The Experiences that Helped Fashion Nova CEO Richard Saghian Reshape the Fashion Industry as We Know It



Richard Saghian is the chief executive officer of the privately-owned fashion company Fashion Nova. Everyone is familiar with Fashion Nova because almost everyone is rocking their pieces.

This fast-fashion company has achieved massive growth within a few years of going online. The success of the company is as a result of Saghian’s powerful and scalable digital strategy. Everything they’ve dabbled into under his guidance has worked out well for them.

In 2018, Fashion Nova became the most searched fashion brand on Google and one of the top Instagram brands of the year, giving them a bigger internet presence than legacy brands and luxury titans like Gucci and Dolce and Gabbana.
In this article, we’ll be taking a look at how Fashion Nova CEO Richard Saghian was able to make the right decisions that took his company to the top of their field.

Experiences That Helped Richard Saghian Reshape the Fashion Industry.

1.      He got some retail experience from his father.

Before Fashion Nova, Saghian already had some experience working in the fashion industry. During the summers, he worked with his father who owned women’s clothing stores. He watched his father make decisions about the running of the company, interact with customers, and deal with the downsides of managing a retail store. So, he was able to get real first-hand experience on what it means to be the CEO of a fashion company.

2.      He opened a brick-and-mortar store.

You may think that Richard Saghian started with just an online store in 2013, but this isn’t the case. Before Fashion Nova blew up and became the top internet brand that it is today, it was one retail store at the Panorama Mall in Panorama City, Los Angeles, California. 

By running a retail store, Saghian was able to communicate directly with customers. This is how he was able to understand what women wanted and put this knowledge to use as he created the Fashion Nova we know today.

In 2013, he saw websites that sold the same products he had in stores, but were earning more money along the way. So he decided to use Instagram to build momentum and hype before he took his first Fashion Nova products online. He posted pictures of his customers who were already on the platform and had a decent following.

He didn’t launch the site until he had 60,000 followers on Instagram. He said he kept delaying the launch because he didn’t think it was going to do so well.

When he opened the Fashion Nova store, he sold out of everything over the weekend.

How Richard Saghian Reshaped the Fashion Industry with Fashion Nova

1.      E-commerce.

While some brands are still selling predominantly via traditional brick-and-mortar retail, Saghian focuses on online sales. There are only five retail stores in Los Angeles, California, and he has virtually no plans to open more stores in the future.

The majority of its customers order from the website and have their goods delivered to them. 

Since 2010, the world has been experiencing a retail apocalypse. So many retail companies have closed down due to factors such as the rise of e-commerce, the decline of the middle-class, and poor retail management among others, making shopping a less enjoyable and affordable experience.

Fashion Nova, on the other hand, cannot be affected by the retail apocalypse since most of their sales don’t come from physical stores. It is an ‘Instagram brand,’ making them immune from issues concerning local inventory or store mismanagement, for example. 

2.      Ultra-fast fashion.

Richard Saghian says there is ‘fast fashion and then there’s ultra-fast fashion.’ Fashion Nova does ultra-fast fashion.

The design team at Fashion Nova works with more than 1,000 manufacturers in Los Angeles.

After the social media team finds a trending design, they send it to the design team and the samples are produced within 24 hours – faster than just about any other brand working at their level. After 48 hours, the fashion items are ready to be styled and shot on models.

Fashion Nova releases over 600 new styles each week, so there is a steady supply of new pieces for customers to buy, keeping their internet presence consistently engaging. 

3.      Top-notch social media techniques.

The main factor that has turned Fashion Nova into the powerful brand that it is today is its winning social media strategy.

Since 2013 when the brand launched its website, it has used Instagram as a major source of traffic – and reliably converted those eyeballs into sales.

Apart from using the right hashtags, posting engaging content and stories, and chatting with their followers in the comment section, Fashion Nova increases its customer base and boosts sales by collaborating with influencers and top celebrities like Kylie Jenner and Nicki Minaj.

They also encourage customers to upload pictures of themselves on their pages so they can be featured on the brand’s official page.

4.      Size inclusivity.

Fashion Nova is one of the few brands that produce the same type of clothes for both people with lean figures and curvy or plus-sized women.

There are so many plus-sized people in the United States, and it is very difficult for them to find clothes that make them look sexy and love their bodies. Brands that produce wares for them release shapeless pieces at times.

However, Fashion Nova listened to what the people needed and started producing the same clothes popular with leaner women in larger sizes (from XS to 4X), differentiating them from their competitors to astounding results.

5.      Affordable pieces.

Gone are the times when people have to spend a lot to get high-quality fashion items.

Fashion Nova produces superb items that everyone can afford. No one has to spend $500 on designer shoes when they can get similar pieces for $40 from Fashion Nova.

Fashion Nova’s pricing is even lower than other fast fashion brands like Forever 21 and Boohoo. You can get great clothes for as low as $30, making it easy to add something eye-catching and fun to your wardrobe.

Fashion Nova has shown us that direct-to-customer online sales are not going away anytime soon. More people are likely to choose affordable pieces that make them look – and feel – great, and Fashion Nova will be there for them.