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A brand and store organization is redefining expectations.
By Vanessa Friedman
Fashion designers and luxury stores have had confusing dates with Black Friday.
The extravagance of the super promotion is not adequate (no word set) for corporations that make shoes for $890 and dresses for $3700. The pandemic has only pointed to the problem: it has wreaked havoc on the chains of origin and delayed the delivery of many items, which can simply prolong the time that products remain on shelves completely before Christmas sales begin.
Then, in May, designer Dries Van Noten and store Andrew Keith, now at Selfridge’s in London, convened a zoom talk with other designers and CEOs to discuss the much-needed replacement related to when and how high-end clothing. delivered at a discounted price.
They presented a series of tips and published an “open letter” to the industry asking others to join their cause: deliver seasonal clothes and keep it for sale at a higher price until the end of the holiday. More than 500 foreign stores and designers have registered.
Still, we’re here for Black Friday, and many of the signatories lead what’s a lot like regular sales.
“Cyber Deals up to 50% off” launches a red flag on Nordstrom (Pete Nordstrom, co-chairman, signed the letter). There are also sales at Tory Burch, Bergdorf Goodman and Webster, to name a few other brands whose executives were among the signatories.
So, the promises of replacing a lot of taste for fashion and fury, nothing, is it corporate hypocrisy in a Santa Claus costume?
Nordstrom and Bergdorf Goodman declined to comment; however, independent boutiques and designers recommend that these are not discounts like the usual ones this year; no logo or store has to be the strangest thing in a sea of discounted prices, but that doesn’t mean those designers sales are just like the sales of the old designers.
Karen Murray, owner of new York’s Fivestory store, said one of her colleagues had signed the open letter because “the whole industry expected things to slow down. “But, he says, he has to compete. And “as much as I’m looking to stay away, in a world where others are incredibly promotional, it’s hard to stick to a non-promotional calendar. “
However, he also noted that this year’s margins would be deeper and longer lasting than those of the more recent past. This time last year, for example, Black Friday looked more like Black November or Black November starting in October. .
Now, “we’re looking to keep up with the differentiation rate through brands and designers, but we look at online sites like a hawk,” Murray said.
Van Noten, the designer, said he had not won any pushback when he asked his retail partners not to put their products on sale before Christmas or New Years; in all their bells and whistles around Black Friday, the outlets weren’t exactly doing it. promote it (or other designers who would be exceptions to the brand rule).
“Communication is one thing,” he says. The reality is different. “
Pierre-Yves Roussel, CEO of Tory Burch, said almost the same thing, noting that while the company approved Black Friday due to “tradition,” value cuts were limited and subject to strict controls, focusing basically on the clothes that were the time. . -dependent, than accessories like shoes and handbags, which in theory are less similar to the trend.
At Webster, which has 8 outlets in New York, Houston, Miami and Los Angeles, Laure Heriard Dubreuil, founder and artistic director, said she was still “committed” to this commitment and had therefore contacted the designer brands used to talk about the pieces that deserve to be on sale and for how much. Autumn products from the lines belonging to the main French luxury teams LVMH and Kering, such as Balenciaga, Fendi, Givenchy and Saint Laurent, will not be reduced at their points of sale. many other brands are. Van Noten was confident that the industry organization still existed, and they had just met the week before Black Friday sales began talking about the next steps.
“We said from the beginning that we didn’t need to be the fashion police, tell other people what they can and can’t do,” she said, “but a year ago we wouldn’t even have had this discussion. Business is very fragile”. at the moment, however, I think the mindset has changed. There has been an evolution. “
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