Stella & Dot to launch clothing range

Stella & Dot, the boutique jewellery and accessories retailer, is moving into apparel.

The San Francisco based brand will launch a collection of embroidered and crocheted tunics and sarong skirts, as well as sunglasses, WWDreported.

According to Blythe Harris, Chief Creative Officer and Cofounder, Stella & Dot logged sales of $200m last year, giving way to the launch of fine jewellery. This is a bold move for the company given that jewellery prices currently range between $19 to $198.

“[The apparel] is our first foray toward becoming a real lifestyle brand,” said Harris. “It’s the first time that you’ll be able to pack a suitcase and have a style solution from Stella & Dot.”

Stella & Dot is distributed through e-commerce and 40,000 ‘stylists’ worldwide. Stylists are encouraged to build their own social networks by uploading images and videos provided by Stella & Dot and sharing them with existing and potential customers, writesWWD.

“We give them all assets they need to share online,” Harris said. “We’ve been doing a ton of content creation. Our strategy is to amplify the social networks of our stylists. They’re micro-influencers for us. Every woman’s dream is to own her own boutique.”

Stylists can emulate that with Stella & Dot, Harris said, because “We have the distribution centre and the ability to ship within two days, and we hold the inventory.

“Now, everybody wants to be a fashion blogger. Our stylists have always been the style hubs of their communities. With the rise of social media, we’re perfectly positioned.”

“We encourage people to customize the looks,” Harris said. “We love to see people take the product and style it in their own way. Our business model is very iterative and very much crowd-sourced. We’re in service to the community and the stylists…When I was designing the tunics we had our fit sessions on our stylists, who have a variety of body types,” Harris said. “The tunics have details meant to flatter a wide range of body types. We cut them for real women with real sizes.”

Harris said that putting new product categories, such as the tunics, in the hands of stylists “will enhance our ability to empower them and offer them an easy style solution for the summer.”

Article Source: http://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2016/03/stella-and-dot-to-launch-clothing-range