Fashion Briefing: ‘The church of Billy Reid’ — Inside the brand event building an army of evangelists

For those who attended Billy Reid’s Shindig festival, which concluded on Sunday, it’s easy to put the brand’s ethos into words. Hosted in Florence, Alabama, the three-day event included an organized tour of Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, where Lynyrd Skynyrd first recorded music and Keith Richards wrote “Wild Horses.” There was also a Tennessee Riverside tailgate with football and barbecue, intimate concerts featuring Gillian Welch and The Kills, a late-night rooftop show with the brand’s namesake founder-designer on guitar, ever-present bites by James Beard Award-winning chefs, multiple art and photo exhibits, and a fashion show featuring staffers and friends. 

Reid, who started his company 20 years ago, welcomed 300-500 out-of-towners plus crowds of locals into his world set two hours away from the closest major airport — all Florence hotels hit capacity, he said. The brand’s best customers forked over at least $1,000 for an all-access pass, while ramped-up quantities of influencers and press were granted complimentary access. Increasing the amplification of the event was a big brand goal, driven by the heightened power of social media since the last Shindig festival. First forced by Covid, the annual event, launched in 2009, went on hiatus following the 2019 iteration. 

“It’s a different [marketing] landscape,” Reid told Glossy. “Before, everyone had a great time, and word of mouth made the event grow. But this time, we want to get it in front of more people. … The No. 1 strategy is to include influencers and to give them the whole experience so they’ll feel more connected to what we do.” In addition, Billy Reid elevated its own social coverage, including by livestreaming the fashion show it hosted Saturday evening.  

Compared to five years ago, the brand is also at a new level. A C-suite has been built out with CEO Jeff Zens and CMO Christina Lipinski, plus the company has taken on growth capital and, as of April, expanded via acquisition. As the new owner of Knot Standard, it will offer the company’s custom tailoring capabilities and take over its storefronts starting in November. Billy Reid currently has 11 stores.

“For three or four years, we were in the thick of turnaround mode. It was a heavy lift of closing retail stores that weren’t aligned with our retail strategy, operational blocking and tackling, and hiring a team, which culminated with a capital raise and then the Knot Standard integration,” Zens said. “A lot of non-marketing, non-fun stuff has been happening and has proven itself. It’s allowed us to start investing in marketing again — and Shindig is the church of Billy Reid.” 

As stated by Reid during a Shindig fireside chat with Fern Mallis, he’s “learned to respect process and structure,” as a result of Zens taking the business reins in 2019. Per Zens, the company was doing $19 million in revenue and was “woefully unprofitable” when he joined. When it took on investment the same year, the goal was to grow 3-4x in 3-5 years. It’s now breaking even with an aim of reaching $75 million to $100 million in sales in the next three years. That growth will be supported by 5-10 more stores plus the Knot Standard storefronts. Zens called Knot Standard the “icing on top,” noting its potential to accelerate growth well beyond 2019 targets due, in part, to its valuable networks of customers and stylists.   

If a turnaround defined the last era of Billy Reid, the next era is all about growth. Along with retail expansion, the strategy is centered on customer acquisition and marketing, striking a sales channel balance, and expansion to new categories. At the height of the pandemic, while in “survival mode,” the brand cut 50% of its categories, Reid said. That included shoes, bags and small leather goods, plus it downsized its women’s offerings. It’s since been rebuilding those categories, starting with tight product assortments. 

For its part, as of this year, Shindig is a customer acquisition play. While the event was formerly a “good party” for existing brand fans, according to multiple long-time employees, the new goal is spreading the gospel. Among those in attendance over the weekend were a large group of menswear influencers, including Taylor Reed, Spencer McQueen, Blake Scott, Steven Onoja and Bobby Hicks, among others. They were often identifiable by the gifted Billy Reid scarf they popularly styled as a neckerchief, and many commemorated the occasion by getting a Western boot tattooed on their thigh. There were also a handful of women fashion influencers (including Amanda Arends), menswear stylists (Madeleine Kennedy), fashion photographers (Christopher Fenimore), and editors from the likes of Esquire and Vogue.

Those who purchased tickets traveled from Pennsylvania, Florida, New York, Tennessee and Missouri, among other states, to partake in the event’s revival. According to a show of hands, about half had attended Shindig before. They included a couple from New Orleans leveraging the event as a 33rd-anniversary trip, a Minnesota couple who heard about Shindig from the manager of their local Billy Reid store and a couple from St. Louis who said they’d struggled to explain the Shindig concept to friends. Some growing pains surfaced, with the wife of a brand “superfan” questioning, “Is this about us, or is it about them?” while nodding toward a group of influencers snapping photos.

In terms of the fashion show, Reid’s focus audience was decidedly the customers. “We’re going to put on the type of runway show you’d see in New York, but in front of people who aren’t used to seeing a runway show,” he told Glossy the week before. “It’s a different reaction when you’re doing it for the customer; they’re not jaded.” The show featured buy-now fall 2024 pieces mixed with archival styles from the brand’s first 20 years. “It’s about as direct-to-consumer as you can get,” Reid said, noting that past Shindig fashion shows drove a “good sales bounce” immediately following.

Many of the costs to pull off Shindig were alleviated by sponsorships, ticket sales and on-site product sales, plus the resulting buzz more than made up for the investment, all parties interviewed agreed. What the company underestimated, however, was the time investment required, Zens said. Planning, which kicked off in December, took up at least three hours of the executive team’s time in the months preceding the event — even after finally enlisting an event planner.

The event works to fuel employee excitement about the brand, but it also necessitates all hands on deck, Reid said. Over the weekend, Bethany Bishop, the brand’s buyer and merchandise planner, was shuttling guests from event to event, and Eric Guidry, the New Orleans store manager, was at one point giving tours of the store-slash-headquarters to members of the press — the second floor serves as an office for 30-40 of the brand’s 150 employees, Zens said. Meanwhile, John Ehl, the brand’s most tenured employee at 17 years in, said he’d spent the three weeks leading up to the event getting the first-floor Shindig-ready — that included installing a bar and transforming a room into an art gallery. In addition, Shindig was a family affair, with two of Reid’s three children walking the fashion show and his son Walton fronting the band that played at the afterparty. 

The Florence community also benefited, with events like park concerts left open to the public and out-of-towners spending at resale shops and local cafés. 

While every Shindig has evolved and grown, the event has remained pretty consistent, as with everything Billy Reid does. “The first [Shindig] was less planned out and more organic,” Ehl said. “But the pillars are always the food, the art, the music and the people Billy has a connection with.” 

On the same note, as Reid walked Shindig attendees through his brand’s archives, many commented on the pieces’ current relevance and the longevity of the hero styles — the popular Bond Peacoat and Shoals Denim Shirt were designed over 10 years ago, according to Zens. 

For Reid, standing out has always been about passion and personality. He recalled decking out his 10×10 booth at the brand’s first trade show with a steamer trunk to tell the story. When he hosted his first NYC runway show, he put the brand’s touch on an unfinished warehouse by bringing in catering by the Chelsea Hotel’s Serena Bass, gold-leaf café tables, shrimp cocktails and champagne. “We take the same approach to our stores and everything we do,” he said. “It’s got to give you an identity and be memorable.” 

Reid built his career in New York, first with a brand called Wiliam Reid before winning the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Award in 2010. But, he said, in this day and age, a designer could launch a career from anywhere. 

They could also host a buzzy runway show from Alabama.

“My husband is in New Jersey and following along on social media, and he just told me: ‘I feel it, I see it and I get it,’” Lipinski told Glossy Saturday evening. “We’re achieving what we’re trying to do.”

And next year, if history rings true, the brand will do it bigger and better. According to Zens, it’s already signed on musical acts for Shindig 2025. 

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