When I Stop Looking Forward, I Think I'll Retire

The CFDA's Founders Award honoree Andrew Rosen

As the CEO of Theory and Helmut Lang and an investor in on-the-rise New York labels like Rag & Bone, Alice + Olivia, Gryphon, and now Proenza Schouler, Andrew Rosen occupies a unique and uniquely powerful perch in American fashion. If he didn't invent the concept of the contemporary market, he's probably made more at it than anybody else. With sales set to exceed $700 million, Theory is on track to its biggest year ever. On June 4, he'll be recognized for his accomplishments with the CFDA's Founders Award, which is given in honor of Eleanor Lambert, who established the trade organization half a century ago, when Rosen's father, Carl, was himself a captain of the American fashion industry. Two weeks shy of the Awards, Style.com sat down with the third-generation garmento in his Meatpacking District headquarters to discuss family, the future, and the changing face of luxury.

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What does winning the Founders Award mean to you?
AR: Someone in my line of work, I never think about winning a CFDA Award—I'm not a designer. It means so much because of my family's history in the clothing business. My father was an amazing man and an incredible visionary in our industry. He said to me when I starting out that I was at the forefront of a whole new generation of fashion. He said that the industry was changing from a branded product to a designer product, that designers were going to become the future of our industry, not the brands. He was changing his company at that time from a branded dress company to a license with Calvin Klein and Diane von Furstenberg. That's when I started working for him; it was the whole beginning of designers owning and controlling and being a voice in the industry. He told me I was going to know more than anybody else because I was at the forefront; I was going to have seen it grow. It's funny because in a way that's exactly what happened.
But you're also behind Theory, which until Olivier Theyskens came on board was about the brand. So you've got your feet in both worlds.
I felt that when I started Theory, I'd spent my life at Calvin Klein, Anne Klein. I wanted something that was not designer, that was just about an idea, something that was very simple. Over time, I evolved my ideas and wanted to get back involved with designers—the creativity of designers, the energy. It's important to continue to evolve, to understand that you can't get too set in your ways. You have to be able to grow, as fashion and the world does.
Is evolution, then, the secret of your success?
I'm lucky because I get to have an exciting job every day. Every day that I'm working there are so many possibilities; things are always evolving. I'm not one that looks back and says, 'Oh, look what I did here.' I'm always looking towards the future. When I stop looking forward, I think I should retire.