Lessons in Fashion Business-Building from Proenza Schouler | The BoF Podcast

The Business of Fashion Podcast

The Business of Fashion

Fashion & Beauty, Business, Arts

4.6 • 770 Ratings

🗓️ 11 February 2022

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez speak to BoF’s Lauren Sherman about their journey from one-time fashion wunderkinds to seasoned entrepreneurs, navigating a series of ups and downs.

Fresh out of fashion school — armed with approval from then Barneys New York fashion director Julie Gilhart, who bought their Parsons senior thesis collection in 2002, and Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, who helped them stage their first show in 2003 — Proenza Schouler designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez followed early 2000s American fashion’s script for success. They took investment quickly, produced buzzy runway shows and an ‘it’ item in the form of the PS1 bag, and began launching new categories and distribution deals — but struggled to achieve sustained commercial success.

“By 2018, the board of directors was quite large and in charge and we weren’t. That’s when, I guess, shit hit the fan,” said Hernandez.

So, 15 years after its 2002 launch and on the brink of bankruptcy, McCollough and Hernandez bought Proenza Schouler back from private equity firm Castanea Partners, installed fashion turnaround veteran Kay Hong as chief executive, and positioned the brand for growth in 2020, just before the pandemic hit. It appears their strategy is working: Proenza Schouler broke even in 2021 and is on a path to profitability in 2022.

On the latest episode of The BoF Podcast, McCullough and Hernandez join BoF’s chief correspondent Lauren Sherman following her feature, “The Nine Lives of Proenza Schouler,” to chat about their experience so far — and the brand’s next chapter.

Join BoF Professional for the analysis and advice you need. Get 30 days for just $1 or explore group subscriptions for your business.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi, this is Imran Ahmed, founder and CEO of the Business of Fashion.
0:07.3	Welcome to the Bof podcast. It's Friday, February 11th.
0:11.7	Proenza Schoolers Jack McCullough and Lazaro Hernandez first hit the fashion scene in 2002,
0:17.8	when Julie Gilliardt, then the influential fashion director of Barney's New York, bought their Parson's senior thesis collection.
0:25.3	The next year, Vogue's Anna Winterer helped them stage their first proper show, and the rest, as they say, is American fashion history.
0:33.7	But their journey has had its ups and downs with multiple investors and buyouts,
0:38.4	It bags and it girls, and persistent rumors about the future of Proenza Schooler and where it will go next.
0:45.6	Earlier this week, our chief correspondent Lauren Sherman published a definitive piece of analysis
0:51.0	examining exactly that question called The Nine Lives of Proenza Schooler.
0:56.7	This week on the BOF podcast, I'm delighted to share some of Lauren's conversation with Jack and
1:02.2	Lajaro with plenty of lessons for anyone trying to build a new fashion business.
1:07.9	Here's Jack McCullough and Lazzo Hernandez on the BOF podcast.
1:13.1	Thank you both for being here. You are about to celebrate your 20th year in business and
1:20.8	that's more looking in the fall of 2022. But, you know, looking back, 2018 was a real turning point for your business. You
1:31.2	bought it back from your previous investors. You brought on a new investor and you were kind of
1:38.4	embarking on this new era of Bronsa Scher and then the pandemic happened.
1:49.8	So can you kind of walk me through what the last three years have been for you all and how you've managed through this incredibly tough time for the industry in the
1:55.4	world at large?
1:56.5	It's a pretty loaded question,
1:57.8	the last three years.
2:03.6	It's been a pretty intense three years to say the least between everything we've been through and the pandemic and all that. But I guess
2:10.7	pre-pandemic, let's go back to 2018 to start. I mean, maybe we should go back to 2002, actually,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Business of Fashion, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Business of Fashion and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.