Yahoo Movies LoveShackFancy Continues Retail, Product Expansion
LoveShackFancy will open a 1,150-square-foot boutique in Greenwich, Conn., on Friday featuring women’s apparel, home and girls’ wear as the brand continues to expand in the U.S. and looks to open a store in Europe in the near future.
Located at 113 Greenwich Avenue, it’s the 12th store in the brand’s retail fleet, with others being in such cities as New York, Los Angeles, Charleston, S.C., Newport Beach, Calif., Palm Beach, Coconut Grove, Fla., Southampton, N.Y., Sag Harbor, and Dallas. (There’s also a winter pop-up in Aspen).
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Stacy Lilien, president of LoveShackFancy, said next month the company will open a store in Houston, and will be relocating its Sag Harbor, N.Y., store into a space that’s double the size before Memorial Day. The brand is also opening a store in Nashville this spring, and Scottsdale in the fall. In addition, Lilien said they’re looking to expand to Europe and expect their first store will be in the U.K. “It was supposed to happen quite soon, and we had a little hiccup. I think within the next year,” said Lilien.
Simon Lewis
Branching into new categories is also on the company’s agenda. LoveShackFancy will introduce footwear with Sophia Webster in April and sunglasses this summer. They are also looking into handbags and beauty, which should launch within a year. An athleisure collection, produced in-house, will debut in the beginning of next year. In addition, a capsule of fancy dresses will be unveiled in the fall. LoveShackFancy continues its collaborations with Hurley, Superga and Bogner.
Rebecca Hessel Cohen, the brand’s founder and creative director, also hinted in an interview about getting into the men’s wear market. “There’s a very high demand from men who want to wear LoveShackFancy,” she said. “I definitely think it’s something. We keep on talking about it. Maybe we’ll do something with resort for that,” she said.
Currently, LoveShackFancy’s key wholesale accounts are Net-a-porter, Matchesfashion.com, MyTheresa.com, Shopbop, Bergdorf Goodman, and Nordstrom. As for the new Connecticut store, Hessel Cohen said, “Greenwich has always been top of mind since the beginning as one of our key, most important locations. We have so many customers who are all over Greenwich, Rye, Scarsdale, all the young girls from Greenwich Country Day. They’ve always been in our Madison Avenue store and our Palm Beach store begging us to open there. It was just finding the perfect spot that made sense.”
With the influx of people moving to Connecticut and the New York suburbs, Hessel Cohen saw a great opportunity.
“We always say hopefully it will do really well, and maybe we’ll have a Home store and a Kids’ store there. It’s slow and steady to begin. There’s been an outpouring of so much excitement,” she said.
She anticipates the Home collection will do well in Greenwich, as well as the gifts. In fashion, she predicted bestsellers will be the ruffled mini, which is a staple, and all the little dresses. The store will also carry girls’ clothes, “which has significantly grown as well,” she said.
Prices in the store range from $10 to $1,500.
The boutique will feature a select group of designers and handbags “which we always customize for each location,” said Hessel Cohen. Exclusives in the store include Greenwich bespoke T-shirts for $200, Morgan Clifford Children’s coats, for $165, and Halcyon Days teacups and saucers from $110 to $214.
The brand sources each of its stores’ decor specifically to the location. In Greenwich, for example, there are pieces from London and Paris and they have recreated a pillar for the window that’s also in the store. There are hand-painted floors that are inspired by their wallpaper and prints.
Hessel Cohen worked with Rigos Mills, the interior architectural firm, on the store’s design. The shop opens with an ethereal arch of florals leading customers to a pink dreamworld interior. Greek-inspired fluid columns divide the silk-padded lined space and custom, hand-painted bows adorn the floor. The boutique features French and Swedish furniture and Garden of Versailles silk curtains. There are pastel pink ceilings and a floral embossed armoire showcasing a vintage ribbon and miniskirt bar.
Simon Lewis
Discussing overall business, Lilien said the business is divided into thirds: one third wholesale, one third e-commerce, and one third, retail. “As we continue to open more stores, that will shift,” she said. The online business has been strong, she said, rising over 100 percent for the last year. Stores have also grown over 100 percent, as has wholesale, she noted.
How have they been able to accomplish that in such a challenging retail environment?
“Rebecca has been so true to her storytelling, and I think that we relate to so many people — mothers, daughters, grandmothers. We really get her involved, and with the opening of all our stores, it’s a little club and everyone can come to and always find something,” said Lilien.
Hessel Cohen added: “Our girls grow with us. All these young generations have been connecting, because it’s fun and it’s playful, and it’s feel-good, and we don’t take ourselves too seriously. And yes, it’s fashion, but it’s clothes and they’re meant to make you feel amazing and beautiful and unabashedly feminine.”
FOR MORE STORIES:
WWD CEO Summit: Rebecca Hessel Cohen Discusses the Evolution of a LoveShackFancy World
WWD Honors: LoveShackFancy, Best Performing Fashion Company, Small Cap
EXCLUSIVE: LoveShackFancy and Hurley Collaborate on Surf Collection
LoveShackFancy Opens Romantic Upper East Side Boutique
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