Oberg told me that day that the Sporty & Rich clothing line sometimes felt peripheral to her. “I'm really trying to build something more than just a brand. I think, for example, the product is almost secondary and it's really the lifestyle surrounding the product that's important. I think if it feels real and authentic, you have something to build on over the years.”
What's less clear is what exactly that lifestyle envisions and represents, beyond a vague celebration of luxury. Oberg himself offered somewhat competing visions of what a brand is in our conversation, starting with what it should be taken literally. “Sporty & Rich is fun and kind of sassy and silly. It's very sassy. It's not super literal. It's not a serious brand,” she told me.
She went on to describe herself as an overbearing founder and the opposite of the cutthroat influencer type. “I'm not a serious person. That's a lot of fun for me. If you know who I am, you'll know that I don't take anything very seriously.” But in the same conversation. Inside, she left room for a very literal reading. “If you don't want anything, what's the point? If people want to live this sporty, rich lifestyle, and that happens to be my lifestyle, that's great. .”
Oberg splits his time between Los Angeles, where he owns a midcentury-style bungalow in Hollywood, and Paris, where most of the team, including CEO and former partner David Obadiah, is located. From the outside, Ms. Oberg's daily life appears to follow a well-documented sequence of Mediterranean clay tennis courts, hotels, and terrace dinners (though she has to be reminded to post on Instagram). and told me to delete it (I would use the app if I could).
But as founder, Oberg is also the brand's mascot and creative force. Early in the company's history, she designed (and moodboarded) most of the new clothing in her Illustrator. Now she's more of a creative director, approving the work of the design team. She strives to reduce employee stress in order to practice wellness as a corporate culture. “I try not to email anyone on weekends or in the evenings because it makes me feel worse. At my previous job, I would receive emails from my boss on the weekends, which would give me severe anxiety.”
