In this week’s Luxury Briefing, Glossy looks at how contemporary womenswear brand Toccin is using private shopping events, trunk shows and full-look selling to fuel its expansion. Also, what Richemont’s latest results signal about the widening divide within luxury. Plus, executive moves at Bottega Veneta, Balmain and La Perla, and other industry news to know. For tips or comments, email me at zofia@glossy.co.
Three weeks after opening its first U.K. shop-in-shop at Harrods, New York-based contemporary label Toccin had sold through 30% of its initial inventory.
For co-founder and designer Michael Toccin, the early performance was particularly notable compared to the brand’s experience in the U.S., where he said a typical department-store sell-through rate is around 5% per week.
“We’re turning 10% a week,” he said. “We have never really seen traction [comparable] to our first three weeks of business [until] we launched at Harrods.”
The brand’s average transaction value at Harrods is $595, according to the company, with customers frequently buying complete looks and coordinating sets. Its bestselling item so far is the Jean Shirt Dress, a belted linen style priced at $695.
The results come as the global department-store sector is under pressure. In the U.S., Saks Global, the owner of Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January, as reported by Glossy, following its debt-heavy merger. It emerged from bankruptcy in June under the new name Exemplar Luxury Group, having substantially reduced its store estate and debt.
In the U.K., department store Harvey Nichols has been put up for sale after years of losses, while department stores including Selfridges are investing more heavily in private shopping suites, hospitality and members’ spaces to give customers reasons to visit beyond product selection.
Toccin, however, is betting on department stores while supplementing traditional wholesale with a more personal and increasingly important sales channel: approximately 50 private shopping events and 25 wholesale-partner trunk shows each year.
Together, private shopping and event activations generate around 20% of Toccin’s business, according to the company. A recent one-day trunk show held with a wholesale partner in Tampa generated more than $100,000 in sales. “Relationships are everything to Alex and myself,” Michael Toccin said, referring to his wife Alex Toccin, the brand’s co-founder and CMO. “We like to create an environment where people like to hang and be a part of our world, and where we get to also be a part of their world.”
The private events typically bring together 30-50 women, often through a host’s personal network. At least one of Toccin’s founders, who launched Toccin in 2019, typically attends each event.
Private-event customers usually begin by purchasing three or four pieces, rather than a single item, said Alex Toccin. And some return each season to assemble a new wardrobe. “We get instant feedback right away” at these events, she said. “It helps to inspire us to create future ideas if it’s something that we don’t currently have, and it also helps us to get a little bit more insight and intel on the consumer.”
The events serve several purposes. In established markets, they strengthen relationships with existing high-spending customers. In cities where Toccin has limited distribution, they serve as a customer-acquisition tool and allow shoppers to experience the product before purchasing through the brand’s e-commerce site or department-store partners.
“It’s honestly all three,” Michael Toccin said of the events’ role in acquisition, retention and revenue generation. “When we hit a new market, like Cleveland, Ohio, I might have never had that customer before.”
Toccin has also begun working with six to eight independent VIC stylists in underserved U.S. markets, including Tennessee, where the brand may not have a store or a regular wholesale trunk-show presence. The stylists introduce collections through private appointments in customers’ homes and other locally organized selling activations. Each works with the brand two or three times annually, adding at least 12-24 activations to Toccin’s own event calendar.
“Not everyone knows how to put a wardrobe together, and they just want that extra support,” Michael Toccin said. “These VIC stylists are really passionate for the brand because they’re also helping to build wardrobes for these women.”
That strategy is also informing Toccin’s first standalone retail test. In June, the brand opened a 1,400-square-foot Southampton pop-up, which will remain open through December. The store, designed to resemble the founders’ own living room, includes furniture, jewelry, footwear and homeware collaborations alongside Toccin’s collections. Alex Toccin said the location allows for greater control, compared to selling through a department store, allowing the brand to turn the atmosphere of its private events into a daily retail experience. “It’s been really exciting to see the whole VIC pop-up event come to life,” she said.
Toccin’s wholesale business remains a core part of the company. The brand sells through Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom.com, alongside approximately 70-100 U.S. specialty stores.
A typical specialty-store order drives $15,000-$20,000 in sales per season, according to the company. Michael Toccin said some smaller accounts that initially placed a $5,000 order have grown to generate as much as $250,000 annually.
Despite Saks Global’s recent difficulties, Toccin’s founders remain committed to the department-store model. “[Saks] really did help put Toccin on the map,” Michael Toccin said. “They believed in us. They understood we were a wardrobing brand. They got it from day one.”
The Harrods opening is now intended to provide a gateway to wider international distribution. Toccin has appointed five wholesale agents covering the U.K., France, Germany, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. The founders said the business has doubled in size for two consecutive years, though they declined to provide annual revenue.
At Harrods, Toccin hopes to replicate elements of its U.S. model by working with the retailer’s private-shopping team and holding an in-store event this fall. “We know that the model works domestically,” Alex said. “So how can we really get it to work internationally?”
Richemont’s jewelry engine keeps revving
Swiss luxury goods holding company Richemont posted a strong start to its fiscal year, with first-quarter sales rising 20% at constant exchange rates to €6.3 billion, or about $7.3 billion. Its Jewelry Maisons, including Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, led the group with 24% growth, marking a seventh consecutive quarter of double-digit gains. The Specialist Watchmakers division improved sequentially, with sales up 8%, while the “Other” division, which includes Alaïa, Chloé and Montblanc, grew 9%. By region, the Americas rose 27%, Japan 36%, Asia-Pacific 21% and Europe 11%, while retail sales increased 24% and accounted for 71% of group revenue.
For Bernstein analyst Luca Solca, the most interesting point Richemont shared was the continued outperformance of its jewelry versus the rest of luxury. “The jewelry momentum remains firmly intact,” he said in a note, noting that growth accelerated by 10 percentage points sequentially and beat analyst consensus by 11 points. He said the persistent gap between jewelry and fashion and leather goods “underscores the enduring relative appeal of jewelry within luxury.” Solca also argued that the acceleration appears to have been driven mainly by volume and product mix, rather than further price increases, which he described as reassuring, given Richemont’s “disciplined and measured approach to price increases.”
British designers think beyond London Fashion Week
At the British Fashion Council’s annual summer party, CEO Laura Weir said September’s London Fashion Week will bring McQueen “home.” Mulberry, which is working with Christopher Kane, and Barbour will also join the schedule, alongside Marks & Spencer, which will be making its LFW debut. In addition, Weir promised to continue “removing barriers to participation,” while addressing practical pressures including costly studio space.
U.K. designer Bianca Saunders, meanwhile, is testing another model to access resources that remain difficult for independent labels to maintain in-house. She tapped creative company The Midnight Club to back a collaborative capsule collection — the company worked with Saunders on the concept, garment graphics, photography, campaign production and communications. Two see-now-buy-now pieces launched this month, while the wider collection is expected to enter wholesale in January. Saunders said the partnership gave her greater creative freedom than a typical sponsored project; she was able to help build the brief from the beginning.
The tie-up also reflects the more diversified approach British independents are taking to their businesses. Wholesale instability, for example, has pushed Saunders to strengthen her brand’s DTC business, as well as lean into bespoke products, retail partnerships, collaborations and community building.
“It’s not just one sole thing we’re relying on,” she said. She also questioned the importance placed on runway shows: “People keep asking me, ‘Are shows that important?’ I’m like, ‘It’s not actually that important.’” Instead, she said, “The thing that really pushes the needle is actual community, [and] focusing on great product.”
Executive moves
- Romain Spitzer is moving from his role as president and CEO of LVMH Beauty’s Fragrance Group to lead Bottega Veneta as CEO, working alongside creative director Louise Trotter from September 1.
- Olivier Rousteing, who stepped down from Balmain after 14 years as creative director, is taking over Rabanne’s creative direction and will debut his first collection for the house at Paris Fashion Week in March 2027.
- Former Gucci executive vice president and chief brand officer Alessio Vannetti will become CEO of La Perla Atelier on September 1, charged with steering the luxury lingerie brand’s international relaunch.
- Brooke Bobb is leaving her role as fashion news director at Harper’s Bazaar to join Nordstrom as vice president and fashion director, overseeing its fashion categories and sharpening its luxury and designer positioning.
News to know
- Burberry shareholders approved a new executive pay policy that could lift CEO Joshua Schulman’s total compensation to £12.24 million ($16.4 million), despite 37% of investors voting against the package.
- Frasers Group is reportedly among the bidders circling Harvey Nichols, while its pursuit of Hugo Boss and Australia’s Accent Group prompted the company to withhold fiscal 2027 guidance after adjusted pre-tax profit fell 4% to £538 million ($720 million).
- Watches of Switzerland has reportedly held preliminary talks with private-equity and strategic buyers over a potential takeover, as management looks to close the gap between the retailer’s public-market valuation and its perceived value.
- Shein secured Chinese regulatory approval to pursue a Hong Kong IPO that could raise $2 billion-$3 billion at a reported valuation of about $40 billion, following its abandoned listing attempts in New York and London.
Read on Glossy
Sneaker brands are slowing down drops. Salomon launches in Foot Locker. Pink Palm Puff is trying to expand beyond teens.
