How do you build a fashion brand that remains relevant for over 25 years while still balancing creative innovation with commercial success? Tibi has mastered this art—refining its brand identity, adapting to changing customer needs, and making strategic buying, planning, and production decisions that ultimately drive profitability.
Here, we unpack the key strategic and actionable tactics from the Style Arcade x Tibi’s webinar with insights from Karolina Kozlowska (Planning Director, Tibi) and Morgan Polinelli (Buying & Planning Specialist, Style Arcade).
Founded in 1997 by Amy Smilovic, the New York Fashion Week fixture designs elevated women’s ready-to-wear along the spectrum of creativity and pragmatism. Delivering an ever-evolving perspective on what clothing should give us, Tibi mixes heritage and new ideas on the brand’s timeless foundation of a chill, modern, and classic sensibility.
The following strategies have helped Tibi evolve while staying true to its DNA, refine buying strategies and size curves for smarter inventory management, and shift from a promotional to a customer loyalty-driven approach that boosts both revenue and retention.
Driving loyalty
“I’ve worked in the companies where we'll be like, this is Lucy, and Lucy is 35. We don't talk about our customers in that way at all,” said Karolina Kozlowska, Tibi’s Planning Director. “It's not a specific demographic. It's not a specific age, it's more of sharing the same mindset.”
At the heart of Tibi’s content is educating its customers to understand that the brand isn’t about dressing for how you look but dressing for how you want to feel.
“The whole ethos of Tibi is based around how to be creative, and how dressing and styling yourself is a creative act. However, it has to be functional. And the idea is, you have to understand where on those two scales you are”
For their customers who don’t grasp this idea as naturally as others, they are able to pull from a world of resources to be their own version of the Creative Pragmatist.
Here’s how Tibi keeps its community connected through the brand’s ethos:
- Wardrobing: Tibi creates versatile collections that allow the wearers to use the clothing as a tool, rather than suggesting one-and-done outfits. Tibi’s wardrobing concept is about bringing pieces to the consumer’s wardrobe that fit into what they already have there. It’s simply about reinvigorating the wardrobe rather than consuming more and completely changing it every season.
- Instagram Style Class: Every Wednesday, the team hosts a style class on Instagram with a different theme. Whether that’s packing for vacation or costume party dressing, they assist the audience on how to navigate dressing while feeling like yourself. Otherwise, fans can reach out to founder and creative director Amy Smilovic herself for styling tips.
- Creative Pragmatism book: The Creative Pragmatist (2023) sold 3000 copies, and now the second edition is available on Tib’s website. The book was developed by Amy Smilovic to help individuals understand and articulate their personal style.
- Events: The brand hosts events with wholesale partners a couple of times a year, as well as independent events in LA or London, where there aren’t Tibi stores.
- In-store clientelling: The store staff go above and beyond to truly get to know their customers; understanding who she is and how she likes to shop offers a world of insight.
- Substack: Tibi’s Creative Pragmatist Substack goes beyond the sale to offer the Tibi community Amy’s personal musings, styling tips, and staff takes on life, art, music, and inspiration.
Merchandising runway to real life
With flagship stores and countless global stockists, Karolina’s focus since the pandemic—when the brand doubled down on its direct-to-consumer (DTC) strategy—has been to balance merchandise planning from the runway collections to satisfy both their DTC and wholesale customer bases. Here’s how she does it:
- Use runway feedback for buying decisions: Adjust buys based on feedback from runway presentations while keeping in mind that data is anecdotal unless confirmed by multiple sources.
- Balance wholesale and DTC preferences: Consider the different customer behaviors in wholesale versus DTC when making purchasing and production decisions. And, work closely with production to adjust production plans dynamically based on market trends and sales performance to avoid overstocking.
- Leverage wholesale partnerships for DTC growth: Use wholesale as a way to build brand awareness and increase DTC sales.
- Tighten production on high-risk fashion items: Limit production on highly fashion-forward or experimental pieces to minimize risk while maintaining brand identity.
- Maintain a core product range: Tibi’s Fundamentals and WOFs (Without Fails) product lines generate consistent cash flow while allowing for creative flexibility.
Simplifying sizing
Tibi has a diverse range of sizing conventions, with the decision to implement extra pant lengths, for example, always coming down to gathering data.
“Before we were using Style Arcade, I spent a long time pulling information and attributing it as much as I could, which is a pain,” said Karolina. For best-sellers, Tibi needs to capture the size data when the product was in stock to find its true rate of sale before the size curve was broken. “That's why I found Style Arcade much easier, because I don't have to do that manual attributing,” she said.
- Collect and analyze sizing data effectively: Use intelligent, visual tools like Style Arcade to automate data attribution and analyze customer size preferences.
- Be intentional about size conventions: Offer different sizing structures (e.g., xxs–xl vs. 00–14) and additional lengths only when necessary.
- Educate customers on fit: Use content (e.g. Instagram and website descriptions) to inform customers about oversized fits to reduce sizing confusion. Be strategic with length options, and always be transparent about offering different lengths only when alterations would impact the design’s intended shape.
- Prioritize recent data: A customer’s understanding of the way a brand fits evolves, so focus on the most recent sales trends, not older seasons, when making sizing decisions.
Managing best-sellers
“I think having best-sellers that are not always in stock is actually sometimes pretty good,” says Karolina. Here’s how Tibi works around best-seller stockouts to keep the product in demand and under control.
- Limit reorders to a maximum of 2x the original order: Avoid over-ordering best-sellers to prevent market saturation.
- Monitor sell-through rates for adjustments: Track how quickly a product sells out (days, weeks, months) to determine restocking strategy.
- Expand best-sellers through variations: Avoid overstocking by introducing new colorways or fabrics rather than drastically increasing unit orders.
- Consider the total market supply: Always factor in wholesale distribution delays when analyzing and allocating your DTC stock levels.
Exiting the discount mindset
“ If you're a promotion-driven brand now and you want to exit that, it's probably gonna be a painful two years,” Karolina warned. “I think it's absolutely achievable, but it's just not gonna be an easy process.”
Karolina suggests ensuring full team alignment on a well-budgeted pricing strategy, with management and finance teams understanding the long-term goal of reducing discount dependency.
- Reduce buy quantities to phase out promotions: Slowly reduce stock levels planned for markdowns over a 2-year period.
- Focus on long-term financial health: Shift focus from short-term net sales growth to sustainable full-price sales.
- Reduce operational costs with fewer promotions: Lower costs related to overproduction, warehousing, shipping, and returns by reducing markdown reliance.
- Never plan buys based on markdown expectations: Plan inventory for full-price sales rather than relying on clearance discounts.
- Pursue sustainable growth over rapid expansion: Avoid aggressive scaling that leads to overstocking and promotional cycles.
For more insider tips and profitability strategies from Tibi and Style Arcade’s insightful discussion, catch the full webinar here.
Main Image Credit: Tibi
