In a short few years, Karmaloop has effectively redefined the landscape for both retail and culture. For better or worse, Karmaloop has often been a prickly subject as they’ve essentially cornered the market and risen significantly above the rest to represent streetwear’s largest and most powerful retailer. Partnering with Pharrell Williams, the announcing of a full-fledged Karmaloop TV was seen as a further move to help diversify their portfolio. Despite an overall negative outlook on both American and global markets, Karmaloop still managed a highly respecatble 81% in growth on the back of $130 million in revenue for 2011. With so many avenues to explore, Karmaloop looks to continue its juggernaut movement as we spoke with founder Greg Selkoe on Karmaloop’s current business.
What’s the current workforce/company structure like at Karmaloop?
- It is about 180 employees between our Boston and New York offices, and we have another 250 in our warehouse in Ohio. The company has separate departments like tech, marketing… but we have a really “flat” organization, meaning that everyone has a lot of freedom to do what they need to do, as long as they get the job done. We are not a very hierarchical organization where there are a lot of different levels, we’re all just one big team. We encourage people to be creative and try new things. We like crazy thinkers and people who don’t give a fuck what people think and are willing to throw out how they feel and express themselves. People who work at Karmaloop are expected to bust their ass but have fun doing it. The New York office has the Karmaloop TV media team, although we’re starting to build out a big studio in our Boston headquarters as well, and the Private Labels (clothing brands) division is based in New York. Boston is where all of the e-commerce operations are.
In difficult economic times especially in the U.S., what do you attribute your growth to?
- Like anything, there are many factors why we continue to grow and be successful. We had an incredible year in 2011, where we grew by 81%. I think a lot of the reason why we’ve been successful is that we try to just be honest and clear about who we are. We love the culture but we don’t take ourselves so seriously. We work our asses off trying to innovate and bring the freshest brands to our audience around the planet. I think we listen to people and we are quick to admit when we fuck up. Everyone in the company truly loves the culture and the clothing, and I would like to think that our employees love working at Karmaloop and that it shows through in everything we do. I think that has helped drive us and continue our success.
What are plans for international expansion or will you continue to focus on the United States for the foreseeable future?
- We definitely won’t lose focus on the United States and Canada. But we are making a big push in Europe. We just acquired the website Street Ammo, which will eventually become Karmaloop Europe. The dude Mark [Urban] who runs the website is a real cool cat and the philosophy and brands that Street Ammo carries fits exactly with Karmaloop, so it’s a natural partnership. We have a few other plans up our sleeves but we’re not ready to announce them yet.
Karmaloop champions the idea of “verge culture,” can you describe this and how it influences your business?
- Before I answer the question I should describe what I see verge culture to be, so that those who may not have heard the term understand what we’re talking about. The term verge culture was originally coined by the guys over at Frank151… big ups Malbons! Basically it describes the first generation to grow up on the internet – a cut-and-paste culture that is always leading, never following. Verge culture fuses together many cultures and refuses to be defined by old labels. They take many disparate ideas, change and improve upon them, and make them their own. The group is multiracial, multiethnic and they define themselves first by ideas and are not limited by labels. Verge has a dual meaning – verge as in the convergence of many ideas and cultures, and verge as in being on the cutting edge. If you came through the Karmaloop office I don’t think you could find a more diverse and more creative group of people in many other places. Verge culture influences everything we do because almost everyone who works at the company is native to verge culture.
Read the rest of the interview here!
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