We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rachel Hall Danes a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Rachel, appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Creating a feeling in another person with design is my motivation. Whether it is confidence, calm, beauty, or comfort, I find that
transformation compelling.

Creating this metamorphosis repeatedly consistently in a collection designed for a specific muse with many variations and little waste is challenging. When founders have a clear idea of problems they can solve for their broad yet targeted customers better than others, they can rise above price, and trend competition.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

When I work as a team member or advisor with brands today, I focus
on building brand sales and foundations ethically, with the customer and all the stakeholders at the center.
Despite the de-growth movement, which I respect, there are still many people who have a hard time finding apparel solutions they want to purchase at the right price and time.

I’m proud of my strategy and team execution at The Danes NYC over 27+ years
to solve construction and fit issues with our patterns. The secret weapon corsets keep evolving, and the comfortable, elegant, often diagonal lines flatter most shapes.

I’ve lived all over downtown New York for 37 years, but my journey in fashion and design began with a few moments in and around my hometown of Annapolis, Maryland.

In high school, my best friend and I wanted to buy and share a leather skirt — I was 6″ shorter with a completely different frame and shape. My aha moment came after reading about Donna Karan’s first collections, her closet solutions, her affinity for comfort, and the broad range of beauty she showed in shape and size. When I moved to New York shortly after in Feb 1986, I fell in love with the diverse and often subversive range of beauty and creativity I found on the street and in the clubs.

Have you ever had to pivot?

My pivot was a significant change: from a product-based company to consulting services. I began to focus on advising other founders from fashion, accessories, and fashion tech after 27 years of business partnership.

The differences between my partner (then husband as well) and I required a new arrangement.

Rachel Hall Danes & Daughters is my consulting company, where I partner, advise, or work as a team member with founders on a project or retainer basis.

As an advisor of The Danes NYC luxury women’s wear collection I co-created, I was deep behind the scenes after 27 years on the front line! I was used to having a larger team to design, produce, and solve fit and construction issues for women with our collection. Now, I enjoy utilizing my skills, connections, and experience in manufacturing, design, wholesale and retail sales, and marketing to help other founders grow, solve problems, and build their business foundations.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

A lot has happened in NYC and globally since 1990, when I co-founded a luxury women’s wear collection in a basement in Chinatown!

The owners sold our Soho work loft building at 476 Broome and Wooster in 2006, and we had to move out after 11 years. Our home neighborhood of the Lower East Side on Chrystie Street had also changed. A nightclub, The Box, opened next door, and I was too chicken to try to stay and have my daughter attend the local Chinatown school, expecting the noise from the Box would make sleep untenable.

So we moved to Tribeca at the height of the rental market in December 2006 for the public elementary school. And then, the crash of 2008 happened when I had a 1.5-year-old, a 5.5-year-old, and ten employees plus freelancers. The effect of losing all of our vendor credit overnight took years to recover from, and our big accounts, such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom, closed their couture departments for a few years.

Moving two spaces and the business restructuring required after 2008 were highly challenging.

The most uplifting and healthy experience of joining a women’s workout early morning group (Strong Healthy Women by Dr. Laura Miranda in 2010) helped my resilience. I had always been athletic but had not made a consistent effort with a sport or workout community since I was a kid.

I felt like myself again, spending several hours with friends in a high-intensity workout outdoors and realizing how important balance was to my health, happiness, and business productivity.
Knowing what you need outside of your business to thrive is critical.

Contact Info:

• Website: it will be back soon
• Instagram: @rachelhalldanesanddaughters
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/rachelhalldanes
• Other: Please AFTER (if room) my new business consulting Instagram (above; @rachelhalldanesanddaughters) Please consider including @thedanesnyc -the luxury women’s wear brand I co-founded. (pictures from the danes)

Image Credits
Rachel portrait: Yumi Matsuo Studio other fashion pics by Pauline St Denis (nude dress, blue dress) And runway: Dan Lecca (white top, red top, black dress)