CompanyFashion To Figure (FTF)
Skills & Expertise B2C. Founder Dynamics, Company Culture, Customer acquisition, Fundraising, Strategies, Scaling, Social Impact, Go-to-market
Industry Consumer Products & Packaged Goods; Ecommerce; Digital Health; Entertainment; Fashion, Beauty, Apparel, & Retail; Finance; Music
Virtual Appointments Feb 16; Feb 23; Mar 1; Mar 8; Mar 15
Michael Kaplan is co-founder and chief executive officer of Fashion To Figure (FTF), a leading plus-size fashion company for women sizes 12-26, and an investor, entrepreneur and multi company founder. Kaplan graduated from Harvard Business School and Brown University and held positions in the venture capital and financial space before his entrepreneurial spirit led him and his brother to launch Fashion to Figure as a single store they ran themselves for two years before expanding the business. Recently, Kaplan has been an advisor and investor in: the restructuring of Fullbeauty brands by Goldman Sachs and Oaktree; negotiations for a potential debt refinancing by a major US department store; partnership with a leading private equity firm to purchase a national specialty retailer and brand; investment in and launch of HYDRANT beverage company; investment, launch and expansion of Blue Stripes Cacao Chocolate. He is currently launching a new venture in the consumer space.
Michael has served as a speaker at the annual Women’s Wear Daily Digital Forum and Women’s Wear Daily Beauty Forum, a guest speaker at The Fashion Institute of Technology, The Laboratory Institute of Merchandising, Brown University, Harvard University, Columbia Business School and Harvard Business School. Kaplan is great-grandson of Lena Bryant, the revolutionary dressmaker who pioneered full-figured fashion over a century ago with the launch of Lane Bryant. Kaplan is an award-winning saxophone player who studied Jazz Saxophone at The Manhattan School of Music. He graduated from Brown University in 1995 and received his MBA from Harvard Business School in 2002. Kaplan is passionate about giving back to the community and is actively involved in initiatives like The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research where he serves on the foundation's leadership council. Kaplan is also a volunteer for Manhattan School of Music and a member of After Arts, a community of over 500 professionals in business, law, finance, healthcare, and tech who have had a formal music education growing up or were professional musicians.