We’ve all been burned by an online clothing purchase that didn’t live up to its promised fit and quality. It is no wonder that women who don’t fit standard-size charts are hesitant to purchase from a new brand online. This is the challenge that AAM The Label CEO and founder Neha Samdaria has overcome within her brand that designs for pear-shaped women with fuller hips and thighs. In episode 113, Neha shares exactly what she did to build trust with her customers and factory, keep return rates super low, get stocked in Nordstrom, and have Buzzfeed and Forbes editors writing raving reviews.
Neha Samdaria is the founder of Aam The Label, a sustainable fashion brand for the ~25% of women with fuller hips and thighs than the standard size chart. Founded based on her own experience as a pear-shaped woman and bootstrapped entirely from her savings, the brand is now available at Nordstrom and has been featured in Forbes and Cosmopolitan. Neha holds an MBA from Stanford and a Bachelor’s In Science from Caltech.
This episode explores:
Fitting the customer
- How Neha created her own unique size chart for AAM The Label that focuses on body shape more than size
- How Neha conducts fit testing to make sure she gets the best fit for her brand and not just the individual fit models
- How AAM The Label got placement in Nordstrom
Fitting the lifestyle
- The exact things Neha did to build trust with customers online
- How AAM The Label had to adjust to make wholesale work
- Neha’s original goals and timeline for business success and how her goals are different now
- The pros and cons of retail and wholesale
- The biggest mistake Neha made starting out
Fitting the values
- What AAM’s values of fit, quality, and sustainability & ethics look like in practice
- How Neha found her factory, patternmaker, designer, and sample makers
People and resources mentioned in this episode:
- AAM The Label website
- AAM The Label Instagram
- AAM The Label email
- Neha’s LinkedIn
- AAM The Label on Faire – wholesale marketplace
- Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth book by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares
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