Today we’d like to introduce you to Houman Salem.
Hi Houman, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I was really passionate about pursuing a career in the music industry at a young age. I was lucky enough to have had the opportunity to work for several major record labels during the 90s after I graduated with my bachelor’s degree from CSUN. But my time in the music industry was short and not as glamorous as I had hoped. There was constant turnover and moving around from one label to the next, no stability and my career was not progressing upwards it was just moving sideways. So, I decided to pursue business school and got my MBA from Pepperdine University in 2001.
By the time I got my MBA there really wasn’t much of a music industry to go back to, so I had to look at other options. Coming out of Business School, I had started a small consulting firm and one of my clients was a fledgling lingerie brand in Hollywood. In 2004, after three months as a consultant, the company hired me as our CEO and I never looked back. I discovered that the fashion industry is identical to music, and I really feel right at home working in the fashion businesses. Next year we’ll mark my 20 years in the fashion industry and over the course of this time, I’ve had the pleasure of working all over the world with all kinds of fashion brands big and small.
In 2013, I decided to start my own brand. I had worked with the famous designer in putting together the collection and once it was ready, I started searching for factories throughout Los Angeles for manufacturing. Unfortunately, I found out very quickly that the LA factories were not willing to work with small startups. At the time, most factories had minimum orders of 500 pieces per style and all I needed was 50. So, I saw an opportunity to start a factory focusing on startups and small-run productions.
I founded ARGYLE Haus of Apparel partly due to necessity (I wanted to have my brand manufactured) and partly out of opportunity (I couldn’t believe that no one was catering to the smaller brands). Today, ARGYLE Haus is an award-winning and top-tier fashion design house in Los Angeles. Over the past nearly ten years, we have launched over 500 startup brands for new and established designers, influencers, and celebrities. We’ve also been able to work with some larger, well-established brands for fashion design and apparel development services.
I run ARGYLE Haus like a recording studio. Where the designer (songwriter) works to create a collection of styles (songs), and the factory cuts the demos (patterns and samples), utilizing a talented team of sewers (session musician) to create a sellable collection (album) to be sold to the eager consumers (fans).
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road has indeed NOT been smooth and the more I think about it, the crazier it sounds. I launched a low-tech company in a high-tech world. I started a company in the most regulated industry (garment manufacturing) in the most regulated state (California), with a workforce that doesn’t even speak my language, against intensive competitive pressure from overseas manufacturers, and with no money.
Since our inception, we’ve survived egregious government harassment (in the form of audits), we survived a pandemic, we survived the labor shortage, we survived the global supply chain breakdown, and we are surviving the current economic slowdown. All the while, we have never been one second late on issuing payroll or meeting our obligations to our clients (many of whom are high-profile designers, influencers and celebrities).
I always thought that with each problem or issue that comes up, that we would get past it, and everything would be a smooth road ahead. But that’s not true. Once one problem or issue is solved a bigger one is right around the corner. As an entrepreneur the lesson learned is that it’s not that the problems go away, it’s that your ability to deal with the problems or issues gets better.
As you know, we’re big fans of ARGYLE Haus of Apparel. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
ARGYLE Haus is a leading fashion design house established in 2014. What makes ARGYLE Haus unique is that we are a fully integrated company, which means that we don’t rely on many outside resources to get the job done. We are a 100% Los Angeles-based factory with all the resources and capabilities to design, develop, and manufacture apparel collections from swimwear and lingerie to streetwear, athletic wear, outerwear, and more. What is truly unique about us is that you don’t even need to be a fashion designer or have any fashion industry experience to work with us. We have all the capabilities to turn-key launch fashion brands for just about anyone that wants one. Last year we launched our digital division (ARGYLE Digital) which helps our startup brands with professional fashion photo shoots, website development, digital marketing services, and retail buyers’ showroom space in our downtown offices at the famous New Mart building. No one in our industry has put together such a comprehensive set of wrap-around services to help launch and scale new clothing brands.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Risk is necessary. Sometimes we even take risks without knowing it, but it is necessary. For example, every day we get into our cars we’re taking a risk, starting any new business venture is a risk, relationships and even marriages are a risk. The key is to do proper planning and research and not just dive into something without thinking about it. Even getting into our cars, we have a destination and maybe even a particular route planned. The presence of risk is what sets apart the brave from the weak, the doers and the dreamers, and the winners and the not winners (can I still say losers?).
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.argylehaus.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/argylehaus/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/argylehaus/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/argylehaus
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/argylehaus
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_rA_J5VQ2Ig_-XpGvZM6_w
Image Credits
Mike Harris
