Law Roach’s Styling Journey & The Value of Brand Buzz
Happy belated Juneteenth! I didn’t do anything special aside from being thankful that I had the day off. As usual, I got out of bed at a reasonable hour and rolled my walking pad out from under my bed to get my morning walk in. As I walked, I caught up on my podcast episodes and thankfully, I had a good one on deck.
Law Roach was the guest on The BOF Podcast and spoke to Imran Amed, Founder and CEO of The Business of Fashion, about his career journey from selling thrifted clothes out of his friend's car in the South Side of Chicago and eventually opening a boutique that gained “global recognition” to making the move to Los Angeles full-time to pursue a career as a stylist and working with celebs like Ariana Grande, Celine Dion, and, of course, Zendaya.
One of my favorite parts of the interview was when Law explained while traveling back and forth between New York and Los Angeles for styling gigs and back home to Chicago to bartend on the weekends, a mentor gave him some wise advice. She said, “You’ll never win the game if you’re not in the stadium”, meaning at some point he would have to take the leap and commit to either New York or Los Angeles full-time to embark on the next phase of his career. A month later, he moved to Los Angeles. That quote resonated so much that I wrote it on a postcard and taped it to my wall under my vision board.
Throughout the rest of the podcast, I learned more about Law’s strategic business practices with his clients and collaborators. When the news hit that he wanted to retire, I could remember Twitter buzzing and sharing threads of his best styling moments. Thankfully, his retirement didn’t last too long. After a conversation with Zendaya, Law decided to take more control of his career only pursuing projects he believed in.
His next venture will be launching an online learning platform to educate the next generation of stylists featuring all the resources he used to become a legendary stylist and create a pipeline from course completion to industry employment. This is an exciting opportunity for aspiring stylists and I can’t wait to keep up with this platform.
Welcome to Weekly Staples! A brief overview of my favorite fashion industry articles from the week related to marketing, retail trends, and events.
Masterful Marketing
What is Buzz Worth? via Business of Fashion
Lately, fashion brand “buzz” has taken precedence over actual sales. The cycle of creating a viral moment to start a conversation and drive social and website traffic has brands in a constant frenzy to stay relevant. But are these vanity metrics worth it if they don’t result in consistent revenue flow? While building brand awareness is important, it’s also important for teams to strategize how to move that attention through a journey that’s mutually beneficial for the customer and the brand.
It’s Pride Month. Have brands gone back in the closet? via Vogue Business
Fashion brands seem to be taking a step back from Pride Month marketing this year as consumers have gotten smarter about calling out products and campaigns that simply pander to the LGBTQ+ community without taking steps to support them year-round. However, Vogue Business notes that there are smarter ways to incorporate the community into mindful campaigns that highlight the community and organizations that work to support them.
Retail Rundown
Why Fashion’s Curation Problem Is so Hard to Solve via Business of Fashion
Companies like Psykhe and Lyst are taking the reigns on improved e-commerce personalization for online shoppers. But while companies like Spotify and TikTok have seemingly hit the mark with curating content for specific user desires in the form of “recommended songs” and the “For You” page respectively, the challenge with fashion is managing physical inventory and rigid data points.
The economy of #OOTD via Vogue Business
Brands are taking advantage of #OOTD content across TikTok and Instagram after tracking the traffic and revenue generated from influencers. With the unique takes of different creators, their audiences are more engaged with the content since they can usually “find creators with their skin tone (for beauty), or their sizing (for garments), and really see what the product looks like on somebody like them”. This has also caused brands to rethink their influencer marketing strategies to ensure they receive a healthy return on investment so affiliate marketing tactics may “narrow the disconnect”.
Check out more interesting stories from the week:
Can the luxury fashion industry dismantle its socioeconomic barriers? via Vogue Business
Inside Favorite Daughter’s Quest to Be the Next Billion Dollar Brand with Humor and Heart via WWD
True Fit leverages generative AI to help online shoppers find clothes that fit via Tech Crunch
The Merging of Beauty and Athletics Is Here – And Yes, It Matters via PS
