Well Made
Iva Pawling, Richer Poorer: Feeling Good, Being Good – Well Made E29
November 16, 2017 · RSS · Apple Podcasts
Not every startup can say that they bought back their brand after being acquired, but Richer Poorer did — just in the nick of time. The company is seven years old, but co-founder Iva Pawling admits that they're still scrappy, and they use that versatility as a tool on both their ecommerce and traditional retail platforms.
Right out of college, Iva landed a gig at Kate Spade and maneuvered through the fashion and business industry as a PR exec and VP of brand development for her sister's jewelry line, gorjana. In 2010, she broke out on her own to start Richer Poorer. With no prior experience in menswear, she and co-founder Tim Morse started with one of the most essential clothing staples: socks. They’ve since built an innnerwear brand on elevated, effortless top-shelf basics. Think go-to top drawer necessities like dreamy, soft tees and undies.
“One of the hardest things that anyone will tell you to do or that you are trying to do is trying to change people's behavior.”
Richer Poorer started with a wholesale model, and then entered the world of ecommerce. Iva is a fan of the omnichannel approach, but the brand has had to radically adapt to the vast differences in the climate between the ecommerce customer and the retail customer. In this episode, she talks about balancing distribution channels, learning from big mistakes, making decisions based on data, making a mobile ball pit, and staying inspired amidst the chronically glamorized entrepreneur hustle.
Also mentioned on the show:
- Mobile ball pit activation
- How I Built This Podcast
- "Just More" Hawaii trip
- The Third Wave: An Entrepreneur's Vision of the Future
- Bonobos Guideshop
Header Image via The Everygirl
You can find this and all future episodes on iTunes, Google Play, and here on the Lumi blog. This episode was edited by Evan Goodchild.
