This week, a look at luxury brands’ strategies to win outerwear customers, which include collaborations with buzzy collaborators and relaunches of iconic styles. Scroll down to use Glossy+ Comments, giving the Glossy+ community the opportunity to join discussions around industry topics.
Traditionally, luxury outerwear has driven big business for luxury brands and retailers in the fourth quarter. But with luxury spending proving less predictable, temperatures remaining tame and longtime outerwear leaders falling out of favor, the success of the category this year is less certain. Fashion companies are answering the challenge by releasing fresh, but non-trendy takes on best-selling styles. What’s at stake includes the chance to win consumers restricting their splurging to one great style for the cold-weather seasons.
“[This is] a collection unlike any other,” said Sophie Bambuck, CMO at The North Face, describing the brand’s coat collaboration with Japanese fashion brand Undercover launching Tuesday. The collection’s big differentiator, according to Bambuck, is that it combines Undercover designer Jun Takahashi’s masterful, nature-inspired designs with The North Face’s performance products.
Retailers are in the same mindset. As of Saturday, Net-a-Porter’s homepage is promoting “trophy coats,” described as “pieces guaranteed to be on-rotation favorites in your cold-weather wardrobe.” Among them are a Moncler down jacket in a baby pink colorway and a Burberry trench with “layered” sleeves providing a peek of the signature-plaid lining. Meanwhile, SaksFifthAvenue.com is championing new Moncler x Adidas and Canada Goose x Pyer Moss collaborations. And Matches is hyping a “winter edit” of designers’ latest iterations of blanket coats, peacoats and puffers.
As for brands, some are releasing updates to their classic styles for the first time in decades, while others are leaning into their go-to playbooks of putting novel stamps on traditional fashions.
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Brooklyn-based menswear brand Blackstock & Weber falls in the latter category. Six years ago, founder and creative director Chris Echevarria put the brand on the map by introducing loafers in unexpected colors and color combinations. That solidified the brand’s reputation for doing updated, quality classics, which has since earned it footwear collaborations with companies including Kith, J.Crew and the Philadelphia 76ers. More recently, it’s begun teaming with apparel brands, including 91-year-old Velva Sheen, known for making T-shirts for the military, and, as of this week, Gloverall, the London-based inventor of the classic duffle coat. Gloverall, which is new to collaborations, reached out to Echevarria to propose the partnership, Echevarria said.
“I like to tell my team that the reward for good work is more work,” he said, regarding the increasing demand for Blackstock & Weber collaborations. “We [now] have the opportunity to educate our consumers on these [fashion] originators, and the originators have the opportunity to give their consumers something new to look at.”
He added, “American menswear has looked, felt and smelled the same for the past 50 years. My new perspective is something that a lot of our customers are seeing as a, sort of, breath of fresh air.”
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It’s worth noting that, in September, Echevarria was appointed the creative director of a new line by Sperry, dubbed Sperry by Chris Echevarria. His first collection for the boat shoe brand will debut at Paris Fashion Week in January. True to Sperry’s nautical style, the shoe boxes will feature a silhouette of a man on a sailboat. Those who look closely will see he’s also drinking a beer.
On Friday, Blackstock & Weber and Gloverall released on their websites the results of their collaboration: a two-piece set composed of a matching duffle coat and bucket hat made of wool houndstooth produced by 180-year-old Harris Tweed. It retails for $795. On their social channels, both brands are promoting the launch imagery and video, which show a young New Yorker wearing the look on a run to the landmark hot dog stand Gray’s Papaya.
Another longtime purveyor of updated classics, Rowing Blazers has also released a new version of the duffle coat, as part of its most mainstream collaboration yet, with Target. Released with the full collection on September 23, the bright orange style features traditional details including a striped lining and traditional wooden fasteners. “We do very well with our outerwear,” said Jack Carlson, founder of Rowing Blazers. He noted that Rowing Blazers x Target also features a camel-colored overcoat that could pass for a “style worth thousands.” The duffel coat sells at Target for $70, while jackets in Rowing Blazers’ core label retail for around $700.
For its part, The North Face is best known for its functional outerwear. With “Soukuu,” the name for its new collaborative collection with Undercover, the aim was to “push the limits on design and performance,” while “remaining true” to The North Face brand, Bambuck said. To note: Last month, Undercover’s spring 2024 collection was a Paris Fashion Week favorite.
The North Face’s proprietary materials including Futurefleece and Cloud Down will be featured, as will popular styles, including the Nuptse Down and 50/50 Mountain jackets.
Meanwhile, for 30-year-old Undercover, the draw was the opportunity to tap The North Face’s “brand history, technology and philosophy that our company doesn’t have,” said Jun Takahashi, founder and head designer of the brand. Takahashi also noted the collaboration’s focus on practicality, which was unlike Undercover’s usual, fantastical approach. The end goal was to create a versatile outdoor and sportswear line with “the function of blending in with nature and the city,” he said.
The collection will be available to The North Face’s 20 million loyalty members, as well as to shoppers at select retailers including seven The North Face stores.
But, according to the Italian luxury company Slowear, providing a compelling zhoosh to an iconic outerwear style doesn’t necessitate an outside collaborator. That’s especially true when a brand has access to the expansive style archives of its original designer. On Monday, Slowear’s outerwear brand, Montedoro, will release a reinterpretation of its field jacket, dubbed The Franchigia, which was created in 1971 by Walter Albini.
Piero Braga, Slowear’s CEO, said like the original style, the new version is durable and timeless. and features original military details including front patch pockets and padding. But, he said, Montedoro aims to “take the tradition into the future” and “elevate one of the most iconic men’s outerwear items.” As such, updates include “modern shapes, top-notch fabrics and a manic attention to details.”
Montedoro’s customers are largely men ages 35-45 who are either high-level executives with a strong sense of style or creatives working in fashion, design or publishing, Braga said. To market the new Franchigia, which sells for $1,175, the brand plans to hone in on messaging around its strong Italian heritage.
“[This is] a brand that deserves attention from [anyone] looking for something unique and well crafted,” Braga said. “And it’s [for anyone wanting] something far from mainstream and super-fashion trends.”
Growing at a compound annual rate of 6.5% since 2022, the luxury outerwear market will reportedly be worth $23.16 billion by 2028.
