When supermodels turn super-mogul

Amanda Bryan February 17, 2012

What happens when you combine supermodel success with business brain?

You get what's known as a super-mogul - and more and more of the world's most famous fashion figures are leaping off the catwalks and newsstands and into the ranks of this elite club.

Former 1980s Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Kathy Ireland certainly qualifies as a high-ranking member alongside other model-turned-moguls including Elle Macpherson, Gisele Bundchen, Elizabeth Hurley, Kate Moss, Cindy Crawford, Heidi Klum, Iman, Josie Maran, Marisa Miller and Erin Wasson.

All of these women sell their own product lines and these usually span clothes, shoes, fragrances, skin care and jewellery. What sets Kathy Ireland apart, however, is that hers is not the usual glamour product range.

Over the past two decades, Ireland has quietly built a $US300 million brand that is attached to a diverse range of home furnishings including ceiling fans, flooring, mattresses, desks and even windows.

Moreover these are designed and priced to suit busy mothers. (Think stain resistance and rounded corners)

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The 48 year-old, who reportedly now has three kids and four dogs or her own, recently told Forbes Magazine it was for this reason that she no longer does grand store openings as they tend to attract the wrong type of people.

“What happens is the store gets cluttered with guys who are there with 500-year-old copies of Sports Illustrated. How does that help a busy mum? These people are just in her way,” she said.

Though Ireland has said she had entrepreneurial tendencies even as a child, her business success was sparked back in 1993 after she released a humble line of socks with her name on it. They started out in a few sporting goods stores, then a mass retailer started to carry them and they proved to be a hit.

From there, Kathy Ireland Worldwide has expanded into other clothing lines and then in 1998 it moved into home furnishings, followed by other busy mum-centric offshoots like kitchenware and outdoor products.

The business, according to Ireland, is about solutions, initially for families (especially busy mums) and is expanding into solutions for business people (think workstations) and people in love (think wedding gowns).

But don't extreme good looks dent your business credibility? Yes, according to Ireland. “There were times when I knew my ideas would have been taken more seriously if I was just looked at as the CEO but there's always the modeling thing,” she told Forbes.

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If her fortunes, and those of many other supermodels are any indication, though, this isn't presenting too much of an obstacle.

These days, according to Forbes, the California-based 42-person business sells $US2 billion a year at retail, which translated into $US850 million in wholesale sales last year. From that, Ireland would have got a royalty payment of roughly 6 per cent equating to around $US50 million in revenue.

She doesn't just endorse her products though, she helps to design and promote them - but others make and sell them, so most of that revenue is pure profit for Ireland, who is the 100 per cent owner, according to Forbes.

On this basis, it has estimated that based on the likely cash flow of $35 million, Kathy Ireland Worldwide is worth somewhere around $300 million.

Billionaire beauty

She's not the only super-mogul to catch the attention of the business magazines. Last year Brazilian beauty Gisele Bundchen was tipped by Forbes as likely to become the world's first billionaire supermodel.

According to Forbes, which has estimated her annual income is $US45 million, she could be a billionaire by the time she turns 32 this year.

She also has a few hefty income sources aside from lucrative Versace and Dior contracts and her real estate holdings: there are also her successful jewellery and footwear lines and she recently launched her own lingerie company in a joint venture with a Brazilian retailer.