Connect with us

Fashion

Why More Young Designers Are Going Direct-to-Consumer in 2020

From sustainability concerns to the out-of-sync delivery cycle, designers like Maggie Marilyn and Mara Hoffman are breaking away from wholesale and investing in their own direct to consumer sales instead….

Marilyns signature merinocotton blend blazer and new organic cotton track pants.
Marilyn’s signature merino-cotton blend blazer and new organic cotton track pants. Photo: Courtesy of Maggie Marilyn

Given the looming climate crisis, Marilyn wasn’t willing to keep waiting for those systemic changes. So she removed herself from the system entirely: Starting today, Maggie Marilyn is a 100% direct-to-consumer business, meaning her collections will only be available on her website and in her first store in Auckland, also opening today.

In a video announcing the change, Marilyn states: “We need change that’s faster, stronger, and bolder… Our decisions will no longer be dictated by seasons or someone else’s rules. We will design slowly and mindfully, [with] seasonless offerings that are traceable, organic, recycled, or repurposed, and drive forward our mission around transparency, circularity, inclusivity, and regeneration.” She’s unlocking the freedom to own every decision about what she creates, how much is produced, how it’s shipped (i.e., by sea freight, to reduce emissions), when it’s delivered, and what it should cost.

Marilyn isn’t the only designer taking back that control. The pandemic accelerated the trend of designers going direct-to-consumer, which had already been in motion for years. (Consider the success of brands like Dôen, Glossier, or Entireworld—they don’t just own their sales, they’ve built an entire community around their message.) Some designers, like Mara Hoffman, are going “mostly” DTC while keeping a select number of wholesale accounts, usually specialty stores and small boutiques. Hoffman said she’s reduced her retailers from around 200 to just 10, and will invest more time and money in her own e-commerce platform; in an open letter, she wrote: “Hopefully, we can build something that actually resembles the vision we are hoping for—for the future of this industry and planet as a whole.” Tibi’s Amy Smilovic ended many of her wholesale partnerships this season as well, and is exploring alternative retail models, including influencer partnerships designed to drive traffic back to tibi.com.

Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Entertainment

A$AP Rocky Turned An Entire Manchester City Kit Into His Album Rollout

A$AP Rocky at South by Southwest 2019
Photo: DannyB Photos / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

A$AP Rocky doesn’t do album rollouts quietly, and this one recruited an entire Premier League club to help. Manchester City, PUMA, and Rocky teamed up on a limited apparel run tied to “Don’t Be Dumb,” his 2026 album, timed around his September 5th show at Co-op Live.

The centerpiece is a long-sleeve PUMA King jersey in black and archive gold, with “DON’T BE DUMB” running down the sleeve and AWGE branding worked in throughout. A bold “MANCHESTER” graphic covers the back. Fans could also add limited “A$AP 11” name-and-number printing onto the club’s actual Home, Away, or Third kits, while supplies lasted at retail.

There’s a players-only version too, and it never went up for sale. That one sticks closer to City’s usual sky-blue identity, with its own sleeve detailing and back graphic — the kind of piece that exists purely because a handful of people got lucky.

The whole rollout kicked off with a one-night pop-up on September 4th, when PUMA turned a spot in Manchester’s Northern Quarter into a pop-up cafe for the night, mixing football, music, and street style into one room before the wider release hit the stadium store the next morning. Some of those jerseys even came with golden tickets to the concert or that Saturday’s match.

Rocky has called the project true to his own design language, and it’s not even his only club collaboration this cycle — a similar drop with AC Milan landed around the same time. At this point, the line between fashion week and matchday has basically disappeared.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Entertainment

Quavo And Lids Are Going All In On Atlanta With Their New Cap Pack

Quavo photographed in 2019
Photo: Finish Line / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)

Quavo has never been shy about his hat obsession, and Lids just gave him another outlet for it. Their new “Atlanta” pack drops September 12th, marking another round in a partnership that’s been running strong since 2019.

The collection is a love letter to the city, spread across three very different caps. One mashes up pinstripes, script lettering, and Braves branding into a single design, working navy, red, white, and light blue into the mix. Another goes the opposite direction entirely — fully iced out in crystal detailing, done up in black and red, with both the Falcons and the Braves showing up in the design. The third strips things back to an old-school “ATL” trucker cap in red, white, and gold, the kind of understated piece that lets the city’s name do the talking.

None of this is new territory for Quavo. He’s talked before about waiting on hat releases as a kid, and that same excitement seems to be what’s kept this partnership going years past most celebrity collabs. His earlier Lids run leaned on one moment — the Braves’ 1995 World Series win — but this pack pulls from the city’s whole sports history instead of just one highlight.

Lids has called Quavo one of the rare voices who can blend music, fashion, and sports without it feeling forced, and this drop backs that up. Given how fast his past releases have moved, Atlanta might want to set an alarm for September 12th.

Continue Reading

Video Of The Week

Trending