashion for men has also been obvious in our, you know, in our recent history here. So it's why we think it's so important that we do carry unisex styles as well to be able to offer that kind of premium product for the male fan too. But for sure, look, I, I've been in this business for 30 years and I can tell you I have three things in my closet that are licensed. And that is not a coincidence since I have three kids who went to three different colleges. So I have one sweatshirt to represent as my, as a good mother should. But when I went, it was important for me to, you know, when I go out, I want to. Of course I would love to show my fandom, but I really like to look good. And I never felt that the sports licensed world was able to come out with an offering for women. That is something I really wanted to put on and still feel good about myself. So this, you know, so we now are in this place where we have Sports License, which sort of. There's a famous line, shrink it and pink it. That's like, that was how they approached women. And then there's. We're now seeing this next movement which is real luxury. Top end brands are aligning with athletes to showcase their branded goods. So you know, it's maybe the. There may be a jersey silhouette but it still has the luxury brands, you know, moniker across the front but there's nothing in between. And that's the white space. There's nothing that's really showing the NFL logo, team logos or the WNBA team logos in a fashion forward premium quality way that you really want to wear to really great on game day for sure. But hopefully we'll see this walking down the street on a random Tuesday because it looks good and it feels good and the quality is amazing.
- [28:46]
C
Yes, that is more acceptable. I have a problem with a sports jersey in certain circumstances.
- [28:52]
D
Yeah, I understand. I hear you. But listen, wait till you see some of the silhouettes coming your way.
- [28:58]
C
Yeah, a totally different ball game. Where are you guys selling? Is it direct to consumer or do you also have a presence at some of the games?
- [29:05]
D
Yeah, so we're again I think people get surprised when I remind them that we're not even a year old yet. So our distribution is primarily dtc, the off season brand website. We also distribute through our partners website. So the NFL shop will carry it as well as this Fanatics as I mentioned is one of our important partners. But we'll be rolling out in brick and mortar this fall. So we'll be in some Nordstrom doors and as we grow we'll continue to look for the right strategic partnerships so that it's more access, you know, accessible in physical locations.
- [29:42]
C
Yes. Speaking of partnerships, tell me what's working in terms of marketing and if it is about wags and other fans in the stands or who you're working with in terms of influencers or maybe that's not your, your game.
- [29:55]
D
It's definitely the game. It's the game of this consumer and this audience. I mean I think even if you think about the way that we will be dropping product, it's really speaking to this fan who is consuming social media daily, who in the, you know, fashion used to be spring, summer, fall, winter. It's now every month there better be something new because women are and male shoppers are now looking for content even through their retail experience, their e commerce experience. And so we're going to track that as well. So yes, that kind of marketing, those channels couldn't be more important to us. We're really fortunate and have a lot of people reaching out to want to wear the product. So we are thrilled to be able to share our excitement and our new products with them. And yes, the influencer economy is real. And we think it's, you know, that's, it's an amazing way to spread the gospel. And so we don't. Those are sort of. Those more I say informal or at least through the influencer network is absolutely critical to what we're doing. And I think you'll see we're being super selective about some upcoming, more traditional partnerships, but doing it in an unconditional way.
- [31:14]
C
Oh, okay. We want to know. Keep us posted. I'll be back. Yes, totally. Considering your past, I think it's more from like a male dominated world when it comes to like the male consumer slash fan and the female consumer slash fan. It was while you were talking, I was like, just a question came to me. Does that mean, is it typical, do you, that maybe a guy would buy a jersey and that would be his, his outfit for, for the season, he'd buy one thing per year if at the most he could wear year after year. And then a woman, like, considering your line, like, I would think she's going to another game, she needs a new look for Instagram. But anyway, are they buying more or. Tell me about some of those differing behaviors.
- [31:56]
D
Yeah, I. You nailed it. I think general and again, I. Stereotypes are always dangerous. So let me qualify by saying that's not. This does not apply to everyone. But generally the. What we're seeing, you know, when we have a launch, we will find that the smallest sizes sell out earliest because women are shopping, seeming to be shopping in real time, whereas men. Oh yeah, today was the day. So let me get to it at the end of the day. And so it's really, I think that's, it's super interesting to see just how the consumption differs. But I think that's right. There's a newness that. But the jersey. And the jersey is iconic and it is good for every game. I'm not arguing about that. But if you want to look fresh and you want to look dressed and you want to look fashionable, the jersey isn't going to do it by itself. And that in fact is the entire philosophy behind off season.
- [32:56]
C
Yes, if you want to look like your body has any sort of a shape. Anyway, tell me NFL season is getting ready to start. So is this like, again, this is like a big sales period? It is everything you said regarding what's working for marketing, it's all systems go right now.
- [33:13]
D
Any.
- [33:14]
C
Anything else unique about right now?
- [33:15]
D
It is. So, you know, we, we came to market with the puffer jackets and, and vests that's what we became known for very quickly. And we are now sort of flexing a bit and moving into the ready to wear part of our drop calendar for this year. So we've already dropped our first NFL ready to wear assortment. At the end of July. You will be seeing the WNBA come. There will be another NFL ready to wear assortment coming. And then again we're going to relaunch Puffers, more teams coming and some other takes on the success coming your way soon. So yes, this is the end of this year. We're moving into heavy sports season as we know we'll have the NFL will be in season. We know that the NBA will be coming back in the season, the W will be going into playoffs, the NHL will be starting, college football will start. This is a big time in the sports world with all eyes focused on sports and off season will be in the middle of it.
- [34:17]
C
Yes. Oh my gosh. When it comes to your WNBA partnerships partnership, do you and I don't know, do you know anything about the fan in terms of like, is that fan different in terms of the demand for styles? Are the styles pretty similar in terms of everybody wants, I don't know this type of a pant or this type of address like you tell me.
- [34:36]
D
I think in fairness, and I've actually had some great conversations with executives at both teams and the league about this, I think the WNB fan has kind of defied classification and every assumption that there was about what a sports license consumer was doesn't fit. And so I think it's one of the challenges and opportunities for folks who are trying to align with the W to come to market with product. We're all testing and learning who is the fan and what is it that they want. And my own assessment, my own guess is that it's not going to be easily classified ever. I think it's a really diverse, broadly diverse audience, which is its strength. And I think there won't be any one fits all solution. And so you need to be prepared to talk to a lot of different people and make your product accessible to a lot of different preferences. That's my guess. The data will have to play out, but we're in the beginning days of seeing such success and traction in all of these different business lines for the league.
- [35:44]
B
Yes.
- [35:45]
C
Well, you have amazing success building big business for a bunch of companies. Tell me what you see as the goal for off season. I feel like there's no reason to believe you won't do the same in this, in this company.
- [35:58]
D
Well, thank you. Listen I think it's honestly it's making sure that we continue to deliver the quality premium product that we've become known for at the scale we want to do it. And again, licensed is a very different beast than typical fashion. I think people are taken aback to understand that you don't do one SKU, you do 30 SKUs and each one of them has its own IP restrictions and limitations and usages. And then when you move into player usage, which we also do, as you know, we have player identified vests and jackets depending on the drop. Now you're playing with another set of SKUs and another set of moving variables because no one can control. Unfortunately, when some of these athletes get hurt and they're no longer playing in a game or no longer part of a team for a season, they get traded. All things can happen. So it's a business that is in many respects a lot of littles, even though it's a huge business holistically. And I think that's really the bringing fashion into that model is really the unlock here that we're working on and that I really hope to help off season accomplish so that we can continue to grow.
- [37:12]
C
Oh my gosh. Well, I'm excited to follow all your success, Vicki. Thank you for being here. This was absolutely wonderful. Thank you so much.
- [37:20]
D
Thank you so much.
- [37:25]
A
And thank you for listening to the Glossy Podcast. Don't forget to give us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify wherever you listen to this because that helps us out so much. And don't forget to subscribe to the Glossy Podcast to hear interviews with industry insiders and week in review segments where we break down the news. The new episodes come out every Friday. Until the next time, thanks for listening.