In Conversation with RIXO | Henrietta Rix and Orlagh McCloskey
#1 How has life changed since the launch of RIXO?
Orlagh: When we started RIXO in September 2015 it was just Henrietta and I for the first two or so years running the entire business from our university living room. We had absolutely no personal lives and completely gave up our twenties for RIXO. We were determined to make it a success! Selling our pieces on rixo.co.uk or inviting people into our home to shop and try them on. Working through the day and night doing absolutely everything ourselves - from designing the collection, marketing and social media to running the e-commerce, packing and posting any orders that came through it. Since then we’ve been picked up by over 140 global stockists and have organically grown our Instagram to over 300k followers. We have had many successful pop-up stores, grown a team of nearly 30 people, and secured a head office in Fulham and a warehouse on the outskirts of London.
Henrietta: We have an amazing team and it’s a huge responsibility that we take very seriously since we’re accountable for these people and their livelihood. We personally interviewed every single person who has joined the company and are so proud of each and every one of them! Our team spans marketing, buying & design, data analysis & business insights, e-commerce, merchandising, wholesale and finance. We feel so honoured to be working alongside such talented people who are as passionate as we are about the RIXO journey. Although some things have changed the reason why we launched RIXO is still the same– we want to empower women to feel the best version of themselves!
#2 Has the inspiration behind your designs changed?
Orlagh: The inspiration for our collections has always stemmed from many different places- our favourite icons, vintage, travel, art… Our eyes are always open. Our collections are inspired by a whole range of things! Recently we've taken inspiration from Gustav Klimt’s famous painting entitled ‘The Kiss’, Joni Mitchell and the late 1960s Woodstock festival.
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#3 Where do you see RIXO going in the next five years?
Henrietta: We’re really passionate about developing a global community of #HumansofRIXO, inspiring and empowering real women around the world through their wardrobe. Our #HumansOfRIXO, our customers, are at the heart of everything we do.
Internally, we’ll be continuing to grow our wonderful team!
#4 Where are RIXO clothes made?
Orlagh: We source our fabric in regions in China & India that are known for being great areas for the best quality natural fibers and artisanal craftsmanship, such as embroidery and printing techniques. In an effort to reduce our carbon footprint we then produce our pieces in the same area where we source the fabrics and components. We don’t believe in flying fabrics or components all over the world, affecting carbon footprint before the piece is even created. We think this type of low impact manufacturing should be the logical approach for all brands in today’s climate.
Henrietta: Our overall brand DNA right from the very beginning hinged around the timelessness of pieces and their cyclicality of them. We have never designed with specific trends or seasons in mind, as we want RIXO pieces to still feel relevant whether our customers wear now or in ten years’ time. Our aim is to encourage our customers not to impulse buy and instead invest in pieces they genuinely love and will re-wear. We want our pieces to be something that our customers want to wear over and over again and pass down to their daughters and even granddaughters – future vintage! We see the idea of throwaway fashion as completely alien.
Our collections are all made up of limited styles – when they’re gone, they’re gone! And our direct channels, our e-commerce and pop up, don’t go into typical sales - we don’t produce for a sale season or overconsumption. We also aim to be as transparent as possible with our customers and educate them across our social channels about our supply chain - where our pieces and made and the amazing people behind them at our supplier factories. Later this year we’ll also be launching a completely limited and special sustainable collection for our customers made from offcuts and recycled printed fabrics, with some pieces being only 1 of 5.
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#5 Why does the brand choose to host presentations over runway shows at Fashion Week?
Orlagh: Having a presentation over a catwalk means we can invite our customer community to attend – we want them to feel equally as special as the press and influencers who come to our shows. A presentation format also allows our shows to be more personal and immersive. It’s not seated so in that two-hour slot people have time to really take in the collection – they can walk around, socialise and experience it at all angles. More importantly, it also means Henrietta and I can be out front speaking to everyone and getting feedback from both press and customers. In the past we have put on our very own RIXO festival complete with music acts, food & drink stands and chill out areas covered in Persian rugs. We've also taken over the ballroom of the Kimpton Fitzroy to show our RIXO x House of Christian Lacroix collaboration. Models swayed to the sounds of a harpist and a live Octet, while attendees enjoyed Marie Antoinette inspired mountains of sweet treat, rose wine and gin cocktails.
#6 Can you tell us about your choice of models when casting for RIXO presentations?
Henrietta: We’ve always championed a diverse representation of women from the very beginning of RIXO – our first ever Lookbook in 2015 featured both a beautiful more mature grey-haired lady alongside a younger woman. Since our very first LFW presentation in September 2018 and onwards, we have also shown a diverse casting of women we’ve scouted on the street, friends of the brand, #HumansofRIXO who have supported us right from the beginning such as Monikh Dale and even genuine RIXO customers. We feel passionately that RIXO is made for all women regardless of age, body shape, size, nationality, fashion knowledge… The RIXO woman could be a woman in her twenties, her mother or equally her grandmother (or even all three!). We’ve had lovely messages from customers in the past in which all three generations in the family are fans of RIXO. We really believe that a woman’s style is eternal no matter her age.
#7 How important are influencers?
Henrietta: We started using #humansofrixo really organically when we launched. It was a way for anyone - whether customers, influencers or celebrities – to show us how they wear their RIXO pieces in their own way.
It has allowed us to grow an engaged global community and showcase women of all ages, shapes and countries wearing RIXO in their own way. It’s also really helped us understand our customers and gives us great insight when we are designing our collections for them. Understanding what they like or don’t like, what styles suit their shapes best as well as how, when and where they wear RIXO. As much as we repost celebrities or influencers in RIXO, we love reposting images of our amazing customers in our pieces to give others ideas of how to wear them. For us it’s not about the person or content being picture-perfect, it has to be real and relatable. Our hope is equally that our #iconsofrixo will also amplify this and the work we are doing to educate, inspire and empower our followers.
#8 Can you tell us a bit about your Icons of Rixo initiative which you launched on International Women’s Day?
Henrietta: #iconsofrixo is our first ever global ambassador programme - the aim is for a diverse range of heroes, of all ages, to champion the brand in their own communities around the world. We want to find a new wave of pioneers. Who love RIXO, know their unique style and use their voice for good in their own community. We weren’t looking at how many Instagram followers they had, but more so that they embody our key values - to inspire and empower others. Revealing our #iconsofrixo on International Women’s Day (8th March) – it was a perfect day to honour the amazing women we had chosen. Our #iconsofrixo will be regularly gifted pieces and have first access to collections, as well as being championed across our website, email and Instagram channel and receive special invites to RIXO events. Each also has a unique discount code that is used for their community only. They also are the first in the know about new initiatives, such as our sustainably focused collection, created from off cuts and recycled fabrics, which will launch later this year. We want them to be as informed as our Head Office is!
We put an application form live on our website in January 2020 and received over 800 applications – anyone could apply to #iconsofrixo. What was important for us to know within their application was not only what style means to them, but who they are as a person and what they are actually doing within their local community, as well as what charities or causes they feel passionate about and advocate for. Their follower count didn’t even come into consideration! After reviewing all applicants, we launched our #iconsofrixo with eight amazing diverse women from all over the world - from London, NYC and Sydney to Johannesburg, Oslo and LA.
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What makes our #iconsofrixo special is completely unique to each woman we chose. Sophia Liis adamant about the survival and perseverance of Mother Nature, Julia Rebaudochampions ageless dressing and animal conservation and Sophie Edwardsaims to empower women of all shapes and sizes feel great. Meanwhile, Emilia Musacchia advocates buying second hand and lifetime pieces, Mouna Traore is passionate about mentoring youth and Nenna Echem works in the health service and advocates for sick cell disease alongside contributing to ELLE Norway. Finally, Lisa Seskinis a young female entrepreneur and Kelsey Marie is passionate about literacy and gaining people more access to books and reading.
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