#14: Dresses for real women, fast and slow fashion, Turkish bazaars - Ani Bagdasaryan

Venturing Women

‘Retail is dead’ proclaimed many media during the pandemic. We were all locked up in our homes and in terms of clothing, mostly needed sweatpants and pajamas. Yet, Ani Bagdasaryan opened a brick-and-mortar store in Berlin in 2021 to build up on the online success of her fashion brand.

Some of the topics we explore:

• Career pivot: from a marketeer to a fashion brand owner. A mixture of analysis, passion, and values.
• Fashion design process: getting inspired by real women and their needs.
• Adventurous search for manufacturing facilities in Armenia and for fabrics in Turkey.
• The rise of fast fashion and its negative impact on the environment as well as people wearing such clothes.
• Three aspects of sustainable fashion.

About Ani Bagdasaryan:

Ani Bagdasaryan is the founder of AYANI, a fair and sustainable fashion brand based in Berlin. Observing the largely underserved women’s work wear market, she decided to launch a female fashion brand.
AYANI solves the everyday question of "what to wear" to the office and beyond. Here style, comfort and elegance come together. Ani produces all collections in Armenia, the home country of her parents, with the goal of creating jobs for local women.

About Darya Kamkalova:

Darya wears many hats: she is a podcaster, a data industry professional, a startup mentor, a co-founder of Manifest Taproom (a craft beer bar in Berlin), and a speaker.

Her experience in the data industry spans 10 years, five continents and such domains as data monetisation & acquisition, data product development, strategic partnerships as well as data marketplace business operations.

Darya has been driving or supporting various projects empowering women since 2013. She is based in Berlin, Germany.

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