The direct-to-consumer model didn't exist when Ariane Goldman started her first clothing brand in the mid-2000s. But by the time her second company, Hatch, launched in 2011, "the only way to really start the business was DTC," Goldman said on the Modern Retail Podcast.
Hatch makes clothes to be worn at all stages of pregnancy -- and before and after too -- sold both online at stores in New York and Los Angeles.
"The genesis was really what didn't exist out there. I was pregnant with my first daughter and looking for something to make me feel better," Goldman said. "Why wasn't it there? If I needed it, there must be millions of other women that need it too."
The company landed $5 million in Series A funding last year, but Goldman is wary of the inordinate amounts of cash being stuffed into the DTC market.
"Why are these great ideas all of a sudden being beaten up by inflation and numbers and greed?" she asked. "Sometimes I find myself wondering what it's all worth if you're not actually building something."
Goldman talked about the advantages (and inevitability) of going DTC, what she learned from her first clothing brand and Hatch's expansion into beauty products.