Transcript - Luisa Herrera-Garcia
Season 3, Episode 3
Conversation with Luisa Herrera-Garcia, SVP of Production, John Varvatos
Joshua Williams: Retail Revolution, a unique podcast that features in depth conversations with guest experts in omnichannel retailing, with myriad perspectives: technology, consumer engagement, data analytics, merchandising, and more. We pay special attention to current sociopolitical issues and challenges and their implications on fashion retail, as well as opportunities to innovate and rethink retail's future.
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Retail Revolution is produced by Joshua Williams and hosted by Christopher Lacy, both are Assistant Professors in the Fashion Management graduate program at Parsons School of Design.
Christopher Lacy: Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Retail Revolution podcast. I'm your host, Christopher Lacy. And I am so pleased with my guest today who has made time to join us. She has over 25 years of experience working with many of the most important brands. She is recognized as a leader in the menswear industry. And presently, she oversees a staff of 20 in the production and design departments for John Varvatos Enterprise.
She is responsible for setting the global strategy for planning, production, and operation processes while securing profitability requirements for Varvatos wholesale and retail operations. It is a pleasure to welcome to the show Ms. Luisa Herrera-Garcia.
Luisa Herrera-Garcia: Thank you so much, Christopher. I must say you pronounced my Cuban name so well, I'm very,
Christopher Lacy: You know I practice for like a full day, right?
I, I think you did. That rolling of the R's was fabulous.
I'm so glad that you reached out to me and wanted me to be on your show and I think it's amazing. And, I'm looking forward to having an amazing conversation with you.
Yeah. So am I, so let's jump in. First off, let's have you tell our listeners about you. You have such a beautiful story, so, tell us about it.
Luisa Herrera-Garcia: Well, thank you. I was born in Cuba and I am the youngest of three siblings. I had two older brothers. Both were extremely talented and wanted to be artists. And I think that's where I got my sense of fashion since I could not draw to save my life.
And growing up being the youngest girl, I always wanted to be a tomboy. But then I realized in my teenage years, there was a benefit of being a girl. So I was, I was happy at that point.
You know, my father was very instrumental in everything that I've done. He's 98 years old and he's my mentor. He's my father. He's a leader. He's my inspiration. And he actually was a tailor in Cuba. And that's how I think, I have this sense of wanting to be in the business and really understand what it is to create beauty, through clothes.
He and my mother came here to find a better tomorrow, like so many immigrants have done with their families. And he's very proud of everything that I've done, and I've accomplished. And the woman that I am today has been a lot to do for, the roots that I have as a black Cuban woman, to stand by. And it's something that I definitely want to instill in my 15-year-old son. I'm very proud to have had that privilege to have an amazing family, that has inspired me and allowed me to be creative and to, if you can imagine it, you can achieve it. And that's something that my dad always said that to me when I was a little girl, in Spanish. And I believed it, and I'm so glad because through dedication, hard work, you could achieve your dreams. And I do want to ensure that whoever I'm able to touch in this podcast and this discussion, there's a little girl out there that's just like me, that can be a senior vice president of a wonderful, amazing designer as John Varvatos. And achieve her dreams, especially now with social unrest and everything that's happening.
Believe it or not, I studied classical piano for about 10 years. I decided that wasn't the area that I wanted to go into. And I started to take fashion courses in FIT when I was in high school. And I had a knack for buying and I wanted to understand more about the business aspect of it. So, my first job right out of college was with a company called Cutlass and Moore. I attended LIM, Laboratory Institute of Merchandising, which I graduated in 1988. And on their advisory board. And I'm very excited about being able to play a part in the future of the graduates as they grow up and what they want to do, and their decisions.
But it all had to do with how I started. And I started with a small manufacturing company and through networking, I was recommended to Perry Ellis. And from Perry Ellis, where I was an assistant and a coordinator, someone recommended me to PVH, which is a mega house.
I learned the meaning of blind CC at PVH! And, my ex-boss from Perry Ellis called me one day and said, you know, Calvin is taking back his brand from Biederman, which is no longer in existence. And, is making the license agreement with GFT, who at that time was an amazing powerhouse, Italian powerhouse, out of Torino, Italy. And they had Joseph Abboud. They had Ungaro. They had Andrew Fezza and they were acquiring the license for Calvin. And they needed somebody to start as an assistant in production for dress furnishings. Which for those of you who don't know what dress furnishings is, is shirts and ties.
So I, I went for the interview and I was approached by someone on the elevator who happened to be the person interviewing at the time. And he said, are you related to Carolina Herrera? And I looked at the color of my skin and I'm like, I don't think so. So, but needless to say, he laughed. And I do get the job. I was with Calvin for eight years. I started as an assistant and by the time I left, I was overseeing Calvin, all of the GFT brands in terms of sportswear, tailored clothing, both CK and Calvin Klein.
That's how I got to meet John. He was the president of design of Calvin Klein. And then he parted and went on to lead with Ralph and Polo Jeans and so forth. But we always stayed in contact. We were good friends. He was my mentor. And when it was time for him to start his, company, he called me and said, you know, what do you think about it? You won't be leading 10 people, but I can tell you you're going to have a good time. And I said, okay. And after that it's been 20 years. and I don't regret it ever since.
I've learned a lot. And it’s given major opportunities and, there's been good times and bad times that we all have. But it has made me an amazing leader in the industry through hard work and, having an amazing team of people that I work with and learning a lot.
So, that’s a little bit about me.
Christopher Lacy: I love your story Louisa. And as I think about the trajectory of your career, and I think about the foundation of your story, one thing that comes to mind that I want to ask you is about leadership and you mentioned it. And, just wanting to know, for you, when you think about your leadership skills, what was the point in which you felt like, okay, I'm getting my chops as a leader. I'm learning something different than I ever have before about myself to become a better leader. You know, ‘cause you've been at Varvatos for 20, some odd years. So, some people could say that, I'm on autopilot, right? I'm not challenged. I kind of do the same thing. But I don't think that was the case for you. And I, and I'd love to hear what that was like for you.
Luisa Herrera-Garcia: Absolutely. No, and I think you're right. It's 20 years, and somebody thinks, you know, you keep on doing the same thing over and over again. And I think, like relationships, is human nature for everybody sometimes to say, oh, I don't need to know, I know everything. Or we always did it this way. One thing that John always did, especially with me, and I think he did it with a lot of, people, but because we had this special connection, was he pushed me. And he pushed me out of my comfort zone. And by that, I mean, I was in charge of production, which I still am overseeing it. But when there was an opportunity for merchandising, he's like, I want you to be involved in merchandising. I want you to understand about planning. I want you to understand what's on the other side, not just, working with the factories and issuing an order. You need to understand everything about the business.
And I said, okay, fine. So, we started that. We started, an inventory, group where he wanted me involved with our CFO on everything in the flows, and understand about what the wholesale needs were, and so forth. He involved me in appointments, so that I could understand when Saks came in or Neiman's, what they were saying about the collection, good, bad or indifferent. He and I had a very unique relationship because, basically he managed the design team and the creative designers reported into John from a creative perspective. But from time management, from budgetary reasons, and so forth, they reported into me. So, I had an opportunity to see the 360 of the business. And sometimes when you're in big organizations and I totally understand that you're running a lot of money through your company, you can't have somebody like sometimes like a Luisa where it can't be 360 and understand all aspects of the business. But when you're a midsize company, and you're being pushed from the founder to be able to understand that, that led me to always say, you know what, there's always two sides to a story. And I became a better leader by listening to everybody, and what they had to say. And not just assuming one way, because it was what impacted the production and the sourcing channels. I was more sensitive to sales when all of a sudden, you know, Saks didn't reach their sell-throughs. So, therefore they wanted to have charge backs and therefore we had to, have different accommodations, or how we treated them. Or when Bloomingdale's came in and, their business was on fire, because we were doing more exclusives with them. I'm like, okay, I'm designing a collection, but why do I have to do more exclusives? That's the first thing somebody would say. But when you start understanding the business and the nuances and why they're doing this, you want to interpret that, and you want to relay that and convey that to your teams.
And I found that, and I find this to today, the strength of me as being a leader, is being able to be open to other departments and other channels. And now I'm at a point in my life, and part of that, I'd probably have to say is part of the pandemic and being home for the last four months and doing a lot of soul searching, and being part of different webinars and so forth is, I want to learn new things. Not deal with the status quo. I want to be able to make sure that my team understands that, and they challenge themselves. I want to hear a lot more and I always did. I always encouraged them to try to have a voice, because as I said, I'm only as good as you are. And my job as a leader is for you to be so amazing that one day you could take my position.
And they would look at me when I would say that. And I said, no, because the day that you're able to take my job, is the day that I know that I have let my guard down. And then I not push myself enough. And you should have that position at that point. And I don't think many of them till this, they may get that, but I strongly believe in that. And I encourage them to want to understand what's happening around them. Cause that's the only way you can be good at your job. So, to me, being a good leader and a strong leader is realizing that it's a team. It's a we, it's not an I; to have humility, to be able to tell someone, or a group of people when you are wrong. To correct those mistakes. To listen. To encourage and to move forward.
Christopher Lacy: Thank you. I appreciate you for saying that. You talked about exclusives and charge backs and designing exclusives for a particular brand because they're selling through them. And that's something I know very well. So, I want to ask you, what goes into the global production of a brand? And even more so, how has sociopolitical issues impacted that process?
Luisa Herrera-Garcia: It's funny when you, see a runway show and, or you see a garment in a window. You don't realize the amount of time that it takes to make that garment. You know, our calendars, which need to be improved, because I do think that we're sometimes a dinosaur in our industry, but it takes almost like a full year. Right? So, you start the design process for fall now, and you're not going to deliver it until, next July or something like that. So it's, cumbersome, because it starts obviously with the innovation, it starts with the ideas, and then you take that to your raw material. And that takes, you know, another six weeks to eight weeks. And then you take it into your prototype, which is another four weeks. And you take that into your sampling, which is another four weeks. So, you keep on adding to this, scale. It's a puzzle that you're putting together.
So, when it comes to global production, there's so many aspects of what you need to, think about Chris. And, there's different dynamics in every country that you work with, that you need to adapt to, that you need to be sensitive to, then take into consideration when you're basically putting your collections together and building your partnerships throughout the world.
And making sure that obviously it's a good fit. It takes a long time. It's a lot of relationships that you need to build. And you need to make sure that there's complete transparency with your relationships that you have with your vendors and, for the factories that they're working with, that they're doing the right thing, especially when it comes to social and how they're handling, you know, especially women's rights. That there's no child labor. That they're not doing it because they want to take 25 cents in order to negotiate and get that order from you. Through all of these things have to be in the forefront is when you're doing negotiations and you're doing your selections of who the partners are you wanting to do business with.
You can't just say you want to have a sustainable, ethical supply chain, but never visit your vendors and your factories, and really see what's happening on the ground. You have to be able to be there, to understand what they go through, to negotiate. And it's a give and take relationship.
When it comes to social and political, I mean, it affects it's all of us around the world, right? We're no different. We got hit with tariffs in China, in the midst of a shipping window, and everyone had to scramble to see what they can do or find other countries to produce their goods. In some instances, for us, we're so specialized in some of the products that we do its more China-centric. So, we decided that we needed to incur this. And we were going to relook at our prices. But it wasn't that I wanted to then take that upcharge on the difference because of tariffs and then just give it to the ultimate consumer, or to reduce my margins. We just had to become smarter in terms of how we were designing, how we were producing it, and really work closely with our suppliers to become much more efficient in what we were doing. And slowly look to see if there were other countries that we wanted to venture into, like India.
But every time you do that, you know, it looks, easier than when you actually go into a country. You know, everybody says a shirt is so easy to make. But it really is not. It takes time for the sewers to understand your details and your fit, and so on. And expectations; the expectations of John Varvatos are very different to Tommy. They're very different to Giorgio Armani. They're very different to someone that you would think you're close with, but it's not the case. So, you really have to never lose sight of the details that go into global manufacturing.
And when it comes to social, I mean, there are countries we would never, especially because we're so specialized, entertain to go into. And God knows I get thousands of emails from people all over the world that want to do business with us. Bangladesh, for example, I mean, they've changed. But it's still a country that, for me and what we do, I, I don't see the need to go into. You know, I'm very loyal to the vendors and the factories that I work with. I'm not one to switch because you have a dollar, or a dollar off, a dollar 50, or that you could do something better. I'd rather work with the factories that I've been working with as long as 15 years in some cases and try to make things work. Because when times are difficult, they're there for you. And then all of a sudden when times are good, you're going to decide to change and go someplace else.
But I do think one area that hits really home to me is women's rights. It's children's rights, fair wages and ensuring that is properly addressed in any factory around the world that you decide to produce your product. We have an ethical responsibility, not only for how we produce that garment, what we produced that garment from, but more importantly, where we produce that garment from. And we could never do sight of that.
And my fear is with this pandemic and that people may want to take shortcuts in some factories. Because everybody has gotten hit hard and they may want to shave corners or do things differently and not be held to the same standards or think that they could get away with it. So, now more than ever, we really have to be very cautious with our supply chain and our partners.
Christopher Lacy: So, I love that you mentioned women in the supply chain, because this is a topic that's not talked about enough. And what I find interesting about you mentioning it is we had one of our students from our first cohort that really leaned into this topic and involved women in the supply chain cycle in India.
It was about how they're treated, especially relative to being able to go to the restroom, menstruation and the number of hours that they work. So, something I've been thinking about a lot is post-COVID, or as we move through it, as we continued through this, and we were forced to slow down our supply chains, we have also been forced to start doing things locally.
You also have to consider the major economic powers that are investing in developing countries. Do you think that they will become more aware of the impact on women's health? The way women's labor has been treated historically in our supply chains, has really been deplorable. So, it's just something that I've kind of been thinking about. And I'm wondering if it's something that's crossed your mind as well.
Luisa Herrera-Garcia: It definitely has. And it's funny, you're talking about the student Prachi, correct?
Christopher Lacy: Yeah.
Luisa Herrera-Garcia: Yes. I had the opportunity of speaking to her on her thesis and she wanted to understand what I thought and speak to me more about it. And she did it an amazing, amazing project.
There's not enough awareness, I think. And she picked obviously to an area she's very familiar with, she's from India, and she could relate to. But I do think that just women in general, especially in third world countries, they're taught, even for me. Okay. Being Cuban. You're taught that you don't speak out so much. You follow your partner, and you step behind; there's different things. Correct? That you're brought up as a young girl. I obviously did the opposite. So I, I, you know, don't use me as an example for that. But I do think there has to be more attention spent on that subject.
And even if you go into board meetings and all the meetings I go to internationally, I would say 90% are men. You may have a few women supervisors, but 90% of the people making the decisions are men. And then when you go into the sewing lines, you have 95 to a 100 percent of the lines, which are women. And it's important for them to be recognized. It's important for us that invest in these countries, us in companies that invest in these factories, to put more attention on that. And to almost start asking about what programs you have. So, it's not so much about, what are your compliance programs within that and child labor and paying your workers fairly and so forth. But also, how are you treating your women? What type of special programs do you have for them? What type of programs do you have for leave, that they may have for their children? These are questions we need to bring up. These are questions that I've been thinking about. And in the midst of a pandemic, Christopher, it's easy to go back to the old ways of the seventies and eighties and people doing things. We can't lose sight; we need to move it forward. And it's all of our responsibilities to do that. People like myself and counterparts of mine, and people that will be hearing this, that have a voice, and or that you have a pen, and by that, I mean the cash okay, to make a difference, then you should be asking those questions of all of your supply chain and your vendors, whether it be a factory, whether it be a mill; and seeing what programs, what are they doing and how are they supporting their workers and how are they supporting their female workers?
And to be transparent. Don't say what you think you should be saying to get the deal, to get the order. Push the envelope, push them out of their comfort zone to really understand what it's happening. Because then you get on that flight. You come home, you have your family, you take your daughter to ballet, or dance, or tennis or whatever the case may be. You take your son to soccer. But you just left a vendor and a factory and a worker that's going back that has no running water, that as to walk God knows how many miles to get to their home. And/or they may not be able to go to their home; only on weekends, because they have to live close to they're residence, near where they work, to bring back those few dollars for their family. We need to be conscious of that. We can't be hypocritical anymore. We've done it for too long.
Christopher Lacy: You brought up transparency. And I think one of the things that would help with us making sure that these things don't continue, is to the point you said, of transparency. So, I want to ask you about the price transparency. And do you think we'll see the rise of cost transparency from brands in the future? Because that's going to be something that I look at and I think this is something that's going to be important. And again, one of our students from our first cohort, Emily Rachel Wiens talked about price transparency, and if that's going to be important in the future.
Luisa Herrera-Garcia: I think it is going to be important. It's going to be interesting to see how many people do it though, right? But I do think there's a way of doing it responsibly, where you don't show everything down to your profitability, but you know, you show what you do and you show what is the cost. And some brands do it. Some e-com brands are doing it very well and they show how much it takes to make that product.
And I do think that there could be ways, that you can do it in a way, that's not so like, Oh my God, I'm just showing everybody everything, you know, and they could use that and they could go to that factory and they could, try to negotiate it better than I am. It's not about that. It's about being fair. And not putting those extra charges just because your name is X that you can charge a thousand dollars. Meanwhile, I know exactly where you're making that because I just left the factory where you're making it. I'm making it for $300, you know, and I'm selling it for $300. So, how are we able to do that? And it's, going to be discussions we all need to have in the industry. Agree on the best formula to have, so it's fair to everyone; and how they communicate that information. And then see how we want to roll that out, in the most effective, efficient way, and honest way to the ultimate consumer.
Christopher Lacy: So, we're discussing things like price transparency and profitability and the financial team. Something I really want to ask you about because you manage really two different types of mentalities, right?
You're leading two different types of people, because one group is production and you're making sure that they're producing things at the right cost, so that it can go into retail, the margins are hit every day, and everything works out. But you also are working with the design team. And the design team is creativity. And part of creativity is the beauty that it has no limits. So, I want to ask you, how do you manage to the desire of the design team and the expectations of the financial team?
Luisa Herrera-Garcia: That's a very good question.
I believe it's important for your design team and product development team, and all of your teams, really to understand what is the financial expectation of the company. And that is broken down, obviously from a seasonal perspective, a yearly perspective, and any initiative that they may want. What are the margin expectations? The growth expectation? Profitability expectation? To let them know where the business stands. Because then I think you're embracing and bringing them into a different world that normally they wouldn't. Right? And most companies, they design, they buy beautiful fabrics from Paris and then, you know, oh, what do you mean it has to be $29.99. That's the fabric price, you know. So, instead of the selling price. So, trying to engage them, not scare them away and give them too many numbers. Cause sometimes they stare at you like my dog looks at me and says, "I don't understand what you're saying. I just want to go outside and play." But also inform them that you're giving them this information, because you want them collections to be successful. You want the product to be able to, you know, make it to the seventh floor. And we have to design responsibly. That doesn't mean that they can't be creative. That's just means that we need to review how much percentage of the glamour going to have, what's going to be seasonal, seasonal core, and then be able to have discussions as to what is the cost of that product? And what can we do to change that? But the most important thing that you want to do is not to stifle their creativity. You want them to be able to do that. You don't want to scare them, that they have to produce something that could only be X price. You want them to push the envelope, but to still understand that we all have a responsibility to design responsibly and produce responsibly. So, once you're able to engage that, and sometimes it's with humor, and show them, oh my God, this sweater collection, it just hit the floor. It's doing great. And can you believe it? It has the best margin. And then you could say, and remember we changed that yarn at the last minute and it was great, and we didn't miss a beat? So, when you're able to do that, then they're like, "Oh, okay. I totally understand that." I mean, John laughs at me because he calls me the SKU Nazi. And then he says, now all of my designers are thinking about IMU. And I thought it was he's like, I thought it was a song. And then I realized that talking about the real IMU and the cost file.
Uh, and, and I would look at him like, "That's a good thing, right?" Because they're now being cautious about the fabric assortments and the pricing. And when we're producing a garment and we're slashing costs I'm like, okay guys, it's coming out to this. And they all look at me. And then before they would look at me and say, that's going to be your problem. Right? That's product development's problem. Now they understand it's all of our problems if we can't get it produced at the right price to hit the right margin for the right retail. So now that like, okay, I got that. I have a secondary fabric, let's take off the zipper, let's do this. And they're already starting to think about that. So the more you engage them, the more you understand that they are part of the process. That they are just as important, if not the starting point of how profitable company can be. Because it's about product. And if we're able to produce product on time at the right price and that's compelling to the ultimate consumer. Okay. And of course, controlling your inventory, cause that's the kiss of death that, you know, a lot of our companies have nowadays, then we should be successful. We should be able to meet those financial plans.
Christopher Lacy: And now, because you said that, I'm going to pivot in the other direction on you, and I want to ask you about brick and mortar stores.
What do you think needs to happen for better profitability and sell-through for brick and mortar? You know, we go through that whole process. You've spoken to the designers. How do you get the best margin? We're going to switch up this fabric. It needs to hit the selling floor this way. And what we've seen over the last few years is, and I will never say brick and mortar is dead, because it's not. But what we do see is a change in how brick and mortar needs to operate. And I'd love to hear your thoughts on how you think brick and mortar needs to pivot and be meaningful to have profitable sell-through.
Luisa Herrera-Garcia: I think, and I'm going to speak from experience. I think sometimes in brick and mortar, you try to be too many things to everyone. And you can't. And you have to be focused. And sometimes as a designer brand, nobody wants to give up on any classification. They want more and more and more; every salesperson has a special account and clients that they want this for. You have to have discipline. And the more discipline we have with our assortments, and how our buyers are buying those collections deeper instead of having so many SKUs. And then you have the only 50% is what is executing that profit, you know, per square foot, those sales per square foot. So, let's get rid of the fluff. And those are hard calls, because just as the designers sometimes don't want to give up of that creativity and those designs, we have to have hard calls if we're going to be much more profitable and seeing which ways we can do that.
And once we do that, and how we could turn the product faster, and have harder sell-through expectations that we can do, and beat every year, I think we'll be in a better position. But less is more. And the more focused she can be in your assortments and your stores, the better you will be.
I also think a good brick and mortar is also one that can build on its e-comm platform, because then you could bring those customers back into your stores. The more you could have those two connected and the more storytelling you could say, and storytelling that obviously is true, not made up. Okay? And things that you stand behind, the better your business will be.
Christopher Lacy: Yeah, I know what you mean. The importance of e-commerce. I think a lot of people thought that e-commerce was to replace, or that it would replace brick and mortar, but it really has to work hand in hand.
Luisa Herrera-Garcia: Correct.
Christopher Lacy: I see it as your eCommerce platforms should be there to educate your client. It should make it easier for them to purchase those basic items, those ones that should just be part of the core collection that you fly through. And leverage your eCommerce platform to do that. And then when you walk into the store, that's where we get the wow of it. And I sometimes feel like I'm really old school in the sense that there are some things I think I should experience and see in person.
I just. It's in my head. I think about it. You know, I, I could never imagine purchasing a suit online because the fun part of an Isaia suit is that the moment where you pick it up, you feel it and you touch it. And brick and mortar has to really make those moments meaningful. And to your point, those moments become less meaningful, if there's a lot of fluff, that's not necessary, right? When you. When you do what you do and you do it well, and you highlight it, it becomes a completely different retail experience for someone.
Luisa Herrera-Garcia: Absolutely. I totally, I agree with you it's, you know, for us thinking that we could sell our shearlings, that are $4,000 online, I mean, they'll sell at the end of the season when it's 70% off. Right? But, the point is that you want to make it compelling for that customer to come in for that guy to try it on and say like, wow, I look like Brad Pitt, even though they don't, you know, but they feel like Brad Pitt, you know, because it's an experience it's, it's so almost like everybody says, music has a way of changing people's soul, and how they feel. And I believe clothes do the same thing. And you need to really reestablish that storytelling and being able to want to be there with that customer and walk them through that experience when they come through your store. I believe a lot of our stores have lost that. That’s why some of them have gone belly up. You go into some of these stores just to find a salesperson. They would send you to, the appliance store to find a salesperson. It's crazy! We've lost sight of the importance of having that connectivity with the consumer.
Christopher Lacy: I think that connectivity is going to be more important than ever. We've all, we've all talked about connectivity, but what does it really look like?
And I think in terms of big box retail, the idea of people wanting to walk through nine floors to find, and merchandise is quickly becoming obsolete. And I know even just for myself, prior to, the change of shopping behavior. I never really enjoyed that. I was probably a really good conversion metric.
You know, I was a total driver. I'd walk in. I could tell people what I wanted and then leave right away. So, meandering through store's floors was never a thing for me. And I think that's going to be a shift that we see change between big box retailers and consumers. But with that means that there would also be a change in the relationship between big box retailers and brands. So I would love to hear from you, how do you think this will evolve over the next few years, this brand and big box retailer relationship?
Luisa Herrera-Garcia: You know, I think, brands who want to be and have their product associated with more “boutiquey” type of locations. It's almost like Scoop, you know, I loved shopping at Scoop. It had that special feeling, you had different designers and so forth, and brands that you were basically bringing into one store. And it made you feel special. Our consumers no longer want to go through, five, as you mentioned, six or seven floors to shop. It's a different day. It's a different time. Maybe one day, you want to go out and have a glass of prosecco, after you meet, and you go and get those beautiful jeans or something like that. But whenever we're able to do that again, right? But at the same time, you want to use your time differently. So, you want to make those experiences much more meaningful and much more one-on-one, where you walk into a store and that salesperson remembers your name. And that's great. So, I think those big box retailers are going to exist, but they're going to exist still with the Costco's the Walmart. Where somebody goes in and not only can you shop for a tee shirt, but you're also getting something that you need for your car, right? So, it's a one stop shop and that's what you go there for. Or, the worlds of the Amazons, which obviously they, they're amazing, they're doing everything and they're trying to get it into our world in terms of better fashion and so forth; and master that. But I think brands are gonna want to associate themselves, and a brand like ourselves, with more of those specialty accounts. And how can we rebuild those specialty accounts that we know how to, you know, do the storytelling and have that customer and that loyal clientele that they used to have.
Christopher Lacy: Yeah, I would define it as moments. I think the future of retail should be about moments.
Luisa Herrera-Garcia: Hmhm.
Christopher Lacy: It should not be about walking around a store for four hours and shopping through tons of floors in order to find what you desire.
Luisa Herrera-Garcia: Right.
Christopher Lacy: And I don't want people to think I'm saying it should be transactional and this instant gratification. But what I do think, is that you should be able to find what you desire and connect with. Without frustration.
Luisa Herrera-Garcia: Exactly.
Christopher Lacy: And that in of itself is a moment. And if we can do that and we get people to what it is, they desire then as a retailer, you can create other moments within that. Right? Because then the client is, open to that because they aren't frustrated by meandering about to find what they're looking for.
Luisa Herrera-Garcia: Right.
Christopher Lacy: So, like you said, you know, it is about partnering with the brands and the retailers in a way that they know how to tell a story in a small format and doing that makes it impactful.
Luisa Herrera-Garcia: Correct. Absolutely.
Christopher Lacy: So, my question for you, because you've had such an amazing career, is what was the single most defining moment for you?
Luisa Herrera-Garcia: Huh. You know, there's different. It's chapters in your life, right? That you define as defining and rewarding and sometimes bring tears to your eyes. Right? I would say for me, was really being honored by LIM, my college, in 2018 for the distinguished, inspirational award. And having my son, at the time he was 13, in the audience. And it was the graduating class. And speaking to them and telling them about my story.
So, not only was it amazing for me looking back at this four-year-old girl that came from Cuba, you know, and that's how I'm thinking in my head. And here I am receiving this award with like 300 students, that I need to give a speech to, but then giving a speech and looking into the audience. And LIM, it's predominantly women-- a woman college-- but looking into the audience and being able to encourage them and saying, and sharing myself story and telling them, you know, I am proof that you can succeed, if you believe strongly enough and work hard enough and have strong ethics, and don't let anybody steer you in a different direction. And don't let anybody that may have a title belittle you and make you feel that you can't accomplish what you want to do. Because as somebody said to me, when I started in this business, he's like you have four things going against you. I think it was three at the time. And I probably added one more since then. He said, you're a woman. You're Hispanic. Actually, it was four. You're black and you're beautiful. And I was so insulted when, he said this to me. And it was my first job and I looked at him and then he said, I'm telling you this to also use them as an asset to what you do to build your career. And it took me a couple of years to understand what Howard was telling me. But I appreciated what he said. Because people can use it as a negativity or because I'm a woman I'm not being given the opportunity to succeed, or I'm not giving that, you know, that title. Because I'm black, nobody's considering me for this, I changed that. And it was up to me. I'm not going to say it was easy. I'm not here to say that it's easy and yes, it's going to be hard work, but anything that you want in your life, whether it's your personal life or your career is hard work to be rewarding. And when I was able to speak to these students, I heard what I was saying as well. And I felt proud that I could share that story and be on that stage and to let them know that they too can have what I have. And they can achieve what I have.
And. one thing that I didn't mention is when I was climbing up the corporate ladder, I was a single mom. And it was my mom and dad at the time, when Cole was like four, and I was getting on a flight to Hong Kong and I was crying and they looked at me and they would say, get into that town car, do what you need to do. We're taking care of your son. Don't worry about it. And they encouraged me. On top of that, before I met my amazing husband later on, and Cole was already like six. I had several years there that I was trying to juggle everything. And I did it. So, that has to be one of the most rewarding times to be acknowledged by my college for what I've done in the industry and as a leader in the industry. So, that was humbling enough, but then to be able to share that story and to hope that I made a difference. And to also know that my son was there to hear this about his mom and how I was presented with this award, was more than I could ever expect.
Christopher Lacy: You know, as you told that story, the other thought that came into my head and it came in so overwhelmingly was no one else gets to write your story. And so often, and I lived it sometimes, I feel like I'm still living it, you hear people speak a narrative about a group, or about you or how anyone identifies with a particular group. And all of a sudden before you know it, their narrative has started to seep into your own narrative. Right? And you hear it every day. And so then you start to believe someone else's story.
And what I appreciate so much about what you just said is not let anybody else write the story.
Luisa Herrera-Garcia: Hmhm.
Christopher Lacy: You get to write the story. And this part about when you're writing your own story. That's what's meaningful.
Luisa Herrera-Garcia: Absolutely.
Christopher Lacy: You can change the chapters as you see fit. And many of us, as we're going through our careers, we think we're supposed to stick and do the same thing. Or this is what I should do and what I was supposed to do. And sometimes things change up. And that's okay.
Luisa Herrera-Garcia: Right.
Christopher Lacy: But it's your story that you get to write? It's your story that you get to do. And I want to thank you so much for saying that.
Luisa Herrera-Garcia: No, it's a true thing. And you're absolutely right. You know, like I said before, life happens in between your plans. but it's how you deal with those changes, those challenges and how respectfully you deal with those changes and those challenges. We're all vulnerable at different points of our lives, for different reasons. Right? But that's okay. That's a good thing. It's a good thing to be humble. And to understand that, to get to the next stage, sometimes it's harder. And you have to give more of yourself. And that, to me, going back to your first question about leadership, I think that's what makes a good leader is to realize that they have to be humble.
Christopher Lacy: Yeah, for sure. For sure. Well, Luisa. I thank you so much for being on the show today. And I want to give you the opportunity to tell our listeners how they can hear more about what you're doing, or contact you if they have questions, or I'm sure there'll be a few people that want to contact you to be a mentor. So, any information you can provide.
Luisa Herrera-Garcia: I would love that. I definitely would. Yes, I would love to mentor and do anything, with the students and with the school. I think there's a lot, in my head, especially in the last four months that it's going through, in circles, that I want to share and make a difference. Because I think our children are our future. And with everything that's happening, the social unrest, politics and everything in a pandemic, we lose sight that sometimes they don't have the strong voices as others do. And it's up to us to be able to be there and to give them that leadership and that guidance and support.
So, I definitely would love to do that. And in terms of someone reaching out to me, Luisa Garcia in LinkedIn or on Instagram. So...
Christopher Lacy: Awesome.
Luisa Herrera-Garcia: And they're very, very special and they contact you. Then you could give them my mobile.
Christopher Lacy: All right. I might, I don't know if I'll do that to you Luisa.
Thank you so much for your time today. Please have a lovely remainder of your day and a lovely weekend. Thank you so much.
Luisa Herrera-Garcia: Thank you so much, Christopher. It's been a pleasure, an honor. I'm so glad that we were able to have this discussion and hopefully we could have many more. So, have a lovely weekend, stay safe and looking forward to maybe one day having a cocktail with you when we can go out and socialize.
Christopher Lacy: I'm down!
Luisa Herrera-Garcia: OK.
Christopher Lacy: Take care.
Luisa Herrera-Garcia: Have a great day.
Joshua Williams: Thank you for listening to this episode of Retail Revolution. A very special thank you to everyone who has helped make this podcast possible. If you'd like to support the work we're doing, please visit our show page at RetailRevolutionPodcast.com and click on the donate link. Our theme music was composed by Spencer Powell.
Be well and stay tuned for our next episode.
