>What is the magic of the Olsen name that makes this valuation possible?
They seem to have a talent for design and, as this article notes "more resources than most students." It also talks about how they always had to redesign larger clothes since they were toddlers and began working in tv. Now they're a fashion team trying to hit the big time:
When she was starting college, Ashley Olsen did something many fashion-conscious teenagers do: she set out on a quest for the perfect T-shirt. But Ashley had more resources than most students, so she employed a factory in Los Angeles to work with her and create what she had in mind.
It took a year and a half, on and off, but eventually she and her twin sister, Mary-Kate, got something they felt was right not only for their petite frames, but also on all the other women of various ages and sizes they tried it on.
The secret, they say, is the French seam running down the back. 'It's cut from one piece of fabric,' explains Ashley, who is the older by a few minutes, and tends to take the lead when discussing business. 'It's about the drape and the fabric. And finding the balance between the two.'
'It's made on a lingerie machine,' adds Mary-Kate, fingering the silky, diaphanous sample that is hanging on a rail behind us. 'A lot of thought has to go into it.'
Having put in so much effort, they decided to try to sell this T-shirt, and came up with the concept of The Row, a high-end, luxury clothing label based in New York, manufactured mainly in America but also in Italy, and named to evoke the kind of quality tailoring and fit synonymous with London's Savile Row.
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'It's not fast fashion,' Mary-Kate confirms. 'We pay so much attention to the fit and the quality and the details.'
And having started, it seems they couldn't stop. Soon after starting The Row, the sisters launched the more bohemian, West Coast-styled label Elizabeth and James (named after their younger sister and older brother), aimed at a slightly younger, edgier customer. For a more casual, weekend look there is now also Elizabeth and James Textile, and they are reaching out to the mass market with Olsenboye, a competitively priced line for teens created in partnership with the US chain JC Penney.
On the afternoon I meet the Olsens in the bustling Manhattan office that they are already outgrowing, Josh Berman, one of the founders of MySpace, is also visiting. He runs the e-commerce site that is partnering the Olsens on their latest venture, StyleMint, where users answer an online quiz to determine their style profile, and are then emailed suggestions of Olsen-designed T-shirts, which they can buy for $29.99 apiece. That would be just under £19 if you could buy from outside the USA, which as yet you can't - although the Olsens are hoping to bring both this and Olsenboye to the British market, as well as expanding their outlets for their more upmarket brands here.
To have an operation of this size is quite an achievement at the age of 25, especially when you consider the twins were also at college while they were establishing it. But then Ashley and Mary-Kate did launch their first mass-market fashion label - a partnership with the retail giant Wal-Mart - when they were 12. They have worked steadily since they were nine months old, they point out matter-of-factly, and have always gone to school as well, so combining business with their studies at New York University was nothing new. 'It takes a lot of discipline,' Mary-Kate says. 'But we've always been very driven, and we enjoy what we do. It's what we know.'
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But the Olsens did get good legal advice, and set up a company, Dualstar, to protect the girls' interests, wisely keeping copyright on almost everything they did. By the age of six, the girls were getting production credits on their spin-off films. They went on to make more than 50 of these, most of them shot in a couple of weeks during school holidays in places they wanted to visit - Paris, Rome, Hawaii - and sold straight to their loyal fan-base on video and later DVD.
They fronted two further TV series after Full House, recorded 10 pop albums, published millions of books based on their film characters' adventures, and had merchandising including dolls that were second only to Barbie in terms of US sales. Pretty, perky, with huge blue-green eyes and sun-kissed blond hair, the sisters connected with the emerging - and, as it turned out, lucrative - tween market worldwide. They weren't only actors, or even a marketing phenomenon. They were a brand, and at one point Dualstar was reported to have a turnover of more than $1 billion.
From the start, the sisters sat in on meetings, learning the language of partnerships, synergy and branding. 'We were always involved in the conversation,' Mary-Kate says. 'We worked so much that they wanted to make sure that we knew exactly what was happening and why - and our opinions mattered.'
Fashion was always a big part of their working lives. With few labels then producing childrenswear, they often had adult clothes from labels such as Chanel cut down to fit. 'We loved it!' Ashley says. 'We'd go through racks and racks of clothes, and hours of fittings. When you cut something down that small, it has to be precise. So we've always been really interested in fit. And over the years we've become more educated in fabrics and make, and appreciating those small details. That's where we start from now, always - what feels right.'
They say they have sketched clothes they wanted, and had them made up, 'since we could draw'. When they were 14 and filming in Rome, for instance, they both drew leather jackets and had them made to order by Italian craftsmen. So, when they launched the tween fashion line with Wal-Mart, they were involved from the start, choosing fabrics and making suggestions. 'There weren't really celebrity fashion brands at the time,' Ashley observes. 'And we were very young, but it was definitely a reflection of our own style.'
When they were 18, Ashley and Mary-Kate took full control of Dualstar, went off to college in New York, and began to show themselves to be sophisticated young women with impeccable taste and interests in architecture, contemporary art and photography. In their glossy 2008 coffee table book Influence, for instance, they interviewed cutting-edge creatives from John Galliano and Karl Lagerfeld to the photographer Terry Richardson and the artists Richard Prince and George Condo. They were well-travelled, they point out, and when filming overseas time was always made to take them to galleries and cultural events.
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I ask where they see themselves in 10 years' time, and they say they really don't think that way. 'My answers are always sarcastic to this,' Mary-Kate laughs. 'I always say taller.'
But they do have plans, lots of plans. They want to be a luxury lifestyle brand, selling globally. They are about to launch handbags for The Row, and then for Elizabeth & James. They want to do shoes for The Row, and although they have temporarily shelved a foray into menswear for the label, they plan to revisit it later. And eventually they will open their own stores. 'When the time is right, we definitely want some sort of home where we display it the way we want to,' Mary-Kate says.