8 Things You Never Knew About Nasty Gal
1. Nasty Gal began as an eBay store
Sophia Amoruso, Nasty Gal’s founder, got her start in San Francisco selling vintage clothing on eBay. Amoruso would go to secondhand stores in search of the best vintage steals and would flip some items on eBay for as much as $1,000 profit. At the time, Amoruso was a 22 year old community college dropout living with her step-aunt. By day, she checked student IDs at a local art school. By night, she ran Nasty Gal Vintage. In a piece she penned for Business Insider, Amoruso notes that she never intended for Nasty Gal to get this big, and that it is likely this go-with-the-flow attitude and attention to customer service that let her reach such a level of success.
2. The company was named after a Betty Davis album
Amoruso’s original eBay store was called “Nasty Gal Vintage,” an homage to the 1975 Betty Davis album Nasty Gal.
3. The original NastyGal.com belonged to a porn company
Realizing the limitations of her eBay storefront, Amoruso decided it was time to launch her own website. At the time, nastygal.com was unavailable as it was being used as a porn site. Amoruso settled for ShopNastyGal.com.
4. People mistakenly thought Nasty Gal was an online sex shop
Though the Nasty Gal brand is now recognized by fashionistas everywhere, it wasn’t so easy in the beginning. Amoruso began attending trade shows and fashion events, but found that people assumed Nasty Gal was an online sex shop rather than a trendy clothing retailer. It certainly didn’t help that the nastygal.com domain was still being used for pornography.
5. Amoruso made her first big hire via Craigslist
Sophia ran every aspect of her business, from buying merchandise, to photographing the clothing, to writing the product descriptions. Struggling to keep up with the overwhelming demand, Amoruso turned to Craigslist and made her first hire, Christina Ferrucci. Ferrucci came on as Senior Buyer and Buying Director and stayed with the company until 2014.
6. Sheree Waterson replaced Amoruso as CEO in 2015
Amoruso didn’t get fired, but instead shifted her energy toward her strongest points: keeping the Nasty Gal brand aligned with her creative instincts. Nasty Gal’s new CEO, Waterson, was previously chief product officer at Lululemon.
“I actually see myself as support to Sophia so we can unleash her genius,” Waterson said. “Taking over the operation of the company allows Sophia to be out and connecting the brand with our customer and all the other amazing people she meets.” (Re/Code)
7. Nasty Gal has two brick and mortar stores
It wasn’t until 2014 that Nasty Gal opened its first brick and mortar store in Los Angeles. It featured vintage designer pieces as well as Nastygal shoes, apparel, and intimates. Its second store opened in March of 2015 in Santa Monica, California.
8. Sophia Amoruso is also a best-selling author
Nasty Gal’s founder and CEO punlished her first book in 2014, #GIRLBOSS, and it quickly became a best-seller. Celebrities like Lena Dunam publicly supported the book, and #GIRLBOSS inspired the launch of the GIRLBOSS Foundation which works to award grants to “female creatives pursuing entrepreneurial endeavors.”
