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Living In A Juicy World
from Carnegie Mellon Today

Alumna heads trend-setting fashion empire

If the world seems to be getting juicier, it may not be due to global warming. It may be due to global wearing�of Juicy Couture, the white-hot fashion empire launched by a Carnegie Mellon alumna.

Juicy Couture is everywhere. It�s casual and cocktail; sunglasses and shoes; men, women, and children. It�s equal parts class and sass�and stores can�t get enough of it. Reese, Gwyneth, Madonna, Brad, Kevin, and Ben all wear Juicy. But Juicy�s more affordable than many other labels, so the soccer mom next door wears it, too.

It began modestly. Gela Nash-Taylor�who was Gela Jacobson when she graduated from Carnegie Mellon as a drama major in 1978�was pregnant and couldn�t find maternity clothes she liked. So she and her good friend Pam Skaist-Levy bought loads of plain vintage jeans. Using their design sense and a lot of hard work, they transformed the jeans into a successful line of maternity wear.

By 1997, having learned the basics of the fashion business, they were ready to tackle something larger�but they didn�t go the standard route. Nash-Taylor recalls, �People say you have to go to a bank, do a business plan, and borrow $60,000 to $100,000. If I�d started a business $60,000 in debt, I wouldn�t have been able to get up in the morning.

�I don�t know if that�s the difference between men and women, or between business majors and acting majors�but Pam and I didn�t want that kind of debt.�

Instead, the entrepreneurs launched Juicy Couture with $200 of their own money and a revolving line of credit. They didn�t take a salary for two years; they plowed profits back into the business; and they repaid loans almost instantly. �The bank was irritated,� says Nash-Taylor wryly. �They didn�t make much money from us.�

Juicy Couture is different from many companies in another way: it does no formal market research. The founders create and sell what they want to have in their own closets, and in the closets of their husbands and kids. (Nash-Taylor is married to Duran Duran bassist John Taylor; he designs the logos for the Juicy men�s line.) "We know what we like," says Nash-Taylor.

And clearly they know what their customers like. Juicy Couture�s lines have expanded quickly, but thoughtfully. Women loved the casual "lifestyle clothes," so the company added mens and kids� lines�along with accessories, swimwear, and watches. The founders didnt want to wear other designers clothes at night, so they launched Couture Couture�basically "Juicy after dark" cocktail and evening wear. This summer, their first fragrance will debut. And this year, 17 new free-standing Juicy Couture stores will join the four already open. "We have so many ideas and plans," says Nash-Taylor.

In 2003, Liz Claiborne bought the company for a reported $53 million and a percent of future sales, but Nash-Taylor and Skaist-Levy are still the heart of Juicy Couture, with responsibility for creative direction as well as day-to-day operations.