Over the last two years, the fashion industry has experienced plenty of ups and downs – but 19-year-old contemporary brand Ba&sh has managed to remain on the upswing for the last 10 months. “[2021] was a record year,” Desiree Thomas, CEO of Ba&sh North America, said on the latest Glossy Podcast. “Since the middle of March last year, we’ve seen this excitement around getting dressed again; a lot of women are just wanting to take a moment for themselves and celebrate the joys of life.” As a result, Ba&sh has seen “explosive growth” in each of its sales channels. “We saw retail explode in all of our freestanding stores in North America,” she said. “And digital was also on fire.” Thomas joined Ba&sh in May 2021, after serving as brand president for 3.1 Phillip Lim and holding top sales roles at BCBGMaxAzria and Nicole Miller. She said she was lured by the brand’s focus on “joy, female femininity and empowerment.” Ba&sh was founded in France in 2003 by entrepreneurs and best friends Barbara Boccara and Sharon Krief, whose first names were combined to create the brand name.  Moving forward, Thomas plans to maintain the brand’s trajectory by opening more stores, including in first-time markets like Greenwich and Aventura, hosting pop-ups and collaborating with influencers, among other strategies,  “We have a very ambitious growth strategy in place,” she said. “We are going to see double-digit growth this year, for sure.” 

Ariane Goldman is a serial entrepreneur with a specialty: “I'm always gonna try to create things people need,” she said on the latest Glossy Podcast.  In 2007, that meant launching Twobirds Bridesmaid, focused on bridesmaid dresses that women can wear more than once. And in 2011, she introduced Hatch. “I was pregnant with my first daughter, excited about this new endeavor that I was about to embark on. And I was absolutely surprised that there was nobody speaking to me. I didn't know how to speak the language, and I didn't know what to look for,” she said. “That was the lightbulb that went off. I knew that if I was feeling this way, there must have been other women looking for the same companionship and guidance through this next chapter.”  She started Hatch as a direct-to-consumer brand centered on clothing women can wear before, during and after pregnancy. Today, 20% of the company’s customers are women who aren’t pregnant, Goldman said.  The company has since expanded to product categories including beauty and “fourth-trimester” products, like nursing bras. And in 2020, it launched a content platform called Babe. At the center of the brand’s success is an engaged community that has worked wonders to fuel its growth. Hatch’s annual sales grew 80% in 2021, and Goldman is projecting 40-50% growth this year.   Among other topics, Goldman discussed how Hatch has grown its community using education-focused events, even during pandemic-forced store closures.