BREAKING THROUGH

inging jobs and investment to the city and reinforcing
its standing as the fashion capital of the world.
Much of the innovation in fashion is driven by
technology. (See the following chapter on women entrepreneurs
in the tech sector.) But many women are
also updating brick-and-mortar businesses in new and
profitable ways that add to the life and economy of the
city.
“It goes back to women being problem solvers,
[finding] something they can fix or
make materially better,” says Susan
Lyne of BBG Ventures. “Maybe it’s
a better analytics platform for fashion
retailers or it might be a jewelry
subscription service that means you
never have to buy a piece of jewelry
you’re not going to wear again and
instead get three pieces a month in
a box.”
Styling services, for example,
which used to be the province of
high-end stores such as Saks Fifth
Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman,
are now available from businesses
such as Sarah LaFleur’s boutique
MM.LaFleur, which designs and
manufactures its own garments.
Customers can visit the showroom
in NoHo or fill out a questionnaire
online and receive a box of garments
and accessories selected for them. They keep what they
like and send back the rest. Last fall, one MM.LaFleur
dress had a waiting list of 1,000 and, according to
Crain’s New York Business, the company’s sales next year
are expected to top $30 million.
In traditional fashion retailing, women are also
staking out new territory. Consider Rachel Schechtman,
whose Chelsea store, STORY, completely changes
its look and its merchandise, including clothing, books,
home furnishings, every four to six weeks to coordinate
with a new theme. Or the Snyder sisters, jewelry
makers who sell their products in high-end stores like
Bergdorf Goodman but also make heavy use of social
media to promote their company, Dannijo. Then there’s
late-in-life entrepreneur Holly Dale Sherman who got
9 out of 10
companies in the
CFDA Fashion Incubator
89%
of companies on Racked NY’s
list of NYC’s 38 Best Indie
Boutiques (Spring 2015)
82%
of companies participating in
the Design Entrepreneurs NYC
Accelerator
69%
of companies participating in
the Pratt Design Incubator
Have a Female Founder
her rain boot company, GoGoGolosh, off the ground
two years ago when she was 68 years old. Her boots
sell online and in stores around the city.
More women-created fashion and beauty companies
are on deck, offering services and products such
as wearable technology, retailing software and online
styling and fitting services. Of the 130 startups that
the city’s Design Entrepreneurs NYC accelerator has
nurtured since 2012, 106 or 82 percent were founded
by women. In the CFDA Incubator’s
2014-2016 class, nine of the ten
companies have women founders. At
the Fashion Tech Lab, at least half the
companies were started by women.
Services
Service businesses, such as recruiting,
public relations, temporary
help agencies, tutoring services,
management consulting and career
counseling, are naturals for many
entrepreneurs because they take
minimal start-up capital and founders
can leverage the skills they honed
in other jobs. For women, such businesses
can offer more flexible work
schedules, freedom from corporate
hierarchies and opportunities to innovate
that are not available in big
bureaucracies. Many start out as solopreneurs
or consultants and bring their knowledge,
networks and experience from corporate life or other
jobs to the entrepreneurial table.
Public relations is a typical example. Women make
up an estimated 63 percent of rank-and-file publicists,
but they are increasingly going out on their own. Of
New York City’s top 48 PR firms, nearly half were founded
or co-founded by women. Of 18 agencies launched
since 2000, 12 or two-thirds were founded by women.
Indeed, Brew PR, founded by Brooke Hammerling in
2005, was just acquired for $15 million by Freuds, a
London-based communications strategy firm.
The services sector exploded after the recession as
women who lost jobs took the opportunity to go out on
their own. Between 2007 and 2012, in New York City,
Breaking Through 19