Mara Rhomberg: “Innovation is always in vogue”
Why was the time right for you to launch your brand anyway?
I’ve always believed that there is opportunity in any situation be it an optimum one, or less so. The most important, in my opinion, is despite the circumstances, that you find ways to keep moving forwards. I definitely agree that we are living through one of the most challenging times of our era but also exciting. So much of what we once considered ‘normal’ is now changing. I feel the circumstances we find ourselves in has forced many of us re-evaluating all aspects of life, allowing for new perspectives on priorities. I imagine people will want to find more ways to simplify their lives and an integral part of that is the dressing process. Therefore, creating a collection that represents our belief of what the essential wardrobe is made up of, allowing it to satisfy the different situations of daily life, making it straight forward for our women to easily create and combine different looks from within the collection, seems very fitting for the times we find ourselves in now and for the foreseeable future.
Are the current innovations of the industry, such as inclusion and sustainability, already a matter of course for you?
Sustainability has always been a relevant topic in the development of the brand. Although, in my opinion, this can translate into more than one expression. Therefore, we opted to set up a sustainable delivery structure. With the time involved in getting a collection shelf ready, we consciously decided to break away from the traditional cycle, extending the shelf life for an entire year. This decision allows us to create seasonless staples and the chance to release season focused capsules, where we are able to adapt the feedback and demands of our customers.
Although, we are working on expanding our work in making the label even more sustainable and inclusive. There is definitely a lot of learning and adapting to be done as we continue to educate ourselves and grow our brand to be as responsible as we would like.
The concept is based on high-quality essentials and is not taking a seasonal fashion schedule into consideration - is this the future of fashion?
It’s definitely my hope that fashion will gradually gravitate in this direction. The waste generated by the fashion industry is common knowledge at this point, accelerated by easy instant gratification taken for granted by the social media generation. In order to cater to this unceasing demand for the new and trendy, brands sped up their delivery schedules creating unprecedented levels of production pre-pandemic.
Your sales strategy is also new: pop-ups and an online store instead of the traditional distribution via boutiques?
The retail landscape has been struggling for many years now, and especially for newcomers, it has become even more cut-throat. As a new brand, it is incredibly important to establish the core values of the brand to its customers. For us, it was crucial to create this experience as personally as possible. The format of pop-ups or trunk shows are new to the industry. It involves more organization and effort for brands and may be therefore less often pursued. As for an online store – this was crucial to include in our distribution strategy, giving our returning customers the possibility to access the collection.
Is this a recipe for success that can be pursued in the long term, or how do you see the future of your label?
It has always been important to us as a brand to have the chance to establish personal and long lasting relationships with the women who wear our pieces. The future is very exciting because the industry has been forced to reset itself. It will be up to brands how they set themselves apart, re-engage their customers and create new possibilities together.
