The trick to successful fashion retail is exclusivity. Traditionally, large stores sought to entice shoppers by securing limited-edition colourways and shapes from their designers’ collections. Browse the websites of Net-A-Porter or Bergdorf Goodman and you’ll find countless mainline products proudly branded “Exclusively Ours!” But delivering something novel has become increasingly challenging in the current retail environment. With fashion being presented on the catwalk months before the clothes go on sale, everything is seen online or in print months before it arrives in store. By the time products drop, shoppers are often already bored. So, to offer some element of surprise, retailers are now working directly with labels to produce one-off capsules and collaborations that sit outside the main seasonal calendar and are unseen anywhere until they arrive in store.
In the past year, online and boutique retailer Matches Fashion has released more than 15 exclusive capsules, with brands ranging from established luxury groups such as Balenciaga and Nina Ricci, to cult young labels Mary Katrantzou and Marques’Almeida. “Exclusive collaborations are a powerful way for us to offer our customers a sense of discovery — either digitally or physically,” says Matches buying director Natalie Kingham. “We’ve found it particularly effective to work with brands on delivering collections at points in the season that aren’t always catered for, such as high summer exclusives in May and June, when the customer is looking for newness.” In today’s cluttered fashion landscape, finding something no one else has is the true luxury, and it’s this exclusivity that savvy shoppers seek.
Dover Street Market, Comme des Garçons’ Rei Kawakubo’s concept store (which has spaces in London, Tokyo, New York and online) has always made exclusivity its point of difference, working closely with designers on pop-up installations, window displays and one-off products from day one. Today, its model is the norm but back when it opened in 2004, with stock that included an exclusive furniture collaboration with Hedi Slimane and a Lanvin collection made entirely in white, the practice was revolutionary. “We are simply interested in creating exclusive products whenever we can,” says Adrian Joffe, president of Comme des Garçons International. “It could be a celebration, a collector’s item, or a capsule. The idea is to share the spirit of the store and work closely with our brands.”