057 – Uri Minkoff of the Rebecca Minkoff and Uri Minkoff brands – The Nerve of Change, The Rise of Comfort and The Amazing Card Story

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Running a fashion brand …

Uri Minkoff (Co-Founder and CEO of Rebecca Minkoff, an industry leader in accessible luxury handbags, accessories, footwear, and apparel, and founder of Uri Minkoff, a menswear offshoot) joins Pavan Bahl (OS Fashion), Rob Sanchez (Ralph and Remington [Episode 22]), Marc Raco (The Hope Is Project and Monkey Radio), and guest-host Liz Bacelar (Decoded Fashion [Episode 38]) in studio for an in-depth, all inclusive, super-sized interview. Thoughts on Ralph Lauren stepping down lead to discussion of the challenges of understanding the new consumer, the quick successes of startups, newer leaner models, and how to evolve to next generation. Minkoff talks about how Rebecca Minkoff, LLC researches trends and products, the company’s entrepreneurial process and attitude, financial struggles along the way to success, the importance of control, and learning mistakes and pain through trial and error.

A generous round of Feed the Animals brings us some of Minkoff’s lifestyle and features a non-dairy, non-grain feast, and leads to a telling of the must-hear incredible Card Story ever along with the invention of Vincent in the Morning After Bag. And—will Vincent be planning a reappearance?

Minkoff on how he ended up in the fashion biz and why it was not that despite prior careers in health care and holistic wellness, software and building several companies starting at age 19. The role of his father in his success, how to differentiate yourself by combining two seemingly unconnected elements to create a highly successful company, the value of a partnership with potential, and moving from building a world around someone else’s talent to building one around oneself, and whether Minkoff is now leveraging his existing Rebecca Minkoff supply chain and resources in his new menswear brand.

The inspiration and resulting of Uri Minkoff company. Everyone is cursing. Looking American, efforts to create modern global sense of style, a new language universal, Scandinavian, Japanese. The three second rule, middle-man removed pricing, the future of VR with Minkoff and when it will invade the industry, tech not just for tech sake, getting into the consumer mind, and the role of emotion in pioneering paths.

Business matchmaking happens, and idea for FIYB hackathon challenge, finding inefficiency in the supply chain, moving the supply chain closer to the source, and identifying who customer is and what they will buy and adding science to it. In a new feature – “Hot Spot” – Liz asks about connectivity between store/commerce and live inventory, a full omni-channel experience. Minkoff shares his company’s ability to synchronize shopping cart abandonment and dressing room abandonment, and a possible solution is proposed.

Minkoff comments on the need for more industry focus on process technologies, making the customer’s life easier, and the impending Age of the Data Scientist in fashion companies to coordinate how things flow and move, acquisition costs, etc. and work out the price/value ratio. He reveals his manual biggest pain point that could be solved with technology, and the need for a data alignment scorecard to accurately determine best seller across all channels. His biggest surprising moment as a fashion tech in an instantly-connected world, the complexity of dealing with the human heart and brands, being tune into the nerve of change, the rise of comfort people expressing themselves, the new breed of company, and why Caitlyn Jenner cannot be stereotyped. A round of Off the Grid questions reveals the need to sink or swim, Rebecca Minkoff’s first sewing machine, a nine-year-old business mogul, tiger mommies and panda daddies, Pavan offers to teach us how to Dougie, triathlons and saunas, and a favorite film director, and a karaoke debate.