How Tory Burch got into ‘Made in China’ early and gave New York accessible fashion to the world

American fashion has been in a bit of a lull lately. While New York reigns supreme as the fashion capital of the United States, hardly any global brands have come out of the city in recent years.

If you’re looking for innovation and excitement in the US apparel industry, you’re more likely to find it in San Francisco, Austin, Texas, or Los Angeles, where a number of direct-to-consumer brands offering cool basics have made strides, largely within the US.

The only truly global brand to have emerged from the US since the turn of the millennium is Tory Burch, which was founded by the designer of the same name in 2004 and in less than two decades has become a fully fledged lifestyle brand like Ralph Lauren.

The story of how Burch, a former fashion executive, started out from a small shop in the Nolita neighbourhood of Manhattan and became a household name is the stuff of legend in fashion circles.

“In the beginning, when I started, this idea of accessible wasn’t interesting to people,” says Burch when we meet in her Manhattan office the day after her spring/summer 2020 show at New York Fashion Week. “It was to our customer, but it wasn’t as cool to be accessible in the fashion world as it is today. But I thought it was interesting and challenging too to design beautiful things at that price point.”

Burch was able to make well-made products and sell them at fair prices by deciding early on to base her production in China, back when most luxury brands balked at the idea that high quality could be achieved anywhere but in Italy or France.

“I’ve always embraced Made in China,” says Burch. “The things we make in China are absolutely beautiful and the quality is outstanding and has got better over the years.”

The company has grown rapidly thanks to its success with accessories, a difficult category to nail, especially for younger brands. Bags and shoes yield higher margins than trend-driven clothes, and 80 per cent of Burch’s business is now driven by footwear and handbags, not just in Asia but worldwide.

Throughout her career, Burch has stayed true to her aesthetic. Trends may come and go, but you can always find a beach cover-up in a vibrant print, a chic camel coat or a pair of equestrian-inspired boots at a Tory Burch store.

“Being true to who we are is something that I always remind myself of. Personally I love street [fashion] but it’s not something that I think we need to weigh in on,” says Burch, referring to the streetwear trend that is all the rage. “I think it’s important to have your own voice and not to keep up with what’s happening from a trend perspective if it doesn’t work with your aesthetic, while also evolving and experimenting.”

Burch has never been afraid of being commercial, and until recently she was very involved in the day-to-day management of her company. Things changed in December 2018 when Burch’s significant other, former LVMH executive Pierre-Yves Roussel, became its CEO.

The two met when LVMH was looking to invest in her brand. As Burch herself puts it: “The company brought us together – that’s how we met – we met through bankers. That said, it took me a long time to get him to come on board. I think it’s the right thing for our business, but I guess I had to marry him in order for him to come and join.”

Burch says that Roussel’s experience at LVMH has given her an insight into the business that she’s never had before, and describes him as “insightful globally and an expert at operations, branding and creative and very passionate about the company”.

With Roussel in charge, she is able to focus on design, but she says strategy and business are always at the forefront of her mind.

A successful self-made founder and a model for aspiring entrepreneurs, Burch believes that there’s no such thing as an overnight success. “A lot of work and excruciating details go into building a company that will last,” she says. “There is a bubble in all kinds of industry for things that come and go, but building a company with longevity and thinking long-term is not always easy and something I’ve always wanted to do.”

She recalls that, after giving a commencement speech at Stanford University a few years ago, many students told her that they wanted to be entrepreneurs but that most of them couldn’t say what their passion was.

“I thought that it was such an interesting concept because I said to them, ‘You have to think about your passion other than just the fact that you want to be an entrepreneur, and that in turn makes you an entrepreneur,’” says Burch, who also runs a successful foundation to finance businesses run by women.

Given her brand’s fast growth and global profile, it’s hard to believe that it’s only been 15 years since Burch launched it, but for the pragmatic business leader it’s never too soon to think about her legacy.

After all, the rise of the company has been due in no small part to the cult of personality surrounding Burch and her all-American image, glamorous lifestyle and great charm.

She’s the first to agree that the mark of a successful brand is for it to live on beyond the founder. “I think it will happen and probably it’s happening right now. I’m not sure who knows that I’m the founder, a woman,” says Burch. “It could be a man actually.

“It’s important that the brand is bigger than me. We have a lot of employees and have to take care of that group, so we can’t just focus on one person.”