Mission Possible

0:03Hello and welcome to Fashion People. I'm Lauren Sherman, writer of Puck's Fashion and Beauty Memo memo line sheet. And today with me on the show is Daphne Siebold, CEO of Sky High Farm Goods. We're talking mission-led businesses, social responsibility, the changing face of luxury, and so much more.

0:26Before we get going, I wanted to remind you that if you like this podcast, you'll definitely love Puck, where I send an email called Line Sheet. If you're a fashion person, and you get that reference. It's an original look at what's really going on inside the fashion and beauty industries. Line Sheet is scoopy, analytical, and above all, fun. Along with me, a subscription to Puck gains you access to an unmatched roster of experts reporting on powerful people and companies in entertainment, media, sports, politics, finance, the art world, and much more. If you're interested, listeners of Fashion People get a discount.

1:02Just go to puck.news slash fashionpeople to join Puck or start a free trial. Happy Friday, everyone. I always say this, but what a week. Tuesday was Matu Blasi's Chanel showing in the New York City subway. Yesterday, Dario Vitale got fired from Versace. I've been in New York. It's been crazy. Chris Black is actually coming on the podcast on Monday to discuss all that and also his new line, Hanover. so you should check it out I'm gonna give you all the url because I want him to make money and it's hard to search it it's called Hanover Hanover-usa.com all made in the USA and under 300 bucks stuff so check that out before our our chat on Monday the New York Times did not link to it.

2:00New York Times, I know a lot of you listen and you start linking out to people. This is just cruel. Anyway, if you want to know more about Chanel and Versace and all that stuff, you can read my original reporting with interesting stuff you can't get anywhere else over at Line Sheet. I'll be in New York until Sunday. I'm going to the interview mag and the Hanover parties tonight. And then I'm going to Marissa Meltzer's highly anticipated holiday party tomorrow night. please do not try to crash it but I also know that she'll love the mention because she is like that I should have had her on Monday but obviously we need to talk about Chris's brand so let's get going with Daphne I really thought this conversation was great and you know I don't like talking about anything that is good for the earth but this time it was really worth it she's she's really special

2:51Daphne Siebold, welcome to Fashion People. Lauren, it's such an absolute pleasure. Thank you for having me. It's been a long day for you. You flew from London. What did you have for breakfast this morning? Oh gosh, it was early. I had like half of a croissant and then I sort of dipped it in. I brought a little bit of our new honey with me to London because honey is my constant now. So I just had a little bit of a baguette or croissant with a little bit of that. And usually I would have it with like granola and yogurt. But, you know, at 7 a.m. I was sort of in short supply of anything good. I have to say, you look so fresh right now.

3:33Oh, my God. Yeah, fresh off the plane. Thank you. You look amazing. Your makeup looks so good. Thank you. I mean, I did spackle for you, which at my age is a necessary. Thank you. You look gorgeous. So what were you doing in London? And tell us a little bit about who you are right now. We'll get into who you used to be, but who you are right now. Yeah, so I am the CEO of Sky Farm Goods. It's a brand that we basically started to generate advocacy and revenue for the work of nonprofits Sky High Farm, which is all dedicated to food equity work. And we do a lot of sort of collaborative projects. you know we're in fashion food beauty and one of our sort of marquee projects right now is with on running or on the Swiss the Swiss brand and they very sort of generously have done a multi-year deal with us in which we get to partner with them on you know amazing products and London was sort of the last stop on a whistle whistle stop tour for the first season's launch so we we did a really sort of beautiful book launch with Ryan McGinley over there So that was yesterday at like seven o 'clock at night.

4:47And here I am today back in New York. It's amazing. That sounds so fun. And I love, we're going to rewind and kind of go through your career. But one of the things that's so great about the Sky High Farm products is the illustrations and the little fruit. And it's become already just like so recognizable. Had that motif been developed before you started working there? Yeah. So we, I mean, I'm on the board of the farm and, you know, Dan founded the farm, Dan Colon, who's my business partner on the brand, but founded the farm really 2012. And so, you know, the farm has been doing this like really kind of unique and model building work for a very long time, you know, donating 100 % of everything they grow regeneratively, et cetera, et cetera.

5:37and Dan actually gosh I don't know how long ago it was but certainly prior to starting the brand he developed some you know really really incredible icons with the artist Joanna Avalas who does a lot of the sort of you know the New Yorker illustrations she's a good friend and she came up with this incredible sort of strawberry moon icon which as you sort of point out has become just so sort of like recognizable but I think it's sort of charm and it's very charming, right? It's like, it's a strawberry and moon embracing, but it's just that it's, it's sort of like engaging and aspirational and like people of all ages, children, adults alike are like, this is, what is this?

6:19And I think that's the sort of dialogue we're trying to provoke, you know, through a very sort of cute set of visuals. I love it. It, it, when it pops up, it's such a nice, and it has a parallel to the comb heart in some way like yeah they both have a nice like you see it and it feels familiar and even for people who don't know what it is like it has there's something about it that feels nice to see and it's not too um in your face either it's sort of just like i love that you drew that parallel i mean i think in some ways we want obviously the the strawberry moon to be emblematic and powerful in that way where it's like it can invite the viewer in, but you may not know immediately what it is.

7:06But we've heard amazing stories. I had someone text me from Menorca and they were like, someone's wearing a Sky High t-shirt here or, you know, people running the reservoir in L.A. and they, you know, they see each other once wearing a hat, the other was wearing a t-shirt. And it sort of signals like a little bit of like an understanding or like a badge of belonging, you know, something about values. I don't know. But we've been really pleasantly surprised. Love it. So we'll get more into your work at Sky High and what you've been building there for three years now. But tell me a little bit about your life in fashion.

7:38How did you get into fashion? Well, I was, I mean, I grew up quite far away from it all. I mean, I was in Hong Kong, which is itself sort of like a fashion, you know, people are very sort of obsessed with fashion there. But, you know, I was one of those people that was, you know, buying all the magazines overseas. They would come in like Italian Vogue and self-service. They would all come in like six months after they'd been published, but I'd sort of scour those like a lot of people. and always wanted to get into the business, but really had no clue what skill set I had to offer. And when I moved to the States for college, I just started reading a lot of fashion criticism.

8:18Kathy, I was reading a lot of Kathy, and I was like, wow, you can get paid to say very precisely what you think. I don't think I've ever told her that. But, you know, just sort of made me think. She's the most precise. She's the most precise and opinionated. And I really sort of respected that. But it occurred to me that if I was even going to consider fashion journalism, I'd actually have to understand how clothes were made. So did an undergrad degree in California and then moved out to do another degree at Parsons and then just began interning like crazy, just trying to learn, you know, every conceivable job within the trade.

8:54because, you know, I think it's really hard to sort of fashion seems so impermeable from the outside and not really until you do the work do you understand or develop even sort of the empathy to kind of understand how that work happens and like the level of sort of experience and skill that goes into it. So that was really kind of like the way it all began to percolate. And I realized pretty quickly, you know, there were so many people who were so much more skilled than me at sort of fashion commentary that I, you know, sort of fell into PR, you know, at CDG and just never left and got to work with a lot of my heroes and some of the best talents that way.

9:38So it was really kind of like a parallel pathing that kind of led me to this particular point. I think personally the best PR people are people who could have also been journalists because they understand. And great journalists could be great PR people. I think Caitlin Phillips is a good example of this. She kind of wanted to be a writer and was sort of like, I don't think this works. I'm going to do PR because I need to make money. And now it's like she's doing both. And I love it. I think that most of the comms people that I've become good friends with or are people who either started in journalism or thought they might do journalism.

10:26And it's really about understanding the reason we're all doing this, which I think a lot of people on both sides don't understand. Yeah. I mean, I think also just very sort of basically, I would have a very hard time selling products or ideas that I didn't believe in or couldn't really kind of endorse. And, you know, I was very lucky that the place that I worked at had a very sort of strong sense of purpose and intention. So that was really not that hard. But I think especially when you're in a corporate space, you know, there's a very clear sort of objective and agenda whenever you're coordinating any type of storytelling.

11:06And so being able to work with a journalist, understanding what their needs are, you're really sort of like the ultimate mediator, facilitator, and you have to be able to listen. Because I've also seen situations where people have been very sort of demanding about what they want. And I don't know, the outcome sometimes is good, but other times it can definitely go the other way. So I agree with you. On both sides, I think, for sure. Like sometimes the brand wants too much control and they don't. And then it turns out not fun. And then sometimes on the other end, the journalist doesn't put all the work in.

11:50Or like once things that don't make sense aren't going to make the story better. And that also makes it unfun. Yeah. I mean, and apologies to all the people that I've done stories with over the years. like CDG, we had a very clear sense of our guidelines and what we were sort of willing to kind of share. And, you know, I think part of it was just, you know, Ray always felt like the clothes and the business model should speak for itself. So does it require a tremendous amount of explanation? You know, I don't know. But certainly it pays to be working in concert with, you know, the journalists, certainly the ones that understand and like are committed to real storytelling.

12:38so how did you end up at com de garçon and for so long because you stayed until until you took this job so how many it was 15 years so yeah when you got there did you think that like you were just like these people i'll never stop learning from them and a little bit So many different projects came up. I'm sure you were there for you. You were after the launch of Dover Street, though, right? So. No, no. I was there. Well, I was there. For New York. I was there for New York, but I was in the business in the U.S. Like at, you know, Dover Street in London had launched, but was still relatively in its infancy.

13:19So, you know, it's like I started there actually as an intern, a press intern, and the organization is very flat. There isn't a lot of hierarchy. So the level of exposure and the things that you get to do very early on were just incredible. And I think I sort of see it as vocational school because they were really willing to let me try a little bit of everything during that time that I sort of was interning. You know, I did a wholesale internship. I worked on the sales floor, which was like one of the best experiences I've ever had. Just the sort of hustle that's required to work and like start from zero every day in retail and then have to prove yourself day in and day out.

14:00And so eventually what happened was my predecessor left and they ended up, you know, after two years of sort of just being around, they offered me the sort of head of press in the U.S. job, which I was like woefully unqualified for. But I think in a setting like that, I don't want to call it sink or swim, but you find out pretty quickly if you can hang. And it's a very self-selecting individual that kind of chooses to stay at CDG and Dover, just given its sort of spirit and sort of approach to work. So, you know, I stayed and like every year was just full of so many incredible projects and exposure.

14:44You know, I think I did, you know, Hermes's first collaboration. I was right there working in lockstep with Andrew Bolton and Ray and Adrian on the Met, you know, the curation. I got to see the archives. Every year sort of unlocked a new thing. And, yeah, I think as, you know, I grew into the business, I developed a rapport with Ray. And, you know, that very direct line of connection was really kind of like inspiring to me, obviously, to learn from her directly, but also to be able to, in some very small way, sort of influence what she was seeing and hearing, being that she's just so busy. You know, I could be her eyes and ears on the ground.

15:24So, yeah, it was really like there was no reason to leave, honestly. I got to work with all of the best emergent brands from Simone and Craig and Marine Serre, all these folks who were up and coming, you know, through to the Gucci's and the LVMH brands of the world that came into Dover Street. So it was kind of like an amazing schooling experience where I was constantly able to learn from everyone around me, not just sort of like sort of very kind of compartmentalized PR work. Because you did have these relationships and you did all this work with other brands, even though you didn't work at other companies.

16:03You mentioned the flat organization. But what do you think, and I'm just going to say their full names in case people aren't familiar, right? Kyle Kubel and Adrian Jaffe. What do you think they've built within that business that is unique, that makes it able to operate so smoothly? or I mean, I don't know how smoothly, but it seems quite smoothly from the outside and to grow in a way that feels it's a commercial business, but it feels like it grows sort of outward instead of stacking up. So outward, so it's not going to all fall over or something. But what else do you think kind of makes it unique in the fashion ecosystem?

16:45I mean, I think it's definitely that, Lauren. They were very clear that every single line of business within the business, needed to have a reason to exist. They didn't really believe in diffusion, which I think sort of says what it suggests, right? You know, certainly with something like Calm Mainline, there was a very strong design direction, but then with something like Play, which is seemingly quite simple, you know, the ethos for that line is like design by no design, right? This idea that you could have the building blocks of a wardrobe with a very simple emblem, And that in of itself was its own business proposition and how so many people came to know about the brand before they came to even understand there was a show in Paris and it had been around for however long.

17:30So I think that that sort of spirit of purpose was like really is really central to the business and always they're always kind of questioning the sort of what is the necessity of each function, each type of product. But I think they're also very clear on the fact that, you know, business is a very, very close second to creation in the business. I mean, you really cannot sustain creation for this amount of time without having a very clear sense of how you can commercialize your products and sell them broadly. So there's that. And then I think also, you know, we never, you know, I was there and still to this day, they never really follow trends.

18:09I think they're sort of really, really comfortable marching to the beat of their own drum. I think that that point of view, you know, one that isn't sort of inured to what's happening in the greater sort of ecosystem is important because I think for one, it's allowed them to really develop a sort of signature, but it also pervades the thinking in the actual business structure itself. so you see it in the design but it's also a company that's been very much designed you know and and yeah I sort of have always admired you know especially with the merchandising and the planning right we would always buy the strongest most interesting pieces we would take a lot of chances on emergent designers you know Adrian would be in someone's you know buying someone's school collection.

19:02You know, Melita Baumeister, I remember, was one of them. Maureen Serre. You know, just really kind of being excited by, but also buying into these sort of unknown names, you know, at the time that we felt just had a really strong point of view. So it was really kind of this pervasive value system. Fascinating to think of a fashion company having a value system, given, I mean, they all do but it it really applies lays right over what you ended up doing after you so afterwards i think so and i certainly i think being at the center of like capital f fashion especially now that i'm sort of one foot in one foot out was like very valuable because you know i met people like you but i also met all these tremendous sort of brand contacts many of them prs that were the ones that supported me you know with making these sort of bigger recommendations when i went to Balenciaga.

19:56Daniel and Robin Meason really kind of helped me, helped advocate for Sky High to do something within Balenciaga. And just, it was a real sort of, there's a community there. And I think we've all sort of been in the trenches and come up together. And now we're all in positions of decision-making power, which I've been very happy to kind of benefit from as I've launched sky high and kind of work to galvanize a larger sort of corporate involvement in this kind of work. It's really fun to be in your, I don't know if you're in your 40s, but to be around your 40s. I think I'm older than you, Lauren.

20:37So yes, definitely. Okay. I don't know. But I think we're similar. But it's very fun to be. Well, you're an 82 baby, right? 82. Yeah, I'm an 82. Oh, yes. Yes. So we're yes, we're all this is the 80 to 84. This is our time. So it's super fun. I'm having a great time just seeing all these 80 to 84 people just we're having a fly. Yeah. Yeah. It's amazing. So what made you do it? What made you say, I'm going to go? I'm sure you were close with Dan. You had done projects with them at at CDG, right? Yeah. So while I was at Dover, Dan sort of came in. He had been doing this farm on the side. I mean, he's an artist first and foremost, but had been running the farm for, gosh, it's been 13 years now.

21:29And, you know, I think at the time he sort of, I think it was 2018, he approached Dover Street and said, listen, you know, I've got these icons and I've made some small jarred goods. They're very beloved. Would there be an appetite to see if there's a merchandise sort of opportunity there? And, you know, we did what sort of followed. And I look back, it was a little bit crazy because we did essentially what was a 100 % for charity project. and it was inviting it was different chapters and we invited essentially you know a lot of the streetwear brands you know from supreme to awake cactus denim tears through to established artists you know we did an artist chapter it was like 23 artists you know cara walker murakami jeff coons rashid johnson and then finally sort of finished up on this valenciaga and come the Garçon moment.

22:23And essentially it was merchandise that bore the icon of the farm, the Strawberry and Moon. And then it was sort of like, you know, we designed this merchandise with these individuals and brands. And when we brought it to the store, I mean, the stuff really, really performed. And we sort of saw that there was a kernel there, right, that the logo had this way of inviting people in, but that once they were in, they could participate or sort of open the aperture for people to participate in really urgent food systems issues, but also be able to patronize it and support it in a way that was like enticing to them.

23:03Right. So making desirable, covetable goods that then sort of, you know, once you were in dialogue with the brand, you know, we could begin to educate and sort of talk to you about food equity issues and food sovereignty. So So that was really where like it began to percolate. And at the same time, you know, we were living through the pandemic. BLM happened. It's still with us, you know, AAPI moment, like all of those really kind of seminal social justice moments. You know, I then at that point been at CDG for about 14 years and just sort of felt like, you know, we were obviously working really hard to keep the business going.

23:43And it was such a difficult time. And I remember just sort of seeing all these people that were sort of in pain, you know, like on even on social media and the feed, you know, we'd be selling goods to keep the business running smoothly. And just to sort of see this like disjuncture was like quite eye opening for me. And after that all happened, I had a really hard time, you know, elasticating back to business as usual. and I become you know much more sort of interested in the farms work I'd always been interested in non-profit work but had never I was like I don't really know like what would I do to get into that field like would I start again like I just couldn't figure out how to give back and then this sort of opportunity materialized in a way that was really organic which in hindsight was probably really kind of risky.

24:36You know, I was, I think I was also eight months pregnant at the time when I quit. But it was honestly one of the first things, Lauren, that felt really sort of natural to me. And I think because I'd been at CDG in Dover for so long, and it loved, no reason to leave, you know, I turned down other jobs at companies, just because I was, I was so sort of still connected to what, you know, Ray and Adrian were doing and to then sort of move into a space where I could create something that was in my own, that sort of embraced my own sort of thinking, but also capitalized on a lot of what I'd already established and understood from working at CDG in Dover was like quite an amazing challenge.

25:18And so, yeah, we kicked it off from there in about 2022. And, you know, the real sort of like impetus, like aside from seeing that there was like the germ of an idea there, was that, you know, the farm is a nonprofit. It does incredible work. It's donated something like 200 ,000 pounds of like the most nutritious food to marginalized community and is increasingly it's very much focused on sort of sharing resources. So really kind of showing how to improve equity across the entire food systems issue. And nonprofits are totally dependent on the financial support of the very, very wealthy, but not everyone can write a million dollar check and write one consistently.

26:10And then, you know, the other way that you typically fund nonprofits is through grants. Those often come with institutional interests attached. And so this idea that we could look at philanthropy, which is in itself quite flawed and like difficult, and then kind of say, okay, there's actually a capitalistic kind of lever that we can pull here and sort of harness to generate better outcomes for those without resources was really, really kind of a fascinating experience. experience and honestly was one of the hardest it is one of the hardest comms jobs I've ever done because you want to try to communicate you know these really sort of serious ideas I mean right now we're obviously in a pretty critical moment with like snap and all this administration changes led to total shift in funding and so like the theoretical premise for the brand to me is very clear, but how do you begin to communicate to people what it actually is when it's solely built?

27:09You know, these beautiful products are solely built to support a charitable enterprise.

27:20Can you walk us through quick, relatively quickly, the infrastructure of Sky High Farm Goods, which is the, you and I have talked a lot. I think maybe I did a story at BOF when you first got there about like mission based, how to build a mission based brand. And that was like a much bigger sort of thing in the discourse 10 or 15 years ago. And now it's sort of pulled back probably because of, you know, anti-woke rhetoric and all that. But also most of them were flimsy, whereas you all have like built something that's like the infrastructure is there to support what you're doing. So like, can you walk me through how the goods part works to feed the charitable part and and also how you kind of decide who to collaborate with and partner with?

28:18Because it I'm sure there needs to be some sort of not just aesthetic shared interest, but like value based interest. Totally. Yeah. So I think, you know, the the brand only exists to do this other thing, which is to raise revenue and advocacy for the farm's work. I mean, we make beautiful products. And first and foremost, you have to have a strong product proposition that's enticing, etc. But we're you know, we're literally sort of born out of the soil to kind of support the farm's work. And so we really try to actively center the farm's needs and exposure within our business model. And it's a lot like a Newman's own, if you will, for those in the sort of 40 and above set.

29:05That's a great way to put it. That centers a good comp. Yeah, I mean, they're incredible. And I think very few people know that they've raised$600 million over the lifetime of that brand, 100 % of profits to charity. and Dan and I were fortunate when we first started to really be in dialogue with folks in leadership at places like Newman's Own, Patagonia. We looked a lot at Red. You know, I think this idea that we didn't just want to create a brand that would sort of do a bunch of marketing projects that would just then donate a tiny sum of money, that wasn't really interesting to us. If we were going to do it, we were going to go like full tilt and make it sort of as potent as possible.