FASHION LAW IN USA
Por Staci Riordan*
I grew up in the fashion industry—it runs in my blood. My great-grandfather was in the textile business, and my mom is a fashion designer. Before becoming a lawyer, I was an apparel industry executive. I grew a women’s clothing company startup from zero to twenty million dollars in annual sales in three years.
Now, as head of the Nixon Peabody Fashion Law team, I work with designers, manufacturers, retailers, and entertainers providing legal and business advice. I spend about half my time on litigation, handling all types of lawsuits from intellectual property issues to business disputes. My clients include H&M, Express, Lucky Brands, James Perse, and Armani, as well as other designers, manufacturers, retailers, and entertainers. I’m also a professor and created Loyola Law School’s Fashion Law Project, the first program on the West Coast to focus solely on the legal matters affecting the fashion industry.
I love my job as a fashion lawyer because I am able to counsel clients on the creation, use, and exploitation of creative content, in addition to developing strategic growth plans. To do that, I need to be aware of legal and business trends and how they will impact my clients—before they impact my clients. I also have to be aware of opportunities that enable my clients to define, manage, and expand their brands via traditional media such as television, film, and celebrity endorsement.
For example, more and more consumers are buying from their phone or tablet, and from my manufacturing days, I know retailers buy products based on the right fit, the right material, the right price, and being able to be in the right spot at the right time, compared to basing their decisions on aesthetics.
I also love it when my home life – what is going on with my kids – and my work collide. For example, I see my tweens obsess over items promoted by their favorite Instagram influencer. These sales usually follow a forced scarcity model—limited quantities for a very limited time. You have to be a follower and “in the know” to even hope to pay full price for their merchandise.
In addition, the changes in privacy in the digital age fascinate me. We have a front row seat at the changing face of retail, the challenge of managing returns and inventory given online sales, and customer experience and predictive marketing. Those landscapes are shifting.
So, taking all of that into account, I believe the next generation of successful companies, or existing companies that want to continue to enjoy success, will be those that use technology and data analytics to offer products they “know” their target customers like. And if they can get the quantities and offering right, they can enjoy full margins while doing so.
And, when I am not working or at dance, cheer, robotics or fencing with my kids, I like to walk my two fur babies or go to the gym.
*Staci Jennifer Riordan is one of the country’s first fashion lawyers and represents fashion industry powerhouses including H&M, Express, Lucky Brands, James Perse, and Armani. Staci, head of global law firm Nixon Peabody’s Fashion Law team and founder of the first law school program on the West Coast to focus solely on the legal matters affecting the fashion industry, talks about building a niche practice at a time when fashion law didn’t exist and the opportunities and challenges currently facing both the fashion and legal industries.