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| Kathy Ireland |
Kathy Ireland is the CEO & Chief Designer of Kathy Ireland Worldwide, a $1.9 Billion a Year Lifestyle Design firm, dedicated to “finding solutions for families, especially busy Moms.”
Her brand's initial product was socks made from recycled pop bottles. Today, her brand has expanded into jewelry, weddings, skin care, windows, flooring, candles, and furniture, and is ranked number 28 out of the top 125 Global Licensing Companies where she beats out Coca-Cola, Martha Stewart and Ford.
I had the opportunity to interview Kathy Ireland at the LA Dwell on Design Conference June 25, 2011 and discuss her Sustainable Business Principles and Best Practices. The Video and additional interview details are below. If you're looking to learn more about great sustainable business best practices, watch this video and see Kathy's Leadership in Action.
Kathy Ireland Interview Dwell 2011 from Mary Vincent on Vimeo.
After the video, we discussed more business details.
Per Kathy, there are 50,000 retail partners. She says, "If we have a bride and she wants a modern sleek design including jewelry, home, baby, we're able to provide that. Each of the manufacturing partners works with us on seamless cohesion."
Kathy Ireland also mentioned the importance of Twitter in business. Her Enterprise also helps their retail partners with technology and helps them get the message out in addition to working with furniture banks in the furniture industry to collect used furniture and provide it to needy families.
I asked Kathy if she could share some of her new projects. Per Kathy, "Weddings have been exciting - 2 Hawaii locations - Los Angeles - Palm Springs - bring her (the bride) all the elements - from gown to jewelry to gifts and accessories - tying it with home furnishings."
Kathy Ireland also provided some background on her Company's Employee Work Practices. "It's helpful to offer the team flex schedules, i.e. working from home (She currently has 37 employees). We don’t have big glam flashy office space - it’s pretty frugal - we have to be a good steward with our business and build more jobs along the way."
