They’re riding high with the boho chic trend, but that look was in the Bob Marley song-inspired Johnny Was brand’s main playbook for a long time before it was popping up everywhere. As executive vice president, Catherine Nation says, “We’ve been doing this for 30 years, these signature embroideries, and it’s fantastic that we’re in-trend right now. That’s very helpful, but this is just what we do, what we’ve always done: signature prints and embroideries.”

In this interview, Catherine Nation and CEO Rob Trauber discuss the classic California brand’s legacy and future, and how they manage e-commerce, their own stores, and selling wholesale for the brand. Johnny Was is opening a lot of stores, uses interesting marketing strategies, and is using big data to keep up with their customers, so Trauber and Nation have a lot of insights in this discussion about how to best approach those things. Johnny Was has recently opened a New York City store on Columbus Avenue in Manhattan.

https://www.johnnywas.com/