Direct-to-Consumer

Halara has amassed a large audience online with its ultra-affordable athleisure. Now, the brand is pursuing a brick-and-mortar strategy to prove it’s more than its rock-bottom prices.

Companies like Nike, Levi’s and PVH, which have been on years-long journeys to ramp up their direct businesses amid ongoing challenges in wholesale, provide case studies for how to invest in the selling channel.

The DTC bust of the past two years has casted a cloud on the sector, but emerging fashion brands with a better handle on supply, demand and customer retention are seeing profitable growth.

In London, where independent labels have been hit hard by the implosion of key stockist Matches, brands like Clio Peppiatt, Marfa Stance and Completedworks have grown direct-to-consumer businesses that peers can learn from.

Apparel start-ups founded on the promise of offering men the perfect T-shirt are proving resilient in an otherwise dreary DTC sector rampant with fire sales, bankruptcies and steep revenue declines.

Apparel brands Knot Standard and Billy Reid are teaming up in a move investors say we may see more of as fashion start-ups seek alternative funding routes to grow their businesses.

Warby Parker, Everlane and other brands are partnering with small, but buzzy fashion labels as an inexpensive way to find new customers, and regain some status with shoppers who have moved on.

The embattled athleisure brand has mounting cash problems, Sourcing Journal says.

An executive shakeup at the embattled sneaker seller adds a new layer of complexity as sales and profit continue to decline.

After reaching $300 million in sales last year, the 10-year-old DTC accessories brand is banking on a new line of higher-priced bags to increase customer loyalty and reposition the company as a destination for fashion-minded consumers.

Founder Michael Preysman and his investors are back in growth mode after implementing cost cuts and changes to the product mix last year. Whether Everlane can find a new leader to make it the sales juggernaut it's always dreamt of being will be a test case for whether late-stage start-ups can escape the direct-to-consumer curse.

The cost to advertise on Meta — once digital brands’ primary marketing channel — has finally come down. But start-ups will continue to decrease their reliance on social media, including investing more in offline advertising and in targeting customers on Google, where the intent to buy is higher.