Luxury Briefing: Sentaler goes international as luxury outerwear demand intensifies

The Canadian alpaca luxury brand is expanding in the U.S. with its first Madison Avenue boutique this month. It is also reporting 50% year-over-year growth in the market. According to market research company Circana, outerwear is the fastest-growing apparel segment this season, up 13.3% year-over-year.

Other luxury players are experiencing similar traction. On its November 13 first-half full-year 2026 earnings call, Burberry exec Joshua Schulman said the brand’s autumn and winter collections delivered “a significant increase in sell-through,” with outerwear and scarves leading the brand’s return to positive comp-store growth for the first time in two years. The brand also saw a “significant increase in orders” from key wholesale partners in the U.S. and Europe.

That strength comes as consumers adopt more strategic shopping behavior for the holidays. According to Lyst CEO Emma McFerran, discovery and intent-building now start well before Black Friday. “From October, we see a rise in discovery and browsing journeys on Lyst, with customers building their wishlists ahead of time,” she told Glossy. “This month, we’ve already seen about a 40% increase in wish-listing on our app compared to the same time last year.” She added, “I think we’ll see a shorter, sharper peak this weekend, so that wishlist prep will really pay off for strategic shoppers who are prepared ahead of time.”

Customers are gravitating toward timeless gifts that reduce decision anxiety. “There’s clearly an appetite for aspiration, with those desirable branded items people have been tracking all season and are consistently in wishlists,” McFerran said. “But the highest volume comes from our Forever Favorites — timeless, reliable choices that reduce purchase anxiety for the gifter.” She added that price sensitivity this season is “about [ensuring] value and transparency, not just discounts,” noting that full-price sales actually increase on peak sale days as urgency rises.

This is the environment in which Sentaler is accelerating its global footprint. The brand, known for its shawl-collar alpaca coats and transparency with sourcing and production, opened its first standalone U.S. boutique on Madison Avenue this month. It’s part of the brand’s largest retail push yet, alongside a new seasonal boutique in Toronto and its “Suite Sixteen” trunk show tour in Chicago, Beverly Hills and Park City. 

Founder and creative director Bojana Sentaler said the move reflects steady long-term demand. “Over the years, we’ve seen really close interaction with our online American customers,” she said, identifying New York, Beverly Hills and Chicago as strong repeat-purchase markets with high trunk-show engagement over the years. 

Beyond its own stores, Sentaler is carried by Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Holt Renfrew. The brand also works with select specialty boutiques, including Channer’s, Erban Corner, Boutique Europa, Gary Waters, Le Prive and Mala Boutique. The brand declined to share its revenue figures.

The new boutique introduces the brand’s “cherry lacquer” motif for Fall 2025, with oversized, high-gloss cherries at the entrance and throughout the space. “[The motif] symbolizes growth and a turning point for us,” Sentaler said. The theme lands at a moment when cherry iconography is trending widely: Coach’s cherry charm is one of the most-wishlisted items on Lyst this season, giving Sentaler’s store a timely visual hook. The brand’s “cherry lacquer” campaign is being extended through CGI-style visuals on Instagram and TikTok, where hyperreal mega-cherries are dropped into New York and Chicago.

For Sentaler, whose coats typically range in price from $900–$1,800, trust and longevity drive customer interest, and the brand’s celebrity moments play directly into that. Sentaler emphasised that every high-profile appearance has been unpaid and initiated by the celebrities themselves. “Our celebrity moments have all happened organically, and I’m very proud of that,” she said. “In a time and age where they have choice to wear anything, they continue to come back and choose to wear Sentaler.” Meghan Markle, Kate Middleton, Gigi Hadid, Halle Berry, Jennifer Lopez and Anya Taylor-Joy are among long-time brand wearers. 

Their loyalty mirrors the behavior of VIC clients, some of whom own more than 70 coats, according to the company. Sentaler designs each new season “as an add-on to their existing Sentaler closet, rather than replacing it.” For them, Sentaler has dedicated the top floor of the boutique for private appointments. 

Intergenerational purchasing is also rising. “We do see a very drastic increase in mother-daughter shopping,” she said. “Maybe the mom is introducing the daughter to Sentaler, or the daughter discovered us and is telling mom about it.” That trust-driven behavior aligns closely with the consumer priorities McFerran described, like timelessness, reliability and long-term value.

The Madison Avenue space is a strategic precursor to a long-term brick-and-mortar presence in the U.S. 

“We will definitely launch the permanent standalone store in the U.S.,” Sentaler said. “The seasonal boutique will really allow us to learn a lot about the location, and how [customers] like to shop.”

Luxury’s long Black Friday

Department stores are stretching Black Friday because they have to. Foot traffic is still uneven: Bloomingdale’s is slightly up, but Macy’s and Nordstrom remain down year over year, per foot traffic data platform Placer.ai.

And shoppers are holding out for bigger deals. Per market research firm Coresight Research, more consumers plan to start their holiday shopping on Black Friday this year, at 15% compared to 8% last year.

That pressure shows up in the promos across department stores. Macy’s is dropping new deals every Friday to keep people coming back. Nordstrom is pushing up to 60% off across brands to appeal to value-focused luxury shoppers. Saks and Bergdorf are taking a more controlled approach with designer discounts of around 40%, padded with spend-and-earn gift card offers to soften the pricing without going too deep.

Bloomingdale’s is running the most structured play: daily drops through November, 50% off a wide slate of designer brands from December 5–16, and a two-day flash sale on December 8–9 that takes an extra 20% off already-discounted luxury. According to a statement from the company, “Brands and merchants are watching the business closely and trying to capitalize on consumer demand.”

Executive moves

• Ermenegildo Zegna Group named CFO Gianluca Tagliabue as its next CEO, with Gildo Zegna shifting to executive chairman and his sons Angelo and Edoardo becoming co-CEOs of the Zegna brand starting January 1. The move follows major milestones under Gildo’s leadership, including the Thom Browne acquisition, the One Brand strategy, the Tom Ford Fashion licensing deal with Estée Lauder and the group’s 2021 NYSE listing.
• Galeries Lafayette has named Elsa Haddad director of finance, strategy and transformation, reporting to CEO Arthur Lemoine and joining the executive committee. Her appointment follows a broader leadership overhaul as the group accelerates its omnichannel strategy and invests around €100 million annually to modernize its store network.

News to know

• Emporio Armani will consolidate its men’s and women’s collection presentations starting with fall 2026, presenting both during Milan Women’s Fashion Week. The brand will still appear at the Men’s Week in January, with a January 17 event tied to its Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic partnership, while Giorgio Armani’s menswear and womenswear shows will retain their traditional calendar slots.
• Jacquemus has debuted its first skiwear collection with Nike, an 18-piece après-ski capsule featuring Gore-Tex jackets, leggings and technical layers. It’s available now at Jacquemus stores and e-commerce and rolling out more widely on December 3. The launch, which follows the brand’s Courchevel pop-up and ongoing Nike collaborations, taps growing luxury demand for winter-sports capsules and includes a separate ski and mask collaboration with Lacroix.
• U.K. retail, beauty and luxury groups are criticizing Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s 2025 plan for freezing tax thresholds, raising wage costs and preserving high business rates, due to margin pressure for stores, salons and hospitality. One positive for industry leaders is the plan to close the de minimis import loophole by 2029, which the government said will create fairer competition for U.K. retailers and manufacturers.
• Scottish designer Pam Hogg, an ’80s London icon known for her rebellious catsuits and wide influence across fashion, music and art, has died, which has been met with tributes highlighting her boundary-pushing creativity and activist spirit. Paul Costelloe, the Irish designer who served as Princess Diana’s personal fashion designer from 1983-1997, has also died, at age 80. He is best known for his craftsmanship, long career, and deep ties to British and Irish fashion.
• OpenAI has introduced a new “shopping research” tool that uses a GPT-5 mini model to handle complex product searches through quizzes, preference feedback and personalized recommendations, drawing on trusted web sources and user memory. The feature sits separately from Instant Checkout, for now, meaning users still click out to retailers to buy, but broader integration is planned as it rolls out globally.

Listen in

On this week’s Glossy Podcast, Danny Parisi and Zofia Zwieglinska unpack France’s probe into Vinted, Clarks’s launch on lower-priced marketplaces and early Black Friday sales trends. Glossy editor-in-chief Jill Manoff and Zwieglinska are later joined by Preston Lane founder and former Ralph Lauren styling director Preston Konrad to explore the viral “Ralph Lauren Christmas” aesthetic and why brands across fashion and home are tapping into the cozy, New England-inspired look. Listen here.

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