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Handbag Designer 101: The Stories Behind Handbag Designers, Brands, and Industry Icons
What does it take to create an iconic handbag brand? Each week, Emily Blumenthal—author of Handbag Designer 101 and founder of The Handbag Awards—dives deep into the stories behind the handbags we love. From world-renowned designers and rising stars to industry executives shaping the retail landscape, Handbag Designer 101 brings you the inside scoop on the creativity, craftsmanship, and business savvy it takes to succeed in the handbag world.
Whether you’re a designer, collector, entrepreneur, influencer, or simply passionate about handbags, this podcast is your front-row seat to the journeys of visionary creators, the origins of iconic brands, and the cultural impact of these timeless accessories. Discover valuable insights, expert advice, and the inspiration to fuel your love of handbags—or even launch your own brand.
Tune in every Tuesday to "Handbag Designer 101" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred podcast platform, or watch full episodes on YouTube, and highlights on TikTok.
Handbag Designer 101: The Stories Behind Handbag Designers, Brands, and Industry Icons
Revolutionizing Fashion Technology with Launchmetrics’ Alison Bringé
Discover how Alison Bringé, the visionary Chief Marketing Officer of Launchmetrics, has reshaped the landscape of the fashion, lifestyle, and beauty industries. With exclusive insights into her transformative journey from brand-side roles to the dynamic world of data and software at Launchmetrics, Alison reveals the secrets behind the company's evolution from Fashion GPS to a leading force in fashion technology. Learn how Launchmetrics carves its niche by focusing exclusively on fashion, providing brands with the tools they need to thrive, and playing a pivotal role in iconic events like New York Fashion Week.
Embark on an enlightening exploration of how Alison's international experiences have honed her understanding of global consumer behavior. From Florida to Milan, New York, and London, her story illustrates the boldness required to embrace new challenges and the rich cultural insights gained along the way. The discussion highlights the critical importance of tuning into cultural trends and consumer habits to craft effective brand strategies. Alison offers invaluable advice on harnessing a global perspective to inform smarter business strategies, ensuring designers and brands can meet the ever-evolving needs of their consumers. Tune in for expert advice, personal anecdotes, and a wealth of knowledge on navigating the fast-paced world of fashion marketing.
Follow Alison:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alison-bringe/
launchmetrics.com
Youtube: / Handbagdesigner101-ihda | Instagram:/ Handbagdesigner
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Hi and welcome to the Handbag Designer 101 podcast with your host, emily Blumenthal, handbag designer expert and handbag fairy godmother, where we cover everything about handbags from making, marketing, designing and talking to handbag designers and industry experts about what it takes to make a successful handbag. Welcome, alison Branger to Handbag Designer 101, the podcast. Alison, you are still the Chief Marketing Officer of Launchmetrics. You've been that for a while, right yeah?
Speaker 2:almost a decade. Wow, that makes me feel old.
Speaker 1:Well, the lighting you have is phenomenal. You look very, very young and I wouldn't say you're a day over 25. I think that's, I feel like that's when we met. It's been a minute.
Speaker 2:Oh, thank you. Yeah, it's been a. It's a journey, right, and even thinking about being at Lawn Metrics for 10 years, you know the company's changed and evolved so much that I would say the company, probably that I worked for when I knew you back when, is not something I work for today.
Speaker 1:I think it's impressive, though I'm always look as someone who was not able to day job for very long. I mean, in my own defense, I've had very, very impressive jobs. I just didn't have them for very long. So I'm always impressed with people who are able to sustain day jobbery in a way, especially in an industry that is so fickle and ever changing. Did you ever struggle with that? Because you deal with so many brands, like you know to go to the brand side? I mean, did that ever pique your interest?
Speaker 2:I mean to be fair, I worked, you know, at Net-A-Porter when we opened in the US and I guess you could ask almost every person in fashion if they'd want to work there, and a lot of people, probably 10 years ago or 10 plus years ago when I worked there, would have told you it was their dream job and, to be fair, it was great. The team there was so lovely. I really felt inspired working under Natalie Massonet. I mean, she was a true visionary, but I felt like something was missing and for me working on the brand side, it almost wasn't dynamic enough.
Speaker 2:What I love about the other roles I've had, and specifically my job here, is I always say this when we're hiring people, this job is whatever you make of it and in the type of company Launchmetrics is, I really have the opportunity to go anywhere and I have the ability Literally. Yeah, like physically and strategically, my team really has the ability at any level to say like, hey, I'd really love to test the waters with this partnership. Or I really think we should be leaning into LA. There are all these brands that are handbag designers, accessories ready to wear or sportswear. Right, let's do something in LA, let's find some partners, do something cool and we're always keen.
Speaker 2:And obviously at a big company like somewhere like Nannaporte or a brand, you're sometimes confined to these brand guidelines or the rules of the brand, and I think that's fine. And some people I have a handful of friends right their job is to be sorry. Their mission in life is to be the CMO or the CEO of these huge luxury brands or mass market brands and everyone has a different passion. I just think in the end I realized it was great getting that experience, but it wasn't my calling.
Speaker 1:So if you could just give an overview of exactly what LaunchMetrics is, because I think that's important to talk a little bit about and then we can go back on the story of Allison.
Speaker 2:Sure, I love that, the story of Allison. It's my book, I'll buy it. Launchmetrics is a software, data and insights company working with more than 1,700 brands in the fashion, lifestyle and beauty space, helping them understand how they can use brand insights to build a competitive edge. So we essentially provide them with these tools to help them improve their brand's performance and understand what's happening in the marketplace.
Speaker 1:Is Launchmetrics different than Sarkana? Improve their brand's performance and understand what's happening in the marketplace. Is Launchmetrics different than Sarkana? How do you differ from any other company that does? I don't want to reduce it to just data research, but how are you different than any other company within?
Speaker 2:the space.
Speaker 2:Sure Well, I guess you know, you and I have known each other since Launchmetrics was Fashion GPS and at that time Fashion GPS was really the beating heart and still is of the fashion industry when it comes to how events are managed, how samples are tracked and how images are amplified throughout the world.
Speaker 2:And so, essentially, as the company has evolved and become LaunchMetrics through the five different acquisitions we've had, we really kind of thought about, instead of being a generalist, instead of thinking about there's all this data in the world, like, let's do data for pharmaceuticals and medical devices and finance. You know, no, like the fashion, lifestyle and beauty industry, they work in a very specific way. I think that's a nice way to put it and we need to think about all those ins and outs of this market and deliver something really niche and bespoke to them. So we've taken kind of all of the insights we've learned building Fashion GPS and brought that into our launch products, and then we have the metrics. That then says, OK, you've done all of this kind of operational activity. How does that marry to your strategy? And then how do you benchmark if it was successful? I think the difference is we're not just a data company. The fact that we're providing these tools are actually helping our brands connect their strategy with their execution.
Speaker 1:I remember Fashion GPS when it started and it just again it was a long, long time ago, but I just remember it was the company that was affiliated with New York Fashion Week. Like that was like okay, if you knew someone at Fashion GPS or were able to get in, then you could get, you were able to get into fashion shows because that was the whole hook. So you've been there since the evolution of the brand because I could probably say out of all the fashion shows I've been to, the one I've been to the most is Rebecca Minkoff. I'm a Minkoff stan.
Speaker 1:I love her, I love her insight, I love how she's always 10 steps ahead and even the evolution of the brand and I think there are very few brands actually that at least within the fashion space that are able to see. Okay, she was the first one that had influencers in her show. She was the first one that said see now, shop now, which essentially came from Brazil. Brazil was the first fashion week that had it that you could actually buy off the runway. So how, within you know, as fashion GPS obviously now launch metrics involved with how you think the evolution of fashion has gone within fashion shows, retail and so forth. I know that's a heavy question.
Speaker 2:I mean absolutely. We like to say we're a partner versus a vendor of the industry. I think that I don't know if this is a plus or a minus, but in our marketing team we're really focused on content marketing. Right, we deliver a lot of research and insights to the industry. We're asked to speak on a lot of panels and speak with a lot of journalists about what's happening, and I truly believe that comes from the place of how we are helping drive and power the industry. And so, because of that, if you ask me, when it comes to how the industry has been able to digitize and evolve themselves, how they've been able to take kind of these manual tasks and automate them, and how we've thought about transformation whether it's into brand insights or the digital transformation of physical activities, like checking into fashion shows I do think we've been a key player in that, and I think a partner versus a player maybe is how I like to say it.
Speaker 1:I think that's really important. But you and I met. You were working at ING, I think I had. I feel like I met you and I just had one of my kids. I can't remember it was so long ago, but we were both professors at Parsons, we were both adjuncts and we sat next to each other. I'm really good at picking people to sit next to. I think every event I've sat next to someone, I've remained in touch with them one way or another and I don't know I was really. First of all, you were very refined, you spoke very well Not that has anything to do with anything, but I just I was like oh, I like her, she's cool, she knows her stuff. And then you told me what you do and I said, oh, we'll definitely be friends and keep in touch one way or another. So if we can just go back like and CMO is such a lofty title, how do you think like where you were really impacted to where you are now?
Speaker 2:Yeah, of course, I think. If I think back to my journey, you know, I started my career at IMG. I mean, actually before that I was, like, in Milan I was doing PR at an agency that's funny enough, a launch metrics client, I mean.
Speaker 1:How did you end up there? Was that like after college? You were like, hey, let me just go to Italy, or how did that happen?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I finished uni, I got a job like before finishing school and it was at a small accessories company If any of you guys remember those little like charm bracelets, the little squares that linked it was one of those brands and I was doing PR. I had had some PR internships. Their marketing director was like oh I love you, you're really scrappy and it was great. I had a wonderful experience. I got to fly to the Billboard Music Awards. I met Beyonce. We did all those backstage gifting.
Speaker 1:I mean literally the first dream job out of college, that's lucky at 22 to be like, hey, we're going to put you on a plane and you're like, okay, yeah why not, like, spend a weekend in LA?
Speaker 2:I got to do that and it was great, but I was working for an Italian company, so I got all of this exposure to marketing contacts and people in Italy and it gave me this thirst and interest to move abroad. Someone had recommended this business school in Milan to me and it married up fashion and an MBA, got in. Not knowing anyone, moved to Milan and it was incredible because I think you know, I realized this after that New York is very multicultural, but really living in a capital city abroad you meet so many more international people, whereas in America it's probably a balance more of people from all over America and people from abroad, whereas when you move to London or Milan or Paris it's probably a bit more diverse. And I think that really has kind of played into who I am and my experience and why, actually, being a CMO of a multinational company, I can really understand, like, the differences of the different cultures and the team members that I have, and it's been a great experience, and the team members that I have, and it's been a great experience.
Speaker 2:But, yeah, so I moved back from Milan. I was trying to figure out what to do. I met Marie Griffith I don't know if you've, I'm sure you know her right Like it's all of our old crew and she connected me to a few people while I was looking for a job. Img was one of them, and I started my journey there, and it was an incredible journey. I think I would have never thought, though, that I wanted to work in the B2B space, and I don't think most people realize Fashion Week is B2B, right Like it's an industry event. I was doing marketing for people in the industry. I wasn't trying to push the event on consumers, and that started my journey, I would say, in the B2B space.
Speaker 1:So I'm sorry to interrupt, so just to clarify B2B space. I'm sorry to interrupt, so just to clarify. So what you mean in terms of B2B, business to business, it's that Fashion Week specifically, or historically, was meant for buyers to come to place orders to have product in two seasons ahead press to come to cover it. It was never. The thought at that time was never let's have customers come in or let's have people, you know, fight their way to get an opportunity to come to a fashion show and sit front row in order to be wearing, selling or promoting the product, Because at that time nobody could get their hands on anything that was on the runway.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and I mean it's true there were like a few kind of mummers of that happening right. No-transcript for the buyers stylists celebrities.
Speaker 1:That was what they'll wear at their next Oscar show or premiere, or something like that, exactly so.
Speaker 2:It started with that, and then I remember thinking, okay, maybe my time at IMG is over, what's next? I had met the team at Net-A-Porter. They were opening their offices on Fifth Avenue, and I remember the head of marketing and comms saying to me I love your experience because actually, we're Net-A-Porter, we can get coverage anywhere. We don't need another PR or marketer, we need someone that can think about. You know how do I leverage relationships to create more exposure and buzz around the brand, and I think that was something really interesting taking that B2B experience and then kind of bringing it to the brand to think of, like how do we build partnerships with the brands to do co-marketing? You know how can we think about Net-a-Porter outside of the general PR space and bring in that business conversation, and so that was something really exciting. Eventually, though, I got lured back to IMG to take on a more. How long?
Speaker 1:were you at Net-a-Porter and I love that. It's so funny that I mean we know it's Net-a-Porter but when you hear people go Net-a-Porter is it like cranching oh my God, that's not it. If you ever wanted to start a handbag brand and didn't know where to start, this is for you. If you had dreams of becoming a handbag designer but aren't trained in design, this is for you. If you have a handbag brand and need strategy and direction, this is for you. I'm Emily Blumenthal, handbag designer expert and handbag fairy godmother, and this is the Handbag Designer 101 Masterclass. Over the next 10 classes, I will break down everything you need to know to make, manufacture and market a handbag brand, broken down to ensure that you will not only skip steps in the handbag building process, but also to save money to avoid the learning curve of costly mistakes.
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Speaker 2:Such a cringe. But I think they also did themselves a disservice when they launched Mr Porter.
Speaker 1:Correct, Because then you have the people saying, mr Portet, and I'm like, definitely not. I think all of this is so interesting because it's funny how we all end up being accidental experts of things. Like you never said where did you go to university? I love how you said uni, because clearly you haven't lived in the States, because that is how it's called outside of the US.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, sorry, I realized that halfway through saying it. It's okay.
Speaker 1:I can ESL that, so it's fine, english is a second language.
Speaker 2:I can't follow these European. Yeah, I did my undergrad at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, I think they wouldn't even call that uni at this point. It'd be like college. It's so funny, the differences of how everybody speaks, because if you say university to someone outside the US and then to someone in the US, they're like college, like there's no, like, come on, there's no difference. Graduated from Florida and then came to New York, like all this is so bold, you know, and people don't think that moving from state to state is a big deal, but it is. It's huge. You know, you're essentially starting from zero every time you move.
Speaker 2:I mean really I moved from from Florida to Milan and from Milan to New York, so I think that was it's funny. It's a funny question that you asked too, because I talk when I reflect back. I never was scared, I never kind of second guessed, and even this time when I've moved from New York to London, I never questioned too, because I guess I always say, well, if I hate it I'll just quit, or I hate it, I'll move back, and maybe it's easier to be like that when you don't have kids or a mortgage, and maybe that's what kind of drove me.
Speaker 1:I wanted to pursue something different and I was ready to kind of I didn't actually feel the risk, though, but I think you know we speak about this a lot as entrepreneurs or people who start their own brands. Most people are typically and usually risk averse. Like you can hem and haw over making a purchase, but packing up and moving you wouldn't think twice, and you know what I mean. Or buying an expensive bag, or buying shoes, or should I live in this apartment? But, like, doing bold moves just seems like an organic thing to be done. So it's like, yeah, of course, why not? Why wouldn't I move? So I think you know, and I think that speaks to how you probably have a better understanding of brands as a result of that mindset, because I think and it sounds so cliche to say, thinking outside the box, but it's really about you have to be a bigger thinker in order to think or see the bigger picture of what you can get by taking these risks, which don't seem like risks to you or me.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean, completely agree, and I think all of these different experiences, as I started to say before, really have trained me and helped make me the CMO I am. So, whether it was when I went back to IMG that second time I was working on the launch of Berlin Fashion Week, okay, great, like Berlin as a fashion capital? Maybe it doesn't exist, but the truth is, in the lens of the role I have now understanding, berlin as a fashion city is super important and there's a lot of interesting fairs there, a huge network of people there that are critical to the global European fashion scene. So I find that all of these micro experiences I had before have kind of come full circle in my life today, and maybe that was what the journey was about. Right, it wasn't necessarily moving to Milan, staying there forever, but it was to have that experience, move on and go on to the next experience. So it's definitely something I recommend to anyone. I mean even, for example, like if there's a handbag designer joining and listening to this podcast. Why does this matter to you?
Speaker 2:One of my favorite things the head buyer, holly Rogers at Net-A-Porter used to do is she would go to these different markets and of course she'd be going to meet with the brands there, but she'd also make sure she booked in days just to walk around the city. What's the vibe of the city, what's different, what's interesting, what are, like, the kids trending on? And I think that all of these moments are critical for your business, right? You learn so much about the consumer, the changing habits of the consumer. I hosted a webinar yesterday. We were talking it was with Pi Skincare, which is a clean, you know British skincare brand, and we talked about how now Gen Alpha is on the rise buying beauty products, which is scary. And I recalled this New York Times article recently about. You know, in the US we're obsessed with sleepaway camps and how all of these very, very, very young girls are going off to sleepaway camp and bringing their like way too expensive skincare with them and it's like what's your beauty haul?
Speaker 1:I mean flashback, decades ago, that would have never been been me, but I think again, having the opportunity to meet different people, see what's happening in different markets and then seeing how that's impacting the global landscape just makes you a smarter business person, no matter what you do you just hit the nail on the head on so many things because and I'm sure you've seen this firsthand how so many brands, so many designers, regardless of whatever fashion classification, throw themselves in and decide they're dictating the market, they're dictating what the customer needs or wants. And then you kind of feel that like sucker punch, where you're like, oh, this isn't going to be good for you, like you have to go back and you said, like retail anthropology, walk the streets, see how people consume. And even so much as in the US, like I always use Urban Outfitters as my case study, because the Urban Outfitters in the village sells very different products than the Urban Outfitters on the Upper West Side. So you can only imagine to what their sale Urban Outfitters is selling in Ann Arbor, right at the University of Michigan, is selling in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan, versus what it's going to be sold, you know, say, in South Florida. So having this understanding of who your customer is and making these nuanced tweaks of your product like, okay, in a city where if I'm selling in a metropolitan place, a metropolitan location, chances are they're not going to drive, so let me make sure I have, when I pitch to the buyers that my crossbody strap is front and center and then if I'm pitching to warmer climates, then I'm going to have clutches ready and willing with bright colors, because that's what they're going to lean towards. And I think knowing how to do that kind of homework and research is just so key to success and even to what you said about launching a Berlin Fashion Week.
Speaker 1:I mean, to the outset no one would think that Berlin would be or could be a mecca of fashion. But the innovation in terms of music and art and everything else cars, automotive it all lends itself going back to fashion. So why shouldn't there be a fashion week there? So it's funny. I mean, I dated a DJ for a while, so that's another conversation for another podcast. But you know, learning about where different kinds of music come from different places of the country and saying, like Scandinavia, where the sun is up for so long and then it's down for so long, and how that impacts music. People need to take all that into consideration how that affects fashion, how that affects shopping habits, how that affects needs versus wants, especially when you're developing a product. So I'm just so excited that I was able to get you on, because I know we had a mishap the other day. I'm sorry about that.
Speaker 2:Oh, I mean, it's life. That's the hard thing in the digital world, right? I had an interview last week actually, and our comms person arrived an hour before or an hour and a half before and I happened to run into her as I was going to meet someone before. She's like do you have enough time for both? And I was like what do you mean? She's like I mean we have to go there in 20 minutes. And I was like it's an hour and 20 minutes. You sent me the invite and she was like she checked her calendar, checked her email. Oh, you're right. So I think in this digital world, it just means there's too many things going on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the overlap of everything. Yeah, I want to just touch upon this before we wrap up. In terms of what you're seeing for future trends, whether it's retail, whether it's fashion, if you have any thoughts on opportunities that lie, I'd love for you to share your thoughts, because you really have the inside scoop more than anybody, I think.
Speaker 2:I guess I would say, especially considering maybe who could be listening, and the journey that everyone's on is that it is a very crowded, saturated market out there right now and to reach the customer, you need to be able to connect with them on different channels, different platforms, different languages, different regions, different times. It's hard, and cutting through the noise, I think, is probably one of the biggest challenges cited by CEOs today. I think that for brands to be successful, they need to figure out, beyond product, how they connect with that audience, that target audience, and they need to think about how to drive their brand's performance right, how to create that resonance with their target consumer. So at Launch Projects, like, one strategy we always tell our customers to keep in mind is that you have to have the right voice for the right platform to answer the right goal. And I think, as marketers or CEOs or heads of business and brand managers, we're always saying like, oh, let's do influencers Everyone's talking about influencers, they're so big or we have to do paid advertising.
Speaker 2:That's what's missing in our marketing mix and I think that people get so caught up in what they should do these days that they don't stop and think about the goals they should have for each voice, each channel, each platform. It's a random example, but when Derek Blasberg was at YouTube, he asked us like oh, could you help us do an analysis of, like the value of YouTube? Right, everyone's talking about Instagram, tiktok, and what was really interesting that people don't realize is that YouTube is still like a very powerful platform, but that powerful platform hits power at 30 days after. You know, tiktok is super interesting right now, but, to be fair, tiktok represents like 6% of the media impact value for a fashion brand, whereas Instagram we did a survey and it was like generating something like 60% of the value of the top 3,000 brands in fashion, luxury, beauty. So I think that everyone wants to lean into like what they hear is cool and what's the trend, but everyone should really take a beat.
Speaker 2:As I say, think about what they're trying to achieve and then who is the best voice for that? Is it an influencer? Is it a celebrity? Is it your own social media channel? Think about, you know, not just the voice, but you know, do I have a fashion show that I'm trying to kind of amplify? Or, you know, jw Anderson did that great DIY show that one season it was like how to make a sweater. Don't quote me on that, which you will, because this is recorded, but you know what I mean. Don't hold me to my grave that that was what it was, but I think there's a place and time for every story and it's about connecting, as I said, the right voice to the right platform to tell that story to the goal that you want to achieve. So there's a lot out there and owners, ceos, brand managers, marketers they shouldn't be overwhelmed and they should just take it kind of one goal at a time and really focus on that, because you can't do everything, and no one really, except you know Bernard Arnault, has enough money to do it all.
Speaker 1:He's got plenty, man. That was some sage advice. To wrap that up, alison Rolge, thank you so very much for taking the time. How can we find you follow you learn more about Launchmetrics? All that good stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, launchmetricscom is our website at Launchmetrics on social media. Yeah, launchmetricscom is our website at launchmetrics on social media and at Alison Bringe, b-r-i-n-g-e to find me on social.
Speaker 1:Fabulous. Thank you so much. We're going to have you back to have an industry update for a quarterly thing here. I think it's amazing. Thank you so much. Thanks for listening. Don't forget to rate and review and follow us on every single platform at Handbag Designer. Thanks so much. See you next time.
