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Frum’s the Word: Rachel Lubchansky ’00 sells modest fashion on her website
The word “frum” means religious in Yiddish, but
visitors to Funky Frum, an online boutique that specializes
in “modest” attire, may be completely nonobservant
and still like the clothes. That’s fine with Rachel Milder
Lubchansky, Advertising and Marketing Communications ’00,
who founded the business. A typical blouses has soft purple
undertones, lace trim, and sequin details. At $68, it’s
a bargain, whatever your religious affiliation. To fit Lubchansky’s
definition of modest, blouses cover the wearer’s shoulders
and skirts fall below the knee. “It’s hard to define
modesty,” she admits. “But we think it can be stylish
– and sexy, in its own way.”
Lubchansky grew up in St. Louis, MO, with Conservative Jewish
parents and grandparents who were initially concerned about
her desire to study in the big city. She “loved every
minute” of living here, loved the diversity of the student
body, and what she learned. At an internship with Fashion Group
International (www.fgi.org), she was exposed to a wide variety
of industry professionals. “I felt well equipped when
I came up with this business idea,” she says.
After a stint as a buyer and merchandiser for shoe retailer
Stuart Weitzman, Lubchansky returned to St. Louis in 2002. She
was becoming more observant, and sought attractive clothes to
fit her new lifestyle. “I shopped when I traveled, and
St. Louis women always asked about my clothing,” she says.
She had dreamed of opening her own business, and she decided
to make it web-based, so any women with the internet could access
it. “Because it wasn’t just St. Louis,” she
says. “In all cities outside of the largest ones, women
were having a hard time, in an era of tube tops and miniskirts,
finding fashionable, modest clothes.”
She researched the market and drew up a business plan, and the
site went live in August 2005. Lubchansky contracts out the
site design and has a part-time publicist, but does the rest
of the work herself. She orders directly from vendors, and a
nearby warehouse stores the merchandise. “I shop the same
designers that other boutiques shop,” she says, and her
instincts guide her selections. “I sell what I would wear;
that’s what people approached me for.” She also
travels to different communities, to meet and learn about her
target customer. “This is a modern woman – a stay-at-home
mom or a working woman, a college graduate, even college students.”
Web banners on targeted web sites drive traffic to Funky Frum,
and Lubchansky visits trade shows to advertise, but she says
word-of-mouth has been “huge.” Though sales figures
would be premature at this point, she says the site received
100,000 hits in two months, and received orders from a dozen
states in its first four weeks.
Though it’s early, Lubchansky has ambitions for the business.
She wants to expand into plus size apparel and the petite market.
She wants to set up international distribution centers to reduce
costs for global shipping. And she hopes to produce her own
line of clothing. About the trend her business capitalizes on,
she says, “Maybe it’s a backlash against the navel-exposing
celebrities. Or maybe it’s the war we’re in –
we’re just feeling more reserved.” She pauses, then
adds, “It really is about making modesty stylish.”
-Alex Joseph
FIT Network
January 2006
www.fitnyc.edu
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