Stacey Bendet of Alice + Olivia: Stay Focused on Making Beautiful Product

Stacey Bendet had no prior experience in the fashion industry and no design training, Stacey Bendet has built her contemporary-priced brand Alice + Olivia into as she describes it as a “pretty much a $200 million business" in a little over a decade, referring to current annual sales. Now, the brand is entering a new stage of international growth, She is planning to open 15 stores a year, and has a range of international partners that are backing her.

Stacey rand was born when as she recalls "this guy called Elliott Levine, who had a company that was doing all these start-up clothing brands, hired me. He was never there, so I was just sitting there, bored every day, and went to one of their patternmakers and said: ‘I really want to learn how to make my own pants. Can you help me?’”

She designer her black slim fitting pants and “as soon as I wore the trousers I got stopped in the streets, at parties, everywhere! That’s when I thought, ‘I could really make these.’”

I think that with the right direction and creativity anything can be achieved. Stacey just wanted a good pair of fitted pants, that she couldn't really find anywhere, so she learned how to make a beautiful product and the rest is history. Now she has a multi million dollar brand and clearly it's thriving!