Why I’m Rooting For SSENSE #unsponsored but i should be
Stay tuned till end for a haul ;)
PROLOGUE
We all make mistakes.
I know they failed to pay their vendors. Hiring a truly strong CFO is hard. It’s a family business. One that scaled quickly. And at the end of the day, it’s an immigrant-born company. Have they fucked with me before through customer service? Yes. But have they also done enough to keep me loyal? Also yes. Thank you for the drip.
I’ve been an SSENSE shopper since 2015. I can confidently say I put multiple people onto SSENSE purely through word of mouth. I am claiming that. At the time, Farfetch reigned supreme in online luxury fashion marketplaces—but the concept of buying luxury fashion online still felt foreign to many. Brick-and-mortar retail was king. We were standing right at the intersection of physical retail and digital commerce.
Only time I had FOMO was not being in this pic lmfao
QUEEN’S COMMERCE PLUG LOL
I want to do a self plug to say that this was essentially the vision and theme of the conference I co-Chaired, Queen’s Retail Forum, alongside my friend Annika Kwok (Class of Queen’s Commerce 2017, now at Pinterest) in 2017 - my 3rd year of university. The Era of the Empowered Shopper. S/o Annika for holding our team down & the extended team… Matt, Olivia x2, Mariana, Jake, Charlene, Aidan, Anna, Heather, Sam Chow, Juliet, Lauren, Adrienne, Anna, Sabrina, Julianna, Morgan, Allison, Ginny, Rhea. For helping our small but mighty vision come to life. While I was in Paris LMFAOOOOOOO <3. Love y’all.
They’re def all doing cool shit.
<3
SNIPPET OF ME LEADING A TEAM LMFAO #FUN BUT CRAZY KINDA
WHY RETAIL MATTERED (AND STILL DOES)
When Alex and Emma passed the torch to Annika and me, we ran with one clear mission: inspire students to pursue careers in retail—and expand the narrow perception that Commerce careers were limited to Accounting or CPG.
At the time, retail was confusing. Massive industry. Very few dedicated courses. As someone deeply inspired by fashion then—and still am—retail felt like the perfect intersection of creativity, business, and technology.
I was especially interested in digital commerce and technology. I’d taken a fun E-commerce course and interned at a food delivery startup. I’ve always been an internet geek. Companies like Shopify were buzzing, and dominating not just Canada but the global market. Watching Tobias Lütke and his team build in public, engage openly on Twitter, and empower small business owners felt genuinely revolutionary. He was a visionary.
BUILDING, FAILING, LEARNING
So Annika and I recruited a team of smart, driven classmates from different years to bring this conference to life.
Did we make mistakes? Absolutely.
Was I stressed out all day? 100%.
Was it one of the biggest learning experiences of my life? Without question.
And along the way, I made lifelong friends, collaborators, and colleagues. Worth it.
Shopify, SSENSE, and the Rise of Fashion-Driven E-Commerce Brands
Again, speaking of the rise of e-commerce players—while Shopify dominated as a B2B giant, there were also B2C hotties emerging at the same time. SSENSE was one of them.
I saw the vision early. SSENSE wasn’t just trying to sell clothes. They were building a publication, a brand, and layering technology into the entire experience. Commerce, content, and culture—stacked together. Honestly, it’s kind of what I’m trying to do with this project too.
I guess I can officially tell the Atallah brothers that they were my visionaries.
As immigrants.
As founders.
As proof that making money in fashion is not nonsense.
Incredible.
THE UNDERDOG STORY
SSENSE is an underdog story. Three brothers. From Syria. Building a business from the ground up. The Atallah brothers.
Source: SSENSE’s website
Can three brothers working together—scaling a company to millions in revenue and employing hundreds of people—not get at least some kudos?
That’s where I stand.
Especially in a difficult moment like this, I think there’s room for empathy, while still recognizing that people and companies can—and do—make mistakes.
CONTEXT MATTERS: RETAIL, POLITICS, AND PRESSURE
I genuinely hope the brothers have learned from their missteps. But context matters.
Tariffs hit retail hard. Supply chains tightened. Margins collapsed. A lot of what’s happening in retail right now is deeply political, not just managerial.
Which is why I’m rooting for SSENSE during its ongoing bankruptcy protection process. If you want deeper reporting and context, Business of Fashion breaks this down well HERE.
A PERSONAL SHOUT-OUT
I also want to give a shout-out to my dear friend Allie Vukovic, Operations baddie @ SSENSE & fellow fashion girlie. Follow her on IG and give her content lots of LUVVV <3
SSENSE HAUL!
Now to make this fun, below is a gallery of things I’ve accumulated from SSENSE. I genuinely feel ok spending the amount of money I do supporting home-grown local and independent brands. And using SSENSE - a Canadian company to do it. Mind you some of these were Xmas gifts to myself. Note that in my last post on the holidays I noted that my family and I don’t really do heavy XMAS gift exchanges. We provide acts of service and small gifts separately.
JW Anderson dress | BAPE bag | GIMAGAUS top | Open YY sale (all discounted & on sale - don’t pocket watch me wtf)
#aliencore #iammecore
x Frances - GET YOUR OWN SWAGGGGGGGG!!!!! YOU COOL FOR BEING UU
#SSENSE #Shopify #FashionCommerce #DigitalRetail #BrandAndContentStrategy