I knew it was possible to one day start my own line. But first, I wanted to work for one of the big names in fashion, to get more background in design. So I quit the boutique and started the job search anew. Unfortunately I discovered that I had too much experience to be a newcomer and all the wrong experience to be an associate designer. I had to pick up a job cocktail waitressing just to pay the bills. You hire yourself. My husband Bob, who is not afraid of anything, encouraged me to take the leap.
We set up a shop in the East Village in the cheapest storefront we could find, between a gas station and soup kitchen. I felt at home there. I did the designs and Bob ran the business, we embarked on twenty years of hard work and major stress interspersed with fun and excitement and then some more stress.
If you are self-employed, you should pay yourself about a dollar an hour and not expect more or you will never get a business off the ground. It took ten years to pay him back and turn a profit, but I eventually went on to stage my own runway shows in New York — changing the image of my brand and catapulting us onto the international scene.
But I have never regretted my choice to start my own business. This story was adapted from a commencement address delivered to the graduating class Youngstown State University. A woman discovers that leaning in to single motherhood means learning to ask for help. A woman refuses to let her humble beginnings stop her from chasing success. A Walmart store manager learns that she can succeed where her male predecessors failed. Before you go, sign up for our email newsletter to get inspiring stories, expert advice, and more.
Learn how to spot four patterns of gender lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. Introducing Allyship at Work, a training program that empowers employees to take meaningful action as allies. This is what motivates her to keep on going. The designer exclaimed in an interview that such moments were embarrassing for her. She had started her business with only five thousand dollars borrowed from her father and brother. For some time till the trade was on the road to rise, Nanette faced times when it became harder for her to pay off her loan but she did.
Apart from this, she adores her fun-loving and supportive family. Home Blog Contact. Nanette Lepore. Investment groups in the s periodically reached out with enticing valuations when the heady economy was leading many designers to take on private equity investors.
Wealthy private equity investors across the industry were pressuring designers to grow their top-line revenues, on which their companies were being valued much like tech companies. Profits were secondary to growth. Wassner says he was watching labels all over New York scramble in that climate. The bottom line is what matters to a manufacturing business. Volume is not the answer. Caught in the growth vice, Lepore wanted to grab more main-floor space in department stores.
It was a far cry from the Lower East Side. After the world emerged from the financial crisis, fashion shows became more expensive and elaborate as New York Fashion Week competed with weeks in Milan and Paris. The waste was spectacular — pairs of shoes for 20 models. Meanwhile, consumer moods began to switch after the Great Recession. Lower priced stores such as Zara churned out similarly romantic looks at a fraction of the price of a Nanette Lepore frock.
Lepore noticed that starting salaries had stopped growing over the decade, and young women could no longer afford designer clothes and rent. Suddenly, she was paying markdown money to department stores, eroding her profit margins. Under pressure to cut her prices, Lepore began to listen to store buyers who advised her to design dresses to their prices.
Committed to manufacturing in New York, she cut materials costs rather than move production overseas. The couple closed stores, laid off 75 people in New York in one day, mortgaged their Manhattan townhouse, and eventually sold their beloved Hamptons beach house.
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