Frank & Eileen Was Built By Women, For Women

If there’s one word to describe Audrey McLoghlin, it’s charismatic. I picked up on that immediately during a recent Zoom call with the Frank & Eileen founder, who dialed in from a trailer while taking a quick break from the brand’s Malibu shoot. McLoghlin has the kind of energy that instantly draws people in — despite only having about 30 minutes to chat, I easily could’ve talked to her for hours. That warmth and magnetism are reflected in the company she’s built, with women at the center.

In fact, Frank & Eileen was born out of a need for better-quality button-ups for women. While running her former multi-brand retail store, Oona, in Los Angeles during the early 2000s, McLoghlin stumbled upon an Italian fabric book at a factory one day. After calling the manufacturer the following morning and learning the materials were used exclusively for menswear, she decided to take matters into her own hands and reinvent the button-up shirt for women.

“It took me six months to make the pattern, and we were 100% wholesale when we launched,” McLoghlin explains. But what came next threw the founder for a loop. “I was launching in spring 2009, and then the entire world collapsed in September 2008,” she says, referring to the U.S. financial crisis. “Everyone stopped shopping, and I funded everything myself,” McLoghlin reflects, adding that she ultimately went through personal bankruptcy. “At the same time, I was trying to launch and build Frank & Eileen, so I always say it was born out of the ashes of the Great Recession.”

The silver lining? The experience prepared her team for future catastrophic events, including the pandemic. “There’s always going to be one,” McLoghlin says. “Is it going to be in three years, five years, seven years, 11 years? I don’t know, but it’s coming.” As such, the brand successfully navigated the challenges of COVID-19, emerging stronger than ever.

But back to the button-ups that started it all. “They have this incredible heritage and taste level of classic menswear,” McLoghlin says of what sets the shirts apart from others on the market. The secret sauce, however, lies in the silhouette. “The button-ups are designed with an hourglass shape, so they’re curved at the sides and in the back,” she explains. “They also have a beautiful openness at the top, showing off your jewelry and collarbones.” The washes play an equally important role in the shirts’ appeal. “We launched with this crinkle material, which gives the tops an intentionally wrinkled look,” McLoghlin explains. Meanwhile, the brand’s Italian denim tops are hand-distressed in Los Angeles.

Despite running a successful brand for nearly two decades, McLoghlin didn’t grow up around fashion — she even admits Gap was considered a designer brand in her household. As for her upbringing, the Irish designer laughs, “My mom is wild — she left all her family behind in the ‘70s for this idea of the American dream.” Born in Toronto, McLoghlin moved between New Jersey, New Orleans, Atlanta, and Boston before eventually settling in Los Angeles at age 24.

From an early age, her mother instilled in her an open-minded outlook, reminding McLoghlin that she could do anything she set her mind to. Gifted in math, she pursued a degree in engineering and worked at an MIT startup in Boston before pivoting to fashion business. “I was such a nerd,” she says, poking fun at herself. “But I also loved analyzing women’s body types and coloring, and figuring out what would complement their figure best. I really liked that challenge.” That fascination ultimately sparked McLoghlin’s interest in the apparel industry, prompting her move to Los Angeles to pursue a career in fashion.

Though Italian poplin and linen button-ups were at the heart of Frank & Eileen’s business for the first five years, the company eventually expanded, introducing its Famous Denim line. “First we developed the indigo wash, and later our garment-dyed denim, which took a really long time to perfect,” McLoghlin recalls, adding that the process was somewhat out of the box for the brand’s Italian partners, who weren’t accustomed to washing and dyeing garments.

Next came the California Heritage assortment, launched by McLoghlin in 2016. “The collection is all our terry and jersey knits, and it’s become a huge part of the business,” she continues. In fact, she says the line has become the bread and butter of many Frank & Eileen customers’ closets.

Sustainability is another key pillar of Frank & Eileen. The label, as it happens, holds the highest B impact score of any woman-owned fashion brand in the United States, earning an overall score of 125.5 — an impressive feat. What’s more, 80% of its garments are made in Los Angeles, while all of its Italian fabric suppliers and Portuguese yarn suppliers hold social and environmental certifications.

McLoghlin has been making waves in the industry, most recently launching a collection with Saturday Night Live star Chloe Fineman and her mom, artist Ellen Gunn. Centered on the mother-daughter duo’s shared love of blue-and-white stripes, the capsule introduces two new patterns featured on Frank & Eileen’s hallmark silhouettes: the relaxed Eileen and the oversized Shirley — both available for a limited time.

At the helm of her brand, McLoghlin is dedicated to mentoring future female businesswomen. Enter the Frank & Eileen Foundation, which officially launched in March. The nonprofit provides entrepreneurship education for girls beginning in middle school and stems from the company’s “Giving Pledge” initiative — a $20 million commitment over 10 years to support female entrepreneurs through fellowships and programs at top U.S. universities like MIT, Stanford, and Babson, as well as the Marlborough School, a college preparatory school in Los Angeles.

In addition to building the aforementioned foundation, McLoghlin opened Frank & Eileen’s first brick-and-mortar store on the Upper East Side last November, which now serves as the brand’s flagship. “We found this incredible space on the corner of 65th and Madison,” says McLoghlin. “We want all our spaces to feel like home,” she continues, likening the location to a quaint New York City townhouse.

Can’t make it to the NYC location any time soon? Shop some of Frank & Eileen’s bestsellers below.