Q&A with the Founder of Miista, Laura Villasenin: The Business Case for Being Niche

ANNA BURZLAFF: YOU LAUNCHED MIISTA BECAUSE YOU FELT THAT EVERYTHING IN THE INDUSTRY LOOKED THE SAME. WHAT WAS MISSING THEN? AND WHAT GAP DO YOU THINK MIISTA FILLS IN THE FASHION AND FOOTWEAR INDUSTRY NOW?

Laura Villasenin: When I started Miista in 2011, I felt that fashion and footwear had become overly polished, trend-driven and predictable, with very little room for experimentation, imperfection, or personality. I wanted to create something that wasn’t reserved for the 1%, to democratise good shoe design and make thoughtful, well-designed footwear more accessible.

There was also a wider structural gap in the industry. There wasn’t enough space or financial support for young designers to experiment and build independent businesses within a commercial environment. That gap is still there and is getting bigger. We still need better education and training for young creatives, particularly around the realities of running an independent business; learning to wear different hats without having to sacrifice your creative ideas or point of view.

IT'S BECOME CLEAR THAT THE BIG LUXURY BRANDS THAT HAD A LOT OF CURRENCY FIVE YEARS AGO ARE LOSING THAT CURRENCY. IS THE LUXURY INDUSTRY IN DECLINE?

Lots of luxury brands are looking at a short-term picture. From the beginning, we believed in experimentation and craft, versus margins and marketing expenses. We experienced that personally: we had investors look at our margin structure. They were like ‘No, this is not a viable business.’ We could not get anyone from fashion touching the business, because it was not the correct way of looking at margins for the industry. It's so interesting to look back at that investor feedback. Now our business is so viable and sustainable that we are actually building a bigger factory. We are making space for craft, because of our sustainable way of looking at the business.

RECENTLY, THE SHELLEY BOOTS WERE WORN BY RAMA DUWAJI, AND IT GAVE A LOT OF VISIBILITY TO MIISTA. HOW DO YOU MAINTAIN MIISTA'S EDGE AND KEEP THE IDEA THAT THIS BRAND IS FOR THE “WELL-DRESSED WEIRD ONE”?

This is related to thinking long-term. As a young designer, I had a very clear idea of what I wanted the product to be. We never tried to appeal to everyone. We never wanted to scale the business for the sake of getting rich. We believe in our products and in maintaining the industry. We have this joke in the office that capitalism can be sexy, but it can also ruin your ethos completely.

I care about having enough money to keep this beautiful business going, to live from it and to keep a team that grows with it as well. I care about doing it at a level that is sustainable and that means we can design for people with a strong point of view. That’s allowed us to organically attract a certain crowd that identifies with what we do.

WHAT ROLE DOES MARKETING PLAY AT MIISTA?

Marketing for us is similar to product. Product is a conversation. The way we do our marketing is the same, we start a conversation. We want the audience to think, not only aesthetically, but also in terms of supply chain, of what is happening in society.

I never wanted Miista to tell people what to do. It has to feel like we’re discussing something — we’re trying to figure out things together.

Any marketing project, any event – like the rage room in New York, for example – is giving us the chance to have a conversation with people on the street. I want people to feel like Miista is a space of creativity, conversation, collaboration. And also not too serious, it’s approachable. There is a sense of humor that comes with Miista.

WHAT'S YOUR TAKE ON THE STATE OF FASHION MARKETING RIGHT NOW

Extremely worrying. Not only in fashion — in the creative industry in general — the effects of AI are already showing, visually and in tone of voice. We’re worried how as a creative business we will be able to navigate all of this while staying true to ourselves. Personally, we think it’s with more and more physical events and activations, not less.

SPEAKING OF IN-PERSON EVENTS AND ACTIVATIONS, YOUR SAMPLE SALES ARE INTERESTING. USUALLY, SALES ARE NOT SEEN AS THE SEXIEST OR MOST DESIRABLE THING, BUT YOU HAVE MADE THEM INTO SOMETHING EXCITING AND ENGAGING. WHAT WAS THE STRATEGY BEHIND THAT?

Our process of experimentation is quite expensive: Both in clothing and in footwear, we sample a lot. That creates a lot of samples, as well as seasonal left overs. But, we need the business to stay clean and sustainable. So, marketing-wise we needed to figure out how to make sample sales exciting.

We saw sample sales as a big opportunity to meet new customers. We try to do them one year in one city, another year in another city. It’s a good way to meet a new crowd; and they tend to stay with us once they’ve been. It's a big project putting one of those events together, so we might as well do something else with it and get our creative crowd in that city involved: A performance, a few DJs playing or a couple of stylists doing styling sessions. That way it's more enjoyable for the Miista team, and for the crowd.

HOW HAS IT BEEN EXPANDING INTO THE US?

It's a different market to Europe, but we have been there from the beginning. The environment was already there for us to open a store. And the New York store is very successful, it feels very Miista. When we saw that New York was working so well, we started thinking of L.A. We are literally in the middle of building there at the moment.

WHAT DOES ‘VERY MIISTA’ MEAN?

It means doing the opposite thing. Fashion normally encourages people to fit in a specific, fixed identity. We are interested in identities being fluid. It's about resisting binary moments, feminine versus masculine, polished versus raw, practical versus expressive. We always explain it as: Going left because it's the right thing to do. When you go to [the store in] New York, you feel that edge. You don't have to fit in. You have your space here. And we do it non-intentionally, because it's really what we live on. It’s quite special then to see that people really feel they have a space with us.

“It’s very much about not fearing the alternatives, not fearing to not fit in. You have a space in Miista.” – Laura Villasenin, Founder, Owner & Head Designer, Miista

MIISTA BELONGS TO A WAVE OF INDEPENDENT, FEMALE-LED BRANDS. IS THAT SOMETHING YOU WERE CONSCIOUS OF?

We feel a strong affinity with brands that prioritize creativity, remaining independent, being female-led and scaling over time. Many of us built a business from outside a traditional system.

What differentiates Miista was that our goal from the beginning was not just to build a brand, but to build - or rebuild - a supply chain and manufacturing infrastructure from scratch.

When we started our apparel collection, we had a very clear goal: helping to revitalise the making industry in Europe for the long term. We built our own manufacturing space in Galicia, which is women-led, and we’re actively training a younger generation of makers.

For me, that is one of Miista’s biggest points of difference. It’s about keeping craft alive in Europe and making sure there is a new generation of craftspeople with the technical skills and freedom to experiment.

© Miista