Rebecca Minkoff: Building a Household Name Fashion Label
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How did Rebecca Minkoff get her start in fashion and land her first break?
Hello and welcome back to Fashion Founders the podcast. My name is Victoria Smith, and this week I'm joined by Rebecca Minkoff. Rebecca has built her brand into a household name. And we talk about how she got there and her journey starting at 18 years old, moving to New York City to pursue her dream of working in fashion. We also talk about all the things that she had to learn by doing and how that led her to starting the female founders. Collective so she can share that knowledge with other people. She is such an icon in the fashion space, and I am so honored to have her on the podcast. And I'll let her take it from here. Also, if you're listening to this, please follow, rate, and review the podcast.
It really helps the show grow and continue to get really cool people like Rebecca who can share great advice. And if you've been following along for the fashion career playbook series I've been doing on Substack, week two just came out on Friday, and it is all about building a resume for fashion, going through some does. And don'ts, specific lines, and how to tailor a resume to a role that you feel like you don't have experience for, but you likely actually do. Thank you so much for listening and let's get into the episode. One of the number one things that has helped me discover my personal style and actually get to wear it has been my rent the runway subscription. Having new rotating pieces come through my closet and then style.
them with pieces I already own has really helped me discover what I actually like. And it just makes getting dressed in the morning so much more fun. Instead of reaching for that same sweatshirt when I'm working from home, it's more exciting to see how I'm gonna wear this new piece that came in the mail that I'm renting and I'm not spending a ton of money on, but getting a great deal on. And you can get 50% off your first month of Rent the Runway with code RTRX V Smith50. I'll put it in the show notes. This is the biggest sale that they have going on right now. And they're running sales on their pieces that you're renting out. So then you can buy them 50% off. I just rented a Ralph Lauren sweater, one with the bear on it, and it's 50% off.
And I'm very much thinking of purchasing it. I absolutely love using my Rent the Runway subscription. They have such good pieces on the website with new stuff coming in every week. I would highly, highly recommend. Hi, Rebecca. Hi. Thank you for coming on. I'm so excited to learn more about all that led to your brand and your podcast and Female Founder Collective.
Well, I'm glad to be here.
And I'd love to start with your start in fashion. You now have a household name as a label. How did you start and build it into what it is today?
I moved here when I was 18. I had a paid internship. And when I say paid, it was like three dollars an hour with a designer that my brother had ironically met at a party and given me like this rip-off phone number and I called and they're like, Yeah, you can be an intern. Like, when can you arrive? And at that moment I decided to not go to college and just skip the process and go straight to work. So when I moved here, I got straight to work, fell in love with the job, and then six months in I I was like, you need to actually like make me a formal offer and hire me. And I had proven myself through the hard work and the CO was like, no problem. You're gonna make three dollars and fifty cents an hour. And I worked there for about three years.
And I was starting to get resentful of just like I wanted to do my own thing. Even though I was young, I felt like I had a lot of ideas, I had a lot of creativity, and I just wanted to work on my own projects. So I started doing that on the side. And then I had come back from a trip in the Bahamas and I liked how they were cutting up the shirts and putting beats on them. And I was like, I love that, but I want it to be for New York. So I took an I Love New York shirt. I cut it It up. I put rhinestones on it because believe it or not, people liked rhinestones on things.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
How did Rebecca Minkoff get her start in fashion and land her first break?
0:05–16:20
2
What was the celebrity moment that launched the Rebecca Minkoff brand?
16:20–26:31
3
Why does Rebecca stress the importance of bootstrapping before seeking investors?
26:31–35:01
4
How does she calculate costing, pricing, and profitability for a fashion label?
35:01–37:11
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Fashion & Founders The Podcast
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