Marketing

How Tory Burch is navigating through COVID-19

July 3, 2020

In a wide ranging interview with CNBC, fashion icon Tory Burch shares insight on how her brand is surviving the coronavirus and rocky economic times.

The pandemic is being used as an opportunity to "reset," Burch told CNBC, in the wake of having to temporarily close stores since March and furlough employees. The brand has more than 300 shops globally and sales last year hit $1.5 billion, according to the report.

"We have spent the last few months running our company from our kitchen table — just like I did when we first launched in 2004. I had the idea for my business in 2002, after a crisis, and I launched our foundation in 2009 — once again, after a crisis," she told CNBC.

"It was not a conscious decision to take advantage of a crisis, but it enabled us to execute on a powerful, unique strategy. When a new normal begins to unfold, customers discover new needs, and we are all open to trying alternative ways of doing things. In turn, innovation is accelerated, and strong companies will emerge even stronger."

Going forward she expects that a retailer and brand's customer relationship will remain most important.

"I believe in stores and the in-store experience, but the industry will certainly evolve. We are already seeing an acceleration of e-commerce; what started as two distinct channels — in-store and e-commerce — is now truly becoming one global omnichannel."