Wile American Vintage CEO Michaël Azoulay did not set out to work in fashion, his passion for the industry today is undeniable. His career has taken him from the shop floor to the C-suite, and he says it’s the constant shifts and fast pace of the industry – which force him to question, evolve and reinvent himself all the time – that make fashion such an interesting place to work, and can keep you, in a way, “forever young”.
With a background in business, Azoulay began on the shop floor as a sales assistant before moving into sales, product management and later collection development.
These experiences still have a deep influence in how he runs the brand today, and especially the time he spent on the shop floor has left him with a broader view of the business and a conviction that, even as retail becomes more digital, leaders need to stay close to the product and the customer.
Today he says what he enjoys most about his role is its multitasking dimension, which fuels both his curiosity and his desire to keep learning. With the brand operating across three continents today, he continues to be involved in the development of many different areas of the company.
In this interview, he discusses the lessons of his first fashion jobs, the demands of building a career in the industry and why he admires Amancio Ortega’s approach to making fashion accessible.
Have you always had an interest in fashion?
No, not necessarily. My initial background wasn’t leading me towards fashion at all. I studied business-related subjects, with no direct connection to the industry. And when I first entered the fashion world, my background was much more in sales and business than in design or creation. My interest in fashion really developed gradually, through my experience and professional journey.
What attracts you to fashion, and why did you want to work in this industry?
Fashion attracts me because it’s an industry that is constantly moving. It forces you to question yourself, evolve and reinvent yourself all the time. It’s a world with no real limits: there is always something new to create, imagine or build.
That energy is also what made me want to make it my career. Today, with American Vintage operating internationally across three continents, that stimulation is even stronger. I truly believe that when you have the chance to work in fashion, this constant need to challenge yourself keeps you curious, connected to your time and, in a way, forever young.
Tell us about your first job in fashion. What attracted you to the role?
My first jobs in fashion were very much connected to the field. I started as a sales assistant in a store and then became a sales agent. At that point, I didn’t necessarily see my job through the lens of fashion. I saw it more through sales, the product and the reality of what was happening on the ground.
That experience is actually what allowed me to evolve. Thanks to this expertise and my understanding of the market, I had the opportunity to become involved in collections and their development, eventually moving into roles as a product manager and later a collection director. In the end, it was my experience in the field that opened the door to the creative and product development side of fashion.
How did you experience this first role?
I experienced it as something very complete, with a real 360-degree approach. Coming from the field and being directly connected to customers and their feedback allowed me to better understand the product, their expectations and the reality of the market.
I then had the opportunity to move behind the scenes, working with the design teams and taking part in the creation and constant evolution of the collections. Having the freedom to move between sales, product and design was incredibly enriching and helped me develop a much broader vision of fashion.
What were the most valuable skills or lessons you took away from this first experience?
The main lesson I took from it was to always stay connected to the field, while remaining open to other roles and departments. When you come from the field and then manage to broaden your perspective, you gain a much stronger understanding of the product, the collection and also where they are heading.
Above all, this experience made me realise that, whatever the era, the field remains essential. Today, we are going through a major digital transformation, which will accelerate even further with the development of artificial intelligence. But despite all these changes, being on the ground, staying connected to the product and understanding the customer remain absolutely essential in my eyes.
What do you enjoy most about your current role?
Today, what I enjoy most about my role is precisely this multitasking dimension. I come from the field, I’ve worked with the product, and I’ve had the opportunity to be involved in the development of many different areas of the company.
Of course, I spend most of my time working on product and buying, but together with my managers, I also continue to follow and oversee the different departments. Having the opportunity to exchange ideas, work and think with people across all areas of the company is something I really enjoy.
It’s also what constantly feeds my curiosity, my desire to keep learning and my need to always stay up to date.
If you could go back and give your younger self one piece of advice at the very beginning of your career, what would it be and why?
I would actually give myself several pieces of advice: always stay connected to the field, be open to the many different professions that make up the fashion industry and the life of a company, and always keep an eye on new technologies. I would also tell myself to learn as many foreign languages as possible and to travel a lot, because all these experiences help you open your mind, understand different perspectives and move more easily from one world to another.
Most importantly, I would tell myself to find my own rhythm and train myself to maintain it. Fashion is an extremely demanding and energy-intensive industry. It requires a lot of energy, curiosity and endurance. You need to be prepared for it: it’s a long marathon that, ultimately, never really ends.
What does the next chapter of your career look like, and how would you like to evolve from here?
I’ve just turned 48, and I think this next chapter has already begun. For me, it’s very much about training, passing on knowledge and sharing experience.
The brand is now more than 20 years old, and through all the work we’ve done around product, retail, omnichannel and international development, we’ve built up an enormous amount of experience. What really matters to me now is understanding how we can use all that experience to train people better, pass on our knowledge and give our teams strong training tools.
Everything we’ve experienced through fashion, business and international development is incredibly rich. It’s a permanent, live learning experience. So if, together with my teams, we can eventually turn all of that into a real school, almost a university dedicated to retail and training through fashion, that would clearly be the next chapter for me. And I think we’ve already started writing it.
Is there someone in the fashion world you have always admired, and why?
Yes, I’ve always greatly admired Amancio Ortega and, more broadly, the Inditex Group and Zara. I’ve never met him and unfortunately never had that opportunity, but I think we have a lot in common in the way we approach business and fashion.
I’ve always admired their business model, their development and, above all, their ability to make fashion accessible to a much wider audience. I think that’s an incredibly powerful message.
Beyond the product itself, I also admire their ability to navigate major transformations: international expansion, logistics, digitalisation… Even when they entered certain areas later, they managed to build extremely powerful tools and a strong image around them.
So yes, even though I’ve never met him, Ortega has always been and will probably always remain a kind of mentor to me. In the fashion industry, this is clearly the group and the vision that resonate with me the most.