Name: Watch Kate Hudson Speak at Fortune’s MPW Summit
Uploaded: 2016-10-19
Duration: 10 min 21 s
Description: She sat down with InStyle’s Laura Brown

I'm Laura, this is Kate. Now there's a few things you do know about Kate Hudson. She has starred in almost 40 films, among them Almost Famous, How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, I'm sure we've all lost them earlier than that, and the recent Deep Water Horizon. She's a mother of two boys, Ryder at 12 and Bing, four. 12, 12, crazy. She took them to a pumpkin patch last night, vital information. [ LAUGH ] Last year, she wrote a book, Pretty Happy, The Healthy Way to Love Your Body, and thank God she's finally in her 30s. It seemed like she was in her mid 20s forever. [ LAUGH ] [ LAUGH ] What you don't know about Kate, I call her Cover Gold because there is no greater smile on the cover of a fashion magazine. [ LAUGH ] Every time. Flora says smile I smile. [ LAUGH ] Kate was actually once reluctant to join social media. Very reluctant. But now has a Snapchat game to rival a Millennial. You should Ryder and Kate in the airport dancing. It will make your day better. And the last time that I saw Kate, she was showing me kickboxing videos while I was eating sliders. [ LAUGH ] That's true actually. It's true. Because she's a fit one, this Kate. Three years ago she created Athleisure, love that name. Brand Fabletics. And that's what she's here to talk about today. Also we won't be stretching. Who needs that when you have these fabulous Herman Miller chairs anyway. Yep. So Kate. It's actually our three year anniversary for Fabletics. Yeah, what did you do? Nothing yet. I just blew out some candles on a little Fabletics cake, but It's an exciting time for our company and I can't believe three years. It feels like a long time cuz anybody does business which is everybody in this room so much goes in to everything that you're doing. But at the same time I can't believe it's actually been only three years. Where we sort of have reached the level of success that we've reached. So it's a really exciting time. What was the first, the impetus for you to start this [ CROSSTALK ] Start the company? Yeah. I think it happened organically, as things do when you sort of talk about, I always wanted to be in something in fashion. I mean, I get it. [ LAUGH ] And then I met some, I met my partners. Sort of through mutual people in the business and things we started talking about what was needed and there was a hole in the athletic wear market for women. Affordable, cute, more sexy, more fashion- forward athletic wear. and then so we just started to kind of formulate it and Here we are three years later. And it took off. You do a sort of a startup company. I had great partners to do it with. But you kind of cross your fingers and hope for the best. And it just Just turned out to be a really great marriage of people and what our company was able to sort of provide our customer, Right. because we are, we started predominantly as a membership subscription. Right and it's still, and how does it work now? Well now [ CROSSTALK ] have, we're almost at 18 stores Right. throughout the country. So we're retail as well but our predominant customer is online, so it's e- commerce. Right, yep. And we do a subscription membership model which is actually pretty amazing like most people now have memberships but ours is, we started Just subscription, you know, on online only. And it's made. And we just, we just got very successful very fast. I'm sorry. Yeah, [ LAUGH ] No, but it's interesting, because as you know like when you, and it's fun talking with a group of women Who I think have had, some of this experience, you know when you grow so fast you have to catch up to it, you know. And so, it's a lot of starting to, we're just now, we're all just talking about it, getting in this groove where we feel like things are starting to... Sort of move, in the way that we like to see it move. So can a lady be like, I am a runner, or today I'm feeling lunges, or is it that specific? And how much do you look at what the customer requests or what the feedback? I think the idea for the brand, from the very beginning for us was, we wanted it to be All- inclusive. Right. We didn't want, I felt that, in this space especially cuz it's really important to me, is that it could be as, it could be utilized from the real, like, fitness fanatic and the- to a woman who is like 'maybe I will go workout today', I want to take the kids and drive. But we wanted it to be more versatile and not discriminatory at all. Because of that our platform is all about every body is got different sizes, we all have different breast sizes, we all have different functionality for what we need for our fitness so- So we really try to provide something for everything. Because we're online. Because we have real sophisticated algorithms. We can actually see what our customer likes and doesn't like. So we don't have to deal with all the waste- products that most people do which is why we can do a higher quality- The lime [ UNKNOWN ] market is probably pretty low. What was the first thing that you had your hands on for designing? What was the first item? We started with the basics which was the legging and- And so the legging was really the thing that we kind of perfected right out the bat that our customer really loved. And then the truth is pretty much everything, we got a really big design team. And the the technology is very different than in normal fashion when you're doing athletic wear because you want it to be able to breath, and you want it to be able to fit right, and you want it to, And when you're fitting so many different sizes. And now actually, it's really exciting, is this year we're going into extended sizes. We've had a really big demand for extended sizes. And we find that that, All right. Well and people don't look there, to make cute things for women who are a bit bigger. So We're doing that and I'm really excited about that. But it's, it's, you know the fit for athletic wear is a bit more challenging. Right, right. What has been the biggest challenge for you? I mean this is a whole new universe. And you know, of course their's attention paid to when a celebrity has a brand, and you've got to be really hands on. What has been the greatest challenge and what has been the most rewarding? Well, it's funny you say that, because when you are a celebrity, if you have a name that sort of brings traffic to a website or sells magazines, people are gonna be, you're under a microscope, right? So it's actually, to me, I like to see things Optimistically, Yep. To me the positive of that Because. [ LAUGH ] No, but the positive of that is that you have to be so much more on top of things. As businesses grow, we have, I believe we're at 400 employees, we have 1000 customer service. We're very big renting company And, I just found out that we are gonna make 250 million revenue in our first three years. Which is, Wow. Really, yeah, and I [ APPLAUSE ] And so, as that's happening, you know that as the company grows, and as it becomes larger, that there's There's going to be, you know, it's just the bigger it gets the more challenging things get sometimes yeah and because of you're, you know, you're a bit under a microscope you have to make sure you're on top of everything. yeah and also the crisis due to Kate handling all the customer service calls herself. Incredible the level of dedication I haven't slept for months. How do you work into your daily schedule because breaking news you also act, you're a mom, you have books. I like to work, I love to be busy and I really honestly it's about the team that you create. It's like anything if you And some days I'm really, really stressed out. As everybody knows with two kids and I do everything. [ LAUGH ] With the family and like, did you do the homework and we've got the after school things and I'm trying to get to here and I'm traveling here and but you know I think I don't complain. I think structure. And for me I just try to be as On top of everything is possible. And when I am, I'm just really happy. And I feel really grateful every day. I got it together! [ LAUGH ] And, but I think it's also the teams that you sort of create around you, and who your have inside of your company running things. And so, you're only, you can only really be as strong and as As together as the people that you kind of have around you, supporting you and vice versa, so. And how do you keep yourself personally strong? I mean, yeah, this one can work out like you've never seen. I do like to work out. Sometimes I don't too. Yeah, tell me the best, most achieving workout day, and the most lazy, slovenly day. Well lazy, slovenly, I just sit on my couch and watch television. But, working out, I love to dance. So any sort of dance, aerobic, or any kind of, [ INAUDIBLE ]. And I'm like the one in the dance class that is loud, [ INAUDIBLE ]? [ INAUDIBLE ] [ CROSSTALK ] Like great. Bring some energy to this group, come on, you know? So, So I love anything that just gets, it going. Okay, and then we've got to wrap up because there's my boss over there. Is there any questions quickly for Kay? My last one for Kay will be binge eating, binge eating, anything? Are crushing [ INAUDIBLE ] No questions. Perfect because we're. We're out. We have 18 seconds .>> To live. Thank you so much Kate. And I'm gonna do some lunges backstage. Thank you. [ APPLAUSE ] Perfect. [ MUSIC ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ]

She sat down with InStyle’s Laura Brown