Robert Smith

Rob Smith, Founder of The Phluid Project, is a highly accomplished Senior Executive, Entrepreneur and Board member with more than 30 years of experience in the apparel, fashion, sports goods, and merchandising industries. Leveraging extensive experience focusing on global consumer insights and foreseeing and maximizing emerging trends through end to end, multi channel strategic management, Rob is a valuable asset to startups, mid-sized and well-established apparel and fashion companies seeking expert assistance with growth strategies, growth inhibitor analysis, turnarounds, product portfolio, and product placement. His key areas of expertise include youth businesses, retail, brand development, wholesale, e-commerce, merchant, international experience, merchandising, design, planning, product development, supply chain, and go to market strategy. Rob consistently creates strategies that reflect a deep understanding of customer needs, global and regional preferences, product development and assortment planning, while maximizing strong margins. Throughout his executive career, Rob has worked in a variety of successful leadership positions for well known companies and brands. Most recently, at Haddad Brands including Nike, Levi’s, Jordan, Converse, Rob provided strategic oversight in daily operations of the design, branding, sourcing, and marketing departments. A reflection of Rob's philanthropic attitude, Rob hosts dinners and events at his home for politicians from around the country. He hosted events once a month for a year, from October 2017 to November 2018, leading up to the midterms, with candidates from Malory Hagan (AL), Rufus Gifford (MA) to Beto O’Rourke where he aligned a goal of 1M and exceeded it. Rob’s background and his bringing The Phluid Project to fruition is a personal venture which is a reflection of his professional experience and driven by his intimate passion and understanding of how today’s youth thinks, their unwavering persistence in social responsibility and carving out a niche that has greater relevance than ever before recognized or appreciated. Rob presently serves on the Board of Steve Madden Ltd. Member of the Compensation and Corporate Governance Committees; he is a Board Member and Chair of the Hetrick Martin Institute and the HMI Emery Awards Hetrick Martin Institute; and is a Board Member for Athlete Ally and launched the Athlete Ally Action Awards. Rob holds a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Marketing Management from Michigan State University.

youth culture and giving their movement a platform and voice. The demand for gender, racial and socio-economic quality is so powerful. It’s my personal mission to offer them a space, free of judgment, to reshape the world and nurture, embrace and celebrate authenticity and activism.

Why does fashion have a gender?

Head stands & Inappropriate jokes