Nasty Gal Founder and CEO Sophia Amoruso talks about building her brand and dishes on her new book #Girlboss.
Sophia started Nasty Gal as an E-bay store in 2006. It was nothing more than a vintage e-shop, where she did everything herself, from shopping to steaming to pulling out dirty napkins out of pockets. But she later realized it was all part of brand building. When E-bay got bigger, she decided to move to her own platform.
Inspiration for the name Nasty Gal came from music: “The name was inspired by an album and it’s song by singer Betty Davis who was the ex-wife of Miles Davis. Really outspoken, runway model funky singer. ... I think her spirit has somehow found it’s way into the Nasty Gal brand.”
Being in the fashion industry for more than seven years, Sophia has met many young fashionistas making their steps to a first serious job. That’s why she just recently wrote her #Girlboss book that includes some serious advice on what to do and not to wear to a job interview. And so while “Nasty Gal is a place where you can wear basically whatever you want to work”, there are still some limitations like “wearing your leftover clothes from a party last night, smacking your gum or not asking any questions. It’s important to seem interested even if you’re not.”
Besides her new book, Sophia and her team are these days working hard on creating the stores. Moving from web-only to a physical space requires a little different approach, while keeping the brand’s characteristics. The main question for Nasty Gal’s team is now: “How do we take our online experience and conversation that we’ve been having in Nasty Gal going on for 8 years via social media and put it into a physical space?”
We'll hopefully see the results very soon.
