Cinq à Sept Enters Retail Scene With Its First Freestanding Store in SoHo
NEW YORK — Cinq à Sept, the $100 million contemporary sportswear brand, opened its first freestanding store at 108 Wooster Street on Saturday, a 2,200-square-foot boutique located near Chanel, Mulberry, Canada Goose and Tiffany.
“It’s more to do with being the right time for the brand,” said Jane Siskin, chief executive officer and founder of the company in an interview at their offices. She said since it was founded seven years ago Cinq à Sept has had “very rapid growth” and it’s the right time to tell its story in a more complete way.
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In addition to the wholesale business, she explained e-commerce is growing rapidly. Cinq à Sept sells such retailers as Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom and Bergdorf Goodman, along with numerous specialty stores such as Tootsie’s in Houston and A Line Boutique in Denver.
A longtime fashion executive, Siskin previously had the license for Elizabeth and James and grew that business to just under $100 million in sales. After giving back the license, Siskin and her partner, Jalal Elbasri, decided to launch their own brand, Cinq à Sept, in 2016, which in French means 5 to 7.
She chose the name because she was thumbing through a fashion magazine and saw a beautiful, provocative editorial called “Cinq à Sept.” Not only did it signify happy hour, but she said, “For us, it means the time of the day when the light changes and anything can happen.”
For its first store, Siskin hired Morgan Meinert, a young interior designer in Pittsburgh, to design the interior. “She’s young and new and I like nurturing new talent,” Siskin said. “I thought she’d be great for me. I have a strong point of view, and it’s better to work with people who are flexible.”
Siskin said the store is designed to look like the consumer is walking into a cool French’s girl’s apartment. It has an eclectic feeling, is a mix of old and new elements, and is very feminine. She envisions the customer saying, “Oh, I want to get dressed here.” The store opens with the spring collection.
Retail prices range from $85 for T-shirts up to $895 for evening gowns. Core jackets are $395 and embellished jackets are $795. About 60 percent of the offerings are dressy, and 40 percent are casual.
“Our casual business is really good. Items we’ve been running since Day One are our cargo joggers, which really gained momentum, and our denim is sensational,” said Siskin, giving a tour of the store on Friday. “We want to encompass the entire lifestyle.”
Some of the looks she expects will be bestsellers are a jacket with an attached hoodie, which is one of their biggest selling items, for $495; the abbreviated crochet over a shirt for $395, and the everyday shirt with embellishment for $465. “The rhinestone group has been sensational,” said Siskin, in both jackets and jeans. They are also doing special T-shirts for the store, such as one that says, “J’adore SoHo,” retailing for $85.
Overall, Siskin projects that the store’s first-year sales should be in excess of $3 million.
Grounded in a light, airy palette of warm neutrals, the store’s interior is a balance of textures, hues and shapes, featuring original herringbone wood floors, Venetian plaster walls, stone tabletops made from marble and quartz, plush carpeting and mirrored dressing rooms framed by warm antiqued wood. The space centers around a striking porcelain chandelier and modern organic couch by designer Olga Engel — both pieces sourced by Siskin in Saint-Tropez, which served as the starting point for the store’s design.
Siskin said she decided to open in New York first since she lives here and it’s the easiest way for her to nurture this. “It’s the retail capital of the country and we have a strong customer base here. It made the most sense,” Siskin said.
The brand has never had a pop-up or freestanding store before. She chose SoHo because she feels she’ll get a better cross section of customers there, and it’s a destination.
According to Siskin, the plan is to selectively open more stores around the country. “There’s definitely a demand for the collection. We want to service the customers in as many ways as we can,” she said. She looks to open two more locations rapidly. She has her eye on secondary and tertiary cities, and places where she’s not as represented with department stores. “It depends on the retail opportunities,” she said, citing cities such as Nashville, Tennessee, and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Discussing which brands she considers her competition, she said, “We really created our own lane. I’m a student of this business and have been doing it a long time.”
After running the Elizabeth and James business, they saw an opening. She said there were some very trendy lines in the market and some androgynous ones. She wanted to put her brand into the middle and create clothing “through a feminine lens.” The line has the trends, but it’s not too trendy, and the key is always providing a good fit and quality at approachable prices, Siskin said.
For example, the core jacket retails for $395 and is considered less expensive than the competition. “I believe that people should be offered good value,” she said. She wants them to be attracted to the jacket and then see that it’s a good value. “It’s reverse sticker shock,” she said. “Fit, quality and price are very important,” she said.
Cinq à Sept has two other lines — Tous Le Jours, which is a more casual collection of denim, T-shirts and faux leather, and A La Plage, which is being introduced in April and consists entirely of cover-ups. “It’s chic things that people want to wear,” said Siskin, retailing between $395 and $595.
While she would like to have more categories such as footwear and beauty, she’s not rushing into anything, but beauty is definitely top of mind. “Beauty is very much something we talk about,” she said.
“There’s nothing we wouldn’t consider with the right partners,” she added.
Siskin explained that they had a strategy to get through the pandemic, and fortunately it worked out well for them. They were able to hold their spring 2020 goods for a year, and ship the merchandise in March 2021. There were a lot of summer dresses in the delivery, so it worked out well. They were able to ship embellished jackets in the fall of 2020 because people were interested in looking good from the waist up on Zoom calls. She had to furlough nearly everybody during the first year of the pandemic but gradually brought almost everyone back.
“It’s an experience I don’t care to repeat, but I learned quite a bit from it,” Siskin said.
Right now, Cinq à Sept is experiencing a strong spring at wholesale. She said embellished blazers (some with crystals) continue to be a highlight, and the core business is doing well, which includes jackets, pants and silk tops. Denim jackets and crepe pants are strong sellers, as well as cargo pants and a hooded jacket ($495), which can be worn all year long. She also noted her jacket with scrunch sleeves, $395, and embroidered jacket, $695, are strong sellers.
Siskin plans to launch an ad campaign in the fall, but for the store’s introduction, she’ll do guerrilla marketing.
From 2021 to 2022, Cinq à Sept’s business grew more than 68 percent. This year, the business is planned to be ahead 30 percent.
Asked what she attributes that to, Siskin said, “Lots of hard work. We listen to the customers. I spend a lot of time in stores. I pay attention to what my friends like and want. We’re really focused on the needs of our customers,” she said. “We have had very rapid growth. It’s almost mind-blowing,” she said. “The product stands on its own.”
As for challenges that lie ahead, she said, “We’re very hyper aware of the economic situation. We continue to perform well. The business is a little softer than people would like it to be.”
She’s looking forward to expanding the business internationally, which she feels is a big opportunity for the brand. So far, they do very well in the Middle East.
On June 2, Cinq à Sept will support the Race to Erase MS 30th Anniversary Gala at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles, featuring a runway presentation of the brand’s fall 2023 collection. “We’ll be raising money for a great cause,” Siskin said.
Launch Gallery: Inside the First Cinq a Sept Soho Store
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