How Tibi designer Amy Smilovic transformed her business by becoming a creative pragmatist

No one would say COVID-19 was a positive experience, but for Tibi designer Amy Smilovic , who is celebrating 25 years in business at New York Fashion Week on Saturday, it was transformative.

During confinement, Smilovic created a whole philosophy of clothing and being, that she calls "creative pragmatism" (she's also writing a book about it), a chronicle of her own style terms to remember when dressing, and became an Instagram Live star, boosting followers brand to over 500,000.

She garners thousands of views for her weekly "Style Class", now in its third season, teaching viewers how to purge their wardrobe, find their personal style, and wear their clothes in multiple ways; cultivated customers that matter and increased gross profit by over 300% in the process.

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"It really is a community of like-minded people! Amy, you are an eye-opener! I started changing my wardrobe and investing in a Tibi piece every season, these are still the pieces I go to whenever I don't know what to wear, but I always feel my best and most me. -even,” a viewer wrote in the comments for a “style class.”

"Here in Mongolia, people don't know Tibi yet, but my friends, the people I know, sometimes even strangers, ask me 'how do you put things like that?' another wrote.

Smilovic celebrates his brand's renaissance by inviting clients to New York on Saturday for his first show since pre -COVID-19. More than 800 guests are expected, coming from as far away as Mexico. Some of them have become close friends through direct messaging around branded content.

"Quite quickly, we got 30,000 views or more, and we realized people wanted to have a conversation. about everything but COVID [-19],” Smilovic said of her style classes, and finally figuring out social media by just getting into the trenches and doing it herself. "I was able to really articulate who we were and why we designed what we did."

"We are a mind-driven brand," said company president, Elaine Chang, who has worked at Tibi for 10 years, of the impact of Smilovic's spirit of creative pragmatism. "We're not approaching it like the self-help aisle of a bookstore, but we're starting to have conversations about where to go," she added, without potentially ruling out a TV show.

“CP [creative pragmatism] is about recognizing that we are individuals, that we have our own thoughts and they may conflict with others, but that's okay. The good thing about humans is that from different things you can create something new. If everything is the same, how do you create anything in the world? Amy is very eloquent about this. Clients will ask her if she can talk about how to wear a wedge shoe, and she'll say, "I can't talk about that, it's not my aesthetic." It's been a thoughtful conversation about here's our perspective and if you want to be a part of it great. It's something very different from the catch-all "listen to your customers," Chang said.

Restraint certainly fueled creativity at Tibi, which Smilovic founded in 1997 after moving from New York to Hong Kong with her husband. The brand had already pivoted from feminine and printed to minimalist in 2012. It has 55 employees.