Fashion – Independent Retailers – Dia & Co – Interview with Nadia Boujarwah & Lydia Gilbert (Co Founders)
Dia & Co is a revolutionary way for women to not only buy their clothes. With so many aspects of fashion being dictated to women by the shopping malls and the high end designers it can be easy to just buy what you see and think that this is the only option available. Dia & Co see things very differently. They get to know their customers before hand-selecting items for their wardrobes.
One of the founders, Nadia Boujarwah has no background in fashion or retail but has the experience of a lifetime with her own body and of shopping for clothing in retailers that don’t cater for the everyday woman. Women tell Nadia and her styling team about themselves and then they can get to work on delivering an outfit. It is then shipped to the customer who tries it on and decides what to keep and what to send back. It is like having a personal stylist assist you in finding something just right.
The concept continues to grow and is bound to help bring plus size fashion to the mainstream. In the United States over 70% of the women are plus size but the market only takes 17% of the overall spend. Plus size women are severely underrepresented in the fashion industry and it takes entrepreneurs like Nadia to redress the balance. The idea behind Dia & Co was to directly address the issue at source. They empower women to try new things and build a style that they love.
The profiling that the styling team takes enables them to select items that their customers will love to build their wardrobes. But no system is perfect so they gather feedback with any returned items to refine the process and get better results as they continue to grow and cater to the plus size shopper. All of this means that Dia & Co works with their customers to develop a look that they love. This is a connection that most retailers struggle with and is rather unique with online fashion. As the customer feels more trust in the stylist then they can make a change to their style which also means they feel better about how they look
