Reading: The Butler’s Closet: Barbara Kotlikoff Harman on Building a Bespoke Business

Lesley recently sat down for an inspiring conversation with Barbara Kotlikoff Harman, a master of reinvention who transitioned from leading luxury brands like Nina Ricci and Harry Winston to launching The Butler’s Closet, a bespoke storage business devoted to preserving your favorite fashion and lifestyle pieces. Harman delves into the art of balancing high-level corporate leadership with innovative side hustles, sharing the challenges and triumphs of building customer loyalty and developing unique products in competitive markets. Listeners will gain valuable insights on navigating career shifts, embracing creative problem-solving, and finding their niche through perseverance and strategic innovation. Tune in to discover practical lessons that empower you to transform challenges into opportunities for lasting success.

Watch the interview or scroll below to read the transcript.

LJS: Barbara, I’m so excited to have you on the podcast. After a long, long time, we finally get to do it. Nice to see you.

BH: Thank you, Lesley. Nice to see you. It’s a pleasure.

LJS: I’ve always been a great admirer of you because of all the incredible stuff you’ve done. So this is going to be a treat for everybody here. Barbara’s one of the most interesting reinventors, and I knew her through the beauty business.

I always like to go back to the history of people, because I find that there’s usually little threads of reinvention in their histories. Where did you grow up and what did you think you were originally going to do? What did you study?

BH: I grew up in Pennsauken, New Jersey, which is outside of Camden and Cherry Hill. My father and his family had a department store called Kotlikoff’s and I thought I was going to grow up to be a lawyer like my father, but I took a different path. I went to a terrific Quaker [high] school in Philadelphia called Friends Select, and then I went to the University of Pennsylvania where I majored in English. While I was thinking about this interview, it occurred to me that my mother was a musician and her three sisters were musicians. My mother studied music in college and was a music teacher for a little bit, and I sang in choirs my whole life. Anything artistic was around music. I never had any art classes, which I regret. I was thinking about how being involved in the beauty business and inventing products and things like that didn’t spring from my original studies.

LJS: Right. Interesting. I think we might be the last of the liberal arts majors. It’s like, what do you do with an English major? Well, you end up being in the beauty business!

BH: You’re absolutely right.

LJS: So, talk a little bit about your background so people can understand how you got into the beauty business and what you did there.

BH: So after I finished college, I moved to New York and I worked for two advertising agencies, Grey and Foote, Cone & Belding. And then I was hired by Clairol. They were my clients. I was at Clairol for a few years, and then I went to a branch of American Cyanamid called Jacqueline Cochran. It was a tiny division, two major brands: Pierre Cardin Men’s Cologne and Nina Ricci’s L’Air du Temps.

LJS: Oh, I loved L’Air du Temps!

BH: So I first worked on the Cardin brand and then, going back in preparation for this I realized I was with Nina Ricci for 14 years.

LJS: Oh, wow. That’s a long time.

BH: So I ultimately became the VP of marketing and then became the CEO of a freestanding company that Mr. Ricci established. So I traveled back and forth to France regularly, went to all the couture fashion shows and did a lot of product development. Because in those days – and it’s probably the same today – there were “gift with purchase” items. So we were inventing and creating bags and pearl necklaces and all kinds of things. I did a lot of product development because all the perfumes were made in France. I didn’t have anything to do with that, but I love doing marketing with Robert Ricci, who was a fantastic human being and a great mentor.

LJS: Oh, wow. How wonderful to be mentored by him. That’s incredible. And so then, what did you do after that?

BH: So after Nina Ricci, I went into the jewelry business. First I ran the Harry Winston US business, the big fancy jewelry company, which was interesting. And then I went completely to the other side of the spectrum and worked for Monet, the costume jeweler.

LJS: I remember Monet.

BH: Yeah. I started in the marketing arena and eventually rose to become the president of the company and we sold it to Liz Claiborne. So, I was out of a job because we sold it and I didn’t want to go back to the beauty business. I felt that I had been there, done that and I ended up working for two not for profits. One was the Paley Center for Media. It used to be the Museum of Television Radio. And then after that I spent five years at NYU as the vice dean of development for the Steinhardt School, which is the second largest school. It’s the School of Education. So those were very interesting. I think when one makes a career change like that, to go into the not for profit world after being in the for profit world, one should think about it very seriously because the businesses are very different. I don’t know if I’d call not for profit a business, but essentially these organizations are very different and the skills that you bring to them may not be valued as highly as they would if you stayed within the industry where you’ve grown up and you know what the rules of the road are. But I learned a lot in both organizations.

LJS: And so let’s talk about how you launched your own businesses. You had little businesses when you were younger and you have some show and tell.

BH: I do have some show and tell. Well, as I was saying, Lesley, in preparing for this podcast I went back and thought about the things that had brought me to the point of launching my own business. And I realized when I first came to New York and was working – and one of my recommendations is one ought to always have a side hustle. The first thing I did was create something tiny and slightly ridiculous. Because this was only sold in a beauty salon, a very lovely beauty salon run by a great hairdresser named, Gerard Bollei. But these are called Zubird.

LJS: So cute!

BH: It was a little drawing that I made. And these were hand painted bobby pins. I went into the courtyard of my New York City apartment with spray paint and brushes. So it was funny because I actually registered the trademark that, of course, had one point of distribution. It came to nothing. But then later on, when I was married, I launched something called Kip Street Canvas. And these were a series of canvas tote bags that I sold through Yankee Magazine.

LJS: Oh, my God! Through Yankee Magazine!

BH: I made a little ad for direct marketing and I’d take them to the post office. So, obviously I did not become a millionaire with either of these businesses, but I had this itch to do something on my own. So I would say in the early 2000s, there were two things going on because I was starting my business while I was still working.

LJS: That’s actually a good point. And why did you do that? That’s a good thing to talk about because that is one of the recommendations I make for some people who can’t leave their job. They need the income, but they can start a side hustle that might lead to something else. Can you explain how that worked out for you?hey need the income, but they can start a side hustle that might lead to something else. Can you explain how that worked out for you?

BH: Yes. So there were two side hustles that I had. One was, I was working on the side nights and weekends when I could, for my brother Larry. I have twin brothers who are younger than me. They are both academics. My brother Larry is an economist at Boston University. And he has a company called Economic Security Planning. And we have two software products. One for long term planning called Maxifi, and one for Social Security planning called Maximize My Social Security. So I was working for Larry, helping him build a website, doing things on the side, and at the same time I was doing the preparation that I needed to get The Butler’s Closet off the ground. So the background of The Butler’s Closet is that I had a lot of lovely clothing from Nina Ricci, mostly from the Ready to Wear. We were lucky enough to build a weekend house in old Chatham, New York. And it had big windows, and I knew that the light would harm the furniture, the upholstery on the furniture.

My husband Larry has a cousin named Phyllis Dillon, who’s a textile conservator. And Phyllis worked with Patsy Orlovsky, who runs a fantastic conservation organization called the Textile Conservation Workshop in South Salem, New York. So I went to both of them and asked for advice as to how to create garment bags and other materials that were conservation worthy. My items are made out of undyed and unbleached fabric and I have garment covers, shoulder covers, furniture covers, shoe bags. But I wanted them to be absolutely correct from a textile conservation point of view. And the reason I called the company The Butler’s Close  is because butlers  and housekeepers were really the original conservators. They were very careful. They worked in these gigantic homes and they put the house to bed when the family was leaving. They covered the furniture. They packed everything if someone was going to a weekend party. So since they started the conservation trend and many of the techniques used today were started then this was an inspiration to me and I had this clothing that I wanted to preserve. So I worked with an upholsterer in Hudson, New York and developed the patterns and found a manufacturer. And all this took many years before I launched in 2011. And also part of what has been helpful to me is I continue to work for my brother. I work for him now and I manage all the marketing. But he had budgets to do Google Ads and things like that and to build bigger websites. So I learned because I came up in, as you did, Lesley, in the analog world, where we had TV and print advertising without the Internet. So I’m able to learn and apply what I learned in both businesses.

LJS: Right. So talk a little bit about what are the uses for the Butler’s, Closet products. Is it for if you have a wedding dress? What are people buying it for? What are you selling the most of and what are you seeing? 

BH: My most popular products are my garment covers. I make shoulder covers and garment bags in three different sizes. And I also make a wedding preservation gown.

LJS: Ah, I wish I’d known that. I have my mother in law’s dress, which, it’s practically destroyed.

BH: Well, you could possibly have it restored, depending on the shape it’s in. We could talk about that separately. Depending on the age of the item might bring it back to life.

LJS: Interesting.

BH: Not every single product is a hit, but some are bigger hits than others. In addition to the furniture covers, which are great for covering your furniture, if you have pets, if you have small children, those are the uses, and also if you have bright sunlight of any sort, it keeps the dust off the fabrics. And what people don’t know is, dust creates an invisible layer and things get really…The dust hardens. The materials can, in fact, be abraded because dust is very sharp. So I invented something called the Shoe Shaper. They’re stuffers that go into your shoes. They again, are made from undyed and unbleached fabric and have a stuffing that is correct for conservation. I have some cotton storage bags that are lovely. And then I’ve just introduced a very large canvas under bed storage bag that was a big hit with my customers and sort of reminded me that one really needs to refresh, the product line so that your existing customers, and about 30% of them come back to me and repurchase, have something new to look at and are interested in.

Shoe Shapers in Breathable Cotton, $20

LJS: Right. That makes a lot of sense.

BH: So I’m thinking of more products. I have shoe bags, I have horn products from England, shoe shapers and clothing brushes. So I have about 20 SKUs. And it keeps me hopping, keeping everything in stock and doing all the inventory projections.

LJS: So what was the biggest surprise doing this business?

BH: That’s a good question. Well, one very nice surprise is that I have lovely customers. I am customer service and if somebody has a question or problem, I email right away their returns or whatever. I think the biggest surprise is that you have to be prepared for change. So the manufacturer in Brooklyn, who, most of my products are made in the US but other products are made in China, but all the garment bags and shoe bags are made in the United States. My very great partner who manufactured for me in Brooklyn decided to retire.

LJS: Oh, no!

BH: Yes. And I’ve been working with him since 2010. Because we had to build inventory before I launched. And I’ll tell you a cute story. When I contacted him, he wanted to come see me in my apartment to sort of make sure – he wanted to determine if he felt I was trustworthy to work with, could pay the bills, whatever. He was an old timer from the garment industry. Lovely guy. So immediately I jumped in to try to find a new manufacturer and was not happy to know that manufacturers in New York not only would charge more money, but didn’t ship for me. So, long story short, I ended up with a great solution: there was a factory literally next door to the factory I worked with in the same building, on the same floor. It was a great surprise. And we moved things and started manufacturing without missing a beat. I’d say the other surprise was working through the pandemic because my manufacturer closed his factory. My husband and I packed everything up, took it up to our weekend house, and, you know, sales were slower, but I packed everything up and. And took it over to FedEx and was shipping the products regularly during that time until the factory could reopen. So I was lucky that we were able to stay in business.

LJS: Are you seeing any kind of uptick right now because usually, when the world gets more chaotic, people like to work on their homes, they like to work on their wardrobes. They’re not going to be going out and buying if everything is chaos. They’re not replenishing things. They’re probably taking better care of things that they already have. Are you seeing any of that?

BH: I am. I’m seeing it in two ways, Lesley. My sales in 2024 were going gangbusters. They were going up 40 to 50% year over year. A giant burst. And then things flattened out in August and in September and October, the business plummeted.

LJS: Right. Because everybody held their breath.

BH: They were holding their breath for the election. I was very nervous.

LJS: Just everything stopped. People were focused on the election, and that was it.

BH: That was it. So what I did was, I had not updated my website since 2017 or 2018. And I decided to just jump in it. I postponed this upgrade for a year, and I worked like crazy with him for two months, got the new website up, and at the same time, I ran a sale for Black Friday. I don’t do lots of sales because having grown up in the department store business, I find that you can go down the tubes that way. But nonetheless, Thanksgiving was great. Christmas was great. And then this introduction of the new canvas bag in January is terrific. Now since I introduced the bag and I gave a promotional price the sale is over and we’re seeing more, let’s say, activity in Washington. I won’t say anything that’s political. We’ll see how February goes, and March. This is the time that people buy organizing products and I’ve been very thankful that my business has grown significantly, even though I have big competitors like the Container Store and other companies.

Deluxe Large Canvas Bag for Under Bed Storage, $98

LJS: But yours is a bespoke business. I mean, yes, you can go to the Container Store, but you’re not going to get preservation quality stuff.

BH: I think you’re right. A lot of the products are made overseas.

LJS: So what, what are you looking forward to? What do you do you sort of have your eye on coming up? What should people be watching?

BH: Well, I am very proud to say that I’m now being sold on AirMail. I don’t generally have a wholesale business…So I’m on AirMail. And that’s exciting because it’s bringing in some new, new customers. That was fun to get set up. So I’m working to try to find more people who are influencers who might be interested in some sort of affiliate program. I don’t really want to sell in general at retail because I’m not set up for that.

I like to keep my pricing fair. I raised prices once since 2011, and I try to be careful. So I’m trying to get more press and more visibility because when I do, it allows customers to come in. And once they find me, many of them come back. As I had mentioned, about 30% do reorder. So I have a loyal customer base.

LJS: And what are they reordering, Barbara? What is the thing that they’re coming back for? Is it just what’s new or is it a particular thing?

BH: I think they replenish some of their things. Some of them have multiple houses. I sort of have three distinct customer zones. I have the people who buy all the garment products. I have the people who buy the furniture covers – rarely do I get an order with furniture covers and garment bags. Then at the holidays, I have people who come in and buy a couple of shoe bags or a shoehorn. And these are for gifts.

Somebody who has a big house might put in an order for many thousands of dollars for furniture covers. And let me mention that we have a free measuring service. So if someone sends us photos and we have drawings on the website to show how to measure your furniture. My husband, who’s an architect, will sit down and do the measurements, and we give the recommendations of what size furniture cover you should buy.

LJS: I see. And it’s only interior, right? You don’t do exterior?

BH: No.

LJS: Let’s talk about if people want to do something like this. They want to do a business of their own. A lot of people are trying to reinvent themselves or create a side hustle. What would you say are three of the best tips or tricks you might give them about doing it? Advice for someone who’s been around the block. They’re not newbies, they’re not 20. What are the specific do’s and don’ts that you’ve learned that you could pass along?

BH: I would say don’t be afraid to jump in and educate yourself. Because while I did all this product development at Nina Ricci, I had a whole host of people helping me. I wasn’t dealing with suppliers directly. I worried, obviously, about the cost of goods, but I think that given one’s experience, you may know more than you think you know. So don’t be afraid, because a lot of people will get in and give you helpful advice. And I find that people are very willing to share. So I think you should jump in.

I think this sounds hackneyed, it’s an old adage, but if you don’t succeed at first try, try again. I think you have to stick with it and be patient because it takes a very long time. It took me from the early 2000s until 2011 to actually launch, and it’s only in the last few years because I haven’t had a lot of money beyond Google Ads. I haven’t hired a PR agency or anything like that. If you have a bootstrap operation, you have to wait. But eventually, I think if you build it, they will come. I think it takes time, and your customers are good supporters. They spread the word. As I was preparing, I cut out an article where Leonard Lauder was interviewing Donna Karan. I’ve always admired Leonard. And one of the quotes that he had was, “Don’t be a passenger, be an engine.” I thought that was a good one. 

I think you have to have confidence that if you jump into something, little by little people will join you and you can make it work.. I’ve had great support from my husband, emotional support. I’ve had great support from my daughter Anna, who’s an entrepreneur in her own right. I think you just have to gird yourself and move forward, because eventually, eventually you’ll get it done. You’ll find the pitfalls, but you’ll get it done. So don’t be afraid.

Connect with Barbara: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Email

Shop The Butler’s Closet