As the founder of Brand Assembly, Hillary France has made it her business to support emerging designers and showcase their work at trade shows and beyond—all while running her own successful showroom and retail shop.
Long before Enneagram types and Myers-Briggs results became standard information shared in Instagram bios, people divided themselves into one of two camps: right brain (creative) or left brain (analytical). Hillary France has always been lucky enough to straddle the line—something she credits to a childhood spent primarily on the baseline. “I grew up playing tennis competitively, and I reached my peak at 14 or 15, when I was one of the top two singles players in the nation,” she says. “But I also had a very creative side. I was always drawing or sketching, and my room was a by-product of me just ripping out magazine pages from fashion magazines and taping them to every square inch of the walls.”
Post-tennis, France’s ability to combine the empirical and ethereal has, well, served her well. After graduating from Duke with a degree in art history and studio arts, she moved to D.C. and later New York to learn everything she could—buying, budgeting, “retail math,” pricing, planning for markdowns, licensing, and warehouse logistics—for a slew of fashion brands including Kate Spade, Guess, Rachel Zoe, and Diane Von Furstenberg. (“My life’s dream!” she says of the latter.) Eventually, she began working with smaller brands and quickly realized that her unique skill set could benefit creatives who weren’t exactly jazzed by the prospect of poring over Excel spreadsheets. “Small brands that I really enjoyed were struggling,” says France. “I wanted to find a way to leverage all my knowledge and make it applicable for small businesses so designers could focus on design.”
In 2013, France did just that by launching Brand Assembly, which offers an abundance of practical resources, as well as tradeshow and coworking spaces to a well-curated list of clients.
“I should have been more scared, but because I had cultivated relationships through the years, I was lucky enough to already have clients lined up,” she says. Her knack for numbers and critical eye have become part of her company’s DNA. “People love to see what we are able to create every single season. Nothing ever goes stale,” she says. “We started as primarily a women’s contemporary trade show, but since the pandemic, we’re moving into other areas. Today, we want to be a lifestyle show. That’s what’s happening in retail in general. Ten years ago, everything was categorical—you were specifically jeans or shoes or beauty creams. Now it’s about creating more of an overall lifestyle and experience.”
Brand Assembly isn’t the only experience France has dreamed up. “When I lived in New York, I used to tell my ex-boyfriends that I was going to move Upstate, drive a monster truck, and open a coffee shop,” she ways. After falling in love with Hudson, New York, nine years ago, she did all three, putting down roots and eventually opening WYLDE-Hudson—a coffee shop, retail boutique, and community meet-up spot. “WYLDE came about as a positive during the pandemic,” France explains. “Growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, I love both mall and coffee shop cultures. I like the sense of seeing the same people sitting in the same spots, drinking the same thing.”
France advises that even as retailers and brands endeavor to create personal experiences, it’s important to not take things too personally. “What you buy may not be something everyone is going to respond to. There’s always math, intuition, and trends that come into play,” she says. “But my store is a reflection of my personal style. Some things I know will sell, and some, I just really love, and it’s just for a few that will love it, too. Trust, me I’ve been wrong on some things, but I like to take chances.”
Make it a priority to visit THE GOODS by Brand Assembly on the 10th Floor of the World Trade Center during all major markets including Dallas Total Home & Gift Market (June 21-27) and Dallas Apparel & Accessories Market (June 27-30). Founder Hillary France and her team pack France’s 17,000-square-foot space with well-curated collections across a range of categories including apparel, accessories, footwear, gift, home décor, and Western from more than 40 makers such as Alp N Rock, Stoney Clover Lane, Intentionally Blank, Whimsy and Row, Mohinders Shoes, Sierra Winter Jewelry, and Spiritual Gangster. France promises engaging activations throughout each week—her January debut included live hat-making, lipstick color-matching, and herbal tea-tastings—as well as a lovely place to sit for a spell. “We were able to tap a local muralist, and we designed our own furniture,” she says. “We’ve worked so hard to create a lifestyle experience in this space that we’re lucky enough to get to call our own.”
Be sure to check out the full story in the latest edition of SPARK Magazine.
If you would like to shop The GOODS by Brand Assembly, be sure to pre-register for our upcoming markets in June: Dallas Total Home & Gift & Dallas Apparel & Accessories.