Latest / The Retail Podcast / How Marine Layer Wins Conscious Consumers: Retail Experience, Sustainability & Women in Leadership | NRF

Transcript

How Marine Layer Wins Conscious Consumers: Retail Experience, Sustainability & Women in Leadership | NRF · The Retail Podcast

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  You know, we're seeing younger generations that are shopping at
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  our stores and they're conscious consumers.
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  They yeah, hear about who they're purchasing from and the
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  values of the companies that they're purchasing from.
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  And Marine Layer being AB Corp, that's a really core value or?
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  Hello, welcome back to another fabulous edition of the Retail
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  podcast live from the Expo NRF. Now for me, this is always,
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  always, always amazing when I get to talk to retailers.
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  And we've got a, although you're not young, I would say you're
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  young because you're fresh to New York.
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  But Marie Leia has been 15 years, 15 years.
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  And I'm here with Corinne, who is the VP of retail.
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  You got it fantastic. And Alyssa, who is?
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  I oversee our retail brand experience so that can encompass
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  in store communication, our tech stack and everything that just
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  makes our customers have a good time.
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  Fantastic. Now I'm 100% biassed.
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  This is a really biassed show because I was in the patch bar
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  had a phenomenal experience that we went back and I took some
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  more customers with me and they had and they and they had a
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  phenomenal experience and they they're based in Minneapolis and
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  so for them there was like, this is so cool.
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  We can. Then you've got something for
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  his wife, his kids anyway, phenomenal.
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  Phenomenal. For those who don't know,
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  because we have an international and global audience who watch
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  the podcast, would you mind just giving us an overview of the of
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  the brand? Yeah, it's so awesome.
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  I mean I've been with the brand about a year and a half.
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  It's a California lifestyle brands.
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  We have 57 stores which include two pop ups, one of which you
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  went to yay. But it's scaling, we're growing.
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  I mean we opened 6-7 stores last year.
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  We're doing the same this year. We're going to venture into the
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  outlet business. Good tasteful way.
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  Yeah, very cool vibe. And then we're touching all of
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  our stores. So our stores are getting older.
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  You know, last year we touched 1/3 of the fleet.
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  This year we're going to touch another third.
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  So giving them like a nice glow up, a refresh and just making
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  them a bit more relevant to the customer today.
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  I love it if we just stay with that in terms of relevance to
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  customers because they're bombarded from so many different
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  directions. What do you think works for you?
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  What's helped the brand be so successful and to grow over the
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  years? Yeah, listen, I think we have a
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  secret sauce, right? Like we have a fun kind of
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  snarky, whimsy, really cool brand with an amazing product,
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  but I think our in store experience is really different
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  and big retailers can't compete. Right.
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  No, no, I feel like no one really wants to go into a store
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  and be bombarded by sales associates and pressured into
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  making a purchase. And I feel like that marine
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  layer, we're really thinking of our stores almost as a place
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  where you can come and hang out and chat with you, the people on
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  our team, like they're your friends.
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  And we just want you to come and experience and like truly feel,
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  see and interact with our customer, our store team in a
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  way that feels organic to them, whether that means making a
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  purchase or not. And because of how software
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  garments are, so almost always does.
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  But yeah, just it's supposed to be a fun space, low pressure and
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  a way to interact with others, which is, I mean.
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  We don't have a brand credit card, so we don't push that.
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  We're very low promo. Yeah, we have a select part of
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  our our merchandise that's retired style, so clearance, but
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  we really don't promote that. It's all about like Alyssa said,
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  this organic, really cool connection with our customer.
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  Yeah. Well, I'm really, if we just
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  sort of look at the future and where the future is going,
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  because so I did this thing, I've done about 120 interviews
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  last year and I noticed there's three things that retailers are
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  being impacted on culture and community in terms of how people
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  are now. I don't know, like the TikTok
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  community or the insert community and how they and they
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  view that. Then we've got intelligence,
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  which is like the technology and and the AI element of what's
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  going on in the stores. And then we've got the
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  experiential, which I think the patch sort of is absolutely
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  there. You go there and you can hang
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  out type thing there. Just curious on your throat.
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  So in terms of those three, have I missed something?
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  Is there something else that you're seeing shaping the future
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  of retail? I think no, you haven't missed
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  anything. I think it's great people,
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  right? All those three things start
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  with great people. So I mean, we're really picky
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  about our talent. So it starts with that.
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  I think you nailed it from a tech standpoint.
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  The tech is going to make online and the in store experience
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  really seamless. It's going to feel really good
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  and organic to Alissa's point in the store.
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  And then I feel from an experience like we're doing some
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  really cool things in the box, training our teams on
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  customization patches. We want people to walk away with
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  like a really cool vibe and experience, not just like
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  commodity and goods. Yeah.
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  And I think to expand on the community piece, you know, we're
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  seeing younger generations that are, you know, shopping at our
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  stores and they're conscious consumers.
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  They care about who they're purchasing from and the values
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  of the companies that they're purchasing from.
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  And Marine Layer being AB Corp and that's a really core value
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  for us. It's.
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  Impressive. A huge.
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  Fee, a huge fee and you know, sustainability is really at the
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  core of the experience as well. From our our re spend programme
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  where you can bring in clothing or really any type of fabric and
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  get a credit back for recycling it with us to the way that we
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  make our fabrics and make our requirements.
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  The way that we, you know, approach supplies in our tech
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  stock. Like I think we really are
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  trying to meet our consumers where they at, which comes with
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  the community and the organic piece, but also really trying to
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  respect their desire to shop consciously.
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  You know, it's so funny you mentioned that about being a big
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  Corp and how our product, I was in a store in Boston a couple
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  weeks ago and we had a customer come in, was talking to our
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  supervisor and she was talking reading the label.
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  Our customers are also really, really discerning, you know,
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  consumers. And she was like, wait, there's
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  polyester in here. And the supervisor was like,
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  hey, it's not your grandma's polyester.
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  She's like, it's made of recycled water bottles and this
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  is how we do it. And the customer was like thin.
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  So I think there's this whole product, you know, product
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  education piece that Alyssa's working on to like go with that
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  in store experience that we're really proud of.
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  Yeah. And and and I must add, it's
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  like you're not premium in terms of it's not luxury, but it's
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  also not at the value level. How would you position it?
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  Like how do you position your proposition in terms of the
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  brand? I think it's quality that you
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  can stand by. You know, our company was
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  founded because our CEO had this T-shirt that he wore to where it
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  was so disgusting, his girlfriend, now wife, threw
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  away. And he set out on a mission to
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  recreate something that was so, you know, irreverent and loved
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  and had a story behind, but also had that softness that you get
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  that you want after having something be so well loved.
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  And the products that we're selling in our stores are ones
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  that you you can buy and you can understand that you'll be able
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  to wear it for a long time. And so with the sustainability
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  element, we're not, we're making basics that you can wear with a
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  lot of different ways. And I feel like it's our
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  customers relate to that because they don't want to have to be
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  chasing these trend cycles. Marine Layer is a premium place
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  where you can rely on for things that you'll wear in lots of
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  different occasion. I love the cashmere honestly,
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  it's just it's. So I.
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  Have so so lovely to wear it's so soft OK just changing tact a
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  little bit I'm I'm focusing on you Alyssa in terms of you
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  started on the shop floor right but now you're part of the
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  management team yeah. That obviously retail and we
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  were talking about this, there's a real disparity between shop
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  floor and the gender bias that happens there to what's
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  happening in the executive level.
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  So let's just focus in on that from your perspective and and
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  other young in Korea females who are starting out.
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  Yeah, words of wisdom. How can they sort of go from
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  store to HQ and work their way up?
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  Yeah. I mean, I've been with Marine
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  Layer for eight years now, which is, I would say, unheard of, but
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  so many people on them really I think have been with us first.
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  A lot of. And I think in part that's due
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  to marine layers culture and and the leadership style that
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  everybody top down has cultivated.
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  But I think from my experience, not being afraid to ask for more
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  and ask put yourself in ring when opportunities arise.
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  I mean, that started as as small as wanting to be a full time
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  supervisor when I had only worked at the store for a couple
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  months. And that led to store manager
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  and air manager. I mean, I've had almost every
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  position that you could have on our field side.
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  And when that corporate position opened up, I didn't feel
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  discouraged or intimidated by my lack of maybe corporate
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  experience. And I think it actually is
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  really awesome because I think in the retail field
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  specifically, there's a lot of shame that people carry
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  sometimes that they're working this like, field floor position.
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  You know, they're not getting the weekends off, you're not
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  getting the 9:00 to 5:00 perks. But there's this grittiness that
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  comes from being a retail employee that I think makes you
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  stand out in job interviews in a way that someone with a, you
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  know, extensive corporate background might not have.
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  So I think it's just really placing value yourself and your
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  own skills and putting your name out there.
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  And yeah, the opportunities will follow.
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  Thank you. Corinne.
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  I'm curious, obviously you you're now part of the
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  leadership team or executive team.
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  If you could go back to your early in career, I love that.
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  What? What kind of advice would you
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  give yourself? Oh my gosh.
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  Well, you know, I think the biggest thing is, you know, when
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  you're in a room and you're in a room with men, sometimes men
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  talk louder. They're a bit more
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  demonstrative. I would probably try to keep up
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  and talk louder maybe and posture myself a little more.
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  I think my younger self acquiesced a lot to the loudest
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  voice in the room or the most senior manager.
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  And I would say don't do that. I think the second thing is I
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  love what Alyssa said, to ask what you want, like be, you
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  know, really be an advocate for yourself, which I think is hard
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  for women for some reason. They don't like to self promote
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  themselves, but you have to because nobody else will.
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  Yeah. I think the third thing is like
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  to ask for a mentor. Yes.
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  To really be like, hey, I want to be like you someday and help
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  me carve a path, like run defence for me, be my blocker.
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  Because everybody, women need to lift women up.
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  Men need to lift women up, all that good stuff.
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  But like, I've been there, I've done, I know how to navigate and
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  nothing makes me feel better than to help somebody do that.
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  So I think that would be the third thing.
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  I love it. And I just want to sort of add
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  my little bit. The the mental thing that I
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  found has really helped is when you potentially get 2 mentors
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  from two different types of the size of the business, because I
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  think you mentioned this earlier, who's going to advocate
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  for you when you're not in that room?
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  And sometimes what happens is people put all their energy into
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  imagine marketing and so their mentors in marketing and their
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  whole world. So true.
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  And so therefore, if you want to get to that board level
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  position, you need someone in finance, you need someone in
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  another part of the business. Yeah, to advocate for you.
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  And, and for me, the one thing, the reason why I'm so passionate
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  on this is that advocation is so difficult to get, but so
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  important. Oh yeah.
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  And I think that's just it's you.
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  You sort of said it, but it's just to add the thing I.
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  Mean everybody needs a soft place to land sometimes, right?
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  It's not always, you know, and it could be something little
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  that you want to work on that you just need help with.
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  And I think you should be there for that person now.
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  If if you if there was one question that you could should
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  have fast early on, do you have is that like something that
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  comes to mind? What was the one question you
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  didn't ask? Yourself.
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  I think there were times where maybe I didn't get the position,
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  yeah. Or I didn't get the role and I I
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  didn't say why not me. Yeah, I just let it go and put
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  my head down and worked probably twice as hard as the person who
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  did. Maybe, yeah, you know, so I
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  didn't ask enough questions. Maybe afterwards.
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  I would say that would be it. And I don't know from your
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  perspective, obviously you've made the transition from shop
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  floor into management. Just reflecting back on when you
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  made that move or what was driving that, I don't know any
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  things that you felt would have accelerated that because you've
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  been there eight years or nine years, eight years.
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  Eight years, yeah, Accelerated it.
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  Honestly, I feel like I moved as quickly as I could, yeah.
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  But I do think what really did get me there is everything we've
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  been talking about. I've always had leaders at
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  Marine Layer that have been that advocate when I wasn't in the
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  room and really recognised my value.
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  And I think, you know, a reason that we were able to create a
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  reporting relationship like that where they felt confident
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  putting me in a position that maybe was a little unsure if if
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  if I was, you know. Ready.
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  That's ready. Yeah, I think has been my
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  openness to feedback. And I think I've found anyways
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  that getting comfortable with being uncomfortable when your
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  leaders have critiques of ways you can improve has really put
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  me in a position where people know they can coach me and mould
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  me and all respond in a way that I'm not taking it personally.
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  And so I'd, I'd encourage people to ask their leaders for
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  feedback and if they, you know, are busy with their own jobs,
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  like carve out time to get them to to tell you what you can do
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  more of or differently. And it's not a bad thing.
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  It's it's actually what will get you to build trust a great
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  people and their show. I love it.
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  Alyssa, thank you so much for carving out some time.
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  It's been fantastic. Thank you so much.
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  Thank you so much for having us. I'm gonna hug being here.