18th Annual Retail & Luxury Goods Conference
heritage reimagined: founders panelist
Armando Cabral
Founder, Armando Cabral
Armando Cabral is a model, father, world traveler, and the Founder and Creative Director of the namesake luxury brand. Born in Guinea-Bissau, his family moved to Portugal when he was 4. Armando's career in fashion didn’t begin behind the scenes as many do. After being turned down by every agency, he got his start on the runway, where he started modeling while earning his degree in business administration. At 21, he was signed and rose to become one of the top models in the world, representing many prestigious luxury houses: Louis Vuitton, Balmain, Dries Van Noten, and becoming the face of J. Crew Menswear. His innate passion for shoes, knowledge of luxury, and experience in fashion led him to notice an opportunity in the market for a brand that offered timeless elegance yet high-performing pieces positioned at a fair price point. The ARMANDO CABRAL inaugural footwear brand was released in 2009 to include bespoke, classic, handsome forms and comfortable, technical functions. He immersed himself in shoe design and production, intimately involving himself in every detail along the way. Today, ARMANDO CABRAL continues to evolve into a more diverse footwear and luxury lifestyle collection aimed at amassing loyal fans drawn to expressing themselves through my unique perspective on African heritage infused with bespoke European craftsmanship.
Emily Erkel
Founder, Le Prix
Emily Erkel is the co-founder and CMO of LePrix, the leading B2B platform reinventing how retailers source pre-owned luxury. Prior to LePrix, she worked at Gap Inc, focused on North America Strategy, working closely with the Gap executive team. Before that, Emily was a strategy consultant for Accenture, where she advised large retail and ecommerce clients on strategy, international expansion and consumer insights. Emily has worked in-house at companies including Chanel and Hermès as well as consulted for Louis Vuitton, Uniqlo and more. Emily has been featured on NPR's How I Built This for their Resiliency series, a featured stage speaker at NRF’s Big Show 2023 and on podcast as well as on Marianna Hewitt’s Life with Marianna podcasts. She earned an MBA from Columbia Business School and holds a B.S. with honors in Management Information Systems from Virginia Tech.
Eshita Kabra-Davies
Founder, By Rotation
Ex investment analyst, founder and CEO Eshita Kabra founded By Rotation as a side hustle in April 2019. Having travelled to her motherland Rajasthan, India, for her honeymoon and witnessed the first-hand effects of textile waste, Eshita felt compelled to change, and bring about change at grassroots level. A “third culture kid” Eshita is especially focused on creating a global community, having successfully launched By Rotation in the UK and US to create the world's largest shared wardrobe. A Forbes 30 Under 30, Marie Claire Future Shaper, Drapers 30 Under 30 and more, she is an established tastemaker and industry expert on issues such as the sharing economy, fashion and style.
Emily Rudman (Moderator)
Founder, Emilie Heathe
Emily H. Rudman is a CBS '14 graduate. She is the founder of beauty brand Emilie Heathe and luxury consulting and design studio MLE Studio. As an adopted Korean American Jew, Emily rarely saw women who looked like her in beauty campaigns or on television. Never feeling like she truly belonged, Emily sought out to create a beauty brand that was as inclusive as it was responsible. All products adhere to the highest standards of innovation, effectiveness and overall sustainability in order to move the beauty industry forward. She has a background in product development and beauty styling, having worked with brands such as Avon Products, Inc, Bobbi Brown, MAC Cosmetics, Briogeo, NARS, Tiffany & Co, Cartier, Chanel Watches & Jewelry, David Yurman, Montblanc and more. She lives in NYC with her husband and two daughters.