37 Comments
Oct 13Liked by Sarah Shapiro

Loved your analysis on Sezane! In my opinion, one other opportunity for them would be to provide pictures of items on their website. Although I love the Sezane styling and the pictures on the website are incredibly dreamy, sometimes I can't even see the item clearly. This has prevented me from adding an item to cart in the past, because I hate wasting time to order something that I'll just have to return.

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Yes. Great point. And this is a spot that would also help improve SEO and digital ads

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Clearly I’ve got Zara on the brain this week! Also you were VERY kind about Sneex. I truly do not understand what she is thinking…

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😆 I don’t like yukking someone else’s yum but I don’t get this at all. I want to hear from the people who love Sneex, didn’t know Blakely was attached to it and have bought and wear.

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I can't imagine that person exists! I think she is a major draw to trial, and while she boasts on social media that there are repeat customers, I just don't see the brand having longevity. I think the WSJ article was fair and accurate; you are definitely kind :)

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yes - I need to see where the longevity is coming in and i'd love to review the sales history (returns, conversions, repeats)

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I loved what WSJ (among others) have said — she did not have anyone around her say it's a bad idea. I have said from the start that she had a great theory but the execution does not truly solve a pain point.

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if there was a comfortable and stylish heel people would be interested. i'd love to hear what heels everyone loves. i've had a hard time being interested in wearing heels lately (aka since 2020)

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Oct 13Liked by Sarah Shapiro

Love Sezane, love Lindy, love you! What a wonderful Sunday scoop 🍦

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Thanks. This was a fun one to write.

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Oct 17Liked by Sarah Shapiro

For the Extreme Creme set, you can actually get it for slightly less than the cost of one full size bottle right now with their 20% off sets sale happening this week

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Yes!! I’m including this in the deep dive tomorrow. Just included. Thank you for adding. Such a great deal. Love this cream

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Ok so this just makes me want to be able to call you re Sézane because there is SO much to say. When I worked in Paris, the girls in the office called it a “flocker ” brand (their way of saying that too many people were into it, so they weren’t). We let it on our (pre owned luxury clothing) website though, as it was so good for SEO (my job was to establish the platform in UK/US). It’s very much “the French giving what they know the English speaking territories want to think the French wear.” Also, they did try beauty - unbelievable flop sadly. X

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Oh! Love these insights. Thank you for sharing. I can see this and agree - great for SEO. A collab would be a better beauty entry. Not to own and take their focus but bring in another audience.

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Oct 14Liked by Sarah Shapiro

Such fun to read- LOVE Sezane & been very pleased with the quality of each item I’ve ordered!

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Excited about the Zara teen collection and love your marketing ideas around Sézane... I have a few pieces from them and would love to get into their knitwear, but almost every style is blended with mohair which gives me a rash in about 15 seconds. I know it's their signature, but I wish they'd offer a bit more in other fibers.

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yes about mohair. my husband just asked me about mohair in a sweater he was going to order and I suggested he not try/order

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Oct 14Liked by Sarah Shapiro

Did you read this from awhile ago about Sezane? https://open.substack.com/pub/totallyrecommend/p/the-suffocation-of-sezane?r=ac83b&utm_medium=ios

I stumbled on the brand in 2017 while in Paris. I bought a few things I still have. I’ve found the quality has gone down since. The sweaters are itchy, the lace unravels, and very few items are still made in France/Italy.

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As someone who loves Sezane’s aesthetic but can’t fit into their clothes, I’d LOVE to see them expand their size range. Opens them up to a whole new market here in the US!

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Yes. Thank you for this response. Very true. So much opportunity

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Oct 14Liked by Sarah Shapiro

Love this Sunday scoop!

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Thank you

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I look forward to your dive every week! I really do.

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Means so much to me. Thank you!

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Oct 13Liked by Sarah Shapiro

The Sezane store in NYC is a treat to wander through. That area too (Elizabeth St in Nolita) is full of wonderful shops to peruse, on that note.

But I was today years old when I learned that they had a MENS collection. I always had hoped they would have one!!

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Very smart that Sézane seems to be opening in areas where the other stores nearby can bring in traffic of the core customer. same is true of the location in SF on Fillmore street.

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They're one of the few brands that's been very mindful about their brick and mortar presence. Store events are solid too!

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Hard disagree with the WSJ headline 😂. But your point about tops versus shirts caught my eye because I was discussing this exact thing with someone who posted about it in Notes – for Europeans they’re most definitely different things. For us, shirts are what Americans call a button-down and nothing else. But you’d think retailers woukd be aware of things like this and tailoring their websites to their markets! Interesting that they’ll spend a fortune on marketing and market research but miss details like that.

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Ahhh - yes!! Thank you for this comment. Exactly. A few adjustments needed in navigation for the US but brilliant point that Europe and US will shop the site and categories differently.

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One adjustment I did notice is they make a trench coat that they call “the French trench” in the UK market, but it’s not called that in France, for obvious reasons. But if they can do things like that they can surely sort out their categories because we really do use different terms. Pants is the obvious one that comes to mind!

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Oh wow, Fashionphile -- 25 years! So nice to see this thriving. Side note, thought of you seeing a Chanel beauty-only store coming up at an upscale strip male near my old home town. Thought it was interesting + smart. XO

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Yes! We recently got one of those Chanel beauty stores too. Really cool that they went in that direction. It did so well as part of MACs strategy I expect the same from Chanel and a nice branding moment since they would never open as many full line Chanel boutiques. Hope you had a meaningful Yom Kippur.

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Hope you did too, dear friend. XO.

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Oct 13Liked by Sarah Shapiro

Such a delicious buffet, this post! And I’m so happy to hear you approve of the Spanx.

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I’m shocked at how much I liked. Immediate good fit.

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Fab Sunday scoop, as usual! Very intrigued by the cow print trend, especially in the heels of leopard (which never truly goes away, but is definitely back. I love the idea of prints as neutrals, I include leopard, camo, and liberty florals in this bucket! Maybe will add cow :)

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Cow is great with the black and white or white and brown neutral combo. I also love something a little different to mix it up.

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