Luxury Briefing: The Sofia Richie-Grainge effect has come to luxury hotels

According to Philippe Perd, chief development officer of Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc parent Oetker Collection, the Lacoste collaboration embodies both brands’ “art de vivre” ethos, as well as “the symbiotic relationship between the worlds French fashion and sport.” Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc is home to five clay tennis courts, while 91-year-old Lacoste was founded by tennis pro Monsieur René Lacoste. 

“Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc looks for brand partners that align with the property’s values of luxury and exclusivity, … while enhancing guests’ experiences with fashion collaborations offering timeless keepsakes to memorialize their stay,” he said. He described the hotel’s typical guests as “affluent travelers,” including “refined individuals, celebrities, business leaders and admirers of the destination.” Nightly stays reportedly start at around $1,200.  

The hotel’s gift shop does not have an e-commerce counterpart, and its “limited-edition collaborations and bespoke memorabilia” are often exclusive offerings, Perd said. 

The Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc x Lacoste collection includes men’s and women’s on- and off-court clothing, as well as footwear, rackets, sports bags and eyewear, among other products. Meanwhile, co-branded parasols, tennis balls, towels and window displays can be found throughout the property. 

Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc was recently at the center of a big social media moment as the location of Sofia Richie-Grainge’s lavish April 2023 wedding. As reported by Glossy, pointing to Launchmetrics data, Richie-Grainge wearing Chanel for the ceremony and adjacent events drove over $12.7 million in media impact value for the brand. On TikTok, Richie-Grainge posted videos captured at the hotel throughout the wedding weekend.

Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc has since rolled out the Dior Spa Eden-Roc, in partnership with Christian Dior Parfums, as well as two collections with Sporty & Rich, with the second dropping on May 2. To celebrate the The Eden-Roc x Lacoste launch, the hotel hosted an intimate event with tennis star Venus Williams early this month.

Long before the digital age, Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, opened in 1870, was well-known as a vacation destination for the 1%, including legendary names across film, literature, art and high society. Its brand collaborators pre-2023 included Hublot and Pascal Mathieu.

“Any celebrity event brings more awareness to a location,” said Emily Oberg, founder Sporty & Rich. “[The Richie-Grainge wedding] definitely led to more Americans discovering [the hotel] — it’s better known among Europeans.” For its part, Sporty & Rich’s customer base is largely in the U.S., plus it does significant sales in Europe and Asia. Its shoppers span teens, moms and tennis players, Oberg said. 

Describing Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc as “one of the most iconic hotels in Europe,” Oberg said she was initially surprised to learn that Sporty & Rich was well-known among the hotel’s guests. Each of the two collaborations Sporty & Rich has released with the hotel sold out online on launch day. Oberg said she hopes to build on the partnership with future collections, with the aim of building upon Sporty & Rich’s established customer base. The second Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc x Sporty & Rich collection features more categories, including the additions of swimwear, shirting and dedicated men’s styles, as well as new variations of the first collection’s products. 

Other fashion brands that have leaned into the hotel product collaboration opportunity in the last three years include Frame, with its multi-collection Ritz Paris and the Carlyle partnerships; Marni, with its mult-faceted Sunset Beach Hotel collaboration; Bode, partnering on merch for Palm Heights in the Cayman Islands; PatBo, with its dedicated Eden Rock St. Barths assortment; and the list goes on. 

Beyond Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, Sporty & Rich has collaborated on collections with L.A.’s Sunset Tower Hotel, in 2021, and Le Bristol Paris hotel, in September 2023. Next, starting this fall, the brand will introduce collections with select Rosewood Hotel properties. 

“It’s the new tourist merch,” said Oberg, regarding hotel collaborations’ popularity. “We’re more about the [brand] lifestyle and world than we are about the products, so collaborating with the hotels that [co-founder David Obadia and I] love and frequent makes sense for us.”

Along with the hotel’s gift shop, Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc x Sporty & Rich is currently being sold on the latter’s website and in select retailers including Harrods and FWRD. 

Oberg said she’s very selective when it comes to choosing Sporty & Rich collaborators. She’s currently working to narrow the brand’s wholesale distribution to focus on direct sales. On top of the NYC flagship, launched in SoHo in July, she plans to open a Sporty & Rich store this year and another in 2025 — at least one will be on the West Coast. The brand is also preparing to introduce new product categories.

“It’s OK if the growth slows a bit,” she said, adding that she wants company demands to fit with her not-too-stressful lifestyle. In 2023, the brand hit $30 million in annual revenue, as Glossy reported last year.

For its part, Lacoste — which was acquired by Geneva-based holding company Maus Frères SA in 2012 — reported $2.69 billion in 2022 sales and now sells in 98 countries through 1,100 store locations. Since enlisting Pelagia Kolotouros as creative design director in February 2023, the brand has also debuted product collabs with Highsnobiety, Tyler, the Creator’s Le Fleur brand, Sporty & Rich, Netflix, and Bandier. Kolotouros formerly led collaborations with Ivy Park and Pharrell Williams at Adidas and has held design roles at Yeezy and Calvin Klein. 

Celebrating 15 years in business, Rachel Antonoff reflects on her brand’s highs and lows

On Monday, New York-based fashion brand Rachel Antonoff hosted its first-ever non-NYFW-related IRL event, in celebration of its 15th birthday. 

As the brand has taken a break from fashion week, the event also marked a reunion with the Rachel Antonoff community, including customers, influencers and press. Fashion week participation “got really expensive,” according to the namesake founder. Rachel Antonoff has debuted its recent collections via lookbooks, with their releases based on the brand’s own schedule, rather than the official fashion calendar. 

But to an extent, Rachel Antonoff has always done things her way. As such, the setting for this week’s party was no surprise: It was hosted at the popular Brooklyn restaurant Noodle Pudding and featured food-inspired decorations including spaghetti and meatball towers. “It offered a strong peek into what it looks like inside my brain,” Antonoff said of the event. “”So it was fun and maybe a little disturbing.”

Other shifts Antonoff has made to the business in recent years include prioritizing direct sales. Currently, Rachel Antonoff’s biggest retail partners are rental companies Rent the Runway and Nuuly, the latter of which it’s collaborated with on exclusive styles. But it still sells through select specialty stores including Lisa Says Gah, Isalis and Fred Segal. And this year, it hopes to secure one “major” retail partner, like Saks or Nordstrom, Antonoff said. 

Rachel Antonoff has hosted pop-ups, including at NYC’s L’Appartement 4F, but it has yet to own a store. The brand’s customers are largely based in New York and L.A. 

In other shifts, Rachel Antonoff has begun selling solid-colored clothing, after exclusively focusing on prints. “We always assumed the customer wanted loud, in-your-face prints, but I personally didn’t want to wear that anymore,” Antonoff said, explaining the move. And the solid styles, all of which include the brand’s signature novelty details, are selling, she said. 

Additionally, the brand has started dabbling in paid ads across social media platforms, after largely relying on organic marketing through Instagram. Selfies by Antonoff are among engagement drivers, she said.

“Obviously I want to capture customers and keep growing, but I also want our customers to be people who authentically like and want the clothes. And I feel like those people just find you,” she said.

Over the years, collaborations have proven strong marketing moments for Rachel Antonoff. Collaborators have included footwear brand G.H.Bass — the partnership lasted four years — and Archie Comics. In celebration of this year’s brand anniversary, Rachel Antonoff will collaborate with the dog clothing company Little Beasts, on a line of dog puffers, among other companies. 

While Rachel Antonoff has long gifted its products to influencers, it has also experienced organic support from celebrities which has effectively moved the needle. Among brand fans are Sarah Ramos, Busy Philipps, Natasha Lyonne and Aubrey Plaza.

“I’m really humbled and feel deep gratitude that so many people choose to shop with us and continue to grow with us,” Antonoff said. 

The brand’s strong customer loyalty has been fueled by its inclusive size range of XS-3X, or 0-26. Antonoff, who owns the business, admitted that offering the broad range has required significant investment. 

Also loyal have been the members of the Rachel Antonoff team — both the COO and the head of e-commerce have been with the company for around 10 years each. Several past employees showed up this week at Noodle Pudding.

But Rachel Antonoff’s longevity has not been without its challenges. “There have definitely been moments that have been touch and go. We have not always been profitable. In fact, we were once three months late delivering to Barneys — and you can’t be three months late, that’s a whole other season,” she said. “They obviously rejected the merchandise. and it was like, ‘Oh, no. This might put us under.’ But we managed to keep going, and we’ve been in a really great place for the last five years.”

The company is now growing — it’s made three new hires this year. To maintain that growth, Antonoff said she plans to lean further into the home category, where the brand recently debuted peel-and-still wallpaper. The brand may also make its fashion week return.

“The party will be a testing ground for fashion week in September,” Antonoff said prior to the event. “Will people have fun? Do customers care about party pictures? Will it actually impact sales? We have a strong idea [for a show], but I am very curious to see how this party goes.” 

Ramos, Philipps and Jack Antonoff were among the event’s attendees.

The latest from Glossy

Lululemon vets on launching Left On Friday: ‘We were able to go so far so fast’

Is celebrity-loved handbag brand Aupen really shutting down? Not quite

How Sperry is seizing the boat shoe’s revival