Kendra Scott at 2015 WWD 20/20 Retail Summit

are we good are we excited Wow all right I am I am so excited to be here especially in a room full of people that love retail and love fashion I could not be in a room with people that I can understand and get along with better than right here today so this is truly exciting for me to be here you know when I was a little girl I grew up in town very fashionable community of Kenosha Wisconsin and I had this amazing literally farmers and coal miners are my family and Here I am in fashion today but I had an aunt and she was fashion director of a department store and she would go to all the shows in Milan and Paris and she would come back with the slides and we go to our basement and you know those little clickers you click and you click this is you know some of you are very young and you're probably like what is she talking about but it was a turnstile you clicked it you could see the slides and we would look at the shows Donna Karen Carolina Herrera Oscar de la Renta and at 7 years old I would sit there mouth dropped and I saw the magic of fashion here I was in a basement in Kenosha Wisconsin in a blue-collar community but this was magical I could be transformed this little girl from Kenosha Wisconsin into a fashionista by just what I wore it was magical and since that day with my aunt she started teaching me how to trend forecast and she'd say Kendra what do you keep seeing now we're talking this is the 80s I'd be like shoulder-pads plaid and ruffles and she would say yes my job is fashion director is to take these trends and to make them for the everyday woman that she can get this fabulous Couture and feel the magic that you're seeing for her everyday life so here I am 7 being taught how to trend forecast and from that day forward I was sketching everything from clothing to handbags to shoes my dream was to be a fashion designer and I remember going to my very practical father and saying daddy I want to go to fi t he goes what is that I said it's this fashion Institute it's in New York City he's like oh honey people don't grow up to become designers that's not like a real thing honey you know you could be a wonderful like assistant someday if you really study hard now he's a wonderful man but he was worried about his daughter right he was very practical but I was like okay so go to school for business and marketing and I did and let me tell you I had the fashion bug all I wanted to do was fashion so at 19 years old being in school I decided hey I'm gonna start my own business and there I did the hatbox I loved hats I was in crying still love hats I loved hats and here I was 19 an idealist I am going to open a retail store I don't know anything about what I'm doing I'm gonna open the hatbox stores across the country I'm gonna have 500 hat box stores everywhere you go you're gonna see a hat box have you guys seen a hat box no great idea but it didn't work out but I started this because of one man his name was Rob Rick's this man was my stepfather and a brilliant man a two torvi at 9:00 veteran Vietnam veteran he spoke five languages fluently I mean I'm talking genius but he was passionate he had a heart of gold and at 47 years old he was diagnosed with brain cancer everything in my world at that moment changed what was important to me changed and all I wanted to do was save the man that I loved so much but we couldn't and during that time I visited so many women at md anderson cancer clinic in Houston who were losing their hair and really going through a lot of personal loss and remember I loved hats and that's what inspired the hatbox I thought if I could create beautiful head wear that was comfortable for women undergoing chemotherapy if I could use my love of fashion and do something good at the same time that would be success when I opened the hatbox Rob was in the last year of his life and I remember a man who would run nine miles every morning spoke these five languages beautifully was resorted to being pushed in a wheelchair into my store he could barely speak at that time he knew what was going on around him but he had trouble putting together just a few words I'll never forget that day because I wheeled him in the hatbox and he was so proud and literally just beaming and tears in his eyes and he was trying very desperately to say something to me and I said Rob don't worry you don't have to say a thing I know what you how you feel and he was adamant me gonna remember he was a Vietnam guy you don't mess with him he was a marine and he was gonna tell me what he wanted to say and I knelt down beside him and he looked me in the face and he had three words he was able to get out and they were you do good three very simple words that I have taken with me every day of my life I have them in my desk drawer I have them inside my wallet three words that were the foundation of what I wanted to do as a woman as a person to be able to do our gifts to do something good he saw that I was doing what I loved but I was able I was doing it in helping other people I couldn't save Rob but I could do good so here we are no hat boxes five long years working seven days a week I couldn't hire people I mean why are we in retail this is awful I was like miserable I missed every holiday I had no social life I was eating pinto beans and rice I hate Top Ramen I hate so much Top Ramen I could not I can't even tell you it's like 65 cents it's the cheapest thing you can't I sold my car I mean everything I had I had put into this hat box that was going to be this multi chain retail establishment and guess what it failed I failed I lost my stepfather I lost my life savings I lost everything and I remember the last day that I had to close my store and I had one of those signs you know those signs is old school but it said yes we're open on one side and then the other side you'd flip it and it would say sorry we're closed people still use these you guys may have seen them it's not super common anymore but back in the day it was really a popular thing anyway I had one of those and I remember turning it and sitting on the step of my store and of course it started to rain like some kind of thick joke it started to rain and I'm sitting there and I'm crying and I'm feeling sorry for yourself and I'm such a loser and I'm gonna have to move in with my mom and all of a sudden the sign now let me tell you it was on the inside of the door I hear a thump it turned over I cannot make this up I turn around and I look and it says yes we're open and I'm like what it was a literal sign people it was a sign that flipped itself over and it was like speaking to me and I'm like okay Rob I think I think you might be talking to me but all of a sudden it raised a question for me how do we stay open when life comes at you with the worst possible things how do we stay open to the possibilities of a bright future how do we look for that open window and how do we realize that these things that were going through these hard awful things are actually a gift you guys might think this sounds crazy but that store was the greatest gift I was ever getting given I got a masters in the school of hard knocks I learned everything you should not do in retail and I knew that there was something bigger waiting for me and if I could figure out why I spent those five years on living on Top Ramen maybe there was something better for me but fear was holding me back I was never ever going to be in again never I'm obviously at the retail conference so never say never so after a few years I decided to try again but this time I wasn't gonna go into retail I knew better I knew about the overheads and the rents and the seven days a week and never being able to close no way Jose was I going back into retail so I was gonna go into wholesale design manufacturing cuz that's easy boy was I wrong but that was gonna do that no more retail so Here I am pregnant and put on bed rest I love fashion and I love jewelry because jewelry when you're pregnant as you know always fits so when you can't buy your clothes that you want ladies you know jewelry handbags shoes we go crazy when we're pregnant I love jewelry but I couldn't find jewelry that I wanted I wanted beautiful semi cut stones I wanted handcrafted jewelry but it was so out of my reach three hundred and fifty dollars for a pair of earrings was something that I couldn't figure out but everything that I could afford would just break the first or second time I wore it I found white space in a very big market if I could create beautiful handcrafted quality jewelry and an attainable price point in gorgeous color I think I could do something special and in my bed on bed rest Kendra Scott jewelry was created my first collection I put it in a tea box and I put my son in a BabyBjorn he was three months old it was right after 9/11 he was born eleven eleven three months later the world was a very scary place and with five hundred dollars I made that first collection I'll never forget because our mortgage at the time was $1,100 a month it was a lot of money for my family it was a very uncertain time but I believed in this and I put him in that BabyBjorn I put my jewelry in a tea box and I went store to store in Austin Texas and I always say I don't know if they love the jewelry or if they just really felt sorry for me but either way they bought it they gave me a chance and I wrote orders that in the last store I went to I had to sell all of my samples so that I would have enough money to produce the orders that I had written that day that is how Kendra Scott jewelry got started 13 years ago for seven years I was just going through just selling wholesale because remember I was so fearful of retail that hatbox had left a star on me it had left a big scary scar and you know what it took to get me to realize that I needed to change another really scary event the recession what a wonderful gift that recession was didn't you guys all just love it so much it makes me just warm and fuzzy thinking about it but truly these buyers I had worked with you know a lot of you in fashion they started getting laid off stores that we had worked with for years were shuttering I mean every day I was coming to work and it was like now what what is gonna happen friends of mine were losing their lines of credit and got even going under it was just terrifying all of my eggs were in one basket and the wholesale all of my retailers they had the power and they had the power to take my company away and that wonderful gift of the recession finally made me realize I had I couldn't be scared anymore I had to give up my fear I needed to talk to my customer and I couldn't let anyone else do it for me anymore and that meant getting out of showrooms and not letting reps talk for me anymore and it meant me opening retail again and here we go all these years later 2010 I had started in 2003 with Kendra Scott jewelry seven years later I had the courage finally to open my first retail store in my hometown of Austin Texas I will never forget that because there was this time in our company there were seven of us and that day I said look we're gonna go big or we're gonna go home I'm putting all my chips on the table but from this day forward no one will ever speak for us again we will talk to our customer we will engage with them we will find out what they love what they hate what they want more we will connect with them on a real personal level if we want to Brant be a brand that is going to stand the test of time we can never let anyone ever talk for us again and in retail you have the power to connect with your customer in such a unique and special and amazing way I love to be in the store our corporate headquarters you have to walk through our flagship store to get upstairs to our offices if you're in accounting if you're an IT I don't care I want you to walk through and experience our customer I want you to meet them I want you to see the energy in the store when you're in our corporate headquarters you can hear what's happening in the store below us and it's constant laughter it's a party every day all day in a Kendra Scott store we create reasons for people to come in I will never again from this hatbox experience just open the sign yes we're open and wait are you coming no you can't do it in retail anymore you've got to create reasons for people to come in our company has done a phenomenal job in connecting with our customers they are our biggest brand ambassadors and they shop in our stores through the events that we do in one week alone we do about a hundred and twenty events 120 company-wide that's extraordinary I've invested in our teams every single store has an event coordinator and a community outreach coordinator who are getting in at a very local level it's not just about making beautiful stores I love the design part of the store I design every single store though the paint on the wall is in my dining room the handles are from a 1950s hej that I have in my bathroom I believe that everything that a customer touches you should be involved in a beautiful store is important a store that is easy to navigate through that is friendly to moms with strollers all of those details are critically important but you've got to create a soul you can be in the best location the most gorgeous interior but if you don't have the people and you don't create reasons for your customers to come in and give them an experience this beautiful store will stay empty reasons like engagement how do you get them involved in your products in a real tangible way I created something called colour bar our girls in our design studio used to have all the colors of our stones and they would set a pair of earrings the night they were gonna go out in a hot date to match their outfit with the colors that matched what they were wearing and I thought if I could bring what my designers get to do to every woman how cool would that be color bar was created and in our stores you can go up and create a custom piece of jewelry pick the colors you want all of our girls are trained setters and they can set it right there for you you leave in a matter of moments with a custom piece of jewelry the color bar has come home become a place for events from Brides to her bridesmaids having literally the morning of a wedding I don't know how many things the brides know it takes like nine months to get anything went in the bridal world they can give something in nine minutes at Kendra Scott you can walk in and have cupcakes champagne and sit down and have a whole wedding party walk out with their bridal jewelry and walk down the aisle that afternoon talk about instant gratification I'm a girl who likes to get something and go I don't want to wait online you can do color bar and so the experience from a digital and in brick-and-mortar has to match up so if you go to our web store right now and you go to color bar you can design a piece of jewelry and it can be on your doorstep by tomorrow morning we set everything in our production office in Austin Texas and we ship all over the world to literally in one day you can get something custom it's innovation it's being interactive and engaging your customer in something that they feel that they're part of I love to be involved in every aspect and I think in retail and I own a hard hat with my name on it I love it I love going to the picking out the sights I sit and watch customers who's shopping what are they eating who are they wearing I go to different day parts when I'm selecting where we're gonna put our retail stores to really look at the you know what's happening in the center are their mom's coming at certain times what activities are they're doing what are the restaurant traffic look like nearby I think it's so critical to take that time take the time to really look and see is my customer here is she going to be shopping here it's not just about we do so much per square foot in this Center it's about is your customer in that center and how can you engage with them on a real level engagement for us is critical we do something at Kendra Scott that I think is unheard of in how we do events we have events corporate team that work Asst works with everybody from national organizations like Susan G Komen to a hometown crisis to a friend in need whoever you are whatever you need we always have something to give from the little 10 by 10 room I started in 13 years ago I said if somebody would call and they would need something for a charity or a silent auction that I would always have something to give I could make a pair of earrings I could make a necklace I was never ever going to say no people thought that was crazy but I did it and for 13 years I went over seven years I went about doing this and when I opened my first retail not ever expecting to open retail there was a line around the block I was like who are all these people why are they here and I went out and one after another came up to me and said Kendra for seven years you have never said no to our organization we are so brand loyal we appreciate what you have done for our community so much and we are so thrilled to support your store one after another after another it was in right there and living proof the power that good things happen to good people when you give you receive so much more in return so for us to give back on a real level was important to me in the communities we go into we want to be a local brand and in order to do that that means the cheerleader who's trying to get to if we can help her how wonderful and if it is a national campaign like Susan G Komen breast awareness like we're doing right now we'll do that as well but I think what has been so powerful is that the brand loyalty that we've been able to achieve through doing these special events has really set us apart and really has continued to build that customer loyalty that you just can't buy every night of the week if you walk into a Kendra Scott store there's always champagne so if you're thirsty come on in there's always cupcakes we're from the south all cupcakes work for everything by the way if you ever need any anyone to bribe use a cupcake but we do and it's exciting because whether it's a color bar party a bridal event a Kendra gives back event a girls night out which happens every Wednesday night again both in the store and on the web you'll get to see that continuity people on social media are waiting to find out what our girls night out special is going to be on Wednesdays they're just as engaged even if they don't have a store in their community and then engagement gets them excited because when we do open a store they've already known about girls night out now they get to experience it in real life we currently have third whip end of this year we'll have 39 Kendra Scott standalone stores all those little yellow states are filling up there next year we'll be opening 15 to 20 new locations we started in Texas out of Austin and we're kind of mushrooming out and really again going to where our customer is using data of where they're coming from the website through social media they tell us we ask them where should we go they don't just tell us hey come to New Orleans they tell us what street what block what Center where we should go your customers are such a wealth of information and knowledge and there's such a great source ask your customers what do you love what do you want where do you want us to go and I promise you they will tell you Kendra Scott is a fashion lifestyle brand of big dreams colorful confidence and inspired design founded on family fashion and philanthropy we believe that our employees and our customers are the heart and soul of our brand and that giving back is the truest form of success I love my team we have very very very low turnover at Kendra Scott and in retail you guys are sitting here we all know that is a very rare thing we have an unbelievable team of like-minded people our core values are so critical and I think as every brand identifying what your core values are experienced in people is important but you need people that share the core values of your brand of your company for me family fashion philanthropy are our core we find women and men with that like-minded heart and spirit and passion for what they do in some of our stores it's almost like a casting call we'll have 50 a hundred girls coming out to apply for a position at Kendra Scott they want to be part of this Kendra Scott family they see what we're doing within our company how we value our employees and how we want them to make their dreams come true I don't just ask them about their experience I want to know more importantly where do you want to go what is your dream 3 4 5 years from now where do you see yourself because my job is to help that girl get there and when she knows that I care about not what she did yesterday but where she's going tomorrow she becomes bested and excited and passionate and loyal of course fashion is everything I said here today and I think about the girl in the basement in Kenosha Wisconsin and I'm sitting up here with the Women's Wear Daily sign behind me the Bible of fashion how did that happen I love what I do I literally am a little girl who grew up the girl of you and the little boy says I want to be a fireman when I grow up I want to be a designer when I grow up I get to do that and it's amazing it's amazing and philanthropy that is such a big part of who we are and I think what's important for brands is to find something that's authentic to your brand it can't be lip service it has to be real it has to be genuine and once you have that it's amazing you can be a very successful company you can grow at a very high growth rate you can do what you love and you can make a difference and our company has done that and I am be most proud of that when I am 80 and I'm sitting on my rocker looking back at my life I'll be thrilled that I got to do what I love to built this business and open these stores but I will be the most proud of what we have done in the communities that we have built our stores in that's a Kendra Scott store and satins they're so pretty aren't they we hope that I know no matter where you are I'm gonna be in New York someday now the Seaport thing I got to talk to somebody about this I'm all excited now someday we're getting closer we have four stores in Washington DC if you're ever anywhere where a Kendra Scott store is I would love for you to come in I would love to share with you the excitement of what we're doing and last I want to leave you with the three words I think all of us as human beings have the ability to leave our own unique fingerprint for some reason we all have one on this world and to do good and if we can do that in fashion and in retail and the can really attract the consumer who's coming in to see that yes you can have a successful business in retail and do good we all have a lot to be very very proud of thank you so much questions made question time for questions you can ask me anything really I mean almost anything yeah you know I think it's really important to kind of build that team environment you know especially in retail that when a customer walks in for me I want them embraced with a warm hug right and I think with our with our team we've really tried to create a family and so even through you know doing a how we compensate we don't believe in single commission we believe in a group commission structure we want everybody working as a team we have an incredible bonus structure in place as a company and as a store so as you hit your targets and I think everyone gets super excited but it's that communication of what do you want are you happy where do you want to go and when our girls say Kendra I want to be a DMM someday okay how do we get you there or I'd love to work in marketing what do I have to do to get to be that someday and we'll help them with that path and it's those kind of conversations and care that make people so loyal to and want to stay with your brand yeah I know you said you're focused on retail but how do you engage your consumers at the wholesalers where you do so yeah you know we love we and please I love my hosts ale I love them so much and I they helped us build our brand truly but again it's that communication you know I spend time doing trainings I was just in Bloomingdale's a few days ago I did a breakfast training with the sales associates there your frontline they are you there your voice so to make sure that they're excited about your brand that they understand your brand you cannot over train you cannot ever over train giving them information about the collection sharing with them why I was inspired about certain things they become attached and loyal and they share that with the customers coming in that excitement transfers so I think it's really important to realize that what you put into something is what you will get out of it and to take the time to really go in there and work with them and get the front line excited about what they're selling first I'd loved your introduction you know you're so passionate you're very driven and I can see why you have a successful business when you speak like that so yeah you're obviously on earth on a big growth plan at mome what what worries you and what's not working for you at the moment you know as a when you have responsibilities now you know I told you in 2010 there were seven of us where's 580 of us right now and so as any CEO or owner of a business that's 580 families right that you're responsible for so my job every day is to how do I make sure that we continue to build a sustainable business that continued to grow and that's what I always worry about but biggest for me is keeping our culture you know this small hometown culture that we've created in Austin Texas this family environment when you get big how do you how do you keep that and I think for me that's my biggest challenge is continuing to hire people that share our core values and to remind myself that no matter how big we get do not forget where you came from don't forget your core don't forget the day on the step with the pouring rain you have to build your business based on those things and continue to reflect on them I think as entrepreneurs sometimes as we get big we start to kind of lose sight of why we're did in the very beginning and I think for me that's the thing I always try to go back and grasp you know as we get bigger I can't be everywhere and I think that is a challenge because I'm like one human being I sometimes joke like I should have named the company I don't know jazzy Jules or something not Kendra Scott because I can't be everywhere but that would never work nobody would have bought jazzy Jules clearly but um bad name but anyway but no that's that's been the challenge because I if you haven't picked up on it I really have a lot of energy I want to be everywhere but I am a mom of three boys I have a teen and a toddler in the same house and so I go and I try to conquer and see my team's train meet my folks and get back to being a mom you know on my job title it said designer CEO philanthropist the biggest one is I'm also a mother and so I think for me it's the balance doing it all and doing it all well and not letting anybody down in the process thank you thank you guys thank you so much

Channel: Kendra Scott

Views: 27,807

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Id: rjlVZY5TwMk

Length: 31min 17sec (1877 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 03 2016