Retailers Search for Eye-catching Styles at Coterie to Try to Prompt Splurges
Several long-time store owners were scouting this week’s Coterie New York show at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center with a certain amount of caution and were in need of novel styles.
Well aware of the flood of basics and sameness that can be found online and in stores, retailers and vendors talked up the importance of eye-catching styles. One new addition to the show was Creative Africa Nexus (Canex), that featured 10 brands from Africa. There were also larger pavilions dedicated to brands from Italy and Korea including labels like The Dahlia Project. The three-day event wrapped up on Thursday.
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Lucia Esposito, owner of the 35-year-old Engel Shop Too in Englewood, N.J., said a lot of her business remains online-driven, after COVID-19 prompted that shift “big-time.” She added, “The entire workforce shifted. People don’t have to get dressed any more. They work from home. Everything became much more relaxed. The casualwear category got so big, because you can go anywhere casual,” she said.
Looking for “novel, quality items and something that you can’t find online, which is nearly impossible,” Esposito said that She’s So was on her checklist and that outerwear was a priority. “People are absolutely spending differently. They’re spending when they need something for more formal occasions like black-tie events. Otherwise, they’re running around in Lululemon,” said Esposito, adding that business is down between 10 and 15 percent compared to last year.
Patsy Mullins, who has owned the Accessorize Chicago store for 25 years, said she is “so concerned about what’s going on with the economy.” As a result, the retailer was being “very mindful” about what she buys, and is looking for items that retail between $300 and $350 versus $400 a year ago. Despite that, she planned to go “all-out” with select high fashion items to a certain degree. She was on the lookout for “outstanding” items like pretty dresses, blouses and skirts — not too many casual pieces.
The Turkish label Zilberman’s feminine styles in linen and chiffon intrigued her. Having seen a 5 percent decline in business, she said, “That has a lot to do with the mood in the country. It just permeates everything, but a lot of my customers can still afford to buy. I’m trying to be mindful of that and those people, who can’t — people who work every day and have other responsibilities.”
Bezshan Dolatabadi, owner of B. Prince in Birmingham, Ala., was on the lookout for cashmere sweaters, jackets and other items from new vendors. Falguni Shane Peacock, the Peruvian label ME369 and the Spanish one T.ba were on his checklist, as well as Maison Lurex. Shoppers are buying more sporadically, but overall sales are about the same compared to last year, he said. “We’ll have two great days and then two very quiet days. It’s mood-oriented,” Dolatabadi said. “When things feel more stable or a change for the better comes, they are out shopping. When things get a little weird, they tend to stay in for a minute or two. It’s hard to read the patterns and we’ve been in business for 40 years.”
Another retailer, Melissa Desautels, owner of Whim in Burlington, Vt., was shopping for elevated casual comfort styles like denim, “cute jackets,” and blazers from Z Supply, Nation and Favorite Daughter. In business for 18 years, she said sales decreased a bit last year, due to concerns about the presidential election, and that people now seem to be in a wait-and-see mode. But the first three months of the year are typically quieter due to the city’s brisk temperatures, Desautels said.
In addition to Whim, she owns Dear Lucy, a footwear store, on the car-free Church Street, where shop owners bounce ideas off each other and coordinate events together. Desautels also runs ShopLocalBTV on Instagram, interesting things that are being sold by local retailers. She said, “I always work with my fellow retailers. The same customer could be spending dollars here and there. It’s for the greater good.”
Favorite Daughter was one of the busier booths at Coterie on Tuesday morning. After expanding its sales team last year with reps in Atlanta, Chicago and Dallas, Favorite Daughter has picked up new boutiques and stores, according to sales director Renee Leung. Buyers were checking out denim, suiting, loungewear and logo pieces and accessories including the newly introduced cold weather ones. With logo T-shirts and sweatshirts retailing for $100 or less, some stores focus on that, Leung said. Business is expected to be up by more than 10 percent this year, she added.
Amy Rich, who has owned Pumpz in Edina, Minn., for 25 years, said that she was on the hunt for boots, shoes, accessories and outerwear especially fur and novelty coats with Diomi being a favorite resource. “We wear a lot of coats in Minnesota. We don’t just wear one coat all year, because our winter starts in October and goes through April,” she said.
The store’s average purchase is about $750 with fine jewelry and vintage items being popular with shoppers, who consider such purchases investments. Rich said, “We have a huge vintage Chanel business, and we do really well with that,” adding that’s she planned to check out the costume jewelry at Janis Savitt.
Alberto Rodriguez, chief executive officer of Vilagallo, a vendor at the show, said that retailers are increasingly looking for items that will be “easy sells.” He said, “They are getting away from lame, boring things that many brands may have or that you can find at low prices.”
Pulling two plaid wool jackets — one with embroidered dogs in it — from a rack, he said that buyers are more inclined to choose the one with dogs, because it encourages impulse sales. The U.S. accounts for 40 percent of Vilagallo’s business, and the company has expanded distribution into Australia and Italy. Founded in 1996, the Madrid-based company has a design outpost in Milan and manufacturing in Portugal. Shirts wholesale starting at $60, dresses start at $90 and jackets are around $100.
Lea Germano, founder of the Paris-based rental platform Studio Paillette, was searching for American brands or labels that only show at Coterie. “Not really looking at price points,” she said she is looking for something that catches her eye for its volume, material, texture or “the brand tells a story.” Germano said BruceGlen is “really cute, super colorful and the prints are amazing,” and she flagged Lamarque and Elif Cigizoglu as other favorites. Just in from Copenhagen, she planned to head to London and Milan next for other resources.
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