“It is at all times been my dream to be a CEO of a trend model,” Ginny Seymour, CEO of latest ladies’s trend model Aligne, tells Entrepreneur.Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Aligne. CEO Ginny Seymour.A trend trade veteran who began her profession as a up to date purchaser at Saks Fifth Avenue, Seymour had a possibility to understand that purpose with Aligne, initially based by Dalbir Bains as a wholesale ladies’s trend model in London in 2020.
Seymour envisioned a brand new period for Aligne — the model might fill a white area she noticed in fashionable ladies’s clothes: the necessity for design-led, wearable items at an accessible worth level, delivered with an omnichannel method.Associated: 5 Issues I Want Somebody Had Instructed Me Earlier than I Grew to become a CEO
Seymour got down to make it occur, basically “refounding” the corporate. She joined the enterprise as managing director in 2022, relaunched Aligne beneath her imaginative and prescient in 2023 and was formally named CEO in 2024.Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Aligne”I felt companions [had to be] an enormous a part of the story.”Throughout her first a number of years as CEO, Seymour targeted on Aligne’s neighborhood constructing on-line and “design handwriting,” then branched out from a direct-to-consumer technique to an omnichannel method with U.S. retail companions.In actual fact, regardless of being a London-founded model, Aligne sees a bigger a part of its enterprise unfolding within the U.S., Seymour says.The CEO even not too long ago relocated from London to New York to assist the U.S. workplace and staff because the model continues its enlargement.” We’re nonetheless based mostly within the UK, so I journey forwards and backwards,” Seymour says. “London to me is our artistic hub; it is a part of our DNA being a British model. That is tremendous vital to me and one thing we do not wish to lose. So we’re very a lot creatively pushed out of London, however commercially pushed out of the U.S.”
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of AligneRelated: ‘We Received So Many DMs’: This 27-Yr-Previous Revamped Her Dad and mom’ A long time-Previous Enterprise and Grew Direct-to-Client Gross sales From $60,000 to Over $500,000As a nonetheless comparatively younger British model, Aligne positive factors validation with a U.S. viewers by means of retailers which have loyal buyer bases.
“In the UK, it is simpler to be direct-to-consumer solely as a result of the UK is far smaller and extra attainable,” Seymour says. “However within the U.S., to resonate as the subsequent up to date model that individuals ought to be , I felt companions [had to be] an enormous a part of the story.”Aligne not too long ago launched with Nordstrom, a retailer Seymour says she’d at all times hoped to associate with someday, after the corporate direct-messaged her to precise its curiosity within the model. Aligne can also be accessible at Anthropologie.Picture Credit score: Courtesy of AligneRelated: Her Self-Funded Model Hit $25 Million Income Final Yr — And three Secrets and techniques Maintain It Rising Alongside Her ‘Mischievous’ Second Enterprise: ‘Entrepreneurship Is a Thoughts Recreation’
“There’s much less visibility [into] the analytics and who your buyer is. It’s important to actually hear.”Regardless of the long-term purpose to increase in retail, Seymour first prioritized understanding Aligne as a model and its relationship to clients earlier than tackling these partnerships, appreciating how vital that technique is for sustainable success.Whether or not you are refounding a enterprise that already exists or beginning one from scratch, figuring out who your buyer is — and rapidly — will make or break its development. ”And that is simpler stated than achieved,” the CEO notes. “There are such a lot of components. With each iOS replace, there’s much less visibility [into] the analytics and who your buyer is. It’s important to actually hear.”Aligne’s goal clients are “assured, working” ladies, and acknowledging what these customers needed in a clothes line helped information the model’s design shift and the route of its assortment, Seymour says.
Associated: This Is the Actual Secret to Exceeding Your Buyer’s ExpectationsDialing into that buyer base is paying off. Aligne ended its fiscal 12 months in July 2025 with 56% year-over-year income development and income approaching eight figures.Most of Aligne’s items are priced between $100 and $300. Though Seymour acknowledges why some manufacturers evolve into the “premium up to date” area amid rising prices and tariff challenges, she says the corporate is dedicated to its accessible worth level.Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Aligne
“I rapidly needed to be taught the place I did not wish to lean and the way to verify to get the assist.”Being a CEO is loads more durable than Seymour thought it might be when she was 20 years outdated, she admits. However she appreciates how the job has allowed her to attract on her expertise as a purchaser, which demanded a “stability of artwork and science” very like the chief function does.”[There might be a] week that I am so inventive and designing the idea and the road, and there is different days the place I am positively leaning into the science,” Seymour says. “However I rapidly needed to be taught the place I did not wish to lean and the way to verify to get the assist in these areas as a result of a CEO wears so many hats.”Associated: I Based a $1.7 Billion Startup for Small Companies — This is the Secret Each Entrepreneur Ought to Know
One of many greatest classes Seymour’s realized throughout her tenure as CEO up to now is the worth in listening to her instincts — even when it is troublesome. Over the primary couple of months of the corporate’s refounding, Seymour generally hesitated to say what she needed, then did not get the outcomes that she desired.”Three months in, I had this second the place I introduced the staff collectively and was a lot clearer about what I needed,” Seymour says. “That introduced them extra on the journey with me, and it solidified us as a staff and our values. When you have an thought and also you’re constructing your personal enterprise, trusting your intestine and never being scared to say it’s highly effective.”
“It is at all times been my dream to be a CEO of a trend model,” Ginny Seymour, CEO of latest ladies’s trend model Aligne, tells Entrepreneur.Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Aligne. CEO Ginny Seymour.A trend trade veteran who began her profession as a up to date purchaser at Saks Fifth Avenue, Seymour had a possibility to understand that purpose with Aligne, initially based by Dalbir Bains as a wholesale ladies’s trend model in London in 2020.
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