Sarah LaFleur on M.M.LaFleur's Resilience with Guy Raz | How I Built This | NPR

TL;DR

M.M.LaFleur responded to collapsing retail demand by reframing existing professional clothing for customers working from home. The company renamed its travel-oriented origami suiting pants as origami joggers, supported the new positioning with relevant imagery, and restored sales from eight units to more than 100, while CEO Sarah LaFleur prioritized mental stability, rapid decisions, and frequent reassessment.

Transcript

hello and welcome to how I built this resilience Edition how is everyone doing all this week as you know we're talking to entrepreneurs in the fashion and beauty industry about how they're working through the economic crisis and we're taking your questions right now on Facebook on Twitter and on YouTube for Sarah Lafleur so please ask away if you a... Read More

Key Insights

• M.M.LaFleur’s retail decline occurred with extraordinary speed, as the company went from one of its best store days to closing every location about five days later. Even advance scenario planning did not prepare the team for the full severity of the disruption.
• The company’s East and Southeast Asian partnerships provided an early warning that COVID-19 could disrupt its supply chain. However, strong retail performance shortly before store closures contributed to uncertainty about whether the crisis would seriously affect demand in the United States.
• Evergreen inventory gave M.M.LaFleur more flexibility than a heavily seasonal assortment might have provided. The Bento box model had already required the company to maintain significant quantities of its best products, so its inventory position did not suddenly increase solely because of the crisis.
• Inventory management is a continuing balance between having too much product and having too little. M.M.LaFleur still faced rising inventory as sales declined, but it could concentrate on finding timely uses for existing pieces instead of dealing only with an unexpectedly enlarged seasonal order.
• Product recontextualization can restore demand without changing the physical item. M.M.LaFleur renamed its wrinkle-free, machine-washable Colby pants from origami suiting to origami joggers, presenting the elastic-waist design as suitable for home rather than emphasizing business travel.
• The origami joggers recovered from approximately eight units sold after COVID-19 struck to more than 100 units, surpassing their earlier reference level of about 100. The pants also became the company’s second-best seller during the preceding two weeks described in the interview.
• Customers often need explicit visual guidance before recognizing a product’s relevance to a new situation. M.M.LaFleur used photography, branding, and examples of how people wore its clothing at home to make alternative uses more concrete and persuasive.
• Effective crisis leadership begins with the decision-maker’s mental condition. Sarah LaFleur regularly checked whether she was calm enough to exercise sound judgment because she had learned that spiraling stress prevented good decisions, especially when multiple urgent problems arrived simultaneously.

Questions & Answers

Q: How did M.M.LaFleur adapt clothing for remote work?

M.M.LaFleur adapted primarily through marketing and branding rather than by immediately creating different products. The team reviewed existing inventory, identified pieces that already worked at home, and presented them in that context through new names, photographs, and customer examples. This approach helped shoppers understand that professional clothing, including comfortable knit tops and elastic-waist pants, could also suit remote work and everyday home use.

Q: Why did M.M.LaFleur rename its origami suiting pants?

The company originally positioned the Colby pants as origami suiting because they could be folded into a suitcase, removed without wrinkles, and washed by machine. When travel and office demand collapsed, that framing no longer matched customers’ circumstances. M.M.LaFleur renamed them origami joggers to emphasize their elastic waistband and comfort at home, while selling the same underlying product for a newly relevant use.

Q: Did rebranding the origami pants improve sales?

Rebranding coincided with a substantial sales recovery described by Sarah LaFleur. Sales had fallen from a reference level of about 100 units to eight units shortly after COVID-19 affected the business. After the pants were repositioned as origami joggers, sales surpassed 100 units again, and the product became the company’s second-best seller during the two weeks preceding the interview.

Q: How did the Bento model affect M.M.LaFleur’s inventory?

The Bento service sent customers boxes of clothing and allowed them to keep selected items and return the rest. Supporting that model required M.M.LaFleur to hold substantial quantities of its strongest evergreen products. Consequently, the company was already fully stocked before the crisis. Falling sales increased inventory, but COVID-19 did not create the same sudden inventory expansion that a large new seasonal order might have caused.

Q: Why was M.M.LaFleur still surprised by the COVID-19 crisis?

M.M.LaFleur had partners in East and Southeast Asia, so the team recognized in January that COVID-19 was affecting its supply chain and could eventually become a United States problem. Even so, the business recorded one of its best retail days shortly before closures. About five days later, every store was closed, making the speed and magnitude of the change far worse than its scenario planning anticipated.

Q: What made leadership during the crisis unusually difficult?

Sarah LaFleur had previously handled many individual challenges associated with the crisis, including cost reductions and restructuring, although furloughs were new to the company. The unusual difficulty was that all these decisions arrived simultaneously while external conditions changed rapidly. A choice made one week could become irrelevant the next, forcing leaders to accelerate decisions and repeatedly reassess assumptions, priorities, and actions.

Q: How did Sarah LaFleur manage stress while making decisions?

LaFleur treated her mental condition as the first requirement for effective leadership. She regularly asked herself whether she was in a sufficiently stable place to make a good decision. Previous experiences had taught her that when stress caused her to spiral, sound judgment did not follow. Her strategy therefore centered on maintaining perspective and checking her readiness before addressing urgent operational choices.

Q: What can retailers learn from M.M.LaFleur’s response?

Retailers can examine whether existing inventory has useful qualities that no longer match its original marketing context. M.M.LaFleur found that travel-oriented pants were also comfortable, washable, wrinkle-free home wear. Renaming the product and showing customers how to use it made those benefits visible. The broader lesson is that relevant positioning, imagery, and examples can reconnect existing merchandise with customers whose circumstances have changed.

Summary

In this video, Guy Raz interviews Sarah Lafleur, co-founder and CEO of MM.LaFleur, a fashion company that creates designer-quality clothing for professional women. They discuss how the economic crisis has affected the fashion industry and how MM.LaFleur is adapting to these challenges.

Questions & Answers

Q: How has the economic crisis impacted MM.LaFleur and other fashion retailers?

Lafleur explains that the crisis has caused a significant slowdown in their business, especially with the closure of their physical stores. They had plans to expand their retail presence but had to put those on hold. Lafleur also shares that many other fashion brands, like J.Crew and Macy's, are struggling with excess inventory due to the disruption in the retail industry.

Q: How has MM.LaFleur adapted its inventory and marketing strategies during the crisis?

Lafleur mentions that they already had a lot of evergreen inventory, which helped them during this time. They also rebranded some of their existing products to be more suitable for the current situation. For example, they renamed a suiting pant to "origami joggers" and marketed it as a comfortable option for working from home. Lafleur also talks about their focus on marketing strategies, such as launching virtual appointments and using their newsletter and digital ads to connect with their customers.

Q: How has Lafleur approached leadership during this crisis?

Lafleur emphasizes the importance of staying in a good mental state as a leader and making decisions with a clear mind. She values the support and calmness of her executive team and believes that being in a good place herself enables her to make sound decisions. Lafleur also discusses the challenges of making difficult decisions during a rapidly changing situation and mentions the importance of learning from past experiences.

Q: Are there any creative ideas or strategies that Lafleur is considering to meet the changing needs of her customers?

Lafleur talks about how they have been using their Slack channel to build community among their customers and support each other. They have also launched virtual appointments where customers can discuss their clothing needs and get personalized advice. Lafleur mentions the importance of recontextualizing their inventory to fit the current situation and the desires of their customers. She also highlights the growth of their "Power casual" category, targeting women in more casual industries, and the potential for future changes in the way people work.

Q: How is MM.LaFleur addressing the potential impact of the crisis on women in business?

Lafleur acknowledges that the crisis may have a disproportionate impact on women in business, especially those in lower-income positions. She mentions collaborating with partners and organizations to understand the new normal in the workforce and find ways to support women in getting back into the workforce.

Q: How has MM.LaFleur been marketing its products during this time?

Lafleur explains that they have been marketing their products through various channels, including email newsletters, digital ads, and social media. She mentions their CSR campaign called "Ready to Run," where they dressed female candidates running for office for free, as a way to connect with their brand values and customers. Lafleur also talks about marketing strategies tailored to the current situation, like promoting their "quarantine uniform" collection.

Q: What are Lafleur's goals for personal growth and leadership during this time?

Lafleur's primary goal is to be known as a leader who is there for her team and can connect with and support them. She also wants to stay true to herself and her values as a leader. Lafleur mentions the importance of being able to handle both triumphs and crises with the same level of authenticity and integrity.

Q: How does Lafleur see MM.LaFleur evolving in the future?

Lafleur acknowledges that there will be lasting changes in the way people work and dress due to the crisis. She mentions the growth of their "Power casual" category and their focus on creating comfortable, machine-washable clothes that make women feel put together. Lafleur believes that their brand will continue to resonate with their target audience and that they will adapt to the new normal in the workforce.

Q: How has Lafleur been supporting and collaborating with other entrepreneurs during this crisis?

Lafleur mentions that she has been in constant communication with other founder friends, sharing knowledge and emotional support during this challenging time. She highlights the importance of community and collaboration in navigating these uncertain times.

Q: How does Lafleur hope to reflect on this time in the future?

Lafleur wants to be remembered as a leader who was there for her team and stayed true to herself during the crisis. She values the growth and personal development that comes from facing and overcoming challenges.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• M.M.LaFleur entered the COVID-19 crisis with direct online sales, several physical stores, and plans for further retail expansion. Although the company anticipated supply-chain problems because of its Asian partners, the speed and severity of the United States disruption remained shocking. All stores closed only days after one of the company’s strongest retail days.

• The company held substantial evergreen inventory because its Bento service required popular clothing to remain available for customer boxes. As demand declined, the team focused on presenting existing products in contexts suited to life at home. Marketing, naming, photography, and customer examples helped demonstrate uses that shoppers might not recognize without explicit guidance.

• Sarah LaFleur described crisis leadership as an intense concentration of decisions she had encountered separately before, including cost reductions and restructuring, plus the new challenge of furloughs. Because conditions changed quickly, decisions could lose relevance within a week. She therefore treated her own mental stability as a prerequisite for sound judgment under pressure.