The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
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About a decade ago, a number of flashy direct-to-consumer brands peddling premium products and promising to cut out retail’s middlemen emerged on the scene. Quickly, names like Warby Parker, Allbirds and Glossier attracted investor attention with battle cries of disruption, setting off a DTC boom. They managed to raise hundreds of millions of dollars, and garner valuations in the billions of dollars. However, the market as a whole has largely failed to live up to sky-high expectations. How does does the model need to change?
“Over the last year or so, investors are looking around and saying ‘wait a minute, you told us you’d get big enough and the profits would come. Where are the profits?’” said BoF deputy editor Brian Baskin. “Consumers have also looked around and said, ‘ok, I got my Allbirds sneakers — what else you got for me?’”
Brian Baskin is Deputy Editor at The Business of Fashion. He is based in New York and oversees BoF's beauty, retail, direct-to-consumer, technology, marketing and workplace verticals.
Cathaleen Chen is Retail Correspondent at The Business of Fashion. She is based in New York and drives BoF’s coverage of the retail and direct-to-consumer sectors.
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