Wholesale may be struggling, but at New York Fashion Week, designers are hoping for a “boutique boom” to revitalize fashion retail.
On Sunday, couture designer Victor de Souza hosted a presentation of his new collection at Emanuel New York, a small boutique shop in Manhattan that de Souza opened with his husband and business partner, fragrance expert Dustin Lujan, last summer.
The store sells Victor de Souza’s clothing, along with a wide variety of fragrances from different brands, curated by Lujan. De Souza told Glossy that having a small store dedicated to high-end fashion and fragrance is a great way for him and the brands Emanuel carries to stay attuned to what their customers want.
“This is the first collection since we opened the store, so it’s very special,” De Souza said.
Boutiques like Emanuel are increasingly attractive for brands burned out on large department stores and retail. Niles Ramadhin, the founder of the TikTok-viral fragrance brand City Rhythm, told Glossy that he only works with boutiques.
“I’m not in any of the department stores,” Ramadhin said. “I focus on boutiques, and that business is getting bigger. More people are seeking out local stores, looking for hidden gems, something that not everybody else has.”
City Rhythm is carried in 22 boutiques in the U.S. and internationally, and Ramadhin said he has personal relationships with the owners of each store. He works with them directly to determine which fragrances will work best for their local demographic, makes appearances at the stores when a new product launches and sends the owners flowers on their birthdays.
There’s evidence supporting the growth in specialty retail. Data from Quilt, a retail software platform, found that spending at small businesses was up 5% year over year during the past holiday season, and average spending per customer was up by the same amount. At a time when big department stores and wholesale retailers are restructuring, specialty retail is offering brands a more intimate and less stress-inducing way into retail doors. Fashion boutique revenue has risen by around 8% over the last five years.
Jack Sivan, the designer behind the growing menswear brand Sivan, told Glossy on Sunday that figuring out the right wholesale strategy is one of the toughest parts of the business right now.
“A lot is changing,” Sivan said. “We can develop as much as we want on our own, but we do need to get our brand into retail doors, and it takes an enormous amount of time to find the right buyers and the right stores.”
Sivan is currently only sold in one boutique — Ford General in Chicago — but it’s in talks with a handful more. Sivan said the relationship with the owners of Ford General, small business to small business, is much easier to deal with than the asymmetric relationship between a small brand and a large retailer.
“I’m very optimistic that the inevitable fall of huge department stores is going to lead to a boutique boom,” Sivan said. “It’s hurting a lot of people along the way, which I’m obviously not happy about. But a future world where retail is more niche and local is much more interesting to me.”