NYC Study Tour: AERIN

Briefly, research and describe the company/brand.

Aerin is a luxury lifestyle brand created by Aerin Lauder, a woman with a last name you might recognize. Estee Lauder, her grandmother, founded Estee Lauder cosmetics in 1946 which now owns brands like MAC Cosmetics, Tom Ford, Tory Burch, and Smashbox. While Aerin was very inspired by her grandmother she wanted to shift her focus to home goods and accessories. For her, style goes beyond her makeup bag. Her sophisticated and classic home goods include golden picture frames, textured vases, and velvet jewelry boxes. She also has a small line of women’s accessories, and of course a few cosmetics as well. All her pieces add a touch of simple feminine elegance to a space. Aerin Lauder started her company at almost the same age that her grandmother started her company back in the 1940s. Now Aerin products are carried in the same luxury department stores as Estee Lauder cosmetics, like Saks Fifth Ave., Bergdorf Goodmans, and Neiman Marcus. She is living up to her family name and doing it in a way that is all her own.

Thoughtful observations and reflections made during the appointment itself.  What did you learn about the industry?  Specific jobs?  Your own potential career path?

I thought Aerin was a very interesting company for us to visit. They’re still a relatively young and attract a pretty specific customer so it was great to see how they’re working through those beginning stages of defining their brand and focusing their product line. I’ve worked with a lot of very small companies that are locally owned and operated so to see such a large company start on such a huge scale was really eye-opening. I loved talking to Joe and Yoon about product development and how they go about making prototypes and seeing things to fruition because that’s a job I used to be a part of but in such a different way. I love problem solving, figuring out how customers will react, and working on fitting a new product into the line. I think being on a product development team for a company like Aerin would be a great career path for me. I like to be hands-on in production, focusing on a target market, and thinking about things like costing. But beyond that I really want to be able to play a role in the actual creation of a product, like how Yoon does. Before I came to New York was actually manufacturing products that were sold; cutting, prepping, working on preproduction stages. Which is kind of what Yoon did in the early stages of her career as a jeweler. But there is a way to be that hands-on but not be actually manufacturing and it is in designing products and working with a logistics team to make it happen in factories. So it was cool to see how I can translate what I enjoyed in manufacturing into a more universal or tangible job.

Discuss something in particular that Joe, Yoon, or anyone else you met shared that resonated with you.

It was great to hear about how both Joe and Yoon found their way to Aerin. Like anything in life, it’s a journey to get where you want to be and you almost always end up happy somewhere you’d least expect it. So that was really eye opening and encouraging. Throughout my time in New York I want to keep my mind open to new career paths and see as many different sides of the industry as I can.