I’m back in NYC for another quick trip. The WiFi got the better of me last night hence a slightly delayed send this morning. But also, created a good way for me to see what time send performs better. Let’s see!
In this send: My social feed was showing me complaints about Abercrombie sweater quality and the price of men’s vs women’s assortment. I used my merchant skills to breakdown what is likely happening. Plus: NAP increases new delivery frequency, Alexa Chung’s Hug, Nili Lotan Leather Shon, cashmere barrel leg investment pants, JW Anderson x Ugg, sweatergate, Scottish wool sweaters, and Walmart’s Everyday Low Pricing.
The Rundown
Fresh Receipts — getting your shoppies fix
Style Out — Barrel Leg Pants
Field Notes — How does Jonathan Anderson do it??
Abercrombie Sweatergate or Just Rage Bait?
Fresh Receipts
Posse Resort ‘27 is now online. Available at their own stores and more broadly, there is also exclusive styles available at Moda Operandi.
Alexa Chung x Reformation has had positive reaction, especially after Casey Lewis mentioned this stripe-y Hug sweater and Hillary Kerr highlighted on social too. It’s selling out.
I noticed Net-a-Porter is now updating their new arrivals 5 days a week vs the Monday - Wednesday - Friday drop it previously had. Giving you a reason to come back 2x more times a week for the shoppies fix.
Net-a-Porter spreading out new arrivals
Style Out
I’m always checking out what is actually selling. From speaking directly with retailers and brands, Channel Checks, diving into the data of affiliate links, and seeing engagement across social media. The same category of pants has continued to dominate. Easy Pants. Instead of a true “hard pant” which might include a stiff waistband, heavier material, less drape, the “easy pants” are meant to be worn more slouchy. The barrel leg is the most in between and while at first it stayed with the more casual sweatpants, drawstring, and denim styles we are now seeing it creep into more trousers or more luxe materials. Shoppers have traded the pressed crease for a curved seam (often with a full dart at the knee to create the barrel leg). And while I love to travel in these stretchy-structured kick flare pants or flowy wide legs like these or these, this barrel leg has also shown up as the airplane pant many wear and evangelize.
This Style Out is going to dive a little deeper into each sub-category of easy pants, mostly barrel leg styles, and give a bit of insight behind why they are considered a Hero Style for that sub-category and the importance of each. This is where the art and science of retail comes in. The data and price points that make it a fit along with the art part that is more of the heart wants what it wants.
The Core: This is probably the most palatable version at a price point that can be super salable. A very commercial style. It works for a variety of occasions and is the style that can almost be considered “the entry” or the version with training wheels on. If you want to try the style you can start here. If you don’t love, no harm no foul. You move on. If you love you will stock up — buy in more colors, different materials, maybe trade up to something more expensive next time because you know how much you love. The Ruti On The Loose Work Pant fit the bill here. Ruti has been doing this style for many seasons. She (Ruti Zisser is the founder of her namesake brand) loved this style and started producing it before barrel legs were a thing. Similar to Nili Lotan (which we will get into for our Editorial sub-category) this is a style that felt very natural to both designers. Lotan and Zisser are both Israeli and this style has roots that fit in to the Israeli way of dressing — cool for warmer climates, casual, effortless, and utilitarian.
Another reason the On The Loose Work Pant fits as The Core style, they come in regular and petite lengths. The petite length is key because if you hem this style you are going to lose the right balance with the barrel placement. So as a strong secondary option, I’d add the Leset Kyoto because it isn’t a true barrel leg but is a loose option that gives the feel and is easier to hem without losing what makes it interesting.
The Update: Newer this season now that we’ve (mostly) fully embraced this silhouette is a tailored option. First we tested the waters with denim and then casual pants. Now a more tailored barrel leg would offer something new and updated in the category. Fresh office wear and fresh for the barrel leg category. Reformation’s Jackie Bow gets it right with two length options solving the tailoring situation for (many) heights.
The Investment: For this Style Out, once you have your bases covered, and especially once you know you love this fit, you are ready to invest. Both as a shopper and the retailer. A buyer perhaps bought a few styles last year and saw them take off. So as they build the assortment for this year if they are still feeling strong about the silhouette they are more likely to invest their precious Open-To-Buy on more luxury labels and price points. This is where Lisa Yang’s Azaria comes in. It is cashmere and at $1,290 it is an investment. For consumers and retailers alike. Less inventory is likely made and bought, and hence the retailers have “low stock” or “one pair left” messaging. Driving even more urgency. The investment style might not be one you go back and order more of as a buyer. Maybe you will make a note for next year to buy more, but it could be too much of a gamble to think if you bring it back in you could sell more. This is where we say there are no crystal balls in retail. P.S. if the Azaria is too much of an Investment, there is also the wool and cashmere blend option from the brand.
The Editorial: Nili Lotan Shon in leather is the pair that gets the Editorial distinction this time around. Leather feels like a newer material in barrel leg. Denim has been done, cotton, wool, even corduroy. The Nili Lotan Shon is a major player in this silhouette and one of the first ones to go big. But what feels fresh is in leather. Especially how it is styled with the red sweater on this PDP. This is the style that will be bought smaller (the retail is $1,990) but it will get play in editorial magazine spreads, the content Nili Lotan puts out or any retailer highlighting this style. It gets the customer excited.
Where are you in your barrel pant journey? Many shoppers might just be starting out, and others have multiple pairs in their closets invested over a few seasons at this point. If you already own are you looking for something new this fall?
Field Notes
For this iteration, here is a bit of what I’m hearing from shoppers, Channel Checkers, and sources.
Soeur the French brand that was opened by two sisters in 2008, is expanding with its first U.S. store in Soho. I found a job description for the store manager position which also highlights an October 2026 store opening. French language skills are a plus, presumably to communicate with the headquarters. The styles are slightly menswear leaning and the business has grown with wholesale accounts and pop-ups and stores all over Europe. To get a sense of the brand, you can see their modern classic handbags, assortment of ballet flats (it is a french brand), and not only do they have a strong outerwear collection — but it is strengthened with a current collaboration with rain gear brand K-way.
Abercrombie’s own NYC collection is selling very well to tourists in their stores in Manhattan according to sales associates. I thought of this as I heard that Good American was opening their own pop-up October 15-18th at 430 West Broadway with exclusive NYC merch.
Not Loafing Around: JW Anderson x Ugg collab got me incredibly excited — the collab will launch this Thursday October 15th. It gives a clear window into what makes Jonathan Anderson such an interesting designer right now. His vision, but sold at every price point. If you are reading Private Label, then you know I love a Good — Better — Best for pricing and breaking down how we talk about retail assortment.
At the top (aka Best pricing) he designs women’s, men’s and couture (maybe Best plus or “if-you-have-to-ask-you-can’t-afford”) for Dior. One rung down, at Better, is his own label JW Anderson. The loafer motif has become almost like his own franchise or de facto logo. Shoes and the handbag, and all the preppy RTW. Now that same loafer design is applied to the Ugg shearling footwear and fits in very nicely.
JW Anderson x Ugg collab - Images courtesy of brand The Good pricing, or opening price point, is at Uniqlo where he has partnered with the retailer since 2017. Selling preppy basics like boxy button-ups and merch like socks. And his new Uniqlo collection launches this same week on Friday October 16th. All of this seems like a beautiful orchestration. This is an incredible spread of long-term partners and price points for a designer. He’s building an entry point for shoppers to enjoy his work at every level without seeming to turn anyone away. I remember when Isaac Mizrahi first started partnering with Target some retailers wanted to abandon his label because they felt like it would dilute the top tiers of pricing. Clearly we are a long way from that conversation. It’s a good thing because I think the consumer and the retailers all benefit here. Which price point(s) do you shop at?
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Is Abercrombie’s Sweatergate Real or Social Media Rage Bait?
Sunday evening I started to see Instagram posts all about Abercrombie’s sweaters and the quality. Comparing the men’s wool composition versus the women’s and the price point of each. I shrugged it off not sure what the algorithm was showing me and figured it was just one account. By Monday not only was I now receiving even more (of course because I watched one — darn it!) but also because other accounts were piggy backing on this same topic. What then tipped me off that I wanted to dig deeper was that the comments on Abercrombie’s own posts started to fill with commenters upset about the quality of the composition of the wool and the price difference. Claiming a pink tax since the women’s retails were higher.
So I did what a merchant would do. I counted. Women’s actually carries more all-natural premium sweaters than men’s, about 13% of styles versus 9%. (Note, my counts are done via online searches and this isn’t 100 percent accurate. Some styles can be carry-over or no longer produced. That also isn’t addressed in the social commentary.) I’ve reached out to Abercrombie to follow this story and will report back with findings as they unfold.
But for today, below I’ve included what the numbers show, why it happens, and what Abercrombie can still fix this season.
