Top Showroom Founders Share The Secrets To Their Success!

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Atlanta Apparel is back next month, highlighting Fall/Winter 2025’s fashion and accessories for retailers and buyers. As in previous seasons, top showrooms from across the region will take part in the event, showcasing their wide-ranging brands’ latest collections and products. Ahead of this season’s market from February 4 to 7, we caught up with Tryst Showroom‘s Elle Chapman and Tiffany Hillegast and Brad Hughes & Associates‘ Brad Hughes to learn about their newest brands, business advancements, and secrets to success.

Elle Chapman & Tiffany Hillegast, Tryst Showroom

Elle Chapman and Tiffany Hillegast (Courtesy of Tryst Showroom)

You’ve been in business together for 15 years! How did you first decide to team up and start Tryst Showroom?
Elle: We were both working for multi-line showrooms at the time, and were like, “Okay, we can get together and do this a little bit better.” At the time, it was a bunch of older people in the industry. There wasn’t a lot of young, new blood that was coming up and opening their own things. I’d say we were the first to do it, and since then [there’s] been an influx of people breaking out and doing the same thing; not the same showrooms, but having their own showrooms as well.

Tiffany: We really had a pulse on the flaws, because we had been account executives for other multi-line showrooms. We had a lot of opinions about what could be done differently to avoid burnout. There was a bit of a Devil Wears Prada mentality between owners and account executives 15, 20 years ago in this business and that didn’t feel good to us. We wanted to create an energy [where] there was faith, camaraderie, and it was a family. We were building something together, rather than this huge divide between owners and account executives. That was the catalyst.

Tryst Showroom (Courtesy of Tryst Showroom)

Tryst Showroom has its 15th anniversary this year, which is a huge milestone! What does it mean to you, to be in business that long?
Tiffany: We both feel really grateful. Gratitude is a big feeling that we talk about often. We’re not only celebrating 15 years, but we have the best team we’ve ever had, and we have the best brand lineup we’ve ever had. It feels very full-circle. All the pieces have come together, and that’s a huge accomplishment—especially for two working women, two moms. We have six children between the two of us, and we just feel very proud of each other and of our team. It’s a really good feeling.

Elle: We just hired on a fourth girl, but the other three have been with us all over five years. It’s the best team we’ve ever had, for sure. By far.

Tryst Showroom (Courtesy of Tryst Showroom)

You have a lot of new showroom developments! What’s changed recently at Tryst’s HQ?
Tiffany: About a year ago, we acquired the showroom next to us. We blew out that wall and extended what we currently had. That was exciting. We’re always searching for the next up-and-coming new brands.

Elle: We’ve really expanded our lineup. We’ve gone into accessories. That also is a new endeavor. We’ve taken on an incredible shoe brand by the name of Oncept, which originated in New York City. Tiffany and I, we’re still young enough that we’re hungry and searching for more and seeking more. What started out as apparel has now ventured into shoes and handbags. Along with blowing out the wall and building out the space, we’ve decided to tackle new products, which is exciting. And we want more! We want it all.

Tryst Showroom (Courtesy of Tryst Showroom)

What are some of the new brands at Tryst that you’re taking to Atlanta Apparel this season?
Elle: We’ve got some really great anchors in there. Pistola Denim—we’ve had it for three or four years. It’s an LA-based brand, and the owner, Grace Na, has really found that sweet spot of delivering high fashion, contemporary clothing at a price that’s palatable. It’s edgy, it’s contemporary. She is a genius. That’s a really exciting one. We’ve got Cleobella, which is beautiful [and] sustainable. The owners are super eco-conscious, such lovely human beings. They’re based out of Southern California, a bit south of Los Angeles, and their niche is more bohemian—a lot of dresses, a lot of tops, very lifestyle, they do it all. That’s a great one for us.

Tiffany: Favorite Daughter is new this year, and that has just seen an explosion. They came to us, and it’s owned by the Foster sisters, David Foster’s girls Erin, Sarah, and Jordan, and they’re incredible. That one has just had an explosion of growth, particularly with their Netflix show [Nobody Wants This]. It’s really good product at a great price point.

Elle: Their specialty is really wardrobe. They have got something for everyone at a great price and a great fit. We’re thrilled. It’s fun to be doing business with a celebrity brand!

Tiffany: To get something on the upswing, too—you get to be on board for the ride, the growth of it.

Elle: Oncept has been an incredible journey. That’s very high-end, fun sneakers. She’s also got boots. [Founder Megan Key Campos] was actually the former owner and creator of Dolce Vita, so just a legend in the shoe business. That’s been really exciting, for us to delve into that world.

Tiffany: The old designer and owner of nation that was around—it is still around—for a very long time sold, and [Perfect White Tee] was her newest venture. It is what it says: the perfect white tee. It is a true basics line at a great price point. That one has seen tremendous growth, and become a household name very quickly.

Elle: Le Specs is an incredible sunglasses line. We just took on Rebecca Taylor, which is a total household name that people love in the south.

Tryst Showroom (Courtesy of Tryst Showroom)

What are the secrets to your success in the retail world?
Elle: There’s two of us, and we definitely complete each other with a very yin-and-yang type of thing. If I fall short, she picks up and vice versa. That would definitely be one thing.

Tiffany: We’re also both very invested in this. We always come back to why we started, which was, we want a family. We want something that’s a team. We want something that’s healthy. We want something that’s vibrant. In order to have that, it’s the two of us and our account execs, who are huge players and we love them. This is our family.

Elle: And staying super involved, too. We’re in the office with them every day. We still work the trade shows, and do a booth, just like the girls do. We’re in it with them.

Brad Hughes, Brad Hughes & Associates

Michael Singer and Brad Hughes (Courtesy of Brad Hughes & Associates)

Tell us about how you’re feeling about Atlanta Apparel this season. What are you looking forward to?
Regarding retail, 2024 was a challenging year—still a good year, but a challenging year—for our retailers, which then moves on down to wholesale. We’re really excited about having a nice increase for 2025. Our buyers are really enthusiastic about their business, about people spending money inside their retail operations. They’re also looking for new product, things that are different, that they just don’t see all over the place. In Atlanta, we do a lot of resort pieces, a lot of beach [and] mountains, where people go and have time off. They’re expecting a really nice increase in people traveling on vacation, and in turn spending money when they go into those resort or vacation areas. Atlanta offers a lot of those retailers.

Oo La La (Courtesy of Brad Hughes & Associates)

What are some of the brands you’ll be showing at Atlanta Apparel next month?
We bring about 12 product brands to Atlanta from Dallas. Some will be showing Spring, but we are launching Fall ’25 on quite a few brands and collections. We’re excited to launch Bariloche from Spain. They’re known for their prints and colors, and their sportswear collection [is] at an entry-level price point. We’ll be showing the fall collection for them. We’re now working with Draper James, which is owned by Reese Witherspoon. The retailers that have had [Draper James] in the past are all coming back to see her new collection; they’re excited because they did really, really well with it in retail, and we love her—so, that makes it even more fun to work with! One of our larger brands is Dolce Cabo out of LA, and we’ll be launching Fall ’25 for them. According to our appointments and our buyers, we will be selling. They’re needing everything from immediates all the way out to fall. But we have a lot of stores that said, “I’m going to wait until January, February, and then I’m going to finish up my spring buy after the first of the year.” We’re planning on having a nice immediate springtime market in Atlanta.

Dolce Cabo (Courtesy of Brad Hughes & Associates)

What makes Atlanta Apparel’s markets especially unique or special in the retail world? 
We’ve been in business 35 years, and we opened Atlanta three years ago after COVID-19 to expand our customer base. We were immediately impressed with the quality of retailer that shops that market. Whether it’s a store from the Bahamas or from Pennsylvania, it’s a really nice broad assortment of retailers flying into Atlanta. What we found is that even in a smaller town of a population, they have at least one really nice, upper-end type store. Our price points are mid and up; we’re not moderate. So, we need to be selling. That’s our MO. That’s what Atlanta brings to the table, is the proximity to some great locations that are resort-driven, travel-driven, vacation-driven, which is great because the people with money are the ones traveling—and the people with money are the ones buying at retail.

Have there been any surprises in terms of what people are shopping for right now, or expectations for this season’s market?
Their expectation is to probably buy a little bit more than they bought last year. Last year, they planned pretty much level; [the] fourth quarter was challenging in general. At retail, they’re going into the idea that they’re getting more product. People are ready to replace their wardrobe, good new fashion. They’re traveling, they’re doing all those things, going out to dinner. We service the customer who wants to be the best dressed in the room. That customer is always shopping, and she’s always wanting product—and wants something new that she can’t find in a department store, can’t find in a discount store, and can’t find on Amazon. That’s what we are marketing to our retailers in Atlanta.

Oo La La (Courtesy of Brad Hughes & Associates)

Oo La La (Courtesy of Brad Hughes & Associates)

How do you bring your signature Dallas flair to a city like Atlanta?
We love Dallas. Of course, that’s our home base, but Atlanta’s right there with us. We love going to Atlanta. We love the city and the social side of it. We’ve tried to bring product that it is a little different. Some may be embellished, may not be embellished. The bottom line is, it’s for that customer who likes to be dressed, who likes to look good all the time—even if it’s casual. Whether she’s going to dinner or sitting in a car pool line picking up the kids, she’s got it together. That’s what we’re bringing to Atlanta. That customer who knows that territory, the buyers, the people, they like to dress. That doesn’t mean they’re dressed up, but they want to be put-together head to toe and look like they really made an effort. One thing that territory does have is that it’s old, true south; people do their best to look the best they possibly can.

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