Larroudé Launches Colléct, a Boutique of Fashion, Jewelry, Beauty and Wellness Products

As seen on: wwd.com

by Lisa Lockwood

On Friday, Larroudé, the luxury footwear brand, will introduce Colléct by Larroudé, a new boutique experience online. Since launching three years ago, Larroudé has shared content featuring designers on its site and has highlighted various creatives, including models, photographers and stylists. Now, customers can shop the entire look on its site, larroude.com.

According to Marina Larroudé, cofounder and chief creative officer of Larroudé, she was inspired by her decades experience as a fashion director of Barneys New York, fashion director of Teen Vogue and fashion market director at Style.com.“The search for those gems and the opportunity to launch them, and the way that discovery can make a meaningful impact on their lives and businesses, is what has always been my favorite part of the job,” she said. 

She said Colléct will spotlight the best designers across categories, including home, wellness, fashion and jewelry. For the launch, the company is featuring 17 brands, including Retrovai, Lingua Franca, La Vie Style House, Dr. Lara Devagan, Dear Annabelle, Gigi Burns and Jonathan Cohen, among others. It launches at 9 a.m. EST Friday.

“It makes it like a one-stop shop. I want it to be a sense of discovery for the client,” she said. 

“I want people to come to the site and be surprised by stuff you don’t see because it gets lost in a sea of merchandise [onother sites]. I want them to have this great, fun experience,” she said.

For the company’s first outing, she went to her friends and more established brands, but ultimately she hopes to feature young and emerging designers on the site. 

She’s hopeful that young creatives will reach out to her once she establishes the platform. 

Storytelling will be a key aspect of how the brands are presented. For example, right now it’s all about gift-giving, and finding the perfect pajamas and candles for the holiday. For spring/summer, she may do a resort theme with caftans and beach bags, and in fall, she looks to showcase the new parka or outerwear or the new cool sunglasses brand. She’ll select between 10 and 20 items per vendor. 

After launching with the 17 brands, the site will add five more brands in January, and then will add completely new merchandise when the new season starts. 

“What is so great about the platform is there’s no risk for each side. You share their story and they share your story. You share a client data base. It’s very much an inclusive new way of doing business,” she said. 

For brands to participate, they have to be on Shopify. Larroudé is then able to connect with their Shopify accounts to create the marketplace. She said someone can come to her site for a pair of shoes and end up buying a candle or beauty product. 

Larroudé gets a percentage of everything that’s sold, and fulfillment is done by the various vendors. The customer stays on the Larroudé site to complete the transaction. “It’s very seamless,” she said, noting it’s similar to affiliate marketing. 

Larroudé doesn’t purchase any of the merchandise, but the client gets the Larroudé experience on the site. 

Larroudé said Bianca Inocencio, a Brazilian-born 19-year-old student currently living in Milan on a scholarship at Bocconi University, worked remotely on the team to make all the integrations happen.

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Read the full article in wwd.com