Deep Dive - Week of September 9th 2024 - NYFW in a New York Minute

Retail Diary notes on Toteme, Tory Burch, NY Yankees and filled with retail insights and strategies.

The latest fashion and retail news in the Retail Diary Deep Dive today. From NYFW highlights and new product launches to business insights and industry trends, plenty of new Fall launches, a couple of collabs and my thoughts on what it means when a brand is “back.” At least in financial and performance terms.

This Week's Topics:  

• NYFW News

• New Launches

• New Collabs

• New Store Openings & Pop-Ups

• The Business Section

• What else I ❤️️ 

NYFW News

TOTally Head over (Pointy Toe Ballet Flat) Heels for Toteme

• 🗽 First time showing in NYC🗽Toteme was an edit of black, white and butter yellow looks. Lots of tonal looks that played with the textures to bring interest. WWD also mentioned that jewelry is a growing category for the brand and they are at $150 million according to this article.

• Jessica Testa wrote a fabulous piece for the NYTimes on the brand and founders and husband and wife Karl Lindman and Elin Kling “Why Do Americans Want to Dress Like Swedes?” (gift link to read behind paywall.)

• Another key point from the article was that 50% of their business is wholesale with Nordstrom being the #1 account. Tip for Nordstrom - run an A/B test with “Toteme” listed as a key designer in the navigation and see how it performs. I think it could out perform some of the other brands listed if given a chance and make it easier to find this page as a destination - create an online shop-in-shop with its own Landing Page and improve SEO. If Nordstrom is a top wholesale account for the brand I’d like to see them treat it special and more like a destination.

• Gah, I love this brand. I found myself thinking this week that it felt like while younger me frequently wore Theory for work, I’ve graduated to Toteme. And PS these are the pointy toe ballet flats.

More NYFW news

• Big accessory moments out of the Tory Burch NYFW Runway Show

  • The Reva returns. It was hard to escape this shoe in 2006 as it was everywhere and on so many feet. I remember it being the first $1M shoe at one major department store. This new iteration is slightly tweaked and it totally makes sense in this major ballet flat moment that a brand that once had the hottest ballet flat brings it back. What else is great about this shoe, it can be opening price point in the shoe category, its an easy shoe to go with everything from denim to dresses and it has that nostalgia. The new Reva also includes a mule.

  • I loved watching

    Liana Satenstein
    approaching our favorite fashion journalists to try and gift her “vintage” personal pair of Reva ballet flats.

  • Another big accessory moment, the cool Pierced Shoe expands the collection with a handbag. It makes sense - if you have a major shoe (on the Lyst top 10) creating a handbag to sit with it is a pretty safe and smart bet.

  • Another great read on Tory Burch’s business from Business of Fashion here.

• Rachel Comey’s NYFW show launched their collection of handbags that will arrive in stores in March 2025. The made in Italy handbags include totes, city size shoulder bags and hardware that looks like jewelry. Comey’s looks were oversized tailoring and plenty of denim. The flagship store in NYC is celebrating its 10th year.

• Coach handbags stole the show again this season. This time with oversized silhouettes and sticker covered bags. I’m reading the sticker covered bags as a personalization opportunity and would love to see this with events, activations and a way to drive customers into stores or engage with brands more (see Away’s recent in store opportunity or take a page from the lip gloss charm events that have been happening this summer with Rhode, Glossier, Bubble etc.) It is also a way to update the bag charms but keep this strong AOV and personalization moment fresh for a new season. (More close up of Coach bags on the runway here.)

• 🗽First NYFW show🗽 Congrats to Daniella Kallmeyer, after 12 years in business celebrating the first Runway show. Madeline Schulz wrote about it for Vogue Business. This Spring 2025 collection was described as sporty and sexy and again the magic that happens when women design for other women. These feel like clothes that real women love wearing.

• 🗽Returning to NYC🗽 The beautiful buzz of the week, Rachel Tashjian writes for the Washington Post “Nobody does it like Alaïa” (gift link to read behind paywall.) I will also add that the fact that this show was held in NYC vs Paris was a major statement and perhaps says something about the US customer.

• 🗽First time showing in NYC🗽 Another brand showing in NYC this fashion week was Off-White.

• Even more content about NYFW I’ve enjoyed reading or listening to:

  • Becky Malinsky
    ’s recap “How to Bottle a Feeling”

  • Vogue’s The Run-Through Podcast “Pieter Mulier and Alaia Take New York City”

  • Lauren Sherman and Harper’s Bazaar Executive Editor Leah Chernikoff discuss NYFW and other news in “Who Won New York Fashion Week” for Fashion People Podcast

My Retail Diary NYFW Spring 2025 notes

New Launches

Fashion Launches

• Let’s Go Yankees - classic, microtrend. I’ve spotted two launches announced this week and since three makes a trend I’m sharing the Ralph Lauren items too because they are key ad styles this season.

  • Emily Oberg
    ’s Sporty & Rich launches a NY Yankees collection

  • New York or Nowhere launches a NY Yankees collab you can see it here and read about the collaboration and more about NYON from the NYTimes.

  • Ralph Lauren has a large assortment. Here is an edit: Teddy Bear Yankee, sold out online Letterman Jacket, Satin Jacket, Velvet Slippers.

• Still Here NYC is launching their first suede pieces on Thursday 9/12 (you can also sign-up to be notified here.) You know the suede and western influence is big this season. This new collection includes suede and camo and the brand shared the following information:

“Key styles include a Chocolate Suede button-up shacket, inspired by the American West, with signature blanket stitch detailing and side pockets; custom camouflage ‘Outside’ print in bestselling Everyday Jean and Subway Jean; and their iconic bestselling Cool Jean in a rich Chocolate Suede perfect for fall.”

• Donni’s latest launch includes items in the classic trends we keep seeing this Fall. Red, Chocolate for colors and Pointelle in fabrication. The colors are always classic for Donni and the material is too. (Personally I find myself wearing at least 1 item of Donni a couple days a week. I love the tshirts and the kick flare for WFH days and weekends running around with my kids. (Use code Sarah10 for 10% off at Donni.)

• Hill House Home launched Fall Drop 2 with their popular Nap Room. I wrote all about how Hill House Home is using the drop model here:

Beauty Launches

• U Beauty’s latest launch is a new product to bring skin care down from the face. We always hear that moisturizer should go not just on your face but on your neck and declotage too. I love that U Beauty innovated around a product specifically targeted for this often forgotten area. The SCULPT Neck & Décolleté Concentrate. U Beauty claims this product “visibly tighten, lift, and contour the skin on the neck, chest, and jawline—for comprehensive renewal and age-defying results.” They ran clinicals on 30 people and the PDP is also built out with before and after as well as an easy to see visual for what products to build your routine with.

New Collabs

• Vera Bradley collabs with Urban Outfitters. Worth noting that Urban Outfitters has become the go to retailer to collab with to resurrect a nostalgic brand. Here is the Press Release.

  Casey Lewis
  also has an excellent write-up on the collab in her recent Sunday edition of
  After School by Casey Lewis
  .

  • I also found this super curious - Vera Bradley sued UO in 2023 over a print. I wonder if this collab was part of an agreement/resolution?

• Larroudé x Markarian with some intricate wool embroidered and patchwork boots, mules, heels and flats.

• Coming Soon: Kacey Musgraves x Reformation via

  PEOPLE BRANDS AND THINGS
  (see post here)

New Store Openings & Pop-Ups

• Toteme new location:

  • I visited the new Toteme store on the UES that opened this week. It is beautiful with a major red spiral staircase. A huge wall of handbags and smaller “rooms” upstairs that allow to highlight pieces in smaller groupings.

  • It’s not a competition but I’m still amazed by the LA Melrose location as I love a midcentury style and the open space.

  • Based on their website they have 4 US locations and 16 total stores.

• Trinny London, a digitally first beauty brand, is opening their first brick and mortar location in time for London Fashion Week. There are a lot of interesting points to discuss here:

  • This brand is hovering close to that $100 million mark and the store opening is part of a strategy for more in person opportunities to reach that mark. Why $100 million is an important milestone? I wrote about that here.

  • Next up, the brand is hoping for a NY location.

  • The new space has a lot of interactive features that really take advantage of in person shopping. Highlighting online reviews, a studio for consultations, shade matching etc. Additionally I love this quote:

    ““The difference between the direct relationship you get with doing it straight to the consumer, and then the concept of your own store environment to tell the message how you want to tell it, you’ve got to have enough traction to justify the rent,” Woodall said.”

The Business Section

What does it mean that a brand is “so back”

I’ve been thinking about this a lot. There are so many conversations about the J. Crew catalog being back. We’ve also talked about this in relation to Gap, Abercrombie, Coach etc. What does it mean to turn around a struggling or even just an irrelevant business and what does being back mean?

• First, in relation to the conversations about J.Crew being back with the catalog, I think this is much more in relation to the styling, pieces that feel nostalgic and merchandise that people are talking about and interested in.

• But, what actually matters for a brand to truly be back and be successful financially and more sustainable (as in a solid financial business, not environmentally)?