Nasty Gal founder Sophia Amoruso is publishing her first book #GIRLBOSS. But who is the quietly powerful fashion maverick?
We’re a little bit in love with Nasty Gal founder and owner Sophia Amoruso. Nasty Gal is an online retailer, selling clothes, shoes and accessories, which was picked by Inc. Magazine in 2012 as one of "the fastest growing companies," and it doesn't look like it will be slowing down anytime soon.
Amoruso at The Greek America Foundation's Gabby Awards at the El Capitan Theatre on May 25
At just 28 years old Amoruso, dubbed “a cinderella of tech,” by the New York Times, is a pioneer in the fashion world. And she just seems really cool, too. But here’s why we love Amoruso. She is the ultimate provider of hope in the modern world. At 22 she started up her own eBay store selling pieces of vintage designer clothing, named “Nasty Gal Vintage.” Not so unusual, hey? We’ve all given the whole eBay selling thing a go (usually unrealistically thinking “I’m certain my pair of old battered boots are going to fetch a cool couple of hundred dollars!”) but Amoruso gave the venture her own spin. Rather than just snapping the items and putting them up for sale, she would style, photograph, describe and ship them herself.
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In 2008 eBay booted her off their service and she started up her own retail website. Nasty Gal was born and speedily picked up a loyal fanbase and became a fashion bloggers favourite. From 2008 to 2011 Nasty Gal’s revenue increased from $223,000 to $23 million. Nasty Gal is now worth over $100 million and Amoruso is, rather quietly, one of the most successful women in the fashion industry today.
So, to inspire other women to take control of their own careers, offer advice and insight, Amoruso has published her first book, titled #GIRLBOSS (a super modern title for a super modern rags to riches story). Semi-autobiography-come-self-help-book, #GIRLBOSS professes, “This book will not teach you how to get rich quick, break into the fashion industry, or start a business. It is neither a feminist manifesto or a memoir.”
What it does promise to do it show the harsh reality of life at the bottom, before picking yourself up, working hard, and climbing all the way to the top. She details how her first eBay sale was for a stolen book, when, at the time, she was working in a dead-end job to attain health insurance to fund a hernia op.
Amoruso would photograph, style and ship all of the products on her eBay store
Amoruso tells her story frankly and without apology (but also without encouraging similar behaviour - don't go stealing books to start you multi-million dollar fashion empires, you lot!) in the hope that it will inspire other women and show them that there is always a recovery and hope.
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