Deep Dive: Vette-ing Vogue's Vette
Your favorite fashion insiders just became shop owners thanks to Vogue. I had questions.
Deep Dive
New Collabs — sweatshirt brand x coffee brand
New Launches — Alo’s moves and denim everywhere
Vette-ing Vogue’s Bet — have you seen the first of Vogue’s Vette shops?
Q2 Earnings — e.l.f. beauty (whoa Rhode!) and Revolve’s earnings
New Store Openings & Pop-Ups — La Ligne’s 10th store opens
People in the News
In My Feed
In this send: Vogue launches the first of their Vette stores with fashion insiders like Laurel Pantin and Gab Waller so let’s take a look at what is behind this strategy and business. Plus: Dandy Worldwide, Starbucks, Drop N’ Dunk, US Open, Bella Hadid, low profile sneakers, grey hoodies, Still Here’s latest denim drop, I’m back on the petite pant beat, quarter-zip, Vette, Vogue, Lisa Aiken, Rhode, Revolve Los Angeles, Exemplar Luxury Group, Edikted, Nikki Kule, and the next few days I’ll be channel checking!! Reporting back soon.
New Collabs
Wardrobe.nyc x H&M drops August 6th. Oversized, sleek, structural essentials from Christine Centenera and Josh Goot. The brand launched in 2017 and this is a big collab for them to drive awareness.
Dandy Worldwide x Starbucks. Preorder is already closed so this is just an FYI. The teens love Starbies (Starbucks nickname) and the teen girly pops also love Dandy Worldwide Sweatshirts. So there you go. Interesting this launched the same week as Parke x Dunkin collab. Choose your (sweatshirt and coffee) fighter. Since they both sold out the real test to me is which one (if either) I actually see in the wild or if this was a small bet on inventory.
Frame x Sotheby’s has a second season of their collab. I like calling this one a merch collab.
e.l.f. Beauty and Bubble are teaming up on a limited-edition skincare-makeup hybrid line that launches this Friday. This mash-up is taking two brands with die-hard fans and overlapping Gen Z fanbases and hoping that loyalty plays out and get each other's community trying something new and that there isn’t huge overlap already. With the back-to-school timing it could work well as the audience might be in a spendy mood. The collab includes: Glow Talk (a tinted lip serum), Drop N’ Dunk (a hydrating moisturizer x bronzing drops — I love that the collab has a collab item that is a hybrid), and Camo Slide (a blush “serum” — bringing in that skincare terminology).
Nordstrom is hosting the US Open x Polo Ralph Lauren collection. This will be in the NYC space called “The Corner” through September. So all the locals and tourists looking to shop US Open merch can visit Nordstrom and then stay and shop. Of course shoppers can always head uptown to the Ralph Lauren mansion but this gives them another option closer to the hotels and in midtown.
New Launches
Smart Move Alo: I’m considering this a launch, Alo has Bella Hadid as the new face in their fall campaign. It isn’t just that she is beautiful and a strong model, in the recent Lyst Index it was called out that Bella Hadid wearing Massimo Dutti in Cannes helped to drive a 43 percent increase in demand for the brand. Now Alo has Bella Hadid on the Homepage. For a brand that is rumored to be eyeing an IPO this will help drive revenue and interest. Bella Hadid has over 50 million followers on Instagram and her recent posts with her wearing Alo on set has over 580K likes.
Sneaking around: Rothy’s has been teasing a new release on social media and it is finally here. The Ivy, a sneaker, launched today August 6th and a source at the brand shared with me that “sneaker” has been a top searched term on the e-commerce site. Thousands of searches for sneakers and previously on a small assortment available — the Slip On. Sneakers have also been one of the most requested styles in the stores (listen to your customer! get feedback from the sales associates!) The Slip On style has also been landing in the top best sellers for the brand in 2025 and 2026 showing that the brand had a reason to expand the category. The Ivy is a new fit, not a reinvention of another style, and has a slim, low-profile silhouette that has been trending (see Adidas Sambas, Dries Van Noten (on sale), Prada, Onitsuka Tiger — love this lace pair all as examples). This already has me thinking of a sneaker mule, snoafer, or sneakerina could be next. Rothy’s design team, happy to brainstorm any time.
The other recent addition to the Rothy’s line-up is another new clog, The Penny Clog. Fall’s back to school timing makes sense with expanding this category too as the Casual Clog already comes in 17 different colors! This is quite the assortment to keep up with between the colors and sizes. Kudos to the inventory planner.
I don’t think this is an indicator that Nike is failing, as a $46 billion business (annual revenue 2025 was $46.3 billion vs Adidas at $28.1 billion) they are by far still the leader. BUT I do have questions around not just working to “reignite” the business with a grey hoodie but also lead with this in a marketing and PR effort. Here’s why:
Nike often knocks themself off and makes simple grey sweatsuits for their outlet business. This type of product I can easily get with the Nike logo on Amazon. See the Nike Studio Fleece versus Nike on Amazon**. And while I’m not 100 percent sure the Nike Studio Fleece I linked above is what they are launching with, since it doesn’t launch until September 1st, that is part of the problem. Nike already has so many skus of a grey hoodie. It is going to be hard to pin a re-ignition of the sportswear business on this item that is already over sku-ed in Nike’s own business if they don’t retire all the others and take them out of the market. Which would be an impact to markdowns etc and not needed.
They are also competing with literally EVERY BRAND out there. Alo, Quince, Gap, and Hollister all come up as I search “women’s grey hoodie”. Is the grey hoodie the item you need to own? Don’t even get me started on the SEO of it all.
Nike also does what Simeon Siegel (the retail analyst I go to for the most witty and incisive retail breakdowns) refers to as “rhymes with”. They look at where the marketing is going in terms of sneaker silhouettes and they do their own version. Like the Nike Vomero Plus was their version of a puffed-up Hoka. And the Vomero still sells well because Nike has so much marketshare and marketing budget. But will this same strategy work in the world of a grey hoodie?
Alyssa Liu is part of the campaign. I’d love to see a line of leggings/sweats that she co-designed. Her tights are so fun. Give me fun new and innovative workout wear that isn’t identical to everything else out there.
Denim launch week continues with Abercrombie & Fitch. Abercrombie’s event includes 25-50 percent off all jeans.
Old Navy has Cardi B as the face of their denim campaign along with Quenlin Blackwell, Paloma Elsesser, Brooks Nader, Haley Baylee and Wisdom Kaye. The campaign is fun and playful as Old Navy always seems to be. A little quirky.
Gap is really stepping on the pedal right now. GapBody relaunch. The campaign feels a little Calvin Klein in a good way and nostalgic. My question is always will it ring registers? The younger set loves Skims and Aerie, and Victoria’s Secret still has huge marketshare. The Gen X and elder Millennials have gone for Skims or indie brands like Negative and Cou Cou Intimates (although that is a very small set of shoppers). Who is GapBody for now?
Fresh Receipts
Interesting given the recent conversation around Vera Bradley, the similarities with Celine’s hard-to-get unless you are in Gab Waller’s DMs Tote Bag, and if Vera Bradley can have a comeback (I wrote about this story here) — the brand (Vera Bradley) is now listed as “New & Now” at Nordstrom.
Still Here’s latest fit is the 11 Jean. A low-rise available in three finishes. It has adjustable ankle zippers. Launching online and in Still Here’s stores. I love Still Here’s boutiques — they really pay attention to the design and have some vintage pieces in the Upper East Side location — and highly recommend a visit.
Donni’s stripes! Love the bolder take. I have these crop pants and they are great for petites. Of course work for other heights too.
More fun for petites, I know I’ve shared how much I love my Cropped Colby Pants, well they just launched the same cropped length in Silk! There is a basic (but never boring) black, white, and a gorgeous olive shade. The crepe is also back in stock in black too. [No, you can never have enough black pants — here is a recap of my favorites.]
Alex Mill August new receipts launched. My personal highlights include the quarter-zip that I’ll be surprised if any sweater brand doesn’t do their own iteration of after Chanel’s subway version. I really love this cashmere rugby — an original update to a classic shirt silhouette. Other new deliveries include the rollneck preppy classic, cardigans, and matching dress shirts with poplin pants. Men’s has Alex Mill-takes-on-prep classics too.
Vette-ing Vogue’s Bet
Over the past few weeks I’ve noticed the same thing from some of my favorite fashion follows. An insider with great taste, maybe merchandising in their background, launches an online boutique. It looks like a store, it acts like a store, it fulfills like a store, but did they really do the heavy lifting to invest in inventory, warehouse it, and create an actual shop (even online only)? These shops all have a similar feel too even if the copy, colors, and names are different. Want the story? It’s time to check out Vette.
Behind the paywall let’s get into Vogue’s bet on Vette — building shopping websites and launching with commission on drop ship for both Condé Nast and the creators behind the shops. I’ll also compare it to ShopMy, LTK, and other affiliate marketing programs.
