Sublime

If I were to draw a throughline between the closures of Need Supply, Unionmade, and, say, Barneys, it’s that the “curator” business case for most multi-brand online apparel retail is disappearing.

While e-commerce is accelerating to offer multi-layered experiences for customers and brands, bricks-and-mortar stores are becoming physical bastions of extraordinary, sensorial moments.

Many brands that typically have large stores, including Sephora and Nordstrom, are creating smaller-format stores embedded in neighborhoods. These stores feature less inventory, since customers can order items to be delivered to their homes, and store managers curate the products available on shelves to meet the needs of the specific community.

Faire is a B2B marketplace that connects local, independent retailers with brands. In a world where you can order anything online and receive it within two days, independent retailers still travel to multiple trade shows each year, where they make procurement decisions based on gut instinct. Faire has modernized this process, enabling retailers to ... See more

This is space that multi brand retailers like department stores should own. They should have the credibility of the high taste of their merchant team (see Barney’s circa 2005) combined with the best staff dying to find you that perfect black tote.