Promotional illustration for Armarium’s mobile app
Apparel and accessories destination Armarium is bringing the on-loan business model to luxury fashion with a Web site and invite-only mobile application.
Offering style on-demand, Armarium offers affluent consumers access to a curated line-up of couture and ready-to-wear pieces, in addition to accessories, picked from the industry’s most coveted collections, and all on-loan for a four-day period. With so many collections hitting stores at once and continuously throughout the year, it’s difficult for affluent consumers to keep up, but Armarium looks to answer the question, “When will I ever wear this again?” by outfitting the loan strategy for a discerning, fashion-savvy consumer that yearns for curated retail experiences.
“With the explosive growth of social media and mobile devices, we feel the retail landscape has dramatically changed,” said Alexandra Lind Rose and Trisha Gregory, founders of Armarium, New York.
“The shared economy model is becoming more relevant in luxury categories where capital outlays are higher-private jet aviation (e.g. NetJets), luxury vacation residential properties (e.g. Inspirato) and luxury watches (Eleven James),” they said.
“Armarium will complement traditional retail as the shared economy iteration for luxury high fashion.”
Armarium’s Trisha Gregory and Alexandra Lind Rose
In this Q&A, Ms. Lind Rose and Ms. Gregory will discuss what makes Armarium different from its premium-market competitors, why on-loan works for luxury consumers and how its team of stylists and influencers enhance the consumer’s shopping experience.
How will Armarium fill a void in the luxury retail space?
Armarium is the only platform that offers luxury high fashion on loan while providing both its clients and the luxury fashion brands with a connecting service that builds awareness through education and context.
Armarium also curates a lifestyle of events and experiences (styling services, pop-up partnerships (see story), etc.) that builds long-term enduring community among its clients.
What makes Armarium different than other online sellers?
At Armarium, we want to provide access to the best of the fashion world to an emerging affluent customer and convenience to the existing luxury consumer. We are the only platform that offers luxury high fashion statement looks she can borrow at a fraction of the retail cost to mix with her own wardrobe and with full price retail items.
Screen shots of the Armarium app
In addition, we offer The Armarium Style Brigade – top tier professional stylists on our roster who serve as educators and curate looks for clients comprised of the best current-season luxury designer statement pieces.
We also want to invite the Armarium community to a front row seat for lifestyle experiences and events which further bond our client to our platform and the brands offered through Armarium.
How did your career background inspire you to establish Armarium?
As fashion insiders, we both saw the need to give access to the statement runway pieces — usually only afforded to celebrities or VIP influencers and often times cancelled from production- to more women in America.
Also, there wasn’t an industry styling resource available to women across the country. “How could one get the look of a VIP, in regards to product and service?” was the question we sought out to conquer.
Nell Diamond and Alessandra for Armarium
Can you explain the value you see in the luxury-on-loan trend?
Our clients have limited time and predictability in their schedules, so Armarium’s service provides convenience and ease.
Our clients are also often active on social media, are focused on ‘decluttering’ and willing to experiment with new fashion brands and trends. They are interested in “sharing” versus owning many of the statement pieces that are hard to wear more than once and just take up closet real estate.
Finally, with the addition of pre-collections to the regular seasonal collections, seasons’ fashion trends are more fleeting. Thus, another practical reason to borrow the more trend-focused statement pieces versus buy them.
Do you think that this system will be the retail model of the future?
With the explosive growth of social media and mobile devices, we feel the retail landscape has dramatically changed.
The shared economy model is becoming more relevant in luxury categories where capital outlays are higher- private jet aviation (e.g. NetJets), luxury vacation residential properties (e.g. Inspirato) and luxury watches (Eleven James).
Armarium will complement traditional retail as the shared economy iteration for luxury high fashion.
Armarium showroom
How does Armarium plan to market its services?
Armarium will market through word of mouth, with the help of our esteemed Armi 400, through various social media campaigns, which will heavily derive from the inspirational content on our site styled by our Style Brigade and through strategic luxury partnerships with fashion and lifestyle brands.
What qualities do the Armi 400 share?
The ARMI 400 is a network of global tastemakers, influencers, youthquakers who have supported us in this venture, inspire us, partner and promote the brand.
Who is the target consumer, and how does she reflect the Armi 400?
The target consumer is a professional who lives a full life during the day but also leads an active social life at night.
She travels frequently and likes to experiment with high fashion, new trends and brands with which she may not be familiar. She is highly sophisticated in her style choices and is always working to create a discerning articulation of her personal style.
The Armi 400 all embody these qualities.
Genevieve Jones and Grace Fuller for Armarium
How will the Style Brigade enhance the consumer experience?
Where else can you access a network of the most respected stylists ranging from Shiona Turini to J Errico to Karla Martinez de Salas to La Marque’s Meredith Melling and Valerie Boster at the drop of a hat?
These stylists have incredible backgrounds and can further educate our clientele on how to best dress for her body type and social calendar while also giving them an inkling into the hottest brands and talk of the “industry.”
Why is a showroom presence important for an online brand?
The showroom presents the client with a unique experience, allowing her to try on the various pieces and document various looks that she likes for upcoming events in her calendar.
She might also hear about a new restaurant opening or event during the Tribeca Film Festival while she’s here and be sure to pick up an outfit for that.
The Armarium mobile app can be downloaded from the Apple App Store.
from
http://www.luxurydaily.com/armarium-tries-luxury-apparel-and-accessories-loans-on-for-size/
No comments:
Post a Comment