"It's ever been my dream to be a CEO of a manner brand," Ginny Seymour, CEO of modern women's manner marque Aligne, tells Entrepreneur.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Aligne. CEO Ginny Seymour.
A fashion industry seasoned who started her profession arsenic a modern purchaser astatine Saks Fifth Avenue, Seymour had an opportunity to recognize that goal pinch Aligne, primitively founded by Dalbir Bains arsenic a wholesale women's manner marque successful London successful 2020.
Seymour envisioned a caller era for Aligne — the marque could capable a achromatic abstraction she saw successful modern women's clothing: the request for design-led, wearable pieces astatine an accessible value point, delivered pinch an omnichannel approach.
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Seymour group retired to make it happen, fundamentally "refounding" the company. She joined the business arsenic managing head successful 2022, relaunched Aligne nether her imagination successful 2023 and was officially named CEO successful 2024.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Aligne
"I felt partners [had to be] a immense portion of the story."
During her first respective years arsenic CEO, Seymour focused connected Aligne's community building online and "design handwriting," past branched retired from a direct-to-consumer strategy to an omnichannel attack pinch U.S. unit partners.
In fact, contempt being a London-founded brand, Aligne sees a larger portion of its business unfolding successful the U.S., Seymour says.
The CEO moreover precocious relocated from London to New York to support the U.S. agency and squad arsenic the marque continues its description .
" We're still based successful the UK, truthful I recreation backmost and forth," Seymour says. "London to maine is our imaginative hub; it's portion of our DNA being a British brand. That's ace important to maine and thing we don't want to lose. So we're very overmuch creatively driven retired of London, but commercially driven retired of the U.S."
Image Credit: Courtesy of Aligne
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As a still comparatively young British brand, Aligne gains validation pinch a U.S. assemblage done retailers that person loyal customer bases.
"In the UK, it's easier to beryllium direct-to-consumer only because the UK is overmuch smaller and much attainable," Seymour says. "But successful the U.S., to resonate arsenic the adjacent modern marque that group should beryllium looking at, I felt partners [had to be] a immense portion of the story."
Aligne precocious launched pinch Nordstrom, a retailer Seymour says she'd ever hoped to partner pinch 1 day, aft the institution direct-messaged her to definitive its liking successful the brand. Aligne is besides disposable astatine Anthropologie.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Aligne
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"There's little visibility [into] the analytics and who your customer is. You person to really listen."
Despite the semipermanent extremity to grow successful retail, Seymour first prioritized knowing Aligne arsenic a marque and its relationship to customers earlier tackling those partnerships, appreciating really important that strategy is for sustainable success.
Whether you're refounding a business that already exists aliases starting 1 from scratch, knowing who your customer is — and quickly — will make aliases break its growth. "And that's easier said than done," the CEO notes. "There are truthful galore factors. With each iOS update, there's little visibility [into] the analytics and who your customer is. You person to really listen."
Aligne's target customers are "confident, working" women, and acknowledging what those consumers wanted successful a clothing statement helped guideline the brand's creation displacement and the guidance of its collection, Seymour says.
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Dialing into that customer guidelines is paying off. Aligne ended its fiscal twelvemonth successful July 2025 pinch 56% year-over-year revenue growth and gross approaching 8 figures.
Most of Aligne's pieces are priced betwixt $100 and $300. Although Seymour recognizes why immoderate brands germinate into the "premium contemporary" abstraction amid rising costs and tariff challenges, she says the institution is committed to its accessible value point.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Aligne
"I quickly had to study wherever I didn't want to thin and really to make judge to get the support."
Being a CEO is simply a batch harder than Seymour thought it would beryllium erstwhile she was 20 years old, she admits. But she appreciates really the occupation has allowed her to tie connected her acquisition arsenic a buyer, which demanded a "balance of creation and science" overmuch for illustration the executive domiciled does.
"[There mightiness beryllium a] week that I'm truthful creator and designing the conception and the line, and there's different days wherever I'm decidedly leaning into the science," Seymour says. "But I quickly had to study wherever I didn't want to thin and really to make judge to get the support successful those areas because a CEO wears truthful galore hats."
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One of the biggest lessons Seymour's learned during her tenure arsenic CEO truthful acold is the worth successful listening to her instincts — moreover erstwhile it's difficult. Over the first mates of months of the company's refounding, Seymour sometimes hesitated to opportunity what she wanted, past didn't get the results that she desired.
"Three months in, I had this infinitesimal wherever I brought the squad together and was overmuch clearer astir what I wanted," Seymour says. "That brought them much connected the travel pinch me, and it solidified america arsenic a squad and our values. If you person an thought and you're building your ain business, trusting your gut and not being frightened to opportunity it is powerful."
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