#2 Fashion Nova: The $1 Billion DTC Man

Backstory

Richard Saghian grew up folding clothes and talking to customers in his dad’s women’s clothing stores. He learned firsthand what sold, what flopped, and what made shoppers feel good. This skill would prove central when he built Fashion Nova. In 2006, he launched the first Fashion Nova store in Panorama Mall, LA, selling club wear at affordable prices. But the real magic started when he went from offline to online.

Saghian realized something his competitors didn’t: Instagram wasn’t just a place to see your friends vacation pictures, it was a real-time focus group, marketing engine, and product catalog all in one.

He built a brand for people who wanted to look like celebrities, even if they didn’t have celebrity budgets. And by treating his customers like influencers and his influencers like customers, he created the viral engine that now fuels the business that does over $1B in ONLINE SALES all without raising outside capital and spending zero dollars on traditional advertising. You read that right.

Road to the Money

Fashion Nova went from mall kiosk to billion-dollar juggernaut, here’s how Richard Saghian built the #1 highest gross online store in the world.

2006 — First Store Opens

Opens first Fashion Nova retail store in Panorama Mall.

Sells affordable, curve-hugging clubwear directly to LA customers.

2013 — Ecomm Launch + Instagram Strategy

Launches fashionnova.com + @FashionNova on Instagram.

Sees early traction from real customers tagging themselves in Nova fits.

Realizes he can spot trends and move product directly through social.

2014 — Estimated $5–10M in Revenue

Early online traction with Instagram tagging and word-of-mouth drives millions in revenue from the Shopify site within a year of launch.

2016 — Estimated $50M in Revenue

Explosive influencer seeding + low price points + product velocity = massive viral growth.

2018 — Nova Curve & Nova Men Launch

Expands into plus-size (Curve) and later menswear lines.

Same sexy styles, now in sizes up to 3X based directly on customer DMs.

Menswear drops quietly, but still pulls 250,000 signups for the first release.

Estimated revenue crosses $100M+, driven by virality and repeat purchases.

2020 — Estimated $400M+ in Revenue

COVID accelerates ecomm boom. Nova dominates Instagram retail with ultra-fast drops, body-positive visuals, and celebrity co-signs like Kylie Jenner and Cardi B.

2021–2024 — Over $1B+ in Sales

According to industry reports and real estate disclosures, Fashion Nova first surpasses $1 billion in revenue in 2021 and continues to grow.

• 600–1,000 new SKUs/week.

• 3–4 billion social impressions/month.

• 6,000+ influencer posts monthly.

• EMV tracked by SKU and style.

• No traditional ad spend.

Saghian still owns 100% of the company 🤯.

Tech Stack

Top 3 Lessons from Fashion Nova

Close to the customer, close to the money
Richard realized very early that getting into the minds of his customers would help him grow. Starting in retail allowed him to talk face to face with his ideal customer and understand what they really want. You can never getting 1,000 customers without fully understanding 1.

Move fast
Constant monitoring of fashion trends posted on social media, fashion events, or awards shows. Fashion Nova always has a finger on the pulse of what their customer is watching, then having the infrastructure to move quickly from idea to production to selling to being worn by customers. In fast fashion this is especially important, but is relevant for any business category.

Underserved markets
Speaking to a market that was typically ignored by the fashion industry fueled Fashion Nova’s growth. Richard recognized this opportunity and went all-in.

Besos,

Nick