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One glance at Catherine Smith's carefully-curated Instagram shows her love for fashion, travel and aesthetics. So perhaps it comes as no surprise that she turns to Instagram to discover fashion designers to source from and employees for her fashion company, Plan de Ville. Smith and her team source luxury fashion from emerging designers in their debut collection for the e-commerce site she founded in 2014. Smith began her career as the intern to Stefano Tonchi, the editor in chief of W magazine and continued as a fashion writer and stylist with Condé Nast for several years. Smith's love of storytelling is evident in Plan de Ville's interviews with designers and even the product descriptions. We met for an early morning breakfast to discuss her career path and advice.
Gross: What inspired you to start Plan de Ville? What was your career path?
Catherine Smith: I founded Plan de Ville to provide women with access to unique pieces by talented designers in their debut seasons. Our designers have learned from the best in the business – they have worked for Chanel, Chloe, Valentino, Balenciaga, Ralph Lauren and J. Crew – and they are ready to bring their own vision to market.
My career path began in fashion publishing, and I found myself focusing on two poles of the fashion ecosystem – haute couture and emerging designers. I was inspired to start Plan de Ville chiefly by the emergence of the aesthetic economy that began to blossom on Instagram around 2013. Young designers were subverting the system by releasing products on Instagram, fueling the emergence of direct-to-consumer marketing that was a huge hit with their target markets. I saw a white space in fashion retail, as no one e-commerce site existed solely to carry emerging luxury designers.
Gross: How do you discover and promote emerging designers
Smith: There are three places that I look to discover emerging designers. First, I spend a lot of time on Instagram, browsing brands and interacting with our customers directly. I also love tradeshows, specifically Capsule and the emerging talents section of Tranoi in Paris. I look at what women wear, and I am not shy about asking a woman where she purchased her bag, or to see the tag on her dress. Often, in New York City, that woman is the designer herself.
I focus on promoting emerging designers by placing very small wholesale orders for Plan de Ville, creating editorial content around the designer, including a long-form interview on our site and editorial coverage in the press. Most recently, I have partnered with the St. Louis Fashion Fund to visit their new Incubator space in St. Louis, dedicated to supporting emerging American designers.
Gross: What has been the biggest challenge and, on the flip side, the biggest reward of starting Plan de Ville?
Smith: Like most businesses, our greatest challenge is cash flow. It has always been helpful to know that this is a pain point for most businesses, especially as you grow and the goal posts continue to move. The biggest reward is the sense of connection that our customers feel to Plan de Ville as a company and to the designers directly. I believe that women can be empowered through their dress practices, and Plan de Ville allows women to truly impact a designer’s career through their support. Each customer becomes an ambassador for the designer she purchased, and for a young designer who left her role at Ralph Lauren to start her own ready-to-wear label, every Instagram post from one of our clients is a powerful sign that she should continue to focus on her new label.
Gross: What advice do you have for other women who hope to start their own businesses?
Smith: My number one piece of advice for women starting businesses is to make sure you have a strong idea that you are willing to wake up every day to fight for. It is also critical to make sure you have an understanding of every aspect of the sector you are entering – from an exhaustive knowledge of your competition to the financial frameworks of your industry. It is so important to have the right team from the start – legal, financial, and mentors. Start every negotiation with the proper paperwork (whether it is an intellectual property agreement or a non-disclosure agreement or non-circumvention agreement), and don’t be afraid to ask for help. The mentors that you consult will be honored that you trusted them enough to ask for their feedback.
Also, recognize the value that your startup brings to educational institutions. I have an incredible partnership with Harvard Business School (HBS), where I had the pinch-me experience of speaking publicly about Plan de Ville for the very first time in 2015. We partnered with the HBS Summer Fellows program, which sponsors MBA student internships with startups, non-profits and early-stage businesses. Last summer Plan de Ville hosted a masters in business administration candidate in our office for an internship that shaped our company’s financial strategy and future. There are so many programs that are looking for entrepreneurs to mentor students, and of course, the benefit to entrepreneurs is huge! Reach out to local universities and colleges for talent, recruiting opportunities and to give yourself a chance to practice speaking about your business.
Gross: What is a workday like? Please walk me through a day!
Smith: My workday usually begins with a coffee and a check-in with my family. My first professional duty is to check in on the site and review overnight orders. I try to fit in a workout most mornings, and immediately handle any issues that may have cropped up overnight from Europe. About 35% of our designers are based in Europe, so that could mean advising on a re-order, the status of a shipment or liaising with a Parisian press office. Then I focus on housekeeping issues – anything from domestic shipping issues to working with our certified public accountant. For the first two and a half years of the business, I oversaw all inventory management and shipping, but I hired a warehouse at the end of 2016 to handle all of our shipping going forward, which has already proven to be a great growth hack. Our supply chain is complex, but this move allows us to streamline the time it takes us to ship and greatly improves the customer experience.
Gross: What are your responsibilities as CEO of Plan de Ville?
Smith: I oversee each segment of our company – from our packaging and supply chain to buying and marketing to oversight of our human resources, financials and compliance. Down the line, I will be able to delegate some of these responsibilities as our team grows, but I am tremendously grateful for the learning opportunities that each part of the business offers me on a daily basis. I remember thinking that I “wasn’t good at math” as a girl in school, and now I jump at the chance to go through a complicated spreadsheet or click through a profit analysis in my head when considering a new opportunity or revenue stream. Importantly, I will always retain my role as head of fashion buying.
Gross: What are the most important characteristics someone needs to have to be successful in your role?
Smith: It is definitely a balance between art and science. Plan de Ville has been successful because our curation is focused on lifting unknown designers to a visibility level that can rival the reach of Net-a-Porter. That requires a deep understanding of the psychology of luxury dressing – but it also requires a keen eye for the bottom line in order to be successful.
Gross: What are three characteristics you look for when you’re hiring a new team member?
Smith: In the age of the digitally-native experience-based brand, I look through social media for individuals who already love the idea of our business. I primarily recruit for entry-level marketing and technology positions, so these individuals are a part of the Instagram generation. They feel a sense of connection with Plan de Ville, our designers and our mission through social media, and I find that translates into dedication in the workplace.
I also look for someone who doesn’t check their watch – who values their early years in business as an investment in their future and not a 9-to-5 punch of the clock. They truly believe in where they are, and they have a true dedication to furthering their education in an early role. I look for calm confidence and a sense that no task is too big, or too small, to be valuable to our company.
Gross: What are the most important skills for doing your job and how did you develop them?
Smith: As the founder of Plan de Ville, everything about our product is native to me. When you discover a brand and work directly with the designer (or, often, the designer’s first and only employee), I became fluent in the product from the start. However, I’ve found that it is critical for me to be able to provide a context around each product to the members of my team. Sure, I know that the designer named this jacket after his late brother, but does everyone on the team know the care that went into each detail? Once I share the stories I gain from my experiences with the designers with Plan de Ville’s team, there is a greater sense of connection forged between the people and the products, and that translates into a real motivation and sense of professional purpose.
Gross: You spent years as an editor at Brides. How have the skills you learned as an editor helped you become successful with Plan de Ville?
Smith: The skills I learned working as an intern, then an editor at Condé Nast were invaluable. Every experience, from understanding the complexities of an organizational chart to chasing down a rogue package in a cavernous messenger center, imbued a sense of direction in me. I was the assistant to an editor in chief, so I was constantly interacting with the most powerful, talented minds at the company. Exposure to how the C-Suite operates is always a critical learning opportunity, and I am very grateful for my time there.
Gross: What's the biggest lesson you learned at work and how did you learn it?
Smith: The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that I have every right to say “No, thank you.” There is a seasonality to fashion that drives a tremendous amount of demand for production and constant newness, which for a business as young as Plan de Ville, can prove impossible to sustain. It can be uncomfortable to tell a designer that we are not able to meet their minimum order requirement, but I much prefer that dynamic over struggling with our accounts payable.
Gross: What is one thing that you wish you had known when you were starting out your career?
Smith: I wish I had known how critical it is to have a knowledge of accounting and finance. While you can certainly rely on a bookkeeper and accountant, it is much easier if you can first spend time learning the fundamentals. When you are beginning a business that you love, it becomes very exciting to understand the financials.
Gross: What is the best advice you've ever received?
Smith: The best business advice I’ve ever received is that every business idea should solve a fundamental problem. If your business idea doesn’t solve a problem, you need a new idea.
Gross: What is your business advice for other young professional women?
Smith: Have confidence in your ideas, dream boldly, staff up with a great team and always double check the math. Measure twice, cut once – but in the end, your instincts are your most valuable asset. Listen to your instincts, trust yourself and work to bring your vision to life every single day.
