Why Designers Are Going Direct-to-Consumer
The pandemic accelerated the trend of designers going direct-to-consumer, which had already been in motion for years. The shift is unlocking the freedom to their decision about:
what they create, how much is produced, how it’s shipped, when it’s delivered, and what it should cost.
The pandemic accelerated the trend of designers going direct-to-consumer, which had already been in motion for years. The shift is unlocking the freedom to their decision about what they create, how much is produced, how it’s shipped, when it’s delivered, and what it should cost.
Designers are moving fall collections to September and spring to March, when people are ready to shop those seasons, slowly and mindfully designing smaller collections with seasonless offerings that are traceable, organic, recycled, or repurposed, and drive forward the mission around transparency, circularity, inclusivity, and regeneration.
The wholesale model itself is inhibiting designers from being truly sustainable, or at least making it incredibly difficult. Taking control from retail partners that are requesting four to six collections per year, often with exclusive capsules in between is also helping in terms of fashion’s carbon footprint.
In September of 2019 designer Becca McCharen-Tran announced that CHROMAT is becoming100% direct-to-consumer business. “You Spoke, We Listened!”, Becca said. The reason for the switch was to offer a better price point without compromising the quality of the product. Cutting out the wholesale markup was the best way to go.
Becca isn’t the only swimwear designer with D2C business.
Luli Fama’s focus shifted to e-commerce and direct to consumer marketing, Australia-based Triangl is an OG in the online-only, direct-to-consumer swim space, Solid and Striped is going “mostly” direct-to-consumer while keeping a select number of wholesale accounts, and Andie swim’s Melanie Travis is applying technology to the swimwear e-commerce category in a way that is steering the brand to be a direct-to-consumer leader in the space.
Many designers are investing more time and money in their own e-commerce platforms; and are exploring alternative retail models, including influencer partnerships.
