Hi hi — I might have been under the weather this week but that didn’t stop the retail updates. Thankfully I received plenty of messages to keep me up-to-date including reports from the City of Light, merci. I’ve also been doing plenty of online scrolling which is all for your benefit. Let’s get into it.
In this send: Feedback from a retail analyst on what Sézane in Paris looks like right now, plus more merchant thoughts. Plus: Alexa Chung, great boots for denim, Holiday Beauty Tracker is live, New Balance x Sézane, Good — Better — Best Suede handbags, Poshfest, Elizabeth von der Goltz, Jamie Hunter, Needoh, SKIRTS!, Julia Rabinowitsch (aka The Millennial Decorator), Still Here, Dôen, Le Monde Béryl, Rothy’s, and have you heard of a Speed To Market Buyer? Z Supply has a job opening for one.
This Send in Numbers:
$322: the jump from Good to Better in the Suede handbags
$730: the jump from Better to Best in the Suede handbags
£5.2bn: the UK beauty market Sephora is chasing with 100 shop-in-shops at M&S
2: brands betting on Alexa Chung this week
373: number of SKUs Gap CashSoft returned on the search results
700,000: new Poshmark listings every day
Deep Dive
New Collabs — Alexa Chung’s collabs and Sephora heads to M&S
Shoppies — the boots for denim that Jac Cameron wears and it’s starting to feel gift-y
Paris Dispatch — Sézane: What’s Selling
Poshfest! — this weekend shop Poshmark IRL
New Store Openings — Chicago, L.A., and NYC
People in the News — CFDA, Condé Nast, and ShopMy’s promotions
In My Feed — Sara Foster posting job openings on LinkedIn and a podcast recap
New Collabs
Wasn’t sure if I should file this under “New Store Openings”, or “Launches”, but let’s go with Collabs! Sephora x Marks & Spencer. The beauty retailer is opening 100 shop-in-shops starting in the spring of 2027. There are currently only 18 Sephora locations in the U.K. so this is one way to expand quickly and get a stronger grasp on the £5.2bn UK beauty market. This reminds me of the Sephora at Kohl’s arrangement and should fare better than the Target and Ulta partnership because Sephora isn’t over saturated yet in the U.K. [Press Release]
Ludovic de Saint Sernin x Skims launches today.
Next week we’ll see what Reformation x Alexa Chung have been cooking up. I wonder if this plan started around the holidays last year when she attended the Reformation x Pixie Geldof Christmas Cocktail Party. The accent color and dress cut is very similar.
Sure, Tuckernuck has already had activewear, but they are about to collab with Fanatics for some extra points.
The Roller Rabbit x Tarte launches today.
And before this next mention, I’ll just drop this LOL comment here:
More Alexa Chung: Alexa Chung is the face of the Old Navy x Altuzarra that launched Wednesday. By the end of the day I saw very little sold out. No judging, I think this is fine at this point. Also interesting that on the product detail page online it notes you must return by mail. This is operationally smart because it will help them manage the inventory, reduce markdowns, and quickly turn returns into new purchases.
Shoppies
I can’t stop thinking of these boots Jac Cameron from Rùadh was wearing with her jeans. They might be the perfect boots for casual denim with a slight heel.
I love that Private Label readers know to alert me that the Hailey Jean from Gap is being restocked. All sizes and shades. My daughter loves hers and fyi size down. Back in stock on October 2nd at 12pm ET. Both online and in stores. Now you won’t have to overpay to the resellers on eBay.
Gap’s CashSoft category has returned. Check out the half-zip.
Donni’s new deliveries include new fall colors of the pointelle knits (I have these pants) and I also own and love this heavy cotton sweater. (Use code Sarah15 for 15 percent off.)
Did any authors or New Yorkers order this dress from the Carolina Herrera show? Maybe go for the sweater.
I preordered the Art Life Practice Guided Sketchbook** and it arrived this week. I’m excited to spend some time relaxing this weekend. This should be in any creative or analog gift guide this holiday season.
Speaking of Holiday Gift Guides (yes, I said it) I’m tracking all the Holiday Beauty Launches here.
Paris Dispatch — Sézane: What’s Selling
Sézane has been a fun retailer to cover because it is in the early days of the rebrand and customers have a lot of feelings and thoughts. Last week I broke down the email they sent to loyal shoppers. This week I have a first-hand report from the Paris boutiques. One of the sharpest retail analysts I know, someone who visits stores weekly to track and misses nothing, was just in Paris and shared her notes with me. She went into the Paris Sézane Appartement (boutique) and generously shared her Channel Check with me for Private Label.
There is a buzz, but…it isn’t at the same level as this time last year. The fitting rooms were full with shoppers trying on sweaters, blouses, and the New Balance collab. I also saw in my data that the New Balance collab was selling and the brown suede 471 quickly sold out (size 11.5 still on the site) but at $110 it is well priced for Sézane. There are still many sizes of the Ecru 574 for $110. The shoppers vary in age but there aren’t many young shoppers during the Paris store visit.
Sales associates tell it like it is. When asked what the feedback from shoppers has been like, you see the split and the cracks show.
