Building a fashion holdings company
With Peter Baldaszti, founder and CEO of Vanguards Group
Welcome to The Stanza’s In The Room interview series, designed to make you feel like you’ve just had a very satisfying and insightful coffee chat with an industry leader.
Today’s guest is Peter Baldaszti, founder and CEO of Vanguards Group, which owns Nanushka, Sunnei, and Aeron. He is one of the few entrepreneurs building an independent fashion holdings group. The biggest brand in the Vanguards portfolio is Nanushka, which did above €20M in revenue in 2024 and is approaching break even. The brand was founded by Peter’s wife, Sandra Sandor, who continues to lead creative direction. You probably have seen Nanushka on your feed recently - they’ve been busy with a Zara collaboration, a new store opening in NYC, a return to NYFW last September, a London branded holiday apartment, and a cafe collab with Happier Grocery. After a few years of the structural difficulties that plague almost all independent fashion start ups, Nanushka is emerging into its next phase of growth.
Peter has been honest about the difficulties of his entrepreneurial path. When I announced the interview, I shared this piece in the FT where he was transparent about the realities of running a fashion brand. In our interview, he was equally open and shared some great insights and lessons learned, and how he’s preparing for the future of Vanguards Group.
It’s rare to see fashion entrepreneurs building in public, but it’s also valuable to learn from others. I hope this interview inspires more founders in the creative industries to share more of what happens behind-the-scenes.
Interview highlights:
Founding story of Nanushka
Fundraising in 2016 and scaling the business
Managing investor expectations through the ups and downs
Fundraising advice for fashion brands
Course-correcting supply chain and other structural issues
Shifting focus from growth to profitability
Key lessons learned from Nanushka’s challenges
Perspective on rapidly changing consumer taste
Collaborating with Zara
Learning from other industries
Expanding into hospitality as a marketing tactic
The relationship between industry feedback and commercial success
Approach to brand collaborations
Are fashion shows worth the investment?
What’s next for Vanguards Group?