Tory Burch is a talented fashion designer, businesswoman, and philanthropist who has successfully made her name in the fashion industry. She has won many awards for the designs that she has produced over the years.

Tory Burch’s brand and Foundation have skyrocketed so much that Forbes has estimated that she was a millionaire at the start of 2013. Her many awards include the Rising Star Award, the Year’s Best Accessory Brand Launch, and more. She is also so well known that she appeared as herself in extremely popular television shows. Tory Burch is also the Executive Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of Tory Burch LLC, her own brand.

She has her own fashion label known as Tory Burch, which has many stores all around the world. Furthermore, her collection has received worldwide fame as many celebrities have endorsed her brand and claim to be huge admirers. Some of those celebrities include Blake Lively and Jennifer Lopez. Additionally, she was named the 88th most powerful woman in the world. This title was given to ber by Forbes in 200

With a huge net worth, Tory Burch is an extremely successful woman that has achieved fame and recognition that people can only dream about.

Early Life

Tory Burch, one of New York’s Richest Fashion Designers was born in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Reva and Ian Earl Robinson and has three brothers. Both, she and her siblings were raised in a Georgian farmhouse that sits near Valley Forge National Historical Park. Her childhood home is said to be 250 years old and has a rich history. 

Her father, Ian Earl Robinson was a wealthy investor, as he inherited a stock exchange seat as well as a paper cup company. Her mother was a Jewish lady. Thus, Tory Burch is Jewish from that side of the family. 

Tory Burch attended the Agnes Irwin School which is located in Rosemont, Pennsylvania. It was here, at school, that she made friends with Kara Ross, who grew up to become a jewelry designer. 

The first job that Burch ever did was at Benetton in the Kind of Prussia mall. After completing school, Tory Burch enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania. She majored in Art History and graduated in 1988. In university, Tory Burch was a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.

Career

After she graduated, Tory Burch, one of the most famous New York City-based fashion designers, stepped into the world of fashion. Her first job in the fashion industry was with Zoran, a Yugoslavian whose clothes her mother wore. The designer agreed to let her work with him on the condition that she started within a week. Therefore, the week after she graduated, Tory Burch moved to New York and became fully immersed in fashion. She remembers it to be an interesting time.

After her first job, she continued to step deeper into the industry. She worked as a sitting assistant for Harper’s Bazaar. Then, she switched gears and moved into working for the PR and advertising sector of Ralph Lauren, Vera Wang, and Loewe. This job was during the tenure of Narciso Rodriguez. For Tory Burch, these jobs taught her how to run a company, and they eventually aided her in setting up and running her own company. She took something from all her different jobs and applied all her knowledge to ensure that her own company ran as smoothly as possible. 

Against the advice of many, Tory Burch opened up her store. She aimed to ensure that people saw what the brand stood for as soon as they entered. She wanted to create an experience that the customers would remember. To create this environment, there have to be specific candles burning, certain music playing, and so on. Her opening was so successful that by the end of the first day, almost everything has completely sold out. She barely had any inventory left. The original Tory Burch boutique was located at 257 Elizabeth Street. From that little shop, Tory Burch became one of the most popular clothing designers from New York City.

Her label, using which she opened her boutique, was called TRB by Tory Burch. Later the name was revamped and simplified to just Tory Burch. It was launched back in February of 2004 with just one retail store. However, it has grown exponentially, and there are around 300 stores globally. Additionally, Tory Burch pieces are also stocked in 3000 department and specialty stores worldwide. Some stores that carry her pie es include Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Neriman Marcus, etc. Tory Burch’s flagship boutique is currently located in NoLita, a Manhattan neighborhood. 

Her brand is so popular that in 2005, her collection was endorsed on The Oprah Winfrey Show by Oprah Winfrey. Furthermore, in 2009, there were minor stakeholders were added to her company. 

Fashion

Tory Burch’s style of fashion is best described to be bohemian and preppie. Additionally, the main characteristic of her brand is that all her pieces are versatile and comfortable. Therefore, there is a large variety of returning customers. The theme of her label was extremely popular in 2007. Therefore, everyone wanted to purchase pieces from her collection just so that they could fit in with the popular style at that time. 

For her brand, she has won various awards. Burch won the Rising Star Award for the Best New Retail Concept in 2005 from the Fashion Group International. In 2007, she received the Accessory Brand Launch of the year award at the Accessories Council Excellence Awards. Tory Burch also won the Accessories Designer of the Year award by the Council of Fashion Designers of America. 

Burch claims that the main inspiration behind her style comes from her parent’s unique style. Furthermore, she loves to travel and derives inspiration from her trips, various cultures, music, and art that she sees along the way. All of her experiences are greatly reflected in her collection, which consists of bold hues and exclusive detailing as well as graphics and prints. These are all the brand’s signature styles that people all around the world clamor to get their hands on.

Tory Burch was also included on Working Mother’s list of the 50 most powerful working Moms of 2015. In the same year, she also received the Sandra Taub Humanitarian Award from Breast Cancer Research Foundation. 

Other Interests

Apart from fashion, Tory Burch also has a deep love for humanity. She set up the Tory Burch Foundation in 2009, which aimed to support women’s economic empowerment in the United States. The foundation aimed to do so by providing small loans to businesses and supporting education pertaining to entrepreneurship and mentoring. To support this foundation’s work, Burch sells certain products in her stores whose proceeds are donated to the foundation to help it in its goal. 

Among the many initiatives that the Tory Burch foundation has taken, one of them is the entrepreneurial education program. This program was achieved in collaboration with Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses and Babson College. The Tory Burch foundation also aims at providing grants so that women entrepreneurs can pursue their goals. 

In 2014, the Tory Burch Foundation launched the Elizabeth Street Capital. This was an initiative with the Bank of America to aid women entrepreneurs in receiving low-cost loans as well as mentoring support. The name of this initiative was originally named so in remembrance of the location of the first boutique. However, the name was later changed to Tory Burch Foundation Capital Program. For this program, by November 2017, Bank of America has commuted around $50 million for this initiative. By 2018, the Tory Burch Foundation Capital Program was providing around $1 million in loans each month to around 3500 woman entrepreneurs. 

Tory Burch Foundation Capital Program helped so many people that the Obama Administration named Tory Burch an inaugural member of the Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship. This group of people consisted of the most successful American businesspeople, who were committed to aiding the next generation of US entrepreneurs and to mentoring and aiding them. 

The Tory Burch Foundation also launched Embrace Ambition in March of 2017 for International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month. The main aim of this global campaign was to address the double standards that we find surrounding ambitions. How ambition is seen as a positive trait for men, whereas it is frowned upon in women. 

Tory Burch is also a partner of the ACCION USA and is among the board of directors at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Burch was also honored at the luncheon by Colleague Helpers in Philanthropic Services in 2008. 

Conclusion

Tory Burch is an extremely successful woman whose achievements are limitless. She has managed to expand herself beyond the realm of fashion and into philanthropy. Alongside her love for fashion, Burch has successfully managed to build an entire foundation that does important work for upcoming women entrepreneurs in the United States. Her work, both, in the philanthropy sphere and in the fashion sphere, has been recognized, and she has received many rewards for them.

Tory Burch worked her way up the ladder and showed dedication and hard work in whatever field she stepped into. She used her jobs as a learning opportunity and took something from all her experiences to grow her brand to what it is today.