Open to Buy: What's Behind With Nothing Underneath & Channel Checks

A brand breakdown, and what June looked like from 2020 to 2024.

In this send: A fun grab bag from channel checks, digging into the brand With Nothing Underneath, and some retail memories from June 2024 - 2020. Plus: Edikted, Pip Durell, WNU, Hero Shop, Nuuly, Fashionphile, Rhode Bronzer, Chan Luu skinny scarves, and top links from the week.

Heads up: Posting may be lighter over the next few weeks with the holiday. I’ll still be here, just maybe not 3x a week. 🏖️

• Field Notes

• Label Check - With Nothing Underneath

• Fashion & Beauty Finds

• Retail Reads

• Looking Back

• In My Feed

Field Notes

• For the tweens, and the parents who take them shopping: Edikted’s newest store opened at 587 Fifth Avenue, NYC and the Gen Z-Alpha favorite gets thumbs up from moms because it isn’t too crowded. Having a larger store format helps. Much better vibes compared to Soho according to the Gen X-Millennials parents who are dragged there. On Friday there was no line for the dressing room, and good to know — there are dressing rooms in two different spots of the store. The Fifth Avenue location is nearly three times the size of the SoHo store. Over 10,000 square feet across two levels plus a mezzanine and balcony, inside the landmarked Scribner Building. It is a Beaux Arts space originally built for a bookstore in 1913.

• Marin Country Mart: I was at the Mart on Thursday and Hero Shop has a large assortment (colors, styles and sizes) of Flore Flore. If you’ve been wanting to try them out this is the spot to go to. The RealReal has a new-ish consignment drop off desk to improve the efficiency and quality of consignment drop-offs. Dôen and Birkenstock were buzzing! And everyone who was trying on at Birkenstock had multiple pairs. These caught my eye because I love a stud. For the cooler temps in California I’ve been wearing these a lot, I’ve owned for about three years. Jenni Kayne’s canvas totes caught my eye. The bucket bag for smaller toting and the larger Gem tote bag are now added in the Canvas Bag round-up. Varley opened at the Brentwood Country Mart, but Marin’s location is still being built out. I’ll be back for channel checks.

Label Check: With Nothing Underneath

Label Check is a recurring series where I break down the brands you keep seeing and want to know more about. I’m often asked “what is this brand?” Consider this your cheat sheet.

With Nothing Underneath, or for those of us that love an abbreviation and wear the brand — WNU, is a British shirting brand that has expanded to other categories. All about helping their customers build wardrobes around the basics.

• Behind the brand: Pip Durell founded WNU in London in 2017. She was a Condé Nast alumna, worked at Tatler, Vanity Fair, and Vogue, and the whole time she kept noticing that good women’s shirting simply didn’t exist at the right price point. Men had entire shops dedicated to the craft. Women got small, medium, large and a button that hit at the wrong point on the bust (that is the worst). She put in £7,500, found a factory in the south of London to run up a prototype, Googled “agent in Portugal,” flew to Porto, got in a stranger’s car, went around mills and factories, and started making shirts and retailing them. Grew the business for two years before she hired her first employee.

• The numbers: WNU is on track for $20M in revenue this year, up over 110 percent year over year. The U.S. is up 250 percent. In the U.K. up 100 percent. The Sunday Times named it one of the 100 fastest-growing companies in Britain, for all of Britain business — not just fashion. They have been profitable every year. In 2024 they received investments from Pembroke VCT and JamJar Investments. (Data is from an inside source at the brand.)

• What’s selling right now: Seersucker is performing, up 299 percent. This style is great for the current heat waves and from air-conditioned offices to the beach as a cover-up. The easy to shop and style “sets” are also driving revenue. Seersucker sets account for 69 percent of total seersucker revenue, meaning customers aren’t buying just the shirt, they’re buying the look. That is a big win for a business. White shirts across fabrications, not just seersucker, are performing. White shirts, like this and this, are up 206 percent. And dresses, which WNU launched last year with three SKUs, expanded this year and are up 770 percent. The Sloane in red linen is the standout. I’ve been wearing the linen set* in black (top, boxers) and get a ton of use out of the top. I’ve worn it a bunch with white denim. I took my regular size in the top for a more fitted look, but I would suggest sizing up 1 to 2 sizes if you want oversized or to wear as a cover-up. I’ll wear with the shorts as a cover-up set this summer too. (Data is from an inside source at the brand.)

• Where to find it: WNU has their own website and four brick-and-mortar stores (3 in London and 1 in Devon). Moda Operandi has done well with the brand, and Harrods where it’s a top brand on the fourth floor.

• Worth knowing and my take: The brand is doing well with a loyal customer. They have a strong returning customer rate and this is likely what attracted investors. Of course third-party retailers love brands with a high repurchase rate too. Once you find a shirt you love, you can keep buying in various colors and fabrications because you know the fit is right. The set dressing is another bonus — customers buying two pieces instead of one. Higher AOV. A new and exciting launch for fall is their denim. The classic denim blue is up 108 percent year over year and gives a vote of confidence for the brand to expand that category. I remember hearing from another fabulous classic brand, La Ligne, that they launched denim because their shopper kept asking what denim the models were wearing with the sweaters. That gave the brand the approval to move in that direction.

Do you have a favorite style from With Nothing Underneath? Are you into the set dressing this summer? Share in the comments.

Images courtesy of brands featured.

Fashion & Beauty Finds

• Beauty follow-up: I purchased the new Rhode bronzer. I’m loving it! Similar to this contour I can also use the Rhode bronzer as an easy swipe for eye shadow. The consistency is so creamy and easy to blend. I’m also a fan of the Rhode blush, so if you like the pocket blush you will also appreciate the bronzer. The bronzers and luminizers are now available at Sephora.

• New jazz shoes, but I noticed these Loewe are called “sneakers.” Worth knowing if you're searching online, so maybe try both keywords. See and compare to these “brogues” by Proenza Schouler.

• Fashionphile has new landing pages that will be helpful if you have any Arena events, from concerts to the World Cup, coming up. First, the stadium friendly bags — from clear to mini bags — perfect for WAGs or those who are looking to up their court side seating look (check your events requirements first). And just in time for Wimbledon, there is a full edit here.

• These Chan Luu beaded skinny scarves were so popular in the early 2000s. Seeing the trend come back around brings up a lot of nostalgia around my accessory buyer days.

• I pre-ordered these heels in fire. I know, shocking.

• This Marmar Halim gown looks like it would have been perfect at the Met Gala “Fashion is Art.”

Retail Reads

• Annie Joy Williams wrote about Nuuly, the fashion rental business with the most interest right now. Nuuly is in the Urban Outfitters portfolio giving it a lot of the upper-hand in terms of clothing inventory, brand insights, customer data, etc. I appreciate the breakdown she gave around the impact to the environment. At a recent dinner my girlfriends were all buzzing about Nuuly. From college age kids getting a lot of use out of (great graduation gift) or anyone with a changing body — from having kids or using GLP-1s — being able to rent clothes while you are in flux is a benefit. [The Atlantic]

• Get ready for REF, as in Reformation’s ticker symbol. [WSJ gift link]

  🛍️ Quick note: I write a lot (too much good stuff to share!) If you’re reading via email only, you may need to click through to the web version or read on the Substack app. I promise it will be worth it. 🛍️

Looking Back

Just for fun, I took a look back at my previous newsletter, Retail Diary, to see what the news was from this same time period over the years.

• June 2024: Dries Van Noten’s final show, we were debating sock heights (no-show shows your age), Rhode launched their pocket blush, and white skirts were everywhere. Especially this one.

• June 2023: Edward Enniful left British Vogue, Nikki Ogunnaike was named EIC of Marie Claire, current Victoria’s Secret CEO Hillary Super was named CEO of Savage x Fenty, plenty of collabs like Simon Miller x Mango, Sporty & Rich x Adidas Sézane x Farm Rio and June 29, 2023 I moved Retail Diary from Mailchimp to Substack!!!

• June 2022: Here is Rhode again — Hailey Bieber launched Rhode. Late June is her time.

• June 2021: Warby-Parker filed their IPO, Telfar designed the Liberian Olympic uniforms, Isabel Marant launched a secondhand shop.

• June 2020: before GLP-1s, we were talking about putting on the “covid-15” and how that increased people’s clothing sizes. David’s Bridal launched zoom try-on appointments, the Black in Fashion Council launched.

In My Feed

• Lee Glandorf (she writes the excellent The Sweat Lookbook) interviewed FP Movement’s Managing Director of Marketing for her Substack. Check it out here.

• Top links of the week: Highest clicks went to my favorite summer sandals (3 years running), Gap’s new t-shirt dress inspired by the dress Zac Posen designed for Claire Danes at the Golden Globes, and getting ready for fall — a new quarter-zip. Top converting was this summer cover-up. This TikTok was popular too.

• Another way to wear a thong sandal. Try this heel with matching twillys.

Catching Up:

Made just for you — always. See you next week

xx, Sarah Shapiro

Private Label Issue 12

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Quick note: some links here are affiliate links — I may earn a small commission if you shop through them, at no cost to you. It helps keep this newsletter going. Gifted items are marked with an *. All opinions are my own, and everything I share, I’d tell my best friend about and probably already have.

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