Modern Fashion: Cheyenne Smith of Dakota Ridge On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today
An Interview With Candice Georgiadice
We need to find a middle ground. I am anti fast fashion but when we talk about children’s items kids grow quickly. We are starting to think of ways that we can help our customers give back by donating their gently used children shoes for a discount to buy a new pair with us!
Many in the fashion industry have been making huge pivots in their business models. Many have turned away from the fast fashion trend. Many have been focusing on fashion that also makes a social impact. Many have turned to sustainable and ethical sourcing. Many have turned to hi tech manufacturing. Many have turned to subscription models. What are the other trends that we will see in the fashion industry? What does it take to lead a successful fashion brand today?
In our series called, “5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today” we are talking to successful leaders of fashion brands who can talk about the Future of Fashion and the 5 things it takes to lead a successful fashion brand in our “new normal.”
As a part of this series I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Cheyenne Smith.
Cheyenne is an ex -marketing agency kid turned entrepreneur. She is the founder of Dakota Ridge- a fashion forward rubber cowboy boot that cowboy boot that is stylish without compromising functionality. Cheyenne also runs a marketing agency specializing in paid media in the e-commerce space.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood “backstory”?
I grew up splitting my time between Las Vegas and Los Angeles with divorced parents.
Can you tell us the story about what led you to this particular career path?
I have always been into fashion but fashion that makes you feel good. So often we are told what and how to wear clothes but I think the most important part about fashion is wearing things that make you feel good
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
The whole process has been interesting. My background is in marketing so learning sourcing and manufacturing during a pandemic and navigating supply chain issues was extremely difficult.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Being willing to admit that you don’t know everything. As I mentioned I come from a marketing background and I needed to hire help to learn the ins and outs of dealing with building a product from the ground up not nitpicking on the design so it’s perfect because it will never be perfect. I still look at some of our styles and want to change and tweak some things but we will be tweaking for years and need to be moving forward with a minimum viable product. We will adjust and do better as we go! Paying more for something that will save you time in the long wrong vs cutting a corner to save money that you may need to fix later — trying to be doing something ourselves like sourcing and just couldn’t even get people to get back to us so we hired an agency to help.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
We are a company owned and driven by moms. We push that our children come first in our culture and our jobs second but that doesn’t mean we can’t be successful.
Do you have a favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story of how that was relevant to you in your life?
Running a business is sometimes making a series of “WAGS”. Wild ass guesses and all of your guesses won’t be successful but what makes you successful is learning from them and trying again.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Do you see any fascinating developments emerging over the next few years in the fashion industry that you are excited about? Can you tell us about that?
From the children’s fashion industry, I myself along with a number of other brands are focusing in on gender neutral clothes. We don’t always. Have to put girls in pink with flowers and boys in blue with trucks. That’s great if the kids want to wear that but from a young age, I noticed my daughter had a opinion on what she wore and sometimes that fell in the “boys” section and who am I to tell her no!
Can you share how your brand is helping to bring goodness to the world?
We want to bring affordable fashionable and simple colorways to people without having to spend $60 on children’s shoes.
Can you share with our readers about the ethical standards you use when you choose where to source materials?
We met with our factory and those that lead the team at the production studio weekly for two years. We know them and those working on the products. Unfortunately, with covid we weren’t able to go and visit and tour but we made sure that we were sent photos of their practices and hope to get out there soon
Fast fashion has an advantage, that it is affordable for most people, but it also has the drawback that it does not last very long and is therefore not very sustainable. What are your thoughts about this? How does your company address this question?
We need to find a middle ground. I am anti fast fashion but when we talk about children’s items kids grow quickly. We are starting to think of ways that we can help our customers give back by donating their gently used children shoes for a discount to buy a new pair with us!
Thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand”. Please share a story or example for each.
Grit. I think this is for any business owner. Its not easy. You will make mistakes but learn from them and be willing to not be the smartest person in the room and admit when you are wrong.
Every industry constantly evolves and seeks improvement. How do you think the fashion industry can improve itself? Can you give an example?
Being more inclusive in race, gender, sizing, all of the above and more — I’m sure I missed some.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
This is cheesy but kindness. We are all going through something behind the scenes.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Shopdakotaridge.com or shopdakotaridge on IG!
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Modern Fashion: Cheyenne Smith of Dakota Ridge On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.