We are in a Sharing and Collaborative Economy (Carrie Hammer)

Carrie Hammer is CEO and Creative Director of Carrie Hammer, a company that is among the first to offer bespoke tailoring for women. Carrie has used her company to usher in a new era of fashion aesthetics and new definitions of beauty. Carrie’s use of role models as opposed to runway models in all of her shows is both innovative and inspirational, transforming both the women’s apparel business, as well as the lives of many of her consumers.

Carrie is one of the Wecons highlighted in Billee Howard’s book WeCommerce. You can read more about the book on the launch page and here is our Q&A with Carrie.

Billee: Do you think we are entering an era of we-commerce? An era where everything we do is about sharing, caring, the many vs the few and the we vs. the me?

Carrie: Absolutely! We are now in a sharing and collaborative economy. We have never been closer together and yet so geographically far apart. We can work from every corner of the world in the most collaborative ways.

Billee: Do you consider yourself an artist of business?

Carrie: Yes I do. Not only am I an actual artist in that I’m a designer but also I operate my business in an artful way. One must distinguish one’s business not only in one’s products but also in the way you conduct your business- -in your transactions, your customer service, at every touch point. Everything must be different, unique. The barriers to enter business have never been lower so it’s important to stand out in creative ways.

Billee: How important is ongoing change to success in business?

Carrie: As technology changes at such a rapid pace we need to make sure we keep ahead of our competition and new entrants to the marketplace. Not only is there no longer a first mover’s advantage I believe there is a actually a first mover’s disadvantage. If you don’t keep evolving creatively, new entrants can copy and use their cash reserves to iterate faster than you.

Billee: Who is your favorite CEO/Company disruptor today?

Carrie: Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos, who will provide blood testing through a few droplets of blood rather than vials and vials. This will change the health game overnight and she’s only 29 years old.

Billee: In your view how has disruption changed the fashion industry?

Carrie: Women shop online. Period. Sure there will always be stores but we are moving all of our consumer behavior online and it’s fascinating. We eventually will have fit and customization tools that will deliver custom clothing to our homes within minutes via 3D printing machines.

Billee: Why do you think fashion has become such a canvas for individualized self-expression today?

Carrie: Fashion is the ultimate canvas for self-expression. Women usually are dictated trends. Now women and the consumer get to dictate the trends. That’s powerful.

Billee: Where you do you think tomorrow’s fashion wecons will come from?

Carrie: Social media, bloggers, vloggers, and the general public. Fashion trends will come from the street up.

Billee: What’s your favorite Andy Warhol quote?

Carrie: Art is what you can get away with. I love this quote because I think in fashion — it’s all about what you can get away with!

Billee Howard is Founder + Chief Engagement Officer of Brandthropologie, a cutting edge communications consulting firm specializing in helping organizations and individuals to produce innovative, creative and passionate dialogues with target communities, consumers and employees, while blazing a trail toward new models of artful, responsible, and sustainable business success. Billee is a veteran communications executive in brand development, trend forecasting, strategic media relations, and C-suite executive positioning. She has a book dedicated to the study of the sharing economy called WeCommerce due out in Fall 2015 as well as a blog entitled the #HouseofWe dedicated to curating the trends driving our economy forward. You can read more about “WE-Commerce: How to Create, Collaborate, and Succeed in the Sharing Economy” right here!

PS — You can download a FREE chapter of We-Commerce: How to Create, Collaborate, and Succeed in the Sharing Economy here!

Originally published at brandthropologie.com on September 29, 2015.