This week, we take a look at the U.S. expansion of the Australian womenswear brand Princess Polly, including its launch into all U.S. Nordstrom stores at a time when DTC brands are looking to wholesale as a growth vehicle.
The Australian womenswear brand Princess Polly has been on a retail growth spree in the last six months, opening five new stores and launching into 20 Nordstrom locations in the U.S.
Now, the company is taking its U.S. retail expansion plans even further by greatly expanding its partnership with Nordstrom and rolling out products to all 92 Nordstrom stores in the country. It’s a significant investment in international distribution for the 15-year-old brand and a testament to the ongoing merging of traditional online DTC brands with wholesale retail after the 2010s DTC boom.
Princess Polly’s chief merchandise officer Courtney Dres said the U.S. is a target area of growth for the company, which has offices in both the Gold Coast of Australia and Los Angeles. Dres said Princess Polly has already experienced organic growth, especially in California, but the partnership with Nordstrom will allow the brand to deepen its brand awareness and customer acquisition in the rest of the country. Princess Polly has only officially been selling in the U.S. since 2018. Its parent company, A.K.A. Brands, projects around $567 million in revenue for the fiscal year of 2024, and Princess Polly makes up about half of the parent company’s business. Another A.K.A. Brands company, Petal & Pup, is also expanding to all Nordstrom stores in March.
The move is also, in part, an attempt to deepen Princess Polly’s Gen-Z audience. The brand is planning to embark on a college roadshow to U.S. schools around the country to host events and product giveaways.
Dres said it’s a transitional time for retail globally. DTC-centric brands like Allbirds and Outdoor Voices have struggled in the last year, while companies like Shein and Temu have put immense pressure on the convenient, low-price sector that DTC brands play in. More than ever, fashion brands are seeing the value of a solid wholesale partnership.
“We’re seeing this convergence of DTC brands that have a foothold and established themselves in a position where they can now access malls and supply chains that they didn’t have access to before,” Dres said. She advised brands to establish their own channels and grow on their own before looking into expansive wholesale partnerships. “There are a lot of digitally native customers who are now open to getting back into malls, having experiential moments and having a layered interaction with the brand.”
There’s been a notable expansion of brick-and-mortar stores across the U.S. in some sectors. Most recently, TJX, which owns TJ Maxx and Marshalls, announced further store openings this year as it passes its 5,000th store. Menswear brands in particular have been seeing notable brick-and-mortar success in Manhattan this year as well. At the same time, data from Coresight Research predicts that more than 15,000 retail locations will close this year.
That makes choosing the right partners for brands looking into wholesale a difficult prospect. Department stores, in particular, have seen struggles. Saks Fifth Avenue announced layoffs of about 5% of its workforce this week, while criticism has continued over its delayed payments to its vendors. Neiman Marcus, meanwhile, just saw its Dallas flagship store close this week.
But Nordstrom has been faring better than some of its counterparts. The company has already announced at least three new locations opening this year, and its holiday sales were up 5% this past season compared to the year before. Its third-quarter revenue last year was $3.35 billion, up 4.6% year-over-year. Nordstrom will report earnings again in March, though due to imminently reverting to a privately-held company, it will eschew a public earnings call. Last year, the Nordstrom family signed a $6 billion deal to take the company private.
For Nordstrom, which has for years prided itself on being the first wholesale partner for many DTC-centric brands, Princess Polly is exactly the kind of well-established brand it likes to work with. Nordstrom’s svp and head of women’s apparel Emily Crandall told Glossy that Nordstrom looks for brands the Nordstrom audience already has an organic desire for.
“When it comes to choosing brands to partner with, we always start with the customer and the brands they are telling us they want,” Crandall said. “Whether we see that information through market and sales data, external and internal search trends, or what we hear directly from our customers or store teams, we always start with finding brands that have customer demand and heat. We also want to work with brands we believe have a winning proposition for both sides — when each of us will bring value to the other.”
Stat of the week
300,000. That’s how many active subscribers URBN’s rental service Nuuly reported on Wednesday. It’s a 53% increase in active subscribers from the year before. Nuuly has seen significant growth over the last year, taking up more of the growing rental market share and achieving its first full year of profitability.
News to know
- The European Union is weighing simplifying its sustainability rules for companies after receiving pressure from European businesses and a few member states. The proposed new rules, which have not yet passed and could be struck down, would apply stricter guidelines only to companies with more than 1,000 employees, while the current rules apply to companies with 250 or more.
- Steve Madden is planning to raise its prices to deal with the increased costs associated with the Trump administration’s tariffs on China. It’s the latest business weighing consumer-facing changes to handle tariffs that are even affecting companies that don’t import from China.
- Levi’s continued its lauded collaboration with Beyoncé by taking over all of the windows at Selfridges in London by plastering them with imagery of Beyoncé wearing the brand. Levi’s has been working closely with Beyoncé since last year, including by tying marketing moves to her country-infused album, “Cowboy Carter.”
Inside Glossy’s coverage
Off-price leader TJX announces 2025 brick-and-mortar expansion plans as it passes 5,000 stores
How secondhand fashion can benefit from tariffs, new legislation
How new sustainability guidelines impacted London Fashion Week
