But last year, Bercovy, previously LVMH’s deputy head of mergers and acquisitions, made an observation. "I noticed more and more small brands when I was on the M&A team,” she told GQ during a phone call. “They had a real statement on fashion and beauty, and could challenge more established brands. I thought it was important to get closer to these brands. To be relevant to these smaller brands, we determined that we should take minority stakes. The idea is to make bets on emerging but already iconic brands."

She pitched her bosses on a fund that would buy small amounts of equity in emerging brands. The idea is to become involved with companies before they get too large, to help guide creative, visionary founders along the way. "My goal is first to create value and second is to create knowledge for LVMH, to share what I learn," Bercovy said.

In Stadium Goods, Bercovy saw exactly the type of company she wanted to help: a place with a strong hold on a market that elicited emotion and passion from its consumers. Investing now made sense, so, in February, she did. (Terms of the deal were not disclosed.)

For Stiller and McPheters, a call from one of the largest and most important names in retail provided validation. "There's no bigger cosign in retail than LVMH in general and in luxury specifically. We are trying to create a very aspirational brand here," Stiller said. "We carry hot brands. We are the manifestation of what's hot at the time.” Plus, Stadium Goods represented an avenue into a tough-to-crack sector, Stiller explained, one that every luxury company is trying it’s darnedest to break: “It was a way of LVMH Luxury Ventures getting into [the business of streetwear]."

Stadium Goods might turn into a unicorn; there's a good chance it won't. But the very notion that LVMH felt the need to launch a venture arm focusing on smaller, earlier investments into consumer product companies—that is, ventures that sell physical things—shows how investing in the space is changing. Retail isn’t dying; it’s fracturing. And everyone from global conglomerates to traditional tech-focused venture capital firms and consumer-focused funds like ForeRunner Ventures, an early stage venture firm that previously invested in Stadium Goods, are making bets on emerging brands, hoping to secure a massive return on investment by investing early and often.

If you’re a small, growing brand with a good story to tell (bonus points for a tech-adjacent business model), there’s money to be had.

Matt Scanlan got the idea for Naadam after spending time on the Mongolian steppe with a friend. He realized he could purchase the highest quality cashmere directly from the producers themselves, the nomadic herders who followed flocks of goats. But he needed $2.5 million to do so, and "no bank would give us that money," Scanlan said. Instead, he found a single wealthy individual who would loan him the money at a high interest rate. "It had to be a secured loan," he said. "The only security I could figure was a real estate asset, which ended up being my parent's home. We took second mortgage to collateralize the loan."

The ploy worked. Scanlan bought 60 tons of cashmere, made his products, sold them, then paid the loan back plus interest. (I have bought two sweaters and a polo. They are very soft.) Naadam had revenues around $20 million in 2017, up 400 percent from 2016, and Scanlan plans to raise $5 million to $10 million in venture capital early this year. Interest, he said, is high.