A New Wave of Size-Inclusive Pop-Ups Is Shaking Up the Holiday Shopping Experience
A New Wave of Size-Inclusive Pop-Ups Is Shaking Up the Holiday Shopping Experience
New York may be a fashion mecca for the masses, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find stores offering size-inclusive clothing in any of its most celebrated shopping districts. Thankfully, hope is on the horizon. The holidays have prompted a wellspring of temporary shops in the city designed to bring the wealth of extended sizing options available online into the real world. With the launch of its December pop-up at The Curated, Christian Siriano’s multi-brand boutique,11 Honoré is leading the pack. Situated in a townhouse across the street from the MoMA and furnished with modern art and plush pink sofas, the space is more Parisian salon than Manhattan store. It’s a fitting milieu for the brand, which is bringing a selection of runway designs from names such as Prabal Gurung, Brandon Maxwell, Altuzarra, and Jason Wu and offering one-on-one styling sessions. For CEO and Founder Patrick Herning, that personal touch isn’t just a cool perk, it’s good business. “As early as October of 2017 when launched, we saw a consistent data point: our [average order value] grows when we meet our customer in real life,” said Herning on the phone from London. “We’ve had an incredible second quarter but but my gut told me that we couldn’t rely solely on digital.”
Customer feedback supports Herning’s opinion: as much as people enjoy the immediacy of online shopping, a brick-and-mortar experience still has value—especially for communities that have been underserved in the past. This month alone, size-inclusive ranges from minimalist basics favorites Universal Standard and fast-fashion label, Eloquii have descended on New York for brief stints that target holiday shoppers.
11 Honoré’s represents the most luxurious of the bunch, launched with a star-studded party last week that was hosted by models Marquitta Pring and Candice Huffine. The pop up will be home to micro events, edited shopping sessions, and cocktails during the 30 days it’s open giving clients a chance to engage directly with the clothes and on-site stylists. The brand seems eager to take the idea on the road, too. “We are no less excited to meet [our customer] online and but I see us popping up all around the country for two hours or two months,” he says. “We’re doing an event in Palm Beach and we’re going to pop up there for an extended period of time. There are so many different way to look at retail without it being so permanent.”
