New CEO At ABLE Focused On Wholesale Growth And Refined Product Lineup
The ethical fashion space continues to grow, with data indicating the global market size for this vertical is projected to reach $9.4 billion in 2034 at a compound annual growth rate of 10.3%.
One brand carving out a foothold in this space is ABLE, which was founded in 2010 by Barrett and Rachel Ward to provide economic opportunities for women. What started as a means to help women in Ethiopia overcome poverty, ABLE has since grown into a multi-million dollar brand.
Today, the company's corporate offices and jewelry studio are in Nashville, where they offer training and a safe working environment for local women who handcraft pieces. In addition to jewelry assembly, all order fulfillment is handled in-house.
In 2024, fashion veteran Misti Blasko was hired as CEO of the 99% women-run company to replace Ward. She brings with her 25+ years of expertise in the fashion industry, where she most recently served as North American president for AllSaints, as well as roles at Good American, True Religion, John Varvatos, and BCBG.
As CEO, Blasko is helping overhaul the company from many different angles, including refining its product lineup to slim down its total SKU count to focus on core, best-selling items for the brand, which include its leather goods, jackets, and jewelry.
Along with this, she's also strategically expanding ABLE's wholesale relationships. This has already resulted in two key partnerships with Nordstrom (launched in November 2024) and Target (launched in March 2025), both of which give the brand reach and visibility outside of its online presence and Nashville retail store.
'Wholesale is the best way to amplify a brand's presence,' Blasko said. 'Wholesale can be a major entry point for brand discovery, and the next step will be for us to enter into physical stores across different regions.'
It's a wise move, considering NuORDER's 2024 survey of 250 fashion industry professionals indicates that overall confidence in wholesale is increasing and is already eclipsing every other channel when it comes to driving revenue; a hard pivot from the recent past where direct-to-consumer sales were the primary focus.
Andrea Kennedy, Lead Faculty of Fashion Merchandising and Management at Berkeley College, agrees that wholesale is a wise move for purpose-driven apparel brands.
She explained that it's a win-win for both partners, as it helps the brand reach a larger customer base while diversifying the wholesaler's product lineup and adding more sustainable and ethical producers to their catalogs.
'Raising awareness of ethical production on how clothing is produced, by whom, with what materials, and in what conditions works to shift consumer consciousness,' she said.
For Blasko, taking the reins of this company and pivoting from the world of luxury retail is an exciting and challenging undertaking. By collaborating with the brand's small but mighty in-house team, she hopes to help ABLE garner more brand visibility at scale, thus furthering its mission of prioritizing transparency and fair wages for women in its supply chain.
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