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Despite the stock market’s recent evidence to the contrary — that is, through shares falling as clothing brands and retailers cut annual forecasts — the financial and fashion industries are getting cozier. More specifically, the use of the opportunities offered by the other is in trend among the leaders of both packages.
On Friday, Rebecca Minkoff and global financial services firm Morgan Stanley launched a product collaboration in the form of a roomy handbag perfect for work. As more women enter the financial industry, the idea is that the bag will serve as the female counterpart to the male wardrobe, bearing the financial firm’s logo, widely held as a symbol of status and pride among financial professionals. At the same time, it aims to reflect the increasing gender inclusion of banks and increase the confidence of women in this field.
“Women make up over half of all entry-level financial services roles and control over $14 trillion in personal wealth. But, [Morgan Stanley proprietary research showed] that women feel that financial services is often an unwelcoming and patronizing industry,” said Alice Milligan, CMO of Morgan Stanley. At the same time, the company’s research revealed that less than 3% of women carry the traditional “banker’s bag”. And over 50% of people said that the style is not inclusive, attractive only to men.
When Milligan joined Morgan Stanley as CMO in June 2021, she prioritized synchronizing the company’s brand and marketing strategies with its growth strategy, which includes its recent acquisitions of E-Trade and Eaton Vance. The key to this is appealing to a wider audience of consumers.
“The [canvas ‘bank] bag’ doesn’t appeal to people who want to use their bag to express themselves; it doesn’t give you a sense of confidence or style,” Milligan said.
She added, “Symbols signal change and me [the Rebecca Minkoff partnership]we want to signal a desire to be more inclusive.”
Milligan approached Rebecca Minkoff about the partnership, based on Minkoff’s history of championing women—for example, founding the Female Founding Collective and the Superwomen podcast. “Her personal story, which shows what a woman of faith can do” was also a factor, Milligan said. It just so happened that Minkoff was preparing to relaunch the Morning After Bag, which first put her brand on the map in 2005, and that the original version—sized to hold a computer and take users from day to day night – was inspired by a banker. bag, according to Minkoff.
“Positioning the bag as a symbol of power and a way to show that you can be in finance and successful, and also have style – which are not mutually exclusive – feels like the perfect way to introduce” the updated style, Minkoff said.
Dubbed the Rebecca Minkoff x Morgan Stanley Banker Bag 2.0., the style features recurring MAB signatures including a small front pocket, a detachable strap and chain detailing. Meanwhile, updates include the inclusion of responsibly sourced, olive-tanned leather, driven by Morgan Stanley’s commitment to sustainability. “Every step that went into making this bag was done to eliminate waste,” Minkoff said.
Although Rebecca Minkoff has dabbled in the sustainable fashion space before, through the RM Greene clothing line launched in 2021, this marks the brand’s first foray — for which handbags drive the majority of business — into bag styles with sustainable source and manufactured. .
The move sparked the theme of sustainability that will define Rebecca Minkoff’s Spring 2023 fashion show during New York Fashion Week late Friday afternoon. A video on sustainability will be shown, plus the show — which will include design mapping in white clothing — will exclusively feature sustainably sourced materials, Minkoff said.
On that note, Morgan Stanley will have a presence at the show. It recruited influencers like Haley Sacks, @mrsdowjones on Instagram (290,000 followers), to carry the bag and post what it stands for and why it matters to professional women. Additionally, the firm will feature a whimsical wrap of Rebecca Minkoff’s show through its digital signage in Times Square, as well as signage in markets including London and Tokyo. As for other marketing, information on the collaboration will be shared on Morgan Stanley’s intranet and social channels.
The bag will be available on RebeccaMinkoff.com and will be given to select Morgan Stanley employees, including women’s interest and Pride Network leaders, as well as several senior executives. Starting next year, they will be made available to a wider group of employees, Milligan said.
“You will definitely see more collaborations from us, as they reflect our collaboration [company]Milligan said.
The release of the bag comes amid other news highlighting the fashion community and Wall Street. On Wednesday, news broke that Kim Kardashian, founder of the $3.2 billion clothing and apparel brand Skims, along with successful beauty businesses, is launching a private equity investment firm with Carlyle Group alum Jay Sammons. They plan to invest in businesses in consumer products, luxury and digital commerce, among other industries. Also Wednesday, French luxury fashion retailer Printemps announced the opening of its first U.S. store location, at One Wall Street in NYC’s financial district.
Earlier this summer, while discussing her strategies for launching Australian fashion brand Scanlan Theodore stateside, Melinda Robertson, co-owner of the brand’s 5-year-old US business, shed light on the possibility of catering to bank women.
Before the pandemic, Scanlan Theodore had a dedicated team hosting 10-20 open stores a year at major US financial conferences, including those hosted by Barron’s, Reuters and CHIPS. They have proven strong marketing and sales channels for the brand.
“The most successful female financial advisors in the US come to these conferences, so you can imagine how much they buy,” Robertson said. “The customer base we have received from them has been quite large and profitable. Plus, these customers travel a lot—so we can have her at the Barons conference in Texas, and then six months later, she’ll come into the store in New York and blow the place up. [with a high-value transaction].”
Although setting up shop at these conferences requires a big investment, Robertson said, the ROI has proven to be worth it. “We don’t have to take women there,” she said, referring to the guaranteed foot traffic, plus the setup is simple: three mannequins, a “beautiful sign” and products on display.
According to one clothing business owner who is speaking off the record, pop-ups hosted by their brand at day-and-a-half financial conferences have increased sales by $80,000. MMLaFleur has also taken advantage of the opportunity, “using financial conferences as a brand awareness tool and sales lever, ahead of the pandemic,” said Callie Kant, brand and creative director at MMLaFleur. Since then, it has shifted the focus of its products to more casual styles that suit both “living and working,” and updated its branding and sales strategies accordingly, she said.
As for Rebecca Minkoff, based on surveys the brand has conducted, women in the financial industry are an existing customer demo. As such, the Morgan Stanley partnership is serving that buyer. “The rest of the world has gone into sweatpants mode, but in finance, you still can’t show up to work in sweatpants,” Minkoff said. “So [we’re focusing] how to continue to make a woman feel stylish, special and cool when she goes to work every day.”
It’s worth noting that professionals making the leap from the financial industry to fashion have caught up in recent years, keeping pace with the rise of the direct-to-consumer sales model and its proven ability to skyrocket the growth of consumer companies. For her part, Robertson left a career at Goldman Sachs to handle the expansion of Scanlan Theodore. Likewise, its co-founder, Sarah Blank, was previously at PIMCO. As Robertson says, both women are from Australia, where Scanlan Theodore is “the preeminent low-luxury brand.” And both had made the work uniform brand, resulting in constant compliments from American colleagues.
Others who have moved from finance to fashion include Aday’s Nina Faulhaber and Meg He, who both worked at Goldman Sachs, and Louisa Serene Schneider, who had roles at JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley before launching the 3- years old and the piercing brand Rowan.
On the other hand, women founders know the importance of women working in the financial industry. Many of them have shared with Glossy reporters their experience of walking into a room of white men during fundraising. They have also cited the regular occurrence of investors declaring the need to consult their wives to determine the usefulness of their company’s products. As Summersalt co-founder Reshma Chamberlain put it, the investment world often “bleeds out” women’s ideas because it’s so male-dominated.
“Women have been in the financial industry, but they’ve been underrepresented and unheard,” Minkoff said. “It’s time to be loud and proud and try to make this area truly more inclusive and representative.”
On top of collaborations like the Rebecca Minkoff x Morgan Stanley Banker Bag 2.0, she said: “Women like Kim Kardashian are entering the [the financial industry]they will open the doors even wider [for women]. We hope it will become a base of activity in this space.”
Within our coverage
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How Gen Z fashion is getting excited about sustainability
‘It’s a new era’: Fashion brands are bringing new leadership to deal with a changing world
