Eileen Fisher, Rewind: How design principles and systems guide a clothing company

Design Better

Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/rewind-eileen-fisher-embracing-imperfect

Hi Folks-

We hope that everyone is enjoying their summer so far. We’re taking a few weeks off to be with our families, and to prepare for an exciting announcement that we plan to share soon. In the meantime, we’re rewinding to one of our favorite episodes with Eileen Fisher, founder of her eponymous fashion brand Eileen Fisher, Inc. Enjoy the episode, and we’ll see you in a few weeks.

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In his book The Laws of Simplicity, John Maeda says that “simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.” Our final guest this season, Eileen Fisher, is a master at making the simple, meaningful.

Eileen is the founder of her eponymous and iconic fashion brand Eileen Fisher, Inc., which is known for its ethical & sustainable practices, and elegant yet simple clothing. She started the company in 1984, and grew it from her first sale of $3000, to annual revenue of over $300 million.

We speak with Eileen about her design principles, how she thinks about form, function, and sustainability, and how systems thinking has helped her develop a brand that stands the test of time.

We’re so glad you joined us for the sixth season of our show, and hope you were inspired along the way. Stay tuned for the next season, and in the meantime, we’ll be sharing some of our best episodes from past seasons, in case you missed them. Thanks for listening.

Bio

Eileen Fisher founded her women's fashion brand in 1984, with $350 of startup money. It's since grown into a company with over 1200 employees and hundreds of millions of dollars a year in revenue.

The company focuses on producing simple, timeless clothing, with sustainability initiatives including selling used pieces in excellent condition, resold through their Renew take-back program, as well as a Waste No More program which transforms damaged clothes into a new felted fabric, used to create wall hangings, pillows, and other accessories.