An Interview With Candice Georgiadice
A purpose. Consumers can tell when there’s no purpose, meaning, or message behind a brand. There has to be something beyond the fabric. For example, when I created Ubari the purpose was to create comfortable clothing, simplify the wardrobe decision making process, and create unique versatile clothing that can be dressed up or down. Wearing Ubari means you wear your achievements. It represents being worn by the achiever, and how you define that achievement is up to you.
Many in the fashion industry have been making huge pivots in their business models. Many have turned away from the fast fashion trend. Many have been focusing on fashion that also makes a social impact. Many have turned to sustainable and ethical sourcing. Many have turned to hi tech manufacturing. Many have turned to subscription models. What are the other trends that we will see in the fashion industry? What does it take to lead a successful fashion brand today?
In our series called, “5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today” we are talking to successful leaders of fashion brands who can talk about the Future of Fashion and the 5 things it takes to lead a successful fashion brand in our “new normal.”
As a part of this series I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Shahroz Ahmad.
Shahroz Ahmad is an entrepreneur, musician, and the co-founder of Ubari. Co-Founded in 2021, Ubari is a contemporary brand with essential, versatile wardrobe pieces that empower you to effortlessly showcase your personal style. Launching with their Fall 2022 collection, the ready-to-wear label was made with the millennial and tech savvy consumer in mind. Shahroz set out to build a label that fuses his creativity and artistry between music and fashion, merging the two worlds together, and creating a line of unique contemporary designs with high quality construction that will truly last. Delivering effortless everyday wear and staple clothing to every closet, Ubari is where comfort meets cool.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood “backstory”?
I was raised in New Jersey as a child of Muslim immigrants. I was fond of music, basketball, comic books, video games, and art. I would always sketch, write raps, and even got heavy into graphic designing by the age of 13. I was the type of kid that was always worried about what he was wearing. If I had on a fresh pair of sneakers, my parents would have to wait until I fell asleep to take them off me.
Can you tell us the story about what led you to this particular career path?
I’ve always been a creative at heart. I’ve used art, music, and even the way I dressed to express my creativity and feelings. I’ve always wanted to be involved in the design process, creating something from scratch with full autonomy. After my career in music took off, I wanted to try a new medium to express myself because artists view everything with a creative lens. As a creative, I’ve infused that outlook into my professional career. I was at the intersection of business and law, but because my approach has always been unique, I’ve attracted interesting opportunities such as starting Ubari.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
The most interesting thing so far was that we decided a week before launch to handle our own fulfillment so that we could have full control and appreciation for the process from start to finish. It was a huge decision to make at the last minute. We spent a lot of long hours making sure we figured out a system that works. We’re constantly adapting our solutions to make sure our customers get their products fast. Initially, I was driving and dropping off packages to our carriers myself. I believe to fully understand and appreciate the business you have to fully immerse yourself into understanding all aspects of it so you can make better decisions long-term.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
- Undeniable Determination. You have to have a resilience within you that allows you to bounce back from any setback and learn from it. When I started my music career I was going to school and working just to pay for studio time, marketing, videos, you name it. I spent almost every dollar I had, and people were telling me I was crazy for investing so much into my own music. I lost all my money and people were telling me to give up on my music career, but I never lost sight of my goals and kept working until I had a few breakthrough records and opportunities that changed everything for me. That’s when I realized people on the outside looking in can never see the vision or end goal, you need to have that self-belief to make it happen cemented within you.
- Calculated Risk-Taking. Nothing in business comes without taking some kind of risk. There are some that really roll the dice when there’s really nothing there and others who simply take no risk. I think the key to success in business is knowing exactly when and how to roll the dice. There’s a big difference between a risk and a calculated risk. I believe Ubari is an example of a calculated risk. Being in the fashion business was definitely a dream of mine, but the industry is not a cake walk. It’s hyper competitive and not for the faint of heart. However, I jumped on this opportunity because I believed we had a strong competitive advantage given our control of the manufacturing process which most other brands don’t have.
- Cultivating Talent. Seeing and fostering potential in others is a talent itself. You have to be humble enough to know what you’re not good at and recognize what others are good at, and motivate them. When I started Ubari I spoke to different designers but ultimately brought on a designer who never had the opportunity to design an entire collection before. She was limited to certain departments at her prior jobs, but I saw a unique talent in her designs and pushed her to think outside of the box and be as creative as possible with her designs. Given an opportunity and the freedom to create, she was able to create amazing designs. I genuinely enjoy seeing people reach new heights and believe that cultivating talent is what takes your business to the next level.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Many of our designs are unique with intricate details on the clothing that make them stand out without being too in your face. Our fits are more of a relaxed, comfortable fit but not so overly big and baggy that your clothes are getting caught under your shoes. We aim to create pieces that could be dressed down or dressed up. I believe we also have unique functional aspects to our clothing, such as hidden pockets on our dresses. As for fabrics, we use high quality cotton and polyester blends for our joggers, hoodies, sweatshirts, and t-shirts with just the right percentage blends for ultimate comfort. We also have unique cotton-linen blends on some items, and cashmere blends on some of our women’s pieces that are luxurious to the touch.
At our recent pop-up store, a former NFL star saw our collection for the first time in person and said, “You guys really got something here.” He purchased multiple products and was really curious about when our Cotton-Linen Kurta Shirt would be back in stock because he hadn’t seen a unique design like that before.
Do you have a favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story of how that was relevant to you in your life?
“If you look really closely, most overnight successes took a really long time.” — Steve Jobs. Rarely do things become successful overnight, what you’re not seeing is all the work that went into it before that point. I’ve been working on Ubari for over a year quietly, and now people are noticing it after we launched. When people see the success the brand is having, they’re usually not thinking about all the effort that went into it beforehand.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Do you see any fascinating developments emerging over the next few years in the fashion industry that you are excited about? Can you tell us about that?
I see fast fashion declining with a growing concern for sustainability. More consumers are becoming concerned with environmental impacts such as the solid waste created by fast fashion. That’s why Ubari is focused on creating durable clothing so that we can help slow down that impact.
Can you share how your brand is helping to bring goodness to the world?
For people with busy lives, we’re helping simplify the decision making process for their daily outfit. We’re also dedicated to having clothing that doesn’t sacrifice comfort for aesthetics. Looking good and feeling good can have a significant impact on how you go about your day.
Can you share with our readers about the ethical standards you use when you choose where to source materials?
We produce a majority of our clothing in Pakistan, although we have manufacturing in other neighboring countries if it’s more efficient to source certain fabrics and manufacture there. We source the highest quality fabrics we can get and try to find the perfect blends that make the material soft but durable. As we expand our collection, we are focused on sourcing sustainable materials, utilizing energy efficient factories, using less water, and working with factories that pay fair wages to employees.
Fast fashion has an advantage, that it is affordable for most people, but it also has the drawback that it does not last very long and is therefore not very sustainable. What are your thoughts about this? How does your company address this question?
Ubari is unique because we are able to provide high quality fabrics at a lower price since we own our manufacturing. We control the process from start to finish so we have more flexibility than other brands. Because we can cut out the middle man, we’re able to pass those savings onto the end consumer to make high quality clothing more affordable.
Thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand”. Please share a story or example for each.
- A purpose. Consumers can tell when there’s no purpose, meaning, or message behind a brand. There has to be something beyond the fabric. For example, when I created Ubari the purpose was to create comfortable clothing, simplify the wardrobe decision making process, and create unique versatile clothing that can be dressed up or down. Wearing Ubari means you wear your achievements. It represents being worn by the achiever, and how you define that achievement is up to you.
- A great team. You need a team that has diverse perspectives, personalities, skill sets, and yet they all work in cohesion towards reaching a common goal. You need to delegate tasks to those who are best equipped to handle them. At Ubari everyone’s input is accounted for but we have leaders in different departments and tasks to ensure quality decisions are made.
- Consistent quality. Many brands start to decrease in quality as they scale, items pass through quality control without being up to par. One of our focuses early on was building a strong audit system to ensure that as we scale, we don’t run into that issue. We also pre-plan our growth and figure out what resources we need in order to meet those needs.
- Appealing designs. What unique features or designs does your brand have? Ubari for example features clean, minimal designs that aren’t too loud or in your face. People can recognize our style without seeing our brand name written all over it. At the end of the day, if your product isn’t appealing, it won’t last long. We also do a ton of research on our color palettes for our collection, we like to have certain shades and tones that compliment all our pieces. One thing our customers have loved so far is the color options we provide.
- Experiment with marketing. The market is constantly changing and public perception is always shifting, so you can’t be afraid to experiment with marketing strategies that are outside of the box. You always have to be thinking ahead and thinking differently in order to stand out. Many of the ideas you try will fail, but you will only know what works by trying a variety of strategies until you figure out what works for your brand. A strategy that works for another brand may not work for yours. Take a look at a brand like Liquid Death, which decided to go on the polar opposite side of what other water companies were doing. At Ubari, we had some unique curating for our live events including Q&As with our models trying on our clothes and letting people know what they genuinely liked about the clothing.
Every industry constantly evolves and seeks improvement. How do you think the fashion industry can improve itself? Can you give an example?
I think the intersection of fashion and technology is the future for more personalized styling. You will see more innovation in spaces like smart mirrors or using augmented reality for people to preview how an outfit would look on them. As these technologies improve and become more accessible, I think you will see more brands implementing them.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
That’s a very interesting question. I don’t know exactly how, but I would like to start a movement that makes food, clothing, and shelter accessible for every human on earth. If our society is to advance technologically but we can’t figure out a way to efficiently use technology or our resources to benefit as many people as possible, then we aren’t doing enough.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Modern Fashion: Shahroz Ahmad On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.