Modern Fashion: Kassia Davis Of KADA On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today
An Interview With Candice Georgiadice
Passion — My passion for building brands focused on female-first and sustainability has inspired and empowered my teams to have the same passion for these brands that I do. Without their commitment and drive, my success as a founder wouldn’t be possible.
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 Kassia Davis.
Kassia Davis is the founder of KADA (a sustainable clothing line offering elevated essentials to real women) and the new owner behind iconic American heritage footwear brand, PF Flyers. Kassia is a Boston-based entrepreneur and designer who spent ten years of her career at New Balance. Kassia remains active with the New Balance charitable foundation; she is on the board of directors of the West End House Boys and Girls Club, and is a committee member of the Boston Winter Ball, an annual event that supports the Corey C. Griffin Foundation. In 2019, Kassia landed on Boston Magazine’s Power List among 100 powerful and successful young business individuals living in Boston.
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”?
My parents are the chairman and vice chairman of New Balance, so I literally grew up in the footwear and apparel industry. I always had a passion for fashion and took classes in high school and college focused on the fashion industry whenever I had the opportunity. Right after college I worked part-time at NB in the apparel department while I was applying to grad schools and I fell in love with it. I never went to grad school and ended up as an assistant product manager for apparel as my first job. I continued to climb the ranks in the apparel space, I then took a position in the sales department where I managed the relationship between NB and Nordstrom, and finally I led the global direct-to-consumer merchandising team- a team responsible for curating assortments for our global flagship stores and our ecomm platforms. The goal was to build this broad and diverse background for myself so that I felt equipped to be a member of the senior leadership team at NB- at the time however, I had no idea that it would also be the perfect background for me to leverage as an entrepreneur in the world of fashion.
Can you tell us the story about what led you to this particular career path?
My career started at New Balance where I spent 5 years on the Apparel Product Management Team, 2 years on the Sales Team managing our partnership with Nordstrom, and the last 2 years as the Director of Global Direct to Consumer merchandising. While at NB I became passionate about continuing my career in the apparel space, and ultimately made the decision to leave the family business and start my own brand. I’m a strong believer in evolution, which is one of KADA’s core values, and embracing change to learn and grow. I didn’t feel like I would have the same opportunity to evolve in the corporate world as I do in the startup world.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
After leaving complete security at New Balance, I joined a small activewear brand as a founding partner before starting my own brand- this served as my first start-up experience. 6 months into my time there, we had an opportunity to pitch Carbon 38 to carry our Spring 2020 line. The idea of even meeting with the Carbon buyers felt like a dream come true to me, and I knew we had to present them with an assortment they couldn’t pass on. When Carbon 38 placed their order with us, it felt too good to be true. I knew we had the right product, but I wasn’t sure if we’d be able to execute according to their timeline. I took the chance and made the decision to go for it. I made a commitment to the buyers that we’d have product available for shipment a month earlier than we had originally planned, because I so badly didn’t want to pass on this opportunity. As a result, we didn’t have time to let our fabric sit for as long as it needed to before manufacturing and we sent product to Carbon 38 that was too stiff and too rough to sell- not made from the same flexible sueded fabric we originally presented to them. Carbon 38 returned all the product to us and we lost the opportunity to sell on their site. I made a terrible first impression. In hindsight, I should have been honest and patient. I was so eager to capitalize on this opportunity and learned the hard way to trust the (sometimes long) process and to never compromise the quality of a product to hit a timeline. This time around with KADA, the team is prioritizing our DTC business and perfecting the product and the process before approaching wholesale partners.
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?
Boldness — I had the courage to leave the security of the family business to join a startup and ultimately build my own brands, with very little experience.
Patience — Having patience is arguably one of the most difficult parts of working at a startup, understanding that success doesn’t happen overnight and focusing on long term results is key to any entrepreneur’s success.
Passion — My passion for building brands focused on female-first and sustainability has inspired and empowered my teams to have the same passion for these brands that I do. Without their commitment and drive, my success as a founder wouldn’t be possible.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
After nearly 10 years in the athletic industry, I found myself at a standstill. And in hindsight, I realize a huge part of this was because there were very few women in positions of leadership for me to look up to. It’s almost like I didn’t know how to get to the next step because I didn’t have a true role model or mentor to mirror. Feeling unfilled in the family business was a really challenging position for me to be in, but after a year of sleepless nights and endless strategizing I decided to leave NB and enter the startup world. I took my experiences from the corporate world and used them to build two brands focused on the idea of female-first. Which one of PF Flyers’ competitors can say they launched the brand with female consumers as the priority, they’re female led, and have an internal team made up of females only?
Do you have a favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story of how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Opportunities don’t happen, you create them.” Before leaving NB, I relied on the idea that opportunities would arise unexpectedly and that my time to shine in the family business would come. I learned overtime that if I didn’t make a change, my career wouldn’t progress the way I wanted it to. Instead of waiting for an opportunity to arise, I created the opportunity by gaining the courage to start my own apparel business and acquire my own footwear business.
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?
Can you share how your brand is helping to bring goodness to the world?
Sustainability: At the core of KADA’s strategy is sustainability- it impacts every part of our brand and product processes. It’s inevitable that water is wasted during our manufacturing process, but we’re partnering with an agency called Greenprint to offset that water wastage. Through our partnership we’re able to offset 10% of the water used to make our garments- these resources are used to restore water flow in certain freshwater areas, update irrigation systems to decrease groundwater withdrawal, and change the way fields are watered to conserve more water.
Female-first: My hope is that I can show other females in the footwear industry that it’s possible to be a leader- whether that means following their dreams and launching their own brand or finally pushing for that promotion within a larger brand.
Can you share with our readers about the ethical standards you use when you choose where to source materials?
Our team works hard to ensure that our partners align with our ethics and values when it comes sustainable materials and production. We are currently working with a highly rated sustainable mill based in Portugal, that manages its waste under high environmental standards. Technologies to create our Cupro (recycled polyester) fabric are becoming increasingly sustainable and advanced- and we have faith that the US will get to that same level of sustainability.
- Our raw materials come from a Japanese supplier and are weaved in Portugal
- Our mill recycles their gas emission to achieve 100% eco-friendly air — this is done through a process in which they recover heat, wash the gas, and separate the waste from the process to be recycled.
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?
At the core of KADA, is a robust sustainability strategy. Our entire product process revolves around it:
- We design and manufacture responsibly — by producing in small batches and using the same fit block for our core silhouettes
- We also include consumer feedback as part of our design process so we know we’re only producing pieces she’ll love, and thus we won’t be sitting on excess inventory
- Our fabrics are all made from recycled yarns
- We buy back deadstock fabrics from the industry, recycle them, and give them a second life by incorporating them into our collection to maintain newness and boldness
- We work with an agency called GreenPrint to offset any water wastage that occurred during our manufacturing process
While this means our pieces are more expensive and aren’t always on trend with fast fashion brands, we pride ourselves on knowing that KADA produces investment pieces that are sustainable and can stand the test of time.
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.
- Something you’re solving for: Before KADA, I had yet to discover a brand that could offer staple items across all silhouettes- sure some brands have “the perfect tee” that you want to throw on every morning and some have “the little black dress” that’s perfect for every occasion- but what brand has it all? I am determined to create a brand of staples that all multi-tasking women can rely on every morning no matter where the day ahead will take them, giving them one less thing to worry about.
- Patience
- Perseverance
- Brand Values/Pillars that provide a major point of difference: KADA’s values are sustainability, evolution, female-first, and defiance
- An empowered team
Every industry constantly evolves and seeks improvement. How do you think the fashion industry can improve itself? Can you give an example?
For many of us, thinking about fashion means envisioning the final product. The KADA team understands that it’s how an item of clothing was made in the first place that really matters. On a global scale, the clothing and textile industry sits right behind oil as the largest polluter in the world. The industry as a whole creates 208 million pounds of waste, and nearly 20% of the global wastewater comes from fashion. It can actually take more than 5,000 gallons of water just to make one t-shirt and a pair of jeans, which is an insane statistic! At KADA, we believe it’s time for change. We are evolving how fashion gets made, setting a new standard for sustainable production and a cleaner, safer world.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
You can keep up with KADA at: www.wearkada.com @wearkada and PF Flyers at: www.pfflyers.com @pf_flyers
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Modern Fashion: Kassia Davis Of KADA On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.