Party Dresses, Designer Leftovers Get a Do-over at Couper
Two industry veterans are betting on occasionwear that mostly uses deadstock.
Their solution is an e-tailer called Couper that drops limited-edition, biweekly capsules made from designers’ leftovers. Though looks for dressing up is said to be its forte, the company also sells vintage jewelry, casualwear, swim and outerwear and is putting a sustainable take on a Moda Operandi-esque trunk show model.
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Between them, Couper cofounders Agee Gretta Leinberry and Caroline Gilroy, have Saks, Tory Burch, Veronica Beard, Rebecca Taylor and more in their résumé. Their aesthetics influenced the company (and the e-tailer’s name “Couper” as in “coupe” glass) with an old art world flair, and in Gilroy’s words, represent a “martini glass half-full” philosophy on life.
Numbering five to 20 dress pieces in a capsule, with items on its website Shopcouper.com ranging anywhere from $72 to $4,280, the company is committed to clearing out designer excess while getting the customer ready for her next big occasion.
“Overall, there’s an emphasis on occasion for a woman who wants to stand out and let her clothing be a work of art,” said Leinberry. While Gilroy, a working mom, said it’s more about dressing a woman who can pivot from “carpool line to cocktail party.”
Leinberry said the premise is to support emerging designers who are small-scale producers while providing a solution for excess materials. The limited-edition capsules are produced with designers’ leftover yarns, deadstock fabrics and vintage items depending on what the designers have to work with. Couper already signed a number of exclusive deals with designers, including Peruvian brand Escvdo, Nigerian label House of Akachi, Turkish designer Gul Hurgel, among its 35 brand partners around the world.
“As a general rule, we like for our partners not to be on one or two majors, so we can cultivate the relationship and champion our partners,” Leinberry said. By 2024, Couper aims to have its product range total 70 percent deadstock materials. Today, around 45 percent of materials in its capsules are deadstock and the majority of its accessories are vintage.
Partnerships work so that items are designed collaboratively with Couper, or Couper buys the final design through a traditional wholesale model.
“It really depends on the capacity of the brand,” said Gilroy in terms of whether they have the time to work hands-on with Couper or would rather sell designs outright. And as for how the frequency of drops will detract from Couper’s sustainable goals in regard to deadstock use, Leinberry said it’s about decreasing waste: “We have to make sales to get material off hands of designers.”
