Vêtir, the shopping app, digital closet and styling platform founded by industry veteran Kate Davidson Hudson, is partnering with Hudson Yards and WME Fashion to create a real-world shopping and fashion experience.
On Thursday, Vêtir will open a physical store on the first floor of The Shops at Hudson Yards. The 3,000-square-foot store will feature a monthly changing theme with programming ranging from "Shop My Closet," curated by various celebrities, to "Shop the Runway" during fashion month in collaboration with WME/IMG designer talent.
More from WWDThe store, which will sell luxury goods, will be a pop-up for six months, with the possibility of extension. The store will be open daily from 10am to 8pm.
In addition to the experiential storefront, Vêtir will be partnering with WME Fashion to bring runway shows to Hudson Yards in September for New York Fashion Week. New York designers showing at Hudson Yards will utilize Vetir's patented shoppable video technology to make NYFW a real-time shoppable experience. Participants include Simkhai and Jason Wu. Six other designers are reportedly under contract but could not be confirmed at the time of publication.
The new store consists of two sections: seasonal products at the front and personal styling services at the back of the store, where customers can also buy luxury brands.
"All looks and purchases are then uploaded to the shopper's personal digital closet on the Vêtir app, so the experience and user journey are optimized long after they leave our four walls," said Hudson, who launched the Vêtir shopping app in March and is the co-founder of Editorialist, former chief digital officer of LuisaViaRoma and former fashion editor of Harper's Bazaar and Elle.
Vêtir's app, which uses AI learning to provide styling services to users, is tailored to the top 0.1 percent of global shoppers and their stylists through data-driven personalization. The app currently has 589 users and 4,000 on its waitlist. Until this week, the app was blocked. The app has more than 1,500 brands in its designer matrix, which includes a mix of multi-brand retailers and individual brands.
The pop-up starts with Ashley Graham's closet, featuring her seasonal favorites and items she has in her own closet. The customer can touch and feel them in-store, or they can go into the app and shop her closet. For example, if Graham buys a new Khaite dress for the season and it's hanging in her closet, Vêtir will have that exact same Khaite dress available to purchase. If her stylist styles that outfit, the customer can shop that in the app for additional items as well. "We've made people's closets shareable and shoppable," Hudson said.
Dee Hilfiger will have a corner takeover of her top edit of what she's buying for the season. And Jennifer Nisan, stylist and founder of Front Row Live, a sourcing company, will also curate her own wardrobe, highlighting the season's top picks.
As the space is divided into two, the front half will be thematically based and will change every four to six weeks, and the other half will be filtered through a selection of all brand partners.
Everything is on consignment
The store will open with brands like Jason Wu, LaQuan Smith, Simkhai, Aknvas, PatBo and Jennifer Fisher. "The entire business is consignment or drop ship, so we're eliminating that risk. Given the state of e-commerce, it makes more sense for us. We're a service platform. We don't hold inventory," Hudson said.
The back half of the store is a private styling studio. Vêtir has in-house stylists who work with their VIPs and book one-on-one appointments. They dress the entire space and it becomes a "shop for one." The customer can try everything on personally.
Through the app and the store, Vêtir makes money on every sale. Initially, Hudson estimated that the app would be profitable in the first quarter of 2025, but now with the store, she expects to be profitable by mid-2025. She closed a seed round in September 2023 and did an add-on round that closed in March. Hudson is funding this store.
The store will have iPads on the walls so customers can use the app. The store is also a cash and carry, so the customer can buy the product and leave with the product.
Why physical stores?
Asked why she felt it was important to have a physical presence, Hudson said: "I think there's so much noise in the digital space. We hear from our customers and stylists that they've been exposed to so much product before they even come into our stores. The added value of the experience, of being able to touch, feel and try it on, is a big spoke in the wheel," she said.
In late August and through September, the store is filled with appointments from customers who want to buy the new season's wardrobe. "When they make a big purchase for the new season, they come, they meet their stylists, they walk in and there's everything in their size, everything they love," she said. She said the stylist already knows what's in their closets through the app. She said many of her VIPs have their own individual stylists, who they invite into the app. There are also stylists on staff. Hudson said many of Vêtir's customers have multiple closets in different homes. "They buy one [particular look] for every closet," she said.
The store will have four salespeople on rotation and two part-time people. The store has two fitting rooms in the back.
Early on, Vêtir patented shoppable video technology. "I really believe this is the next frontier," Hudson said. In the app, they have shoppable video. If stylists can't reach all of their clients at once, they can go into a dressing room, create a capsule collection, style the outfits, and send it as a video to all of their clients. "It's a way to bring experience into a 2D technology platform," she said.
"Friendly rates"
A key part of this partnership is the Hudson Yards locations. Hudson said they've invited brands to visit Hudson Yards, and a number of New York-based brands will be showing at various locations within Hudson Yards, including the Edge, the Vessel, Public Square and Gardens, Padel Courts and The Shed. Designers pay all of their own production costs, and Hudson Yard partially subsidizes the spaces (except for The Shed, which is unionized) by offering "friendly rates" as part of the strategic partnership with Vêtir.
The partners showing at Hudson Yards are using shoppable runway technology to make the runway shoppable. Items can be pre-ordered, and in some cases, designers have a few items that can be purchased directly in-store or through the app. "It just becomes an omnichannel, physical, digital experience," she said.
In partnership with Vêtir, Hudson Yards and WME Fashion, Jason Wu is showing exclusively at The Plaza at Hudson Yards using Vetir technology during NYFW, and Simkhai, who is showing at The Edge, is also using Vêtir shoppable technology. The Simkhai and Wu shows are both produced by IMG Focus. PatBo, who is not showing at Hudson Yards, is using Vêtir shoppable technology.
"We are thrilled to have independent New York designers collaborate with Hudson Yards," said Kim Fasting-Berg, executive vice president of marketing at WME Fashion. "There is no better time than during New York Fashion Week, when the industry and fashion fans are all eyes on fashion, allowing designers to have multiple touchpoints with their consumers. WME Fashion is committed to elevating New York designers and we are proud to continue connecting them with innovative and exciting partners who help bring their collections and creative visions to life," she said.
Fasting-Berg said they've partnered with Vêtir and Hudson Yards to give designers some spaces to show. She said Vêtir is bringing their shoppable technology "so it becomes a much more complete 360 for a designer."
WME Fashion, which no longer has a central location for NYFW: The Shows, will set up a TRESemmé salon at Vêtir during New York Fashion Week for hairstyling. (The personal styling in the back will be suspended during NYFW to make room for the salon.) WME Fashion will also bring programming into the retail space, such as The Talks, and collaborate with makeup artists and stylists. Vetir will also do trunk shows.
Hudson Yards Involvement
When asked why Hudson Yards decided to partner with Vêtir and WME Fashion, Bruce Beal Jr., president and partner of Related Cos., said, "People still want to touch clothes and want to experience shopping, but they also want to be able to shop online and connect through online brands and online fashion and trends. There's been a lot of investment in technology and a lot of talk about how we can stay home and order everything on our phones, but we also see the traffic. We have over 300,000 people coming into our store. [stores] every week. Traffic is up - huge. Sales are great. But the brands have competition. People are still a little more cautious about making purchases than they were before."
He said he was impressed with Vêtir's experience with brands, the way they connected brands and consumers and their understanding of the need for technology.
He said of Hudson Yards, "It's been a series of relaunch opportunities for us." Hudson Yards has made a big push into food and beverage, and also into events on the yard, from pickle ball to concerts on the yard. "We have the highest occupancy in New York City for employees who actually come to work. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, we're the highest in the city at over 80 percent," Beal said.
"This area of the city and the amount of people that live here, work here and visit here, the brands want to be here and it's a shopping destination," Beal said.
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