Woke up this morning scrolling through fashion feeds like always, coffee halfway to my mouth when I spotted Steven Kolb’s interview clip. Grabbed my busted notebook – the one with coffee stains from last Tuesday – ’cause dude’s CEO of the CFDA. Figured it’s gold for anyone starting out.
Setting Up My Messy Research
Slapped my laptop open, didn’t even bother clearing the browser tabs – some were from 2 weeks ago, honestly. Pulled up the video first. Kolb leaned into the camera like he was talking directly to broke kids in their garages. Started scribbling:
- First thing he said? “Stop obsessing over being ‘unique’.” Made me pause. Everyone’s screaming “disrupt the market!” these days.
- His take? Execution over ideas. “Nobody cares about your vision if you can’t produce on time.” Felt like a gut punch. My own merch drop last year? Yeah. Delayed by three weeks.
- Then he dropped this: “Find the seamstresses before you sketch.” Real talk. Chased factories for months when I launched.
Where I Dropped the Ball
Here’s where I messed up my own notes. Got distracted by a text from my buddy Marco ranting about fabric suppliers. Lost like 10 minutes. Came back just as Kolb said: “If your sustainability pitch is just ‘eco-friendly’, you’re noise.” Damn. Wrote that in all caps. Underlined it twice.
Tried digging deeper online after the video ended. Big mistake. Typed “sourcing ethical leather” into Google. Got buried under:
- Ads from random Shopify stores
- A 2017 article about cactus leather (still not scalable, by the way)
- Some influencer’s “sustainable” collab… with fast fashion. Noped out after that.
My Half-Baked Action Plan
Stared at my chaotic notes. Realized I didn’t wrote one single actionable step yet. Typical. Scratched out three things in the margins before the notebook page tore:
- Call Sarah’s contact at that small-batch factory Monday. No more emailing into the void.
- Scrap the “biodegradable” tagline. Be specific. “Buttons made from recycled ocean plastic” – that’s something.
- Track every production hiccup next season. Like Kolb said: “Failures are your pricing strategy cheat sheet.”
Thing is? Most of his advice felt obvious. But hearing it from someone who’s seen thousands of brands crash? Hits different. Still brewing on how to actually not drown in operational crap long enough to matter. Anyway. If you’re starting out? Watch that talk before ordering your first sample. Saves cash and sanity.
