Tibi

Brand Overview

Owned by Amy Smilovic, Tibi is a luxury woman-owned clothing business. It is the product of 20 years of sector experience, a background career in marketing and time spent gaining business and inspiration insight abroad.

The company’s ethos is simple: individuality. The simple yet elegant designs speak to those who wish to make clothing their own, a reflection of their own character and purpose. In the words of the founder, the company strives for various dualities: ‘youthful and sophisticated, masculine and feminine, bold and muted’. This message is incorporated even in how the company is managed - it is still independently owned and run by a united team of creatives.

Individuality is also reflected in the company’s quirks - if you tune into an Instagram live class from the founder, you’ll have to become familiar with the terms in The Tibictionary - a list of terms which make understanding styling a much easier process. Take the term CMC - it means chill, modern, classic.

Designer Bio

Amy Smilovic founded her brand in 1997 while she was living in Hong Kong - during this period, she began to source the materials for the clothing she was about to create. Upon moving back to the USA, Amy opened her first store in September 2006.

Arguably the factor that makes this brand so unique is that this is where the list of creative directors ends - she remains the only owner of the company to this day, unlike many other huge organisations which diver out ownership and, quite often, the quality that comes with it. The team is made up of about 40 people, allowing utterly authentic creation. It is a fact that Amy stresses in all of her interviews, as with such a team, a delicate balance is created: it is big enough that there is enough opinion and voice to create balanced outcomes, but not too big that these become drowned out by pushed for profit and more product.

Inspiration

‘I believe women should dress in a way that is effortless but polished. I love seeing someone’s personality come to life through their wardrobe choices’ - Amy Smilovic, Founder & Creative Director