Vince Celebrates 20th Year With Exclusive Partnerships and Capsule Collections
For its 20th anniversary, the Vince brand will introduce two exclusive capsule collections and launch a social-first #ILoveVince campaign.
The anniversary capsules are in partnership with Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom and will coincide with the launch of site-specific Vince installations at select store locations.
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Jack Schwefel, chief executive officer of Vince, said of the capsules: “While we continue to evolve our assortment to suit our diverse customers’ lifestyles, much of our success can be attributed to staying true to our brand ethos of understated luxury for every day, which our dedicated community looks to us for.”
Tying in with the #ILoveVince campaign, the brand will highlight favorite styles and the most memorable moments from the past 20 years across Vince social platforms and on vince.com.
“The team was nostalgic pouring through our brand archives to see how many of the most beloved Vince styles and silhouettes have stood the test of time,” said Jill Norton, president of sales at Vince. “We identified the anniversary capsule collections as the perfect way for us to invite our loyal customers to celebrate our 20th anniversary and rediscover what they love most about Vince.”
The collection with Neiman Marcus will debut on Thursday in select Neiman Marcus stores and on neimanmarcus.com. The launch of the collection will coincide with a specially designed anniversary installation at the retailer’s NorthPark location in Dallas. The anniversary collection features an array of luxurious fabrics, as well as an understated Vince monogram seen for the first time on Vince ready-to-wear. The price range is $345 to $4,995. Among the key looks are a reversible shearing flight jacket, cashmere matching midi set and satin bias pants.
Vince’s anniversary celebration with Nordstrom will include an exclusive capsule and interactive model presentation at Nordstrom’s revolving Center Stage platform at its New York City flagship. A celebratory cocktail within the store followed by a private dinner at the in-store restaurant Wolf on Oct. 19 will cap off the flagship launch. The collection is charactered by an injection of color as a nod to the brand’s energy over the past 20 years. It will launch on Oct. 10 at nine Nordstrom locations and features fan favorites, including a special logo treatment on sweaters, wovens and accessories, and a unique tag to note the limited-edition anniversary product.
Among the key looks are a fur-trimmed leather puffer, cable turtleneck, monogram crew sweater, and monogram satin bias pants. Prices range from $365 to $1,495.
Vince was cofounded in 2002 by Rea Laccone and Christopher LaPolice in Los Angeles. They sold the company to Kellwood in 2006, which was acquired by Sun Capital Partners in 2008. Laccone and LaPolice remained with the brand until January 2013, when Vince confirmed its plans to go public, which occurred in November 2013. Since then several designers have led the design, namely Doo-Ri Chung, Natalie Ratabesi, Karin Gregersen and now Caroline Belhumeur, who joined as chief creative officer in 2017 and continues in that post. That year, Vince also brought on Patrik Ervell to head up men’s design, who has since left.
Today, the brand is available in 50 full-price retail stores, 17 outlet stores, and its e-commerce site, vince.com, and through its subscription service Vince Unfold, as well as premium wholesale channels globally.
As noted, Vince Holding Corp., despite seeing momentum in the Vince brand, saw its net loss grow in the second quarter to $15 million from a year-ago loss of $600,000. The company also said it was discontinuing its Rebecca Taylor business, which includes Parker.
For the second quarter ended July 30, Vince Holding’s net sales rose 13.4 percent to $89.2 million from $78.7 million a year ago, reflecting a 20.5 percent increase in Vince brand sales and a 27.9 percent decrease in Rebecca Taylor and Parker sales combined.
In releasing the figures on Monday, Schwefel said, “During the second quarter we saw momentum in Vince across both our women’s and men’s businesses as customers have returned to more normalized activities and events and are gravitating to the versatility of our sophisticated high-quality assortment.”
“While we are operating in a challenging macro environment with increased pressure on profitability, we remain focused on executing against our strategic initiatives for Vince, including the upcoming relaunch of the brand’s e-commerce platform,” he added.
