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After launching as a direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand, Phoebe Philo is expanding its wholesale roster.
The brand, sold only online when it debuted last October, first tested wholesale exclusively with Bergdorf Goodman starting in April this year. From 10 September, the brand will enter general wholesale; landing in six more physical stores on varying dates: Milan’s 10 Corso Como, Dover Street Market in London and Paris, Los Angeles’s Maxfield and Neiman Marcus, and South Beach’s The Webster.
This official wholesale launch coincides with the label’s third “edit” (or drop), which rounds off its first full collection. This “mark[s] the completion of an inaugural body of work”, per the release. In store, pieces from all three edits will be available alongside each other — a first for the brand which, to date, has sold via the drop model. The Bergdorf launch hinted at this seasonless approach when it sold pieces from the first and second edits altogether.
As with the Bergdorf launch, the pieces will only be available in person — anyone wanting to shop online will still have to revert to Phoebe Philo dot com.
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It’s a sign that the toe dip into wholesale was a success. It came as a surprise when the brand launched at Bergdorf, after Philo had hinted in an interview with The New York Times that she wanted to open “some sort” of physical space. Many took this to mean a brand store (though Philo didn’t specify). The launch into — and double down on — wholesale reflects the difficulty of DTC-only — particularly given the brand’s high price points. “If you’re going to spend $10,000 on a piece, you want to see it, feel it, touch it, try it on,” Gary Wassner, CEO of Hilldun Corporation, told Vogue Business when the brand launched.
The wholesale offering is an answer to this desire for IRL access. At the time of the Bergdorf launch, Jessica Quillin, luxury strategist and co-founder of brand strategy agency It’s A Working Title, said: “At every step of the launch of her namesake brand, Phoebe Philo has demonstrated a deliberate, strategic approach. Given the chaotic state of luxury e-commerce and the challenges of setting up an owned physical space, this launch makes a lot of sense.”
Philo’s careful curation of wholesale partners is notable, maintaining a level of exclusivity. 10 Corso Como and Maxfield are both city-specific independent boutiques. The Webster is a Miami institution, known for its curation. Bergdorfs is in a league of its own, Quillin said at launch. And Dover Street Market is, well, Dover Street Market. Only Neiman Marcus stands out for its larger national presence.
Will a standalone Phoebe Philo space be next?
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