CEO's 'Powerful' Business Change Leads to 8-Figure Revenue | Entrepreneur

“It’s always been my dream to be a CEO of a fashion brand,” Ginny Seymour, CEO of contemporary women’s fashion brand Aligne, tells Entrepreneur.

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of Aligne. CEO Ginny Seymour.}

A fashion industry veteran who started her career as a contemporary buyer at Saks Fifth Avenue, Seymour had an opportunity to realize that goal with Aligne, originally founded by Dalbir Bains as a wholesale women’s fashion brand in London in 2020.

Seymour envisioned a new era for Aligne — the brand could fill a white space she saw in modern women’s clothing: the need for design-led, wearable pieces at an accessible price point, delivered with an omnichannel approach.

Seymour set out to make it happen, essentially “refounding” the company. She joined the business as managing director in 2022, relaunched Aligne under her vision in 2023 and was officially named CEO in 2024.

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of Aligne}

“I felt partners [had to be] a huge part of the story.”

During her first several years as CEO, Seymour focused on Aligne’s community building online and “design handwriting,” then branched out from a direct-to-consumer strategy to an omnichannel approach with U.S. retail partners.

In fact, despite being a London-founded brand, Aligne sees a larger part of its business unfolding in the U.S., Seymour says.

The CEO even recently relocated from London to New York to support the U.S. office and team as the brand continues its expansion.

“ We’re still based in the UK, so I travel back and forth,” Seymour says. “London to me is our creative hub; it’s part of our DNA being a British brand. That’s super important to me and something we don’t want to lose. So we’re very much creatively driven out of London, but commercially driven out of the U.S.”

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of Aligne}

As a still relatively young British brand, Aligne gains validation with a U.S. audience through retailers that have loyal customer bases.

“In the UK, it’s easier to be direct-to-consumer only because the UK is much smaller and more attainable,” Seymour says. “But in the U.S., to resonate as the next contemporary brand that people should be looking at, I felt partners [had to be] a huge part of the story.”

Aligne recently launched with Nordstrom, a retailer Seymour says she’d always hoped to partner with one day, after the company direct-messaged her to express its interest in the brand. Aligne is also available at Anthropologie.

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of Aligne}

“There’s less visibility [into] the analytics and who your customer is. You have to really listen.”

Despite the long-term goal to expand in retail, Seymour first prioritized understanding Aligne as a brand and its relationship to customers before tackling those partnerships, appreciating how important that strategy is for sustainable success.

Whether you’re refounding a business that already exists or starting one from scratch, knowing who your customer is — and quickly — will make or break its growth. ”And that’s easier said than done,” the CEO notes. “There are so many factors. With every iOS update, there’s less visibility [into] the analytics and who your customer is. You have to really listen.”

Aligne’s target customers are “confident, working” women, and acknowledging what those consumers wanted in a clothing line helped guide the brand’s design shift and the direction of its collection, Seymour says.

Dialing into that customer base is paying off. Aligne ended its fiscal year in July 2025 with 56% year-over-year revenue growth and revenue approaching eight figures.

Most of Aligne’s pieces are priced between $100 and $300. Although Seymour recognizes why some brands evolve into the “premium contemporary” space amid rising costs and tariff challenges, she says the company is committed to its accessible price point.

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of Aligne}

“I quickly had to learn where I didn’t want to lean and how to make sure to get the support.”

Being a CEO is a lot harder than Seymour thought it would be when she was 20 years old, she admits. But she appreciates how the job has allowed her to draw on her experience as a buyer, which demanded a “balance of art and science” much like the executive role does.

“[There might be a] week that I’m so artistic and designing the concept and the line, and there’s other days where I’m definitely leaning into the science,” Seymour says. “But I quickly had to learn where I didn’t want to lean and how to make sure to get the support in those areas because a CEO wears so many hats.”

One of the biggest lessons Seymour’s learned during her tenure as CEO so far is the value in listening to her instincts — even when it’s difficult. Over the first couple of months of the company’s refounding, Seymour sometimes hesitated to say what she wanted, then didn’t get the results that she desired.

“Three months in, I had this moment where I brought the team together and was much clearer about what I wanted,” Seymour says. “That brought them more on the journey with me, and it solidified us as a team and our values. If you have an idea and you’re building your own business, trusting your gut and not being scared to say it is powerful.”

“It’s always been my dream to be a CEO of a fashion brand,” Ginny Seymour, CEO of contemporary women’s fashion brand Aligne, tells Entrepreneur.

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of Aligne. CEO Ginny Seymour.}