The Rundown: Vette's Rate, Set Active's Fine Print, and J. Crew's Split Screen

I'm back with your Vette questions answered, J.Crew's marketing-versus-revenue story, and how Set Active is setting expectations on inventory. Plus a shoe designer weighs in on the flats confusion.

The Rundown

• Fresh Receipts: new finds worth making note of

• Forecasting: another look at flats

• The Case for Vette: readers asked me why Vette vs ShopMy/LTK

• SET-ting Up for Success: how Set Active is handling an inventory challenge

• In My Feed: random bits I’m loving this week

In this send: I answer the questions about Vette, and what makes it appealing compared to ShopMy/LTK plus the signs of what challenges lay ahead. Plus: Lucky Charms, nylon handbags, bag charms, the case for cummerbunds, flats, commission rates, Flagship, Lindsey Carter, Set Active, Chava Studio, last year-itis, J.Crew, and I’m loving the merch from Jordyn Woods & Karl-Anthony Towns wedding.

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Fresh Receipts

• Now that we are all watching for the turquoise/acid blue/capri shade I’ll point you in the direction of this new Tove leather skirt.

• Did you see that General Mills/Lucky Charms sponsored a sorority Bid Day activation? The recruitment chair who organized this is a pre-med Biology student. I think she could also have a future in Brand Marketing and PR. For any breakfast cereal fans, Brunch has a collab with General Mills. Perhaps marshmallow-y soft slippers.

• My favorite nylon bags these days are Valesque, so glad I got my hands on this one (and mine in black available here). I’ve been wearing non-stop. But, for cheap and cheerful these are really great. And this new tote.

• Possibly the next accessory hanging off girls backpacks.

• I would classify this as a really good work or High Holidays dress.

• Are you more of a Saint Laurent pillbox person or an Elsa Peretti pillbox person?

• I’ve mentioned that I want to see more fun cufflinks for women, if a brand is already making earrings and brooches (like these as cufflinks) this should be an easy-peasy category expansion and women are wearing quality dress shirts. I saw this and realized I’d also love to see more cummerbunds!!

Forecasting

• Another Low Profile Option: This slipper from The Row is technically filed as a "ballet flat," but it closes with a back zipper instead of the usual elastic pull-on or solid heel. The type of detail that makes shoe categories so slippery right now. See previous reporting on this confusion here:

• The Confusion Confirmed by a Shoe Designer: I posted the chart on Instagram and footwear designer Jessica Taft Langdon, who has worked with Jamie Haller, Dôen, and Proenza Schouler, DM’ed me with kind corrections:

  “There is a difference between Derbies and Oxfords¹, but do we really care? There’s no platonic form for what we might call a “jazz shoe”. A brogue or a wingtip might be a lace up, and might not be. As a consumer, it truly doesn’t matter what you call any particular iteration… truly, buy what you like, and call the shoe whatever you want to!
  
  On the brand side, marketing is important, certainly, but if you’re selling a Derby and calling it an Oxford, know that to a certain segment of your colleagues, you lose a fair amount of goodwill for not understanding the category. At the lower end of the market, this is totally forgivable… Mango isn’t selling manufacturing prowess, but brands with footwear heritage mostly get it right.” — Jessica Taft Langdon

  This illustrates the confusion well. My guess is a lot of the naming mix-up comes from how many people touch a shoe before it reaches you. The designer sketches and develops a shoe with a specific style in mind. Then the merchants and marketers decide how to actually sell it. Choosing the name that sounds best or is trending. The shoes are categorized ideally in a way a shopper can find online. Somewhere in that game of telephone, the original name can quietly get swapped or watered down for whatever works better on the sales floor (real or virtual).

  Langdon’s favorite flat? Porselli.

Why Influencers Choose Vette?

After I wrote about Vette I received a lot of reader questions and DMs. What was the commission for influencers? Why would influencers choose this versus ShopMy or another affiliate platform? Let’s get into all of this and more.