The Interview: ALIGNE MD Virginia Seymour on her big ambitions for accessible quiet luxury
Virginia Seymour's career began with stints at some of the most famous retailers in North America and Canada where she fell in love with fashion and maths and magic that go into a great retail stores. She came to the UK with her British husband and got her first taste of start-ups at fashion jewellery brand Astrid & Miyu before taking on the role of managing director at ALIGNE, the British brand that is offering conscious, quiet luxury at accessible prices. She tells us about her plans to make the conscious British brand into a household name.
Before we get onto ALIGNE, can you give us a bit of insight into your background in fashion?
I started my career in NYC at Saks Fifth Avenue as part of its executive excellence programme to become a buyer. I feel really lucky; I was 21 years old when I moved to NYC, not really knowing what the world of head office fashion was and instantly fell in love with the industry and became customer obsessed. It hit the right balance between art and science. As much as I love the creative side, I love maths too. Being in retail, you have to be an eternal optimist; always looking to the future and trying to figure out what your customers want. I love the challenge of this (and a good excel spreadsheet!).
I eventually returned to Canada to go on to work at iconic Canadian retailers, Holt Renfrew, Hudson’s Bay Company and Roots Canada, before moving to the UK with my British husband, Mark and our two boys. I have spent the majority of my career working for major retailers with a mix of brick & mortar and digital. I have had some of the best mentors in fashion, who have shaped and challenged me throughout the last 20 years, and I have loved every chapter that has brought me to ALIGNE.
What was it that attracted you to join ALIGNE?
I have always loved women’s fashion. When I moved to the UK in 2020, I was drawn into the world of direct-to-consumer start-up by Connie Nam and joined Astrid & Miyu as the director of product & sustainability. I fell in love with the pace and passion and how different it felt. You don’t have structural roadblocks, silos, and processes; it’s collaborative and fast and you can make instant impact and changes. It pushed me to think differently and learn a new way of working that I wasn’t looking to leave. However, when the opportunity to lead ALIGNE came, I knew I had to take it. Returning to apparel was always where my heart was and I believe you should always trust your gut. It feels like all my dreams have come true and it is the proudest moment in my career. I believe deeply in the brand, what we are building and the team I am leading, to bring ALIGNE to the high street.
Kendra dress, £165
Since you joined the business, you’ve been sharpening the brand’s focus when it comes to both product and distribution, can you tell us a bit about your action plan?
As a young brand, defining our handwriting is an important step. We're a design led brand that takes a considered approach to fashion but believes in supporting consumers to make better choices and ensuring we're offering the right products to make those choices.
It means lots of changes and pivoting as we learn and try to make better choices each day which is one of the reasons we largely exited wholesale. When we sit in fittings, we are constantly changing product to make it better and don’t want our hands to be tied. We’re still stocked at Liberty and Anthropologie, who have both been amazing partners, and are excited to be on this journey with us.
My goal is to grow the brand into a household name, so wholesale will be a part of our future, but as with all decisions we make, we will do it when we are ready. I am very protective of the brand and our vision, so I want to make sure we protect it and grow it responsibly, at the right pace.
Tell us about the ALIGNE brand philosophy and aesthetic, and the gap that it fills in the market?
I believe ALIGNE is more than just product, we are a mindset. We are aligned in our values, beliefs and lifestyle and are not defined by age, race, gender, or size. At ALIGNE, we believe in breaking boundaries and making decisions that put people, and the planet, first. We’re willing to be open and transparent about our practices and the journey we’re on.
We’re a small brand bringing about big change, and we believe in creating contemporary collections that are built from planet-friendly foundations and democratic decisions. We are not perfect, but we are transparent about what we are doing and always striving to improve and do more.
We design product for the customer that dresses for themselves, versus dressing for others with a confident, yet relaxed style. Our customers are aware of trends and not afraid to stand out, especially in the must-have coat, denim dresses and sets, or classic tailoring of the season.
For such a young brand, you do seem to have communicated a very strong point of view and differentiation, what do you think it is about ALIGNE that so resonates with your target market?
I think they see a British brand, trying to do something different. ALIGNE is clear, consistent and authentic in its approach to the market. We’re making waves as a brand in the space between fast-fashion and high-end designer brands and supporting consumers who are looking for pieces they can keep and enjoy for years.
Our honesty about who we are, and authenticity resonates with our customers. We are far from perfect, but we are constantly learning and making better choices across every area of the business. We are style without compromise.
Our community also love that we shout about others, shining the light not just on what we are doing, but on other amazing people and the work they are doing too. It is as much about the product for us as it is about people and being on this journey together.
Gilda trench, £189
Can you explain a bit about your design and production process?
We are a design led business. Part of being young is not getting stuck in history but focusing on the future. ALIGNE is a fast growing, successful business that has made a huge impact on the fashion industry in its short history and we’re now moving into the next era of our growth journey.
We are a highly passionate team of 14 females working collaboratively from beginning to end. As a team, we do not lack ideas and work together starting with design, buying, production, brand, PR and operations. The whole team gets involved. We have three fantastic designers that kick off the creative process, but we fit our product as a group, trying clothes on both fit models and the wide variety of sizes of the team, to make sure we are achieving the perfect fit and learning on the spot. We often adapt product during the fit process and add in new ideas.
Being DTC focused, means our hands are not tied to make changes to styles and the collection and allows us full freedom to innovate. My favourite days at ALIGNE are the ones where we all together getting excited and passionate over a product, and you see the ideas spinning from design down to PR. Those are the ideas that resonated best with our community and highlight our start-up culture.
Given that you use European manufacturers and high-quality material, the prices are very accessible, how have you achieved that and why is that important
Making ALIGNE accessibly priced is a core value. ALIGNE is clear, consistent and authentic in its approach to the market. We do not participate in site wide bank holiday and cyber/black Friday promotions, and outside of end of season sale we are a full priced business. We sit in the space between fast-fashion and high-end designer brands and focus on supporting consumers who are looking for pieces they can keep and enjoy for years.
Maintaining this price positioning is important to us. The challenge for our buying team is to be innovative, work with our mills and continue to learn to source materials with at least 50% planet friendly composition, to bring our designs to life. It takes determination to stay at this price point, but we are committed. When we meet customers in real life it is the first thing, they tell us; never change our prices.
We always strive to do what’s right and make the right choices, including with decisions on the materials we use and the places they’re manufactured. Around 65-70% of our production is done in Europe. One of our key strengths is denim, and we have amazing makers in Istanbul that understand our handwriting, allow us to start with small units to test styles and be quick to react.
Can we talk a bit about the cadence of the brand, how often are you introducing new product?
We launch collections every month except December as bringing regular newness that is buy-now, wear-now is important to our customers. We often have new arrivals weekly, as we get inspired in fits and add ideas to the collection.
We are also launching two collaborations in the next six months which is new for us and I’m really excited to share more when we can. We want to make sure we are always exciting for our customers.
Gabriella dress, £99
What about your evergreen styles, do you already have styles that customers repeat buy, which are the hero products and why?
We have a few styles that have taken off this past year that have a life of their own. Our Gabriella, Gitty and Harlin dresses, Greta skirt, Gilda trench coat and George wrap coat to name a few. Denim and outerwear are key parts of our handwriting, casual but confident, with a touch of attitude. We’re launching four new denim jean styles this season, which I think will be the next cult pieces that our customers are going to love.
How have you gone about finding your customer base and who is she?
Our community and customers are at the heart of everything we do. Not only is ALIGNE a successful female-led business, we celebrate and support other female-led businesses, doing our part to help them succeed as well.
We have been lucky and had many influential supporters from the beginning, who are cheering us on, and we feel their support daily. They love wearing the collection and happily shout about it and share it with others. We have a brilliant head of brand & PR, Bryony Friend, who is as passionate about the brand as I am; constantly engaging with our community, trying new things and being the driving force behind our astonishing community growth.
It is important to me that we do not define our customer by demographics. We know them and it’s always a sense check when we are making decisions, but we like to think of our customer by focusing on their values and lifestyle. We think of ALIGNE as a mindset and a way of dressing – our core customers are confident with unapologetic conviction in their style. They appreciate transparency, quality, and design across all touch points in their lifestyle. They move with purpose and spirit and admire brands that do the same. They’re strong, aspirational, and motivated leaders from mothers to business owners and creatives – they are a force.
As a smaller, agile brand you are able to have closer relationships with your customers than larger brands, what type of feedback do you get from consumers and how does it inform what you do as a brand?
As a small team, we are all in the details. I read every message on Instagram and Facebook and reply to many myself. They love to tell us what they love, what they don’t, and even what colours we should make their favourite styles in next. As a new brand, that many people are trying for the first time, a lot of our feedback is around fit which is so valuable for us. We take a relaxed approach to styling but in a few of the piece’s our customers felt that they had to size down. We take this feedback into our fittings and have adjusted the sizing of our two of our best-selling products simply based on that first-person customer feedback.
You’ve recently announced a partnership with tailoring service Sojo, can you tell us about this and how it adds value for your consumer?
When [Sojo founder] Josephine [Philips] approached us, I was instantly bought into what SOJO was doing and the potential to work together. We knew we wanted to help our customers navigate fit and feel confident in their clothes, but getting the closest size doesn’t mean it fits. We are all different shapes and sizes, and offering our customers the chance to get that perfect fit in a convenient, modern approach to tailoring is so exciting.
We are also really excited about offering free repairs as well. We believe in the quality of our product and making sure it’s a favourite, not just now, but in years to come.
You’ve achieved great cut-through already in such a crowded space, how did you do that?
Our growth these past six months since focusing our strategy has been amazing. ALIGNE has grown over 600% and opened its first permanent office space in East London. Although we’re a relatively new brand, we’re already disrupting the industry with our approach to helping consumers make good choices.
Ultimately, I truly believe our success comes down to the team behind the brand. We all believe so much in ALIGNE and work collaboratively, with a clear understanding of our vision and where we are going. Our values resonate from inside our office space, to our customers and I think people are always looking for new brands with an authentic story and real people behind the brand.
What are the main priorities and ambitions for ALIGNE over the next year?
It sounds funny, but my reference point of success for the next year is being able to go to the school gate to pick up my sons, Holden and Henry, and when I mention ALIGNE, for people to say “Oh ALIGNE, I just saw that brand”. We have broken through with the fashion industry and press, but I truly believe ALIGNE has the potential to be a household British brand and I want to make sure we are focused on growing our community over the next year. I believe we can be a £10 million pound brand in the next 12 months but that will come through the focus on our community, building meaningful two-way relationships with our customers and staying true to our values.
