I cannot believe we are already approaching the end of 2023. Indeed, time flies, but for me, I live in a permanent state of the present and the future. Any day of the year, you will find me working on current and upcoming business needs, keeping the product pulse going, creating the emails with my creative team that go to our clients, dealing with the back-room of our business with any product blips and delays, solving problems to navigate around ensuring that our clients and stylists can continue to work with our product seamlessly and as effortlessly as possible. All the while, I am working on the future. For example, I am currently working through the final part of the Spring Summer 2024 Collection, which launches on January 30th. This all concurs with my finalizing the fall of 2024 with new color stories, merchandising, and developing the new product our clients will see in the second half of next year. It may seem overwhelming for some, but throughout my career, I have lived in three different time zones, so to speak, and am quite used to it; in fact, I love what I do, and multitasking on multiple seasons is simply part of who I am. |
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When I look back at last year, a few highlights stand out for me. At the beginning of the year, I went to Milano Unica, which is the global trade fair for fabrics held twice a year. The mills were welcoming and grateful to see Twinkle Wong, our Director of Product Development, and me as we previewed the new SS24 fabrics. During the trip, I presented our SS23 collection live from my Milanese hotel room, which was a first for me.
In the middle of a heatwave, we all showed up in Arizona at the Phoenician for our annual conference, where the energy was charged despite the 115 degree heat outside that was wilting even the most hardened cactus! It was a real boost to have our global partners and Mills show up in such force, showing their support for our business and our Stylist Community. I had many personal moments of stylists approaching me privately, saying the nicest of things about the collection, and thanking me for my support to them. This unprompted show of gratitude was humbling, but some of the personal stories, as we all hear from time to time, about how J.Hilburn helped them get out of a difficult time are the most emotional and make doing what we do so worthwhile. |
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nd our The mills we work with today are mills I have worked with for most of my career, and I have known some of these people for a very long time. I am eternally grateful for these longstanding friendships. Having the opportunity to photograph the group on this occasion was a milestone for me professionally and personally. Seeing them gathered on stage made me acknowledge how lucky I am to be working with some of the best mills in the world, run by some of the best people.
More recently, I was in Miami shooting our assets for the Spring Summer Collection, which launches in February. I love directing these shoots and working alongside our photographer, Dinah Whistler and our crew to create the images and looks for our clients. As always, I am excited to share the new photography and collection in the New Year. Speaking of assets, we updated our catalog this year to include some evergreen Essentials and Extended Fit imagery supporting stylists’ work year-round. |
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I also worked over last summer to update the Dallas Studio to better reflect the studio model and support our brand efforts in the Studio growth initiative. We are now set to train out of the studio in 2024 and showcase the space as others come forward to boost their business under the studio process. The productivity of J.Hilburn Studios is something we believe in, and we encourage all of our stylists to better understand the potential of this opportunity, if not immediately than for later upon their journey with J.Hilburn. |
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A family wedding over the summer showed me exactly how powerful J.Hilburn can be. Not only did the groom and party look phenomenal, helping with the styling of the day, but feeling great and confident, we could completely forgot how we looked so letting us enjoy the day and the celebration from beginning to end, thanks to J.Hilburn.
I want to thank our internal teams for all the hard work and support I get from them, always inspiring me to do the best job I possibly can. I am deeply grateful for their dedication to our J.Hilburn community of stylists and clients. I look forward to many more seasons of success and building our brand so that every man in America can experience J.Hilburn.
Happy New Year to you all! |
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