Fashion Nova may have Zara beat when it comes to how quickly its able to produce fast-fashion. Richard Saghian, the notoriously private CEO of the brand celebrities like Cardi B, Kylie Jenner, and Blac Chyna love to tag on Instagram recently spilled a few secrets to WWD — including how the website is able to constantly offer its customers new merchandise.
According to Saghian, the retailer works with more than 1,000 product manufacturers and can receive samples within 24 hours of conceptualizing a piece. Once ready, the items are shot on any of the models on-call in its office, and the finished product goes up on the site in one to two weeks. The L.A.-based company releases 600 new pieces each week, most of which often sell out immediately. “It’s important to have a lot of styles because our customers post so much online and need new clothes," he tells WWD. "We don’t want girls showing up to the club in the same outfit. We need 50 different denim jackets. Not just one."
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Saghian seems to have a good handle on the perception of the business he’s built and who it serves; he realizes his brand speaks to what some may consider an “urban” demographic, and it isn’t a stretch to say Fashion Nova caters to those typically excluded from fashion industry. But perhaps that’s the secret to its success.
“A lot of my competitors have teams that work on a budget all day and are obsessed with profit margins,” he says. “I don’t want to focus on that right now. I believe that as long as we focus on giving the best product at the best price and getting it to our customer fast, we will continue to grow. Right now the focus is getting as many people onto the platform as possible.”
It seems the little Instagram brand that could bested the Internet’s most popular retailers by tapping into an underserved market and meeting its customers where they are — on social media. That method may seem obvious to some, but between its community of #NovaBabes and the fact that one post from Jenner could translate to $50,000 in sales, there's proof it's working. Hey, if it ain’t broke...