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Diane Cha recently left her senior job at Gap Inc.’s Athleta brand to join Air, a virtual fashion label with 17 employees and no offices or headquarters. Cha will work from his bedroom in Orange County, California, with a team spread across three time zones from Ojai, California to Coatesville, Pennsylvania. While most fashion brands have returned employees to the office since pandemic restrictions eased, Air has permanently closed its offices in New York’s Noho neighborhood and continues to grow revenue fivefold over three years.
Air’s virtual business model has allowed the label to recruit more experienced talent from all over the country. When Mallory Snyder posted a job opening for a senior creative manager on LinkedIn during the pandemic lockdowns in Emigration Canyon, Utah, she received over 5,000 applications within three months. “Opening up the team to the entire country gives us access to a large pool of talent,” says Winter. This drastic change has resulted in continued revenue growth for Air and its success story is an inspiration for many businesses that are looking into adopting remote working models.