Why Aimee Song Is Taking a Different Approach to the Influencer Brand

Aimee Music has spent over 15 years constructing her private model on-line. Along with her subsequent enterprise, nonetheless, she desires to take a extra behind-the-scenes position.

This week, the influencer, who rose to prominence within the early 2010s as a style blogger and presently has over 7 million followers on Instagram, is launching Amiya, a luxurious clothes label. The road, which has been in growth for the previous two years, can be focussed on knitwear. The preliminary drop of 10 gadgets will embody a $925 crewneck sweater, a $790 collared cardigan and a $1,450 half-zip sweater but additionally a cashmere miniskirt ($950) and two pairs of pants, one tailor-made ($875) and one relaxed ($1,075). All of Amiya’s merchandise are made in Italy at factories scouted by Music and her husband and enterprise associate, Jacopo Moschin. To begin, Amiya can be bought solely by itself web site, with hopes to develop into wholesale by early 2025. Sooner or later, the model plans to supply new classes, together with homewares resembling blankets and ceramics.

This isn’t Music’s first clothes line. In 2019, she launched a 50-piece assortment with Revolve below her Music of Fashion moniker, the retailer’s first product collaboration with an influencer. The label remains to be on the market on Revolve’s web site right now.

Music stated working with Revolve was a “nice expertise” and taught her concerning the operational aspect of what goes into making a clothes model. However now, she desires extra management, together with the flexibility to work on a slower manufacturing schedule, and to promote to a shopper that extra carefully align along with her private aesthetic.

“It was catered in direction of the Revolve viewers. On the finish of the day, I simply felt prefer it didn’t actually symbolize who I used to be,” she stated. “I didn’t wish to provide you with new designs each month and [at Revolve] it’s all about newness, as a result of that’s their enterprise mannequin … I wish to be rather more intentional.”

With Amiya, Music desires to create clothes that will enchantment to ladies like her: timeless staples that may keep in a closet yr after yr. Now in her 30s and a mom, she finds herself in search of “simply wish to put on items which are going to final endlessly.” Whereas she’ll focus on the model on her personal Instagram, she gained’t star in its campaigns.

Influencer Model 2.0

Music’s personal pivot speaks to a shift occurring within the influencer house at massive. Within the late 2010s, retailers and buyers tapped influencers for collaborations or to start out new manufacturers. It appeared that was the inevitable subsequent step for the trade — if these web celebrities might promote one other firm’s garments, it ought to be straightforward for them to promote attire below their very own title.

However the actuality proved totally different. Whereas many influencer-led manufacturers launched with huge first-day gross sales and plenty of consideration, momentum often light quick. Trend blogger Julia Berolzheimer launched Gal Meets Glam — named for her weblog — in 2018 with womenswear label Maggy London, solely to shutter it in 2020, saying that the quantity required had compelled her to launch product she wasn’t pleased with. After a quick begin in 2020, influencer Arielle Charnas’ One thing Navy model closed its shops and web site final yr. A deal to promote the model for $1 fell by means of in January, based on The New York Submit.

For influencers who can earn 1000’s of {dollars} on a single Instagram publish, working a style model could merely not be well worth the effort. Their expertise with branding and advertising doesn’t at all times carry over into deft dealing with of the nuts and bolts of working a style enterprise. There are tough mechanics round match, and necessary-but-expensive promoting, manufacturing and transport prices. Enterprise companions can deal with the logistics, however usually deliver their very own pressures round manufacturing and design.

“You get to precise creativity in a brand new and totally different approach by making merchandise however, you additionally need to do … all that stuff that’s actually tough and complicated and simply has nothing to do with being a content material creator.” stated James Nord, founder and CEO of the influencer advertising firm Fohr.

Nonetheless, a brand new type of influencer model has began taking form, usually with little or no outdoors funding and less-grandiose objectives. After closing Gal Meets Glam, in 2022, Berolzheimer launched Parterre, a model that sells attire, homewares and extra, however with fewer particular person merchandise and a slower launch schedule.

Amiya, which is self-funded, isn’t geared in direction of the expansion recreation that tripped up so many influencer manufacturers. The plan is to fabricate restricted portions of every merchandise, which for the primary yr, can be launched in themed drops. It’ll begin with 4 drops per yr, however could add two extra for collaborations or particular launches, and so they gained’t be tied to seasons. The purpose is to not construct a fast-growing style model that will get acquired for a whole bunch of tens of millions of {dollars}, however as an alternative to create a enterprise that may final, even when it by no means reaches these heights.

“We don’t wish to develop quick, we wish to take our time,” stated Moschin. “We wish our product to at all times be prime notch and being small permits us to do this.”

Life After Influencing

Amiya additionally provides Music, who has been within the public eye for the higher a part of 15 years, to discover a enterprise that’s much less reliant on her personal picture.

Whereas Music believes her viewers can be followers of the model, not overusing her title and picture will increase the possibility for it to succeed in a buyer that doesn’t comply with her on Instagram, and should by no means have heard of her in any respect.

It’s a transfer we’ll doubtless see extra savvy influencers make as they appear to construct their companies past the social media platforms that catapulted them to success. Influencers are more and more experimenting with a wide range of income streams, together with subscriptions, to diversify their incomes.

“Even for somebody with one million followers, most individuals strolling down the road in all probability don’t know who she is, so there’s a reasonably restricted quantity of brand name worth to these names,” Nord stated. “They usually’re wrapped up in personalities that some individuals actually like, however some individuals actually don’t. In letting a model stand by itself, you get the advantages of your title and viewers, however with none damaging connotation.”

For Music, the hope is that Amiya will finally be her “core” income stream, and can enable her full flexibility on what model offers she chooses to tackle.

“I’ve stated no to so many model offers and partnerships, as a result of something I do, I simply wish to be so true to myself,” she stated. “I wished to do one thing that represents that.”