Building a Business Around Purpose, with Tory Burch

world NBA designed for the new Now. I'm the land Vervier. Thank you so much for joining us today. A few brands are as iconic, recognizable, or successful as Tory Birch. Her double T logo label is on everything from shoes, to dresses to bags. Tory Birch is worn around the world. It's hard to believe this global empire started just sixteen years ago with a small store in Lower Manhattan. Tory Birch's approach to business has always been way ahead of

the curve. She built her company around a purpose, the purpose of empowering women. At the core of her work is the Tory Birch Foundation, with supports and educates women entrepreneurs. During this time of COVID. Tory has responded by pulling together resources to help small business owners navigate the crisis, donating products to healthcare workers, and launching a campaign called

hashtag Wear a Damn Mask. Tory also continues her mission to empower all women with her Embrace Ambition summits that help women to know and express their power. There's so much to learn from Tory Birch. At the end of this show, we'll tell you how to apply for the Tory Birch Foundation Fellows program for women entrepreneurs. Enjoy my conversation with Tory Birch. Well, Tory Birch, it's so wonderful

to be with you today for this broadcast. Everyone knows the name of Tory Birch, but most probably don't know the full scope of what Tory Birch the company does. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and the company? Well, first, Mom, thank you so much for having me. I'm so thrilled to be doing this with you. And when you ask me that question, where do I

even begin? Okay, let me start by saying, Tory Birch is a lifestyle brand and we empower women around the world to live in full color with character, beauty and competence, and that sentence is something I have thought a lot about over the years. We are a company that has ready to wear, footwear, handbags, accessories, watches, home fragrance, and even an active wearline, tory Sport, that we launched five

years ago. But we launched the company in two thousand and four in Lower Manhattan and a retail concept and a and a website. We are now a global business with more than three stores around the world, which is hard to believe when I say that. And we have a foundation that is so pivotal in everything we do around the business, around my life. It advances women's empowerment and entrepreneurship in the United States by providing access to capital, education,

and digital resources to women in the US. As I said, one more thing, it's a lot. And we have a fellow program that is now and it's six years and the Foundation's Global Embrace Ambition Initiative Land which you have been at, which challenges stereotypes and creates new norms to empower women. So that's something that I'm incredibly proud of and thank you for coming well and well you should be.

It's just extraordinary to have that audience of enthusiastic women and men are mostly young but really looking forward to developing their futures, and the inspiration you represent for them, it was just an extraordinary experience story. There are so many listeners who I know, our entrepreneurs, and I think what you just said in terms of your brand and all of the ancillary but critical elements that your company represents,

I'm sure they find extremely inspiring as well. You know, you mentioned the foundation and I wanted to follow up on that because your goal from the very beginning was highly unusual, because you put purpose at the or of what you wanted to do, and it was just exceptional. The first time I heard that, I kept thinking about what an extraordinary that proposition that was. Can you tell us a little bit about how you always had this purpose, not just in establishing a business, but also in doing

good at the same time. Well, and I know you remember this, Milan, but you were one of the first women I reached out to get advice, and I thank you for taking my cold call because a purpose led business fifteen years ago was very unusual, and certainly talking about it more in an internal way was something that we focused on then. Really messaging it externally, because I was very careful about it ever being perceived as marketing

in any way. To have a foundation as an intrinsic part of the company was something that I knew from day one I wanted and it was going to be my way of actually giving back in a significant way. But I also knew that it would take time and we had to build a successful company before I was ready to message it externally. So I remember our meeting so well in Washington. I came in and you were

so um amazing with your time. Number one, thank you for that, because I didn't get all yeses when I called people back then the idea of a purpose led company I was pretty much laughed at. When I went to try to raise money, I was told very concretely never to say business and social responsibility in the same sentence. I was almost patted on my back as if it

were charity work. So it just made me more determined to to really make a purpose led business something that we're so proud of today, and obviously today is a very important concept from an innovation standpoint. Well, yes, you were really ahead of your time in thinking that way and acting on that purpose component and it shows and everything you've done ever since. But can we go back a little bit. What was it tory that as you were growing up that you seemed to have this fascination

with starting a business. Did it come early? Did it come late? When did it come? You know, it actually came late, I, I I laughed, And so I was actually a really late bloomer, that said I. First of all, I grew up as a complete tomboy outside of Philadelphia. I grew up on a farm. I spent my days riding horses and playing tennis, grew up with three brothers. Never really was that interested in fashion, but I had very stylish parents and they were are very much part

of my inspiration throughout my whole career. But I did get a job in fashion right after I graduated from University of Pennsylvania. And I had just applied and this designer named Zorin. I don't know if you remember him, but he he looked like Respued and he was from Yugoslavia. He was the ultimate minimalist. And he said I could have a job, but I had to move to New York by Monday, and I had graduated. I think the prior Wednesday so um. That was my induction into fashion.

It was vodka starting at ten in the morning. I had never seen anything like it, and I just fell in love with fashion. But I was more in the business end. I went to different places like Harper's Bazaar, Ralph Lauren bear Wang. My last job was at LVMH for loev But I worked in PR and marketing and advertising, never in design, and certainly not in being an entrepreneur

and starting a business. So it was after I had my third child I realized I had to make a very difficult choice at a lot of women's face and that was to give up a career that I loved because I had three boys under the age of four. So it was during the time when I was a stay at home mom for three or four years that I concepted this, this company that's so fascinating. So then, how did you go about building your brand and the company?

Of course, well, I I in a way feel like because I was thinking in unconventional ways, it ended up working to my advantage. I didn't have traditional training and starting a business or designing anything for that matter, so I had instinct and gut, and so I came up with a direct to consumer concept UM e commerce was part of that. People told me that no one would buy online fifteen years ago. UM it was multi categories.

People told me that that was crazy and that I should start with one and partner with a wholesale UM partner. So everything that people advised me, I kind of did the opposite, and we launched with one store downtown. I don't know if you ever were there, but it was on Elizabeth Street and out of the way block that the rent was really inexpensive, and UM we we came

up with UM. I came up with the the store we opened with outdoors, nothing was ready and it was during fashion week, and we had an event from ten in the morning until six at night, and and literally by six at night, we had sold through most of our inventory. So we knew we had touched something. And I think it was a white space in the market because it was very beautiful quality and it was not at a luxury price point, and I think that was

the key. People felt that what we were being able to give our customer was had a lot of value to it. So fascinating, and you knew what the niche was as soon as you completed that early launch well, I was missing it in my I felt like I didn't want to spend luxury price points I couldn't and I didn't want to spend that every time I went out. And then there was the contemporary market wasn't mature back then, so it was very more mass and then there was luxury,

and there was a giant space in between. And I think that's what we um. I didn't realize it at the time, but that's what we encountered and that's that's why I think our company resonated. Well. That's interesting because I know we have many entrepreneurs listening and finding that niche and knowing where product or a service isn't being provided but might have great possibility. You clearly discovered well

in champ with our melance. Sorry to interrupting. The chances are if you're missing something, other people are as well. And that's something I've talked to a lot of entrepreneurs about that if you are feeling that something is is not there or meeting a need, that that's a that's a good way to look at your business. Well, so you got it off the ground. It was clearly the right moment and the right way that you conceptualized it, then how did you scale it? Because that's always a

very big challenge. You know. Our business plan at the time was opening read to five stores in the first five years. We ended up opening seventeen. And the only thing I can say is never when we had a few things that were hard to define how much they impacted our business. One was actually going on the Oprah Show,

and that was in our first year of business. I thought it was a joke we had given or a friend of mine had given her one of her producers some things for Christmas, and then her producer gave some to Oprah and they ended up picking us for the next big thing in fashion. And going on her show was really an experience. I went to Chicago, we did a fashion show, and she looked at me and she said, have you ever been on TV? And I said, no, I haven't, and she said, don't worry, it's only thirty

million people. So that was just I mean, the whole the whole thing was surreal. The next day we had close to eight million hits on our website. So that obviously propelled our company in ways that are hard to define. But when you think about where we took it, from there, I think every decision that we made was thinking about the long term, and I think that served us really well. It wasn't about a quick anything. It was really about patients.

I always said We're a patient company because I wanted to build things that would last, something that was truly meaningful. So we took our time. We e commerce was in the end, a very interesting platform for us, obviously from a selling standpoint, but also to engage our customer and learn about our customers. So many of the people that were buying online. That is how we would determine where

we opened different stores. We saw where our customers were starting to come from, and so that was invaluable as well. Such good advice of really really interesting We'll be back with senecas made by women. After this short break, when Oprah told you an audience of thirty million, you must have frozen if laughing. I couldn't even like keep I

definitely couldn't keep a straight face. But I was just the whole the whole weekend was just this is the real experience, as I said, for me, and it was you know something that is We'll stay with me always. She's been an incredible support. She supports obviously women and people in business, but over the years she has been a huge support. Right were there particular challenges along the way or even now that you faced or continue to face? When I always say a startup, there's a challenge every

day and a new challenge. Um, it is an amazing journey. But it's one that my parents gave me good advice when I started out. They said, I think of negativity as noise. Thicken your skin and be prepared to wear a seatbelt for the rest of your life because it is a very ask pace with with challenges that you can't even imagine. I mean, when two thousand and eight happened, our business was on an incredibly fast and high trajectory

and it stopped overnight. Just makes that look like nothing, because you have a health crisis on top of the business crisis, and clearly the health crisis is the biggest priority and protecting our teams and protecting our customers, protecting our families, but then you have this giant business crisis on top of it. I think of agility, I think of being flexible. I think of how do you move with the current and take in the macro and what's happening in the environment, but also be a good decision

maker and don't react too quickly or too slowly. Well and as you just said that this COVID a moment, Uh, not only is a health crisis and you have business around the globe, but also an economic lunch. How are

you addressing it in an ongoing way. Well, early on in March when I started to realize what COVID was going to mean beyond the health issues, and clearly, as I said, that was the first party, but the second was we realized very quickly we had three stores that were shut around the world, and we had to really pivot. Not our strategy, but we had to double down on many of our strategies. We had to really think about

how we were going to manage through this. One thing I also realized is that a giant sector of American business was not being represented, and that is the fashion industry. And for some reason people think the fashion industry is a light industry. I think it's safe to say it's millions and millions of American jobs are at stake and

we're at steak. So I got involved in pulling together with my husband a group of CEOs of American business, fashion and retail, and we wanted to come together and and have a voice with the government to make sure that we were being heard and really try to protect our employees and and really make sure that we were being talked at, talked about. Like the entertainment industry, I mean we we are a very important part of the

American economy. So that was one aspect. The second aspect was how do you manage the closing stores around the world and making sure your business continues. And for close to two months we were paying employees without a tremendous amount of revenue coming and so that obviously can't last for that long. And luckily we had e commerce, we had different places that were open at different times, so we managed. If you had asked me how we were doing in March would be a very different answer than

how we're today. I'm very proud of what our team has managed to do. Um and are the resiliency of our business, resiliency, flexibility, obviously being astute about how to deal with the unexpected. But I wonder what in particular gives you strength tory in difficult moments, because this is clearly has been in the last several months and continues

to be a difficult time. Well, I think number one, I would say my family and and certainly my team, which is a second family, gives me a lot of strength. I mean, having five thousand employees and no knowing that that's a tremendous responsibility, and just seeing how genuinely they care and how much people wanted to help each other. It was. You know, I always think about grace under pressure. I think about it certainly as a parent, which I'm sure you could relate to, but certainly also as a CEO.

By the way, I'm no longer CEO. I don't know if you knew that, but my husband has taken over that role and I happily gave it to him. So I'm just focusing on the product and and the brand. And I would say having him helped me navigate through this with his expertise and global understanding was invaluable. So but I think, you know, making sure that my mom would always say to me, and you're as happy as

your least happy child. I could deal with anything as long as people I love are healthy, and so I get more focused when things get tough, and I think that's that's helped your mom was clearly a wise woman. I'll remember that saying she's She's still absolutely right about that. So we we've talked a little bit about the purpose that always compelled you in your business and is still a strong motivation for you. We've been talking about COVID and its impact. Tell us about your hashtag where damn

mask initiative? Where did that come from? I know you have a lot of famous people involved in the initiative, and obviously it's tremendously important if we're going to stay well during this horrible contagion. Well, I just don't understand how wearing a mask could in any way be politicized. And I think I don't mind using my platform and weighing in on humanity. That's something that I will always do. It's not always popular, but I will always do that, um,

weighing on humanity and equality. Wearing a mask should not be anything but accepted across the board. And if it's not about protecting yourself, protect others. And so I was just annoyed by the fact that people found a way to politicize this and and make it not and and make people have the ability not to wear a mask. To me, was insane. So I sent a letter to a bunch of people and I said, I think we can help change this if we start this idea of

making wearing a mask interesting and cool. And so I posted a selfie which I rarely do, it's not not necessarily my thing, and and wrote hashtag wear a damn mask, and it became a bit viral. Happily, I think we have close to a hundred thousand people that have post about wearing masks and the importance of it. I think that is not something, as I said, that should be politicized, nor is voting. That's my next initiative that I've been

working a lot on. Well, I wanted to ask you about the voting because I read that you are making it easier for your employees by closing the stores and offices on November the three, and that you're even giving a paid day off two employees who up to work the polls. So once again, purpose story well listen in. In two thousands, Teane I wrote an op ed for The Wall Street Journal to challenge other CEOs to give

their employees time off to vote. I have no idea. Well, I do know why it's on a Tuesday it was from the agriculture industry back then. They didn't want to have it on Sundays because of church. Well, I think it needs to be updated. Certainly. I think voting should be compulsory, but it's not. I'm passionate about voting, and I'm even more passionate about understanding why people are not inspired to vote When you look at fifty two percent

of America voting. Obviously, that is one of the lowest turnouts in any area of modern society, and I think that it should not be perceived as democratic in any way. Our democracy requires active participation, and I firmly believe that these should not be partisan issues. Everyone has their say, and how we're governed what makes America is strong and ensures politicians are accountable. So I am incredibly passionate about it.

That passion is coming through, and I couldn't agree more um And I think what you're doing is you're providing an incentive because a big part of the problem has been historically that people can take time off and it's really difficult often to do that very early in the morning or late at night or or whatever. The inhibitions are, so and we make it really difficult to register even I mean, we have to figure this out as a society. Yeah. More more power to you, and thank you for being

an example on that. I want to go back to the Tory Birch Foundation and what you are doing with entrepreneurs because you have been engaged in this space. When you were first deciding how you would channel your commitment to purpose, I know entrepreneurs loomed large. Can you tell us about that, and then perhaps what you are doing to help entrepreneurs because that commitment continues. Yeah, I mean, listen.

I knew that I wanted to start a foundation when I started the company, and I knew that it would be around women and children, but I didn't really know exactly how that would unfold over time. And in two thousand and nine and before that, I spent a lot of time going to places and taking meetings with people to figure out what what our foundation would be about. How would we help women, how would we help children.

I went to Haiti and met with microfinance groups. I had meetings with incredible people like my meeting with you in Washington. And the thing I realized is that women had a much harder time in business, and certainly accessing capital. So that was something that I started to really think a lot about, and in two thousand nine, that's what our foundation did. It was really how do we empower

our women in the United States? Because I felt the United States has a lot of issues that we need to deal with right here, so I wanted to start here one day. What I love it to be global, absolutely, but I think for now we have a lot of work to do here and explain some of the kinds

of assistance you render to entrepreneurs. Is it training? Yeah, well, I mean we we do education, and certainly we are just about to start our new Fellowship announcement where we're going to be open for people to apply UM to be one of the next group of fellows. Will be picking fifty women. So if any entrepreneurs are listening, you should go to Tory Birch Foundation dot org and you can read about how to really apply and and be considered. Because it's a very exciting year where we spend a

lot of time on education. We when there wasn't a pandemic, would fly UM the Fellows into New York for a week. We'd give them access to people in business. We'd have seminars and on education, on business, on marketing, on entrepreneurship, on anything that you could think of. But one of the real things that we're creating is a community and the ability to network, because men are so great at that. So to have a community and be the go to source for women entrepreneurs is what our site has become.

We've had over twelve thousand people write business plans with a lot of the things that we have to teach you how to do that on our site. Um we have a great partnership with Bank of America that we started in two thousand and fourteen to give women access to low interest loans, and we've given out over fifty seven million dollars two women in the United States, and Bank of America has committed to go up to a

hundred million, which is extremely exciting. We, as I said, have this great network where many of these women are facing similar challenges regardless of their their business, so to

help each other is also an invaluable part of our programming. Well, any entrepreneur knows, and certainly anybody in the business who works on entrepreneurship knows that among the great challenges are access to capital, access to training, access to networks and you've bundled all of that together through your partnership with

the of A and in other ways to provide that. So, oh yeah, and Milan, you know our fellowship program, we give a five thousand dollar business education ground to each fellow that has picked, so that that's a really exciting thing for them as well. Well. I certainly encourage any of our listeners who are interested in this to go

to your website and learn all about the Fellowship program. Yeah, and just quickly that one of the pivots that we've done with the Foundation during COVID is we've become this go to destination for small businesses navigating government resources and other pandemic related support. So we'd be We also have three weekly webinars on topics from federal relief options to financial management to again marketing communications and that's been really helpful to a lot of as we know, small businesses

have just been crushed. Now that is a real service. I was in a conversation um just last week with a group of organizational representatives and this was a big issue, the one that you just described that's COVID related issue, which is how do you navigate the relief space these days, and where do we get in front of women are the hard of it when you're looking at small businesses exactly disproportionately. You know, we're referring to it as the

she session instead of a recession. So many women, Yeah, so many women are hurt hard. So in the context of all of this, let me end by asking you what makes you optimistic at this time? So many people are hurting and wondering what's going to happen to them, and you've had to go through all kinds of challenges in your business. What keeps Tory Birch going? Well, I'm an optimist by by nature, and I can't help being optimistic.

I believe in humanity, and I think this younger generation now is poised to tackle many of the big issues, and they've been woken up as far as I'm concerned, they realize that what happens in leadership roles really matters. So I think that that is a big positive that's coming out of this time. And I think obviously voting is an important part of that. But I believe in people. I believe in humanity, decency, ethics, so I I can't

not be optimistic. I think that it's tough stuff that we're dealing with, and wherever you look, whether it's racial justice, or climate change or anything that you can think of, it's just one thing after another. So I think the thing that I love most is bringing people together and people are I see that. I see it in my company, I see it with my friends, I see it in my community. Well, you've obviously done that well, and I've

been a witness to that firsthand as well. Thank you so much for reminding us of those bedrock virtues that we should never forget and certainly to practice. Thank you for caring. Thank you for your commitment. Thank you for your know how to enable others to be successful entrepreneurs as you are. Tori. This has been a wonderful conversation. Thank you. I have to say thank you for being an inspiration showing I really mean that, um. Thank you.

Our networks do matter, and everybody being a support to each other I think is a wonderful way to proceed in life. But we're so grateful to you, Tori. Thank you so much. Thank you, Milana stay safe. Every time I talked to Tory Birch, I get inspired all over again. Tori makes everything seemed possible. Here are some lessons I took away from that conversation. First, it's not only possible to build a business around purpose, it is desirable. Tori

had a mission to empower women. It became the pivot point for everything she does. Second, it pays to be a contrarian, to trust your gut when you know it's right. Tory was laughed at by investors when she said she wanted to create a foundation first a company. Second, when she said she wanted to sell directly to consumers, she was told no one would buy fashion online. Everything people

advise me, she said, I did the opposite. Finally, Tori suggests that entrepreneurs can succeed by finding a niche they can fill. As Tori says, if you feel that something is missing, that's a good way to look at your business. If you're a woman entrepreneur who wants to learn from Tory Birch, apply for the Tory Birch Foundation Fellows Program. Fifty women entrepreneurs will be selected for this year long program. It includes education, workshops and a five thou dollar grant.

Applications are open until November twelve. Go to Tory Birch Foundation dot org, made by women, is brought to you by the Seneca Women Podcast Network and I Heart Radio. Support from founding partner pH