Handbag Designer 101: The Stories Behind Handbag Designers, Brands, and Industry Icons

Crafting Success: The Story Behind Joy Gryson’s Rise in Fashion | Emily Blumenthal & Peter Gryson

• Emily Blumenthal • Season 1

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Ever wondered how a brand can transform a personal story into a global success? Peter Gryson, co-founder of Joy Gryson, takes us through his remarkable journey from the corporate world to launching a thriving handbag brand that resonates deeply with consumers. His experiences navigating the complexities of fashion, production, and market dynamics reveal the essence of building a brand that stands out in a crowded industry.

"I wanted to be successful, and that became my objective." This determination fueled Peter’s rise from a retail job to becoming a vice president at Calvin Klein, where he honed his skills in trend forecasting and brand development. Together with his wife, Joy, they created Joy Grisen, a brand that not only reflects their passion for design but also adapts to the evolving demands of the market.

Key Takeaways:

Resilience in Adversity: The fashion industry is filled with challenges, but Peter’s story illustrates how perseverance and adaptability can lead to unexpected opportunities.

The Power of Partnership: Collaborating with talented designers and reliable manufacturers is crucial for maintaining quality and innovation in product development.

Market Awareness: Understanding consumer trends and preferences is essential for any brand looking to thrive, especially in a fast-paced global market.

🎧 Tune in now for inspiring lessons on building a successful brand and navigating the ever-changing landscape of fashion.

Our Guest: Peter Gryson is the co-founder of Joy Gryson, a handbag brand that has made significant strides in the Asian market. With extensive experience in the fashion industry, Peter has successfully combined creativity and business acumen to develop a brand that resonates with consumers worldwide.

Host Emily Blumenthal is a handbag industry expert, author of Handbag Designer 101, and founder of The Handbag Awards. Known as the “Handbag Fairy Godmother,” Emily also teaches entrepreneurship at the Fashion Institute of Technology, dedicated to fostering creativity and craftsmanship in the handbag industry.

Explore Handbag Designer 101 Merch, HBD101 Masterclass, one-on-one sessions, and opportunities to book Emily Blumenthal as a speaker at emilyblumenthal.com.

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Speaker 1:

Our online business went through the roof and everybody in Asia was buying Joey Gryson product non-stop and just our brand awareness spiked dramatically. And as things got more settled with a career, we started to build out and build out. And now we have, we have launched, ready to wear, we have launched shoes uh, next month, shoes that we're launching, launch jewelry.

Speaker 2:

Hi and welcome to Handbag Designer 101, the podcast, with your host, emily Blumenthal, handbag industry expert and the handbag fairy godmother. Each week, we uncover the stories behind the handbags we love, from the iconic brands and top designers to the creativity, craftsmanship and culture that define the handbag world. Whether you're a designer, collector or simply passionate about handbags, this is your front row seat to it all. Welcome, peter Greisen, to Handbag Designer 101, the podcast. I have just learned that I'm your first podcast, so, to a man who probably doesn't have many firsts left, I'm excited to Win the Podcast. I have just learned that I'm your first podcast, so, to a man who probably doesn't have many firsts left, I'm excited to be this one. So welcome, welcome.

Speaker 1:

Thank you very much. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so we'd spoken like we ironically go back in a very bizarre way, but I know our last conversation, which to me was very enlightening and I think I knew so much about you. But you contextualized more. So you started out 100 years ago working. You were at Calvin Klein or you didn't start at Calvin. Like what did you study in college? Like what leads someone like you into men's accessories? Like how and the why and the huh.

Speaker 1:

No, I went to the school at Boston University and studied literature. I wanted to be a writer. It had nothing to do with fashion or apparel whatsoever. Moved to New York in the nineties. Like everybody else, once you got out of school, they're trying to find a job. I always worked in retail, in fashion.

Speaker 2:

You always had retail jobs.

Speaker 1:

I always did that just to pay the bills. So my first opportunity for a corporate situation was with Guess Guess Jeans. So I went into the Guess Accessories license family with a company.

Speaker 2:

Was Signal part of that back then? No, this is the Marciano Brothers vintage.

Speaker 1:

No, no, it was just when licensing first started to become a big thing. So it was actually with Guest Belts, a company called Daylor Creations. Oh my God, sort of an offshoot to Signal, which is the handbag with Jeffrey Mack on those guys. So I knew those guys very well. So I worked with the Guest family of licenses and I went to Guest Sunglasses and worked in the optical and sunglass division, became national sales manager, I guess sunglasses- Wait, wait, wait.

Speaker 2:

I got to ask you something, so here you are, kind of hot shit. Went to BU a hard school to get into. Lived your best life in Boston literature I mean, anybody who goes to college in a school like that finishes feeling like they have moved mountains just with that degree alone. You got a job in belts Was that hard for your ego?

Speaker 1:

Well, it was. Honestly, I had tried to apply for copywriting jobs and things with the newspapers and journalism, but I wasn't a journalism major, I was an English lit major and I didn't want to be a writer. So when I got my job in belts and then sunglasses, I continued to write, but then it just became something that wasn't realistic for me to maintain any longer, and the passion I had for it. I still like to write. I enjoy that, I enjoy storytelling, but I'm not really actively involved with it, and I was 24 years old, living in Manhattan, needed to make money and move on with my life, so that became my priority and my focus.

Speaker 2:

So you had no ego going into belts Because, listen, I've dealt with a lot of people, a lot of fashion people, a lot of people who find themselves to be beautiful people, and you know they see themselves of what themselves to be beautiful people. And you know they see themselves, of what they're able to accomplish, and they're like, oh my God, I should be doing this, I should be doing that. But here I am in belts, belt sales, and I'm going to department stores that are not on a high end, like, hey, how many units do you want to buy? We'll change this color, that color, this buckle. And then you have to throw yourself into it because you're dealing with seasoned people who this is their livelihood. Like, was that like an attitude adjustment? Like, okay, I'm in it, I'm passionate? Or was it like, okay, this is my job for now?

Speaker 1:

Oh no, it was, it was. I'm in it, I'm passionate, I mean, I wanted to be successful, frankly. So that became my objective. It wasn't really about, you know, it wasn't about art and it wasn't about, you know, meeting my life goals at that time. But it was a transition from wanting to be a writer and to just wanting to be a successful person as a young man, you know, living in the city and trying to start my life. Just like we were just talking about my daughter, she's about she's going through the same exact situation, so she's just getting started. So I was looking for whatever that great opportunity was.

Speaker 1:

I was always involved in fashion and retail, so I had a proclivity for it and I had a taste level that worked. I definitely have an ego, but I didn't have an ego that prevented me from doing whatever it took to pay the bills and to be in business. And then I became very driven, you know, to become successful and move up the food chain, so to speak, from an executive flag right. So I went to Viva Sun, which was acquired by Marchand eventually I was national sales manager of, I guess, sunglasses and I left there and I went to Calvin Klein, warnico, which was you know, warnico was the license for Calvin Klein underwear, calvin Klein jeans and Calvin Klein accessories.

Speaker 2:

That's a flex, because to get into Warnico back then even back then was tough, like going from guests where they're, you know it's corporate, but they are scrappy corporate, they don't care. And then going to Warnico that's like buttoned up, white walls, clean everything Like no cursing, like everything is like A to b clean well, there was definitely cursing.

Speaker 1:

But, um, I went there. They had just acquired the license for calvin klein denim from the company that had it before, arnie simons designer holdings, and they with that came the accessories license. So, and they had just sort of rebooted the whole accessories and they hired Ivy Ross, who came over from coach and Mark Cross and she was. She had basically been charged with reinventing the entire Calvert Klein and CK accessories business for men and Ivy hired me to be a national sales manager and within about six months hired me to be a national sales manager. And within about six months I think it was about six months Ivy got an opportunity to go to Mattel and relaunch Barbie.

Speaker 1:

This was in 96, I think and so she left and went to California and reinvented Barbie, iconic Barbie. So great opportunity for her. The decision makers at Warnicko decided that they weren't going to replace Ivy, they were just going to elevate me. So I, as a 26 year old kid, became vice president of Calvin Klein men's accessories and started reporting directly to Bob Mazzoli, who was the president of Calvin Klein underwear, and Danny Gladstone, who was president of Calvin Klein jeans, and then direct report to Linda Walkner, who was the chairman of Warnico.

Speaker 2:

Oh my God. So had she not left, your life would have been totally different.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, very much so. Ivy hired me, mentored me. I learned a lot. She also hired an entire design staff that came with her from Coach and Mark Cross, and one of the designers that she hired is my wife, joy Grison, which is our brand.

Speaker 2:

Well, it wasn't Joy Grison then.

Speaker 1:

No, it was Joy Bleschner. Joy's Korean, but she's adopted by a lovely family in Queens. So she's my little Korean Jew from Queens, joy Bleschner, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Was that just off the record? Well off topic, was that? A bit of a scandal to start interdating, like you know. Ooh, I like the designer and here I'm in sales Like oh, look at this.

Speaker 1:

It wasn't really like that when we were working together, we were just working together and we did not start to date until I left and, frankly, we were about to start to date and I knew that was a conflict and also, frankly, as a 26, 27-year-old guy, in the situation I was in and I started flying around on the corporate jet with Mrs Walkner and the C-suite team at the end of the order to make the numbers for Warnico, which was very high pressure, incredible learning experience and great exposure but, frankly, a little bit over my head and somewhat terrifying at times. I was the youngest guy by 20 years.

Speaker 2:

I'll bet.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, but again great experience. But I got an opportunity to go to another company to launch DKNY Men's Accessories, calder and Klein Accessories. Ck Accessories was doing very, very well, really sort of kicking ass in that space. Ck Accessories was doing very, very well, really sort of kicking ass in that space. Dkny was about to launch a licensed business with John Idol who was the CEO of DKNY at the time, and he started licensing out all the classifications. So Cipriani Accessories acquired the license. They hired me to come in as the president of DKY Men's Accessories and launched that line for them. So I left, calvin Warnicko, went to Cipriani and DKY and we launched DKY Men's.

Speaker 2:

Accessories at a super young age. I mean speaking to someone who, also, at 26, had done more than most people and he was usually the youngest person in the room. And when people said, always ask what was your weakness? My answer was always I don't know how to play golf because I didn't know what else to say. How were you able?

Speaker 2:

Because sales and design it's a very interesting partnership and I fashioned so much of this to like an ad agency because I also work there too. I feel like I've worked in everything, because ad agencies go back and forth, where they will have the entire team design, copywriting, you know everything sales in one buying, and then they'll shift, and then all the design. All the copywriters are here, all the salespeople are here, all the design, all the copywriters are here, all the salespeople are here, all the buyers are here. Working for an accessories brand is so different because sales and design have to work in tandem, because you're the eyes and ears of what the market is dictating, but you can't do everything that the market says and the design team can't create everything that they think they should be there.

Speaker 2:

So how are you so young at that stage in life, especially going on private jets where I would be like probably crapping my pants, like where they're like numbers and this and that, and you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, me too, uh-huh, uh-huh. Take these kinds of experiences and have, because obviously you had to be bold and say, okay, we're going to launch this and it's never been done, or we're going to bring that and that hasn't been done. Like, how are you able to like what were the things that you were like? Okay, as someone who's fairly new, I can see things that other people can't, and how were you able to bring those out? Like, what were things that you were able to make happen that you were like, oh, this hasn't been done. I hope it's received okay.

Speaker 1:

Sure, sometimes I had an innate ability to forecast trend. That's probably. My superpower in my business always has been both in men's and women's and across classifications. It still is. That's probably what I do best. And when you're in sales, if you can figure out what the next thing is going to be before it's there, then you can direct your merch team, your R&D team, your design team, to develop towards that end. That's great. It also helps to have really talented designers that you work with.

Speaker 1:

So I was very fortunate that at Cipriani we had a really talented designer that I worked with to launch DKNY who had come from DKNY corporate. She and I were in lockstep in regards to sort of direction and intention for what we were going to do. So we launched that brand launch like gangbusters, like we killed it. We killed it with that and then John Idol left DKNY, went to Michael Kors and we applied the license for Michael Kors and then we launched that, that too, and we killed it with that. So we continue to just acquire licenses and build out that whole portfolio for Cipriani, which became Lee Fong, which became Global, which became Eccentric and they still do it, and the guys over there are the same guys in some cases that run it and do great with what they do really great business people. At the time that I was there, they were a family-owned business that was run by family members and that sort of had, uh, different pillars of responsibility, and one the gentleman that was in charge of design was one of the owners and he was just a big free spirit who loved creativity, loved design and let his designers do a lot of great stuff. So I had really talented designers to work with, so a lot of credit goes towards them. They did follow direction really, really well.

Speaker 1:

I'm pretty good at forecasting trend and analysis from that standpoint. And then I know how to make the numbers work from my experience at Warnico. You can be at Warnico and not be able to-. No, that's all numbers. Yeah, you got to make the numbers work. You got to make it happen from a budgetary standpoint, from an execution standpoint and bottom line make it happen, make the month, make the quarter and understand what that pressure is all about. But it is a lot easier when you have great product and a great brand right. So I had great brands, I had great products, I had great partners. So you know, my success is all on the shoulders of others.

Speaker 2:

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Speaker 2:

So, in the midst of all this, you and Lady Joy start to continue your relationship.

Speaker 2:

At which point because the whole thing, like you know, grayson, joy, grayson, as a handbag brand, it is one of those institutions.

Speaker 2:

For those who can remember the early 2000s of the pillars of, you know, monica Bach here, minkoff, like all these brands that were at their height, I mean I could go through my book and think, like all these brands that were and no longer and then had been resold and resold like Cuba, you know that the height of that time I believe so much obviously, is product. You have to have the right product. For someone who knows how to make good product, you have to have the right pricing. Obviously, you knew how to do that. You had the factory connections. You knew how to make it deliver on time. But really, at the end of the day, it comes down to timing. The market is not what it used to be, but you have to sniff out like okay, because what I teach my students is that you have to be the fastest, the best or the first Right. So you know, at this point I feel like Joy Grison as a brand was probably the fastest to market because there was a space to take.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so it's interesting. So when we so, joy and I, after I went to DKNY and Cipriani and she left, Went to Mark and she went to Mark Jacobs.

Speaker 1:

She went to Mark and she was design director for accessories for Mark when all those iconic Mark Jacobs it bags the Stella, the Stam all those bags were originally designed and developed underneath Joy's watch, mark by Mark was just. It was also launched underneath Joy and her friend that she had hired to bring in. So she had a lot of success with that. So she had been working nonstop developing a great line for Mark and business and spending a ton of time in Italy. I was working nonstop launching all these brands for Cipriani and we had just been married and moved to Tribeca and got pregnant with our daughter, olivia, and we had the baby and we decided we needed to make a lifestyle change because we really weren't around a lot, we weren't able to spend time together or with our young family. So Joy resigned and then I resigned shortly thereafter. And this was Was that terrifying? So Joy resigned and then I resigned shortly thereafter and this was terrifying.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it was terrifying because I was trying so much. The intention was that we were going to be very responsible, young adults and like, move to the suburbs and I'd get another corporate job and do that. And instead we launched our own handbag line and consultancy firm. So we started designing consult for other brands to pay the bills, you know, go to market.

Speaker 2:

How did you find those clients? Were people like you know, like hey Peter, I hear you're on the market, come help.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, sort of that was part of it. And then once we did launch Gryson, we launched with a lot of fanfare, like people, the biggest handbag line at the time was Marc Jacobs, Like it was, you know, the biggest thing you know globally, you know, in 2005. And Joy was responsible for a lot of those designs. So when we launched Joy or we launched Bryson, as the ex-design director for Marc Jacobs, we launched with Stephen Allen Showroom and oh, my God, yeah, stephen Allen.

Speaker 1:

They also had our press at the time, so we had a full page article in Women's Wear and Harper's Bazaar Vogue. Everybody picked it up.

Speaker 2:

Why did you pick your last name?

Speaker 1:

You know, that was actually so full disclosure. We weren't really sure what we were going to do, but the whole idea of doing this business was a little bit of a fever dream, like we were thinking about it and talking about it. We had a couple ideas in regards to designs at Washington Market Park in Tribeca and she was playing with another little boy and his father came over and we introduced ourselves and that was Stephen.

Speaker 2:

Stop it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's how we met. So Stephen, stephen Zillow and I met because our kids were playing together, so then we went to have a little Only in Tribeca.

Speaker 2:

Would that be a strategic meeting being like?

Speaker 1:

Yeah right, so then we went to Tribeca.

Speaker 2:

Would that be a strategic meeting, being like like? I met Alicia Silverstone at the playground in Tompkins Square Park and her kid threw sand in my son's face and I'm like, and he would? My son was crying and I was like you're okay. My daughter was like he's crying, I'm like you know, I'm talking to her Like we're going to be best friends, like I don't care that he punched him in the face, he'll be fine. He'll be fine If he goes to therapy. He won't remember that. We'll cover everything. Well done.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it was very funny. So we went to lunch, we shared what each other's did and he said that's interesting, I just launched a brand Botcare and they're actually going to go in-house so I have a space. So then we started talking. So then Steven and I actually formed a partnership. So Steven was originally a partner in Gryson not just a showroom, but actually a partner in equity. So, we built the line, built the whole plan.

Speaker 2:

So he was the one that said Gryson, or you were like whatever I can't think of anything.

Speaker 1:

Back to the question. Yes, he was the one that said Gryson or you were like whatever, I can't think of anything. Back to the question. Yes, he was the one who basically suggested Gryson. So I was thinking Joy or something to play off the words, and he was like no, I like Gryson. It's got a cool name, it's got a cool vibe, it's sort of androgynous and it feels very European. It's got some strength.

Speaker 2:

Did you call your parents and been like yo? Our last name's androgynous and European Like that. All of a sudden it's alluring, but you didn't think of that. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1:

My father was very proud, and so that's how we picked Gryson. And then I had a design partner from my past at Cipriani, who had moved to Italy and started a design studio in Florence. So I got him involved and he also had equity in the business. So everybody got equity through sweat equity. Everybody believed in the project, they got vested through performance and I gave them equity because I couldn't pay them anything.

Speaker 2:

Right, of course.

Speaker 1:

On the first year. So we'd made the first line of Dreiss and All out of Italy, produced it out of Italy and, as I said, when we launched, we launched with a great distribution, launched with Barneys, bergdorf, neemans and Isotan in Japan and it was exclusive to Isotan in Japan for APAC. That was their requirement. Barneys was mad that I sold Bergdorf, bergdorf was mad I sold barney's but I wanted the neiman's, so I that's why I sold bergdorf. I didn't sell sax the first season. I let them come on board the second season was that with lincoln more?

Speaker 1:

back then. Yeah, lincoln, who's the?

Speaker 2:

best I love him.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you know he's awesome.

Speaker 2:

He was one of my first people for the Handbag Awards because he gave Carlos Falchi his lifetime achievement and the best thing about Lincoln and I love him so much. But he required hair and makeup. That was his rider. I'm like dude, you have no hair, come on.

Speaker 1:

That's great. Yeah, Lincoln was a great supporter of ours. You have no hair, Come on. That's great. He's the best Great supporter of ours. So that was in 2006 that we actually launched. Then we expanded our distribution and our business became, you know, pretty strong globally. And we had an unfortunate situation there in our second season when Barney's came in and ordered late, you know, but they're Barneys right so they came in and they said-.

Speaker 2:

They didn't pay you.

Speaker 1:

Well, no, they paid me, they just ordered late. So they came in after I'd already closed the market because they wanted to see how the first season performed. And when it first launched, you know we shipped in the fall and you know it sat on the floor for about a week or two before everybody knew who we were and they missed the market day. So they weren't sure they were going to reorder. But then two weeks later it sold out a hundred percent. So then they came racing back and said, can we order? And we said yes, but then they wanted to change all the deliveries, the color, they wanted to change everything. That's very Barney's, yeah, but but they're Barney's. So I said yeah.

Speaker 1:

So I tried to do it. So I flew to Italy, I rearranged my entire production schedule and we were with the factory that was making Chloe, balenciaga and some Dior, as you know, but mainly they were a huge Chloe manufacturer and we thought we were in a really good spot with them. And then they sold to another larger entity. So my relationship with the owner of that factory went to another ownership relationship. So I had to go back to Italy again and sort of establish who I was.

Speaker 2:

Start over.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and it's difficult. We were a young independent brand working in Italy. Lots of cash advances that were required, et cetera, et cetera, and then I'm rearranging all the production flow. So everything was challenging, right, so that was difficult. My partners that were there were American, you know, so they also didn't have that type of you know standing with the Italians. Even though they lived in influence full-time, they hadn't established themselves yet as a development house had anybody at that point tried to acquire you.

Speaker 2:

Because I know I've spoken to Monica so many times and she's like we shot up so quickly, so fast. We were making so much. I had buyers courting me right, left and center and then she said no, no, no. And then the market dropped and then she was like oh damn, like going back to them and they're like who are you? I can't help you.

Speaker 2:

And it's funny because as much as you were an expert before running other people's businesses and being who you are, you took them on as your own and like you took everything personally and like down to your core, like all the sales, the Monday numbers. But when it's your own and you're like I got a wife, I got a kid, I got real estate, I got overhead, I got this Like it's a different kind of anxiety. You get walking through an airport in Italy to go meet an American in a factory who has no pull, no clout, and you're like Jesus Christ, like I can't leave until, like, these dates change and this new Italian guy trusts me personally, and like everything was just hinging on everything. I mean, people don't know stress until you go through this and it's all on your shoulders. You're like I can't breathe. What am I going to do?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, 100%. You're like I can't breathe. What am I going to do? Yeah, 100. And to that, to that end, our business got so big, so quick, that we uh, we, we decided we had to, we had to finance the production and, with all these shifts and the advances that were required, we, we made the decision to sell our loft in tribeca and then start to rent a place instead and get that cash from that.

Speaker 2:

So where were you living?

Speaker 1:

Where'd you move? We just moved down the street in Tribeca. We went from one address on Reed Street to another address on Reed Street, but with the cash that we got from the sale we were able to finance our inventory for the first two production runs and keep it moving. But it was a tough decision to make and there was other things.

Speaker 2:

You decided to say you had to sit down. You were like a baby napping and you're like okay, Joy, I think we need to sell this and we'll rent down the block. If you ever wanted to start a handbag brand and didn't know where to start, this is for you. If you had dreams of becoming a handbag designer but aren't trained in design, this is for you. If you have a handbag brand and need strategy and direction, this is for you. I'm Emily Blumenthal, handbag designer expert and handbag fairy godmother, and this is the Handbag Designer 101 Masterclass. Over the next 10 classes, I will break down everything you need to know to make, manufacture and market a handbag brand. Broken down to ensure that you will not only skip steps in the handbag building process, but also to save money to avoid the learning curve of costly mistakes.

Speaker 2:

For the past 20 years, I've been teaching at the top fashion universities in New York City, wrote the Handbag Designer Bible, founded the Handbag Awards and created the only Handbag Designer podcast. I'm going to show you like I have countless brands to create in this in-depth course, from sketch to sample to sale, whether you're just starting out and don't even know where to start or begin, or if you had a brand and need some strategic direction. The Handbag Designer 101 Masterclass is just for you. So let's get started and you'll be the creator of the next it Bag. Join me, emily Blumenthal, in the Handbag Designer 101 Masterclass. So be sure to sign up at emilyblumenthalcom slash masterclass and type in the code PINECAST to get 10% off your masterclass today.

Speaker 1:

To get 10% off your masterclass today. There was other situations that were involved in it as well, but that's sort of the way it played out. And then the unfortunate thing when we went into that second season, after I rearranged my entire production flow for Bardi's and the factory had changed hands in ownership, I was sitting in my design studio with Joy and we had one employee at the time and I got a Google alert that said Chloe Givenchy, bryson Todd, and it was from the Italian newspaper. It was all in Italian.

Speaker 2:

About the factory.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it was about the factory. I'm like like, oh my god, my name's mentioned with all these cool brands, that's so cool. And then when I did the google translate, it said all of these brands have been making counterfeit goods with illegal chinese labor in italy and they've all been remanded by the italian authorities. So then I call my partner in florence. I'm like what happened? What? What the F? And it turns out that this new owner because my business was small had outsourced to like an illegal sweatshop in Florence, in Scandici, and my goods got caught by the authorities and I had no idea what was happening. He wasn't telling me that he was doing that, I didn't authorize it and then I couldn't get my production out of. That was happening. He wasn't telling me that he was doing that, I didn't authorize it and then I couldn't get my production out of that because the italian authorities were blocking down on that. There was a real crackdown on the illegal chinese labor at that time, right, so I delivered two months late to barnes.

Speaker 1:

They were god, I already feel sick hearing this, yeah you know sell through, you know spring, spring season, yeah, everything was delayed.

Speaker 2:

You missed your window, period, I missed my window.

Speaker 1:

How did we sell? Set us back Very difficult. We continued to grow, but then we went into 2007 and 2008 where the whole you know the economy tanked. You know the recession happened, you know the banking, you know the whole thing with Fannie Mae and the home mortgage and everything completely collapsed and to your point, right before then, lvmh had inquired about acquiring the brand.

Speaker 1:

I met with Delphine Arnaud. She had seen our product at Isotan Shijinko in Tokyo. We had a huge play there. We were doing extremely well in Japan and tons of celebrities were wearing our product at Isotan Shijinko in Tokyo. We had a huge play there, we were doing extremely well in Japan and tons of celebrities were wearing our product. So there was a real interest in our brand from LVMH at the time. So we were just starting those conversations. Then the whole economy tanked right. So we kept pushing through making out of Italy, starting to diversify the production out of China as well to manage margins, balancing out. Then I introduced a diffusion line, which was very early to do so and I didn't really say that it was a diffusion line. I just introduced younger, casual, more aggressive.

Speaker 2:

Was that Joy Grayson?

Speaker 1:

That was Olivia Harris.

Speaker 2:

Oh, right, right, right, right right.

Speaker 1:

I did Olivia Harris, which was my daughter's name, olivia Harris Grisom is her full name. Harris is my mother's maiden name and that was a younger contemporary brand a little bit more aggressive, like a more accessible Alexander Wang. You know lots of hardware and washed bags, post-construction stuff like that. Very cool. Saks loved it. Saksincoln and jennifer assinger, who was the buyer at the time, came in and said bryson's fine, we love. Bryson is on the main floor. We're right next to alaya, you know, and uh and valenciaga that's where I sat, uh right right little alcove.

Speaker 1:

But the contemporary business is where the business is and their price points are very hard to sustain Because we were like $800, $900. Right, right, right. We were higher than the Coopers and the Bacchieras. We were in that white space Just below right around Alexander Wang, philip Lim price points Anyway. So Olivia Harris was more $400 and below and so we lost that and that did great. So we were really lucky with that, got a lot of great press. We didn't say that it was by us, you know. We didn't say it was part of Joy Grice's school initially and that did great and we kept building off of that. That became a bigger business than Joy Grice. Joy Grice was the Halo product, continued to develop our business throughout the world, globally. You know people would kick the tires about acquiring us. Let's ask us what size the business was, you know. And so when you get to be 50 million, that's when we want to buy you. I was like, when I get to be 50 million, I don't need you to buy me.

Speaker 2:

Right, exactly, I'm just fine at 50 million. I'm good, I am good, I'm good.

Speaker 1:

That was one of those weird things. But, um, and I'm good, I am good, I'm good, that was one of those weird things. And then we continued to develop that line. We continued to consult for other brands as well. We opened up a showroom, took sales back in-house, opened up a big showroom on 180 Varick Street in the West Village, 5,000-square-foot showroom and design studio.

Speaker 2:

My God, you're like collecting overhead for fun.

Speaker 1:

Big time. But I had like eight different brands at that time that we were designing for, modeling for, and I was licensing as well. I was taking on licenses and I had Gryson, I had Olivia Harris and I was introducing Tribeca by Joy Gryson, which was a phone flopping brand. So I had three tiers of price points. I had a license with the Nellipore, I had contract work with a lot of different brands and I had a staff now of about 20 designers and developers.

Speaker 2:

Oh, my God.

Speaker 1:

Right now in sales. So we did all that and we did that for about four years in that model and then I really wasn't enjoying the wholesale experience. Stores were very difficult to work, with lots of consult, right, as everybody knows. So then I decided I wanted to go more direct. So I opened up my own store in tribeca, across from steven allen's store on franklin street I don't know.

Speaker 2:

Was Stephen Allen still part of it at this point?

Speaker 1:

At that point, stephen and I made an agreement. I bought him out, so I took 100%.

Speaker 2:

Was that amicable?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, totally, stephen's still a good friend and he was helpful and remains helpful to me in any way that I need. He just reopened his own store in Chelsea and he's doing great. So yeah, it was totally amicable and you know, he got his money back. It was all good from that standpoint. But yeah, we were right across the street from Stephen and I had a storefront showroom and a design studio in that space on Franklin Street and we launched the Tribeca line, we had the Libby Harris line, we had the olivia harris line, we had the joy grice on. So I changed the branding from grison to joy grison at that point because I had too many brands underneath the sort of silo to to explain it. So I had to explain it through the marketing and the brand positioning. It's all done by joy. She's the creative power behind it all. So it's joy grison, halo olivia harris by joy grison, which is our daughter, and tribeca by joyson, which is our neighborhood and our community Was she drained, was Joy's tank empty?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, totally.

Speaker 2:

Because what you're explaining right now is the trajectory of and I don't want to say traditional or basic, but this is of that time all that makes sense. Like you start out with one, you have a diffusion, then you have a spinoff, then you private label, then you start developing, now you're consulting. But, like all of this, at some point you hit a wall and you're like, oh, I don't want, like, no, I'm done, I don't want to store, I don't want to hire people, I don't want product. It is so much and you've accomplished so much, and I know COVID hit and I know Korea ends up playing a huge part of what's going on in your life right now. But what was your tipping point moment to say, okay, I don't want to do any of this anymore, like I'm good, I'm good store and launched Tribeca, we decided we weren't going to consult for people anymore.

Speaker 1:

We weren't going to do any more consulting and any more licensing. We were just going to focus on our own brand and focus more direct and take the emphasis off of wholesale as well, which was forward thinking but, at the same time, super challenging. We just cut off most of our revenue. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Cause that cause you didn't have to front any of that, Like that was just money coming in that you didn't have to worry about anything. It's like I'm running somebody else's brand and business so good, bad ugly, I'm still getting paid.

Speaker 1:

Right, exactly, the consulting was incredibly profitable and very successful for all our partners but, you know, very demanding because they're your client and the client's always right. You got to do everything that they need Need you to do. The wholesale was not necessarily profitable but it still was revenue streams that was much larger than our direct business. At the time I just saw the writing on the wall that all the consolidations, everything else, and I didn't create a good, you know, dot com business. I didn't have a retail experience. My brand would die. So I took the leap of faith that I did that. I opened up a second store in Brooklyn, in Boreham Hill on Atlantic Avenue, smaller footprint but it was also very productive. And I was doing pop-up stores in Chelsea as well. Pop-up shops, you know, here and there.

Speaker 1:

As the pop-up shop craze started to take hold, my business continued to grow dramatically in Asia and my distribution partners in Japan and Korea both started to position themselves to become exclusive for all of APAC my business. Frankly, I went with the guys that were bigger and easier to work with, who promised more, and that was my partners in Korea. Their vision was to open up freestanding stores, sell direct-to-cons stores, sell direct to consumer, not a wholesale model, and not distribute it to other brands or other stores and have Joy Grice in stores and shop in shops and to expand the brand from just handbags into a lifestyle, introduced ready-to-wear. We had already done shoes out of Italy, but they wanted to do shoes out of Asia, and cosmetics eventually, and jewelry, so I ended up going into a distribution arrangement with him for that in 2014. And then in 2016, I basically went into a joint venture with them and moved all my operations to Korea, closed my stores.

Speaker 2:

Was that hard or there was no emotion in business. You were like okay, fine, next, Sorry, guys.

Speaker 1:

It was really hard because, I mean, I didn't. There was a couple of factors. The person who owned the building in Tribeca was selling the building, so I was going to get relocated, no matter what. My lease was up and I was going to get relocated and the new person that was coming in was converting it to condos, so I didn't have an opportunity to negotiate and renew my lease. So that drove a lot of the decision making. But when they made they basically made me an offer that was financially too good to refuse.

Speaker 1:

And to your question about being burnt out, joy and I were both burnt out from running the business the way we had been running it.

Speaker 1:

So this was an opportunity for us to step back and just control the design of the creative and have our partners handle all the operations and execution standpoint. And the department store business had basically gone away at that point anyway, because I was turning it away, I didn't want it any longer. I really, you know, better boutiques, which is really just like netta porte and essence and stuff like that at that time, because I really wanted better boutiques, which is really just like Net-a-Porter and Essence and stuff like that at that time, because I really wanted an online business and strong online presence and a direct-to-consumer relationship. I didn't really want to do wholesale, so it wasn't difficult to turn that off. It was difficult emotionally to close the store because it was my dream to have my own store. But then I opened up a store in Itaewon in Seoul. Literally the month that I closed my store in Tribeca I flew to Seoul and there's a huge George Rison flagship store in Itaewon, so I was very proud of that.

Speaker 2:

Can I ask you, throughout all of this like the closing of everything and you have this small family at this, you have a teenage daughter who probably made it just as challenging as running the businesses Did you ever say, okay, guys, we're going on a vacation, we're not going to look at our phones, We've got to unplug. Just because we've been through so much, I mean, this in itself is so phenomenal and like this whole conversation is such a accomplishment flex. Were you ever like, okay, we got to take a breath? Or like you know, this is who I am, I'm going to keep going Like, did you ever have this moment Like I got to press pause, at least for a week, a day, a minute? Did that ever cross your mind?

Speaker 1:

Of course, and we certainly tried. We tried to do that and I would make a priority and make sure that Joy and Olivia would have that time to do that when we would go away to wherever that might be. But I always got screwed. I got screwed in that occasion, you know, but the business was still running, you know, payroll still had to be met All those you know. The store still had to operate, the production still had to flow. So you know, and again, we did it all self-financed. There was never any outside money. It was always a challenge and a strain. So I was always on calls and on was before Zooms and stuff like that, but my phone was binging all the time. So that was unfortunate. But the joy of living those chances to decompress and just be a mommy and a daughter, which was great, and again that really influenced a lot of the decisions we made to make that a priority and that's part of the reason why we ended up into the JV, that we went with our partners in Korea.

Speaker 2:

Droid Venture yeah.

Speaker 1:

At the end of the day, we ended up in a full partnership with them. So right before COVID I flew to Seoul. We had been talking about it for a while. They wanted global distribution rights because they only had APAC previously and I basically sold them. You know, basically 50% of the business of the IP, I mean, granted them global distribution rights. And that day COVID broke out in Seoul for the first time, it was like six cases in Seoul and like, oh my God, you know better, get out of Korea, get out of Asia, because you know the COVID situation it was. You know, no one even called the COVID. Then they were like this is flu in Asia, we don't even know what it is. So I was terrified of that. So I jumped on a plane with the entire cast of Parasite which was flying in to get with the Oscar for Parasite. I happened to be flying with them in business class, which was very weird, but I signed the deal and then that happened and then the world shut down, right.

Speaker 1:

So all the expansion plans and all the things that we want to do globally were put on pause. We had also signed off on a marketing plan for the next two seasons in Korea in regards, uh, what we're going to do to really promote the brand? Because it was, it was still a relatively small brand in the korean market and just getting going. We had like five stores at the time and the marketing plan was about product placement on korean k dramas you know these soap operas and dramas that they broadcast on prime time there and it was really heavy-handed. I thought it was a little, frankly, a little gauche. It wasn't really my vibe, but my partner's like no, this is really effective. So we did that and because it was COVID and everybody was forced to stay at home, these two K-dramas that we placed all over the product in became the most watched television programs in the history of Korean broadcast and they broadcast in the China as well. So our online business went through the roof and everybody in Asia was buying Joey Gryson product nonstop and just our brand awareness spiked dramatically.

Speaker 1:

And as things got more settled with a career, we started to build out and build out and build out, and now we have launched ready-to-wear. We have launched shoes Next month, shoes are relaunching Launched jewelry. We've you know we're sold in all the better stores throughout Asia from a wholesale standpoint now, as well as our own stores. We have 54 of our own stores and shop-in-shops throughout Asia Joy, Grace and boutiques and the shop-in-shops and online platforms that we control so the business is going to be a very substantial business, ready to where it's just getting started. We developed and designed the wine in New York initially at the end of COVID, sampled it here, sent it to Korea for reproduction. Now we have a whole design team in Seoul for ready to wear, a design team for shoes, design team for jewelry and the design team underneath jewelry for handbags and basically we do Zooms almost every night during the week. Touch base with our team and my partner was a great guy and his family are very successful at what they do great executors.

Speaker 2:

Who knew all of this would come full circle?

Speaker 1:

Yeah it's crazy. That's the crazy thing. She was born in Busan, south Korea, and adopted when she was three years old, after she was left on a train. Oh my God, when her mother died in birth, she was left on a train at an orphanage. The police brought her to an orphanage six weeks after she was born. She was adopted by the Blaschner family when she was three and nobody in Korea knows she's Korean. They just think she's George Gresham from New York. They promote the business, not the designer. Or if they look it up, they see her background. But it's not like in the US, where you promote the designer as much.

Speaker 2:

Right right, right, right right.

Speaker 1:

So no one even knows. So we have a store in Busan. That's wild. It's a beautiful big store in a mall and it's very possible that her natural family walks by that store or they shop in that store.

Speaker 2:

That is.

Speaker 1:

They have no idea that that's their sister or their daughter or their niece.

Speaker 2:

That's wild. I mean the full circle impact and it's like that's enough to make one cry, because it's almost like cosmic justice that she's able to come back on her own terms within that. It's just that's properly magical.

Speaker 1:

It really is, yeah it's like it's made for TV movie stuff. Right, it's made for TV movie stuff. It's crazy. And then, if you are fortunate enough to know Joy, joy's also pretty much the nicest person in the world and there's nobody who knows Joy or gets associated with Joy who doesn't come away with that impression. And then she's unbelievably talented and very beautiful, and so I'm lucky. All the things that had to happen for her to come into my life and for us to be able to do this, and then that full circle thing happening back in South Korea, it's really, it's magical, right.

Speaker 2:

I mean honestly, peter, this has been such an inspirational, really moving conversation because you know, there's so many life lessons to extrapolate from this, like and I think so many people get swept up into the ego of failure or the ego of going to work in a classification like belts that they might say, like hold on, I'm better than belts. But there's no excuse for hard work and hustle. And I always tell designers, if you have an opportunity to day job within the field that is remotely of interest, even adjacent, being able to understand margins and deliveries and factories and how to communicate with the factory, how to communicate with the factory that doesn't speak your language, how to be respectful of how they need things. And it's not about you, it's about how you give it to them, because that's the only way you're going to get what you need. Like I've spoken about this that when I had my first delivery I think it was to Nordstrom I had a factory in India that I did not know celebrated Ramadan.

Speaker 2:

No one told me they celebrated Ramadan. I had no idea. Why would I know? I didn't even know they shut down, but I had deliveries that were coming and I kept emailing like I don't have an update, can you please tell me? And it got to the point where I was.

Speaker 2:

You know, sounding like a psycho designer I was still. I don't even want to use youth as an excuse. I had a delivery to make. I didn't know what to do, so I kept emailing, and emailing, and emailing and I got this scathing email in butchered English basically saying how dare you not be respectful? As a result, we're going to push you last for production because they had my money already and I'm like. So there's all these nuances that make you learn that so much of this is not about you. If you need to get things from people and all of those life lessons like I can't even imagine the Google Translate of saying, oh my god, like what? I mean no, and then having to try and clear your name. And is it worth trying to clear your name for that? So you know, it's. That's just so much to go through and say, okay, we got to keep going forward. We don't have a choice like we're in this.

Speaker 1:

that's it, you don't have a choice and you know I, always, when I was corporate, I used to have a screensaver that, just you know, what does not kill you makes you stronger. I feel exactly the same way same we had horrible experiences running the business on our own with production and cash flow and people stealing from you factories, taking your money and disappearing over the night. Yeah, oh check check, check.

Speaker 2:

I had my, my first assistant stole my entire database and left and then went crickets on me and I didn't know anything about it. And and the wild thing is, then I was getting emails from designers because I'd worked with hundreds of thousands of them saying, by the way, you know, I don't like what you did to her. And I'm now with her and I'm like like I've like I funded her lifestyle, I was paying her college loans, I delivered food to her when she was sick, you know, and this was like my right hand and you know you, unfortunately, you gotta go through these horrible things to learn like, okay, I can't show my cards to people, I need to be thoughtful, I need to be strategic and it's business, it's all business, that's it.

Speaker 1:

It is business, and it's really good, though, to remain human. You know about everything and have perspective, and you know, treat people the way you want to be treated.

Speaker 2:

You know that's all Exactly.

Speaker 1:

But yeah, so lots of really really difficult life lessons, and then you know, have no choice, right, so you're going to get through it. I probably should have stopped what I was doing multiple, multiple times and I didn't, and I still haven't, but yeah, so I mean, so that's where we're at. We're opening up a new store in hanam in seoul in two weeks. Joey and I are going to go in about on october 15th for the store opening, for the grand opening. Amazing, yeah, it's a. It's a multi-floored store. They're calling it the house of joy. Um, where'd you do our shoe line within that store? Very small capsule issues, but we like the direction so far. Yeah, so we're really really really quite blessed, very lucky, you know, and everybody's healthy, so it's good, except for me.

Speaker 2:

There you go. Oh my god, peter, how can people find you follow you? Should they, if they ever were interested, find you on linkedin? Is that the place to go, yeah?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, go to LinkedIn. I'm out there. I still consult for a lot of other people during the day because I'm on Zoos at night with my partners. I do a lot of things in ready-to-wear, a lot of things in collaborations, both men's and women's, so I'm really interested in that space. Just because bags are great, but that's where I made my bedding butter, but I really do like apparel a lot, so I'm very interested in that. So, yeah, linkedin is an easy way to find me. For Joy Grison, go to our Insta IG, which is joygrison underscore official, and you can follow us there. Our new line just dropped for fall it looks great.

Speaker 1:

Amazing and then our website is joygrisoncom, which will link to our joygrison, korea website can you get things shipped from korea here?

Speaker 1:

yeah, you could have. We were doing that before with the diminutives, but now it's going to be a little bit prohibitive, but you can. And then there's a number of online sites 29cmCM and WConcept. Both have Joy Grison shop and shops that we own and they can handle logistics of shipping to the US, but I frankly don't even know, with the tariffs and the lack of the de minimis being removed, what the costs associated would be. We do plan to reactivate in the US. It's actually been the plan since I sold global distribution rights right before COVID, but between COVID, economic headwinds and expansion in other categories throughout Asia, it just hasn't been a priority.

Speaker 2:

Right right, right right.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, got it. We keep talking about it like it's going to happen, like we're going to do a new flagship in downtown, and I keep looking at real estate, but we haven't done it yet, so it's not not evident.

Speaker 2:

Things to come, but just for everybody listening, it's G-R-Y-S-O-N. Fantastic, thank you. Thank you so much, peter, for joining us. This has been amazing.

Speaker 1:

It was really nice talking to you and catching up.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. Thanks for listening. Don't forget to rate and review, and follow us on every single platform at Handbag Designer. Thanks so much. See you next time.

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