Eileen Fisher says discomfort with glamour drove her to design comfortable clothing
Eileen Fisher · Eileen Fisher: Eileen Fisher (2017) · Feb 25, 2019 · at 6:20
Designer Eileen Fisher describes her trips to Japan in the 1970s and how her personal discomfort with glamour shaped her minimalist, comfort-focused fashion brand.
0:00 / 0:16exact quote · 17.0s
720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“I couldn't speak the language, so tried hard to learn it. So there was glamour, yes, I guess, you know, but I'm not, I don't, I'm not so attracted to glamour. I'm always more uncomfortable with glamour. I always say I'm this uncomfortable person. That's why I had to make these comfortable clothes.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Eileen Fisher
Fisher: No one designed simple, minimalist women's clothing in the early 1980s
“And I just had this idea that I could make these simple clothes. No one's really doing it.”
Fisher sold 40% of her company back to employees through an ESOP
“What I did do was sell part of the business to the employees. So we are 40% ESOP, employee-owned”
Fisher: Japanese kimono's simple shape inspired her brand's aesthetic
“Like, you could really see, like, with the kimono, for example, one shape, you know, for thousands of years, and, you know, they would just do, you know, use different fabrics and different techniques to make it different every time, and, you know, it was beau…”
Fisher: No one was making simple women's clothing in the 1980s
“And I just had this idea that I could make these simple clothes. No one's really doing it.”
Fisher: Bootstrapped early orders via staggered delivery and COD payments
“Well, I would have needed about 20 to do the production. And but I got some good advice, actually, while I was at the boutique show, that I deliver a small order first, so I did white just for, like, February delivery, and then I did the other colors for deliv…”