Susan's Story
A Thrifting Tale: Susan's Story
When ModCloth founder Susan Gregg Koger was in high school, she spent weekends thrift shopping for unique vintage finds. She found herself snatching up great pieces that weren't necessarily her size, but that she couldn't pass up. When she went away to college at Carnegie Mellon University, she had a dorm room full of amazing clothes and accessories. So, at 17-years old, she decided to start an online shop with her boyfriend-turned-husband, Eric Koger. Susan quickly realized there were many girls like her who wanted to express their personal style with one-of-a-kind and unique apparel. When her small dorm room was bursting at the seams with retro garb, Susan and Eric decided to set up shop in a house that doubled as their living space and office. They increased their inventory to feed their customers' hunger for retro clothing, selling vintage-inspired items from indie designers, as well as continuing to provide shoppers with one-of-a-kind vintage pieces. Today, ModCloth has grown into a thriving business of over 100 employees, yet the small-business feel remains. Susan can still be found out on the road finding the most unique pieces possible for ModShoppers, and she's still encouraging women everywhere to express their personal style!
Interview with Susan
How would you describe your personal style?
I wear a lot of ModCloth and a lot of vintage. My original goal in 2006 was to keep one of everything, but our inventory is so big now that I'd need a whole house as a closet. Even though I have to be selective, my wardrobe is still kind of insane. Eric calls it the "ModCloth Archive". My personal style is pretty variable, and I definitely dress for my mood. I almost never pick out an outfit beforehand, I just see where my closet takes me each morning. My always-feel-and-look-good stand by is a knee-length dress with a bold print, A-line skirt, and belted waist. Add a cute pair of heels and I know that I'll feel ready to take on the world.
I don't update as much as I should, but you can see some of my daily outfits on my Chictopia blog.
What got you interested in vintage fashion?
One of my first fashion memories is playing dress-up in my Grandma's basement. She had an amazing wardrobe in the 60s and 70s (some of which she kept), and I loved to imagine what her life was like when she wore those garments. The story behind vintage pieces has always fascinated me.
How did you start ModCloth?
Growing up, I always had a passion for thrifting and was unable to pass up a great vintage find, even if it wasn’t my size or style. By 2002, I had amassed quite a collection, and my boyfriend at the time (now husband) Eric, had started his own website when he was 16 and designed a website to help me turn thrifting into a modest money-making hobby. Both of us attended Carnegie Mellon University, and the business moved from my dorm room, to a basement, to larger and larger warehouses.
What was the business like in the beginning?
ModCloth originally carried only vintage items that I picked out on thrifting excursions. I did everything on the website from writing descriptions, to photographing items, to packing up orders. The "Customer Service line" listed on the website at that time was actually just my cell phone number! But in 2006, after graduating from CMU, I made the decision to take ModCloth from a hobby to a career, and Eric and I attended our first trade show. I started finding indie designers that were making clothing that fit our vintage inspired aesthetic - this is when ModCloth really began to start looking like what it is today!
Why did you start carrying new, independently designed items alongside the vintage items?
It was definitely the right next step for ModCloth as a business. Once I was done with school and started working on the site full-time, it was clear that the demand for our aesthetic was much greater than the supply of vintage clothing. Plus, it made sense because it was a better experience for our customer - everyone knows the heartache of finding the perfect vintage item that's in the wrong size! I also really loved the idea of working with and supporting other small businesses.
How do you choose your garments, both the vintage and independently designed pieces? What things do you keep in mind? Where do you look to find new trends or products?
When I shop for vintage, it's an extremely visceral experience. I'm looking for those pieces that jump off the rack and speak to me. The process is very similar when I'm looking for new designers to feature. My first criteria: "Is this something I want to wear?" No matter what the current fashion trends are, pieces that make us feel like the very best version of ourselves will never go out of style. So even if the industry is saying that we should be wearing our skirts shorter or longer or whatever, my goal is to find those pieces that just work, regardless of trend. My inspiration comes from all over the place. Shopping for vintage is always very inspiring for me, because fashion is cyclical. Anything that's "in" right now has been done before in some way. I love street style and personal style blogs; I have a kind of insane Google Reader list. I'm also so inspired by our customers, I love to see how they're interpreting and wearing ModCloth, whether it's on their blog, our Flickr Style Exchange, or on a social network like Chictopia or Facebook.
Describe a typical work day.
I travel a lot, so my work day is pretty dramatically different depending on where I am. When I'm finding new items for the site, I am usually at a tradeshow or visiting designers. We travel all over the world to find the most unique designs, but the most common places are the fashion centers of the US - New York City and Los Angeles. Those days entail a lot of walking around and a lot of shopping - sometimes we'll order more than 300 items in a single day! When I'm in the office, I'm working with the different creative teams (Writing, Merchandising, Photography, Design, Marketing) to plan our campaigns and promotions. I love those days, because we have such an incredibly talented team, and working with other people who love what they do is really inspiring to me. If I'm in the same city, I participate in our marketing photoshoots, which are so much fun. Seeing the clothing come to life on a real person is amazing! Of course, like everyone else, I also do a lot of email every day, no matter where I am. I'm the final checkpoint on all of our major creative, so I look at every single newsletter, homepage, etc. before it goes live.
What plans do you and ModCloth have for the future?
We want to fundamentally change the fashion industry! For so long, creating fashion has been this top-down process where the few "insiders" at the top get to say what's cool and what we should wear, and then it trickles down to everyone else 6 months later. We think that since the customers are the ones actually wearing the merchandise, they should have the loudest voice! I am living proof that you don't have to be an insider to be knowledgeable about fashion and have an impact on the industry. I am so fortunate to be able to do what I do for a living, and I want to share that experience with our customers. We've already started to do this through programs like Be the Buyer, but there's so much further to go... our list of to-dos is a mile long. Stay tuned :)
To find out where Susan's buying trips take her, follow her on Twitter! Check out Susan's photos on Flickr, and view her daily outfit photos on Chictopia!
A Puppy Tail: Winston the Pug's Story
On any given day at the ModCloth office, you might find a cute little pug snoring under your desk or looking up at you quizzically as you work. This is Winston. He's Susan and Eric's six-year-old pug, who spends most days in the office making friends with employees and crawling into laps at meetings. He will happily eat whatever employees drop on the floor during lunch, model for the occasional photo shoot, and serve as a handy foot warmer in the cold winter months.
He's also been a long-time fixture on the website - today he appears as a cute icon at the bottom of the screen, and pops up to provide notifications on the site. He's been officially dubbed the ModCloth mascot, and we all love him. When Winston's not hard at work, he likes to play with his other ModDog friends: Penelope, Buckles, Rad, Keith Richards, Reese, Knoxie, Ruby, Gabby, Missy, Rocky, and Apollo.
Winston also stands as our reminder that cuteness exists in the world. ModCloth loves cute things, and we think it's important to let employees bring their adorable dogs to work with them!
Psst...Check out the ModDogs on facebook!
