On a chilly May afternoon, lucky pedestrians on Manhattan’s Columbus Avenue encountered a yellow food truck offering beignets and cold brew coffee, while a brass band played steps away.

To get their hands on the treats, passersby didn’t have to pay, but rather just share their email address and a few minutes of their time to learn about women’s apparel brand MM.LaFleur, which recently opened a store on the block.

Most happily obliged, fetched their beignets and went on their way without actually stepping foot in the store. But that was enough for MM.LaFleur, which hosted a series of similar events across the city to promote its new summer collection last month.

“These events can be costly and expensive,” said Sarah LaFleur, the brand’s founder and chief executive, “but we don’t expect to close a transaction.”

The point, rather, is to remind the local customers that the store is nearby and be top-of-mind next time they’re in need of a blazer or stretchy trousers. The beignet and happy music, meanwhile, adds another positive association to the brand.

With the pandemic firmly in the rearview mirror, fashion companies like MM.LaFleur are once again embracing in-person events from trunk shows to shopping parties to drum up brand awareness and, in some cases, drive customers directly to the cash register. Utilising this form of brand marketing, marketers say, is more critical than ever, as social media has become a less favourable channel for advertising in recent years, thanks to decreases in ad effectiveness alongside increases in ad rates.

“Performance marketing continues to be as unpredictable as ever and hard to understand, and for us, this is a direct way to reach our potential customers and communicate and leave an impression that an ad on Facebook never can,” said LaFleur.

It also helps that, post-pandemic, consumers crave social activities. Retail sales in the US, for instance, rose marginally in April, in part driven by spending at restaurants. The travel industry expects 2023 to be close to a record-setting spending year.

“In the post-Covid era, and people want to see people; people want to feel special,” said Savannah Engel, a fashion publicist who revamped her business, an agency called Savi, last year to prioritise event marketing over traditional PR for her clients.

Go Big or Go Home

By reallocating budget from digital marketing, brands can splurge on big creative events that leave a memorable impression on consumers and drive store traffic too.

New Orleans-based sunglasses brand Krewe, a client of Engel’s, recently hosted a crawfish boil outside of its New York flagship in the Meatpacking District, an endeavour that required Krewe to obtain five different city permits and ship 1,000 pounds of live seafood from Louisiana to New York’s LaGuardia airport.

The event wasn’t free for attendees — tickets cost between $75 and $135 — and Krewe donated $50,000 of sales proceeds to Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital. It was an investment for Krewe, said Amanda Brody, the company’s VP of brand marketing, but it resulted in plenty of sunglasses sales that day — the rainiest day in May — in addition to generating awareness for the relatively small brand.

“The sheer volume of people that were not familiar with the brand, being able to come in and touch the product in real life is significantly more valuable than being targeted online,” Brody said. “And once we get them [in-store], they’re going to stay in the brand sphere.”

The biggest, most costly events will often yield the least tangible returns. With large scale events where attendees aren’t necessarily shopping the products — whether it’s a cookout, a fashion week party or a travelling beignet truck — the ultimate goal is to provide consumers a positive experience with the brand. Some may convert a few days later, and some will forget about it altogether. Others may come back to the brand months or even years later.

“Oftentimes, you can’t tell if the event is a success,” LaFleur said. “You have to be willing to put yourself out there and your brand out there and say, ‘I’m going to do this because I believe it will have an impact.’”

Test Out Different Formats

There are opportunities, for smaller shopping events to more directly drive sales, such as trunk shows and in-store shopping events. In addition to large seasonal activations like its beignet truck parties, MM.Lafleur throws monthly shopping events in its Bryant Park and Washington, DC showrooms, hosted by a collaborating brand or corporate partners like real estate investment firm Pretium Partners and law firm Labaton Sucharow.

Marie Oliver, a North Carolina-based women’s apparel brand that also works with Engel has adopted a regional events strategy combining up to 10 small, in-store trunk shows per year with six to eight intimate, shopping-free dinners for local media, influencers and high-profile community members that require more resources and planning. Typically, the brand will host events in multiple formats in each city it visits, like Houston, Dallas and Charleston, said founder Sarah Evenson.

While these dinners don’t directly boost the brand’s sales, there is a lift in social media engagement following each event. They have also contributed to an overall sales increase: Marie Oliver’s e-commerce channel has grown 175 percent in the past year, according to Evenson.

“We as consumers are constantly bombarded with advertising,” she said. “With these in-person events, you’re taking them and bringing them into your world … It creates a memorable evening that gives them a personal connection with the brand for them to be a long-term consumer.”

Pick a Partner

One way to introduce new customers to a brand through an event is to find a co-host, whether that’s another like-minded fashion business or a food provider with its own following. Partners will often split the cost of the event, according to Engel — an easy way to save money without having to skimp.

New York-based designer Jonathan Cohen has experimented with a number of shopping events at his Upper East Side pop-up store, many of which involve a partner. He’s hosted trunk shows for brands he’s friendly with, like hatmaker Gigi Burris and book signings for fashion writers. When a friend started a churro business, Cohen invited him to cater a happy hour soiree in the store’s backyard. The designer has even invited top clients to host their own shopping parties at the store, creating an immediate word-of-mouth effect for the brand.

“It was always a lot because we were having a party and would be running up and down helping clients and altering stuff for them,” Cohen said. “But we always see our sales skyrocket when we do these events.”

At Cohen’s more casual gatherings, the more people that attend, the bigger the attraction becomes. Pedestrians passing by the store will often come inside when there’s a big crowd. Ultimately, in the post-pandemic world, consumers are eager for connection.

“The events that seem to work the best are those that bring together a really interesting community of people,” said Sarah Willersdorf, global head of luxury at Boston Consulting Group. “Allowing customers to come together … works really well, especially if the founder is there.”

Lululemon Athletica Inc.’s revenue rose 24 percent year over year to $2 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2023, ended April 31 — beating analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. Comparable store sales increased 16 percent.

Though the retailer said it remains cautious amid macroeconomic uncertainty, Lululemon raised its full year net revenue expectations, anticipating 17 percent growth for sales to fall between $9.4 and $9.5 billion — up from prior guidance of $9.31 billion and $9.41 billion. For the second quarter of 2023, the athletic wear retailer expects revenue in the range of $2.14 billion and $2.17 billion, an increase of around 15 percent. Shares rose 10 percent in extended trading.

Like many other retailers, Lululemon has seen uncertain consumer demand and growing costs that has cut into profitability. Gross profit for the quarter increased 32 percent to $1.2 billion and gross margin was up 360 basis points to 57.5 percent. On a call with investors, chief financial officer Meghan Frank chalked that growth up to lowered freight costs, which the company will continue to see throughout the year.

Frank said markdowns were in line with last year, and that the retailer has taken a stronger inventory position this year. Inventory turnover, however, remained lower than pre-pandemic levels.

“Too soon to say when we’ll move back to those levels, but that would be the goal over the longer term,” said Frank.

In April 2022, Lululemon debuted a plan to double the business from its 2021 revenue of $6.5 billion to $12.5 billion by 2026 through product innovation, expanding the men’s category, direct-to-consumer growth and market expansion.

As part of this strategy, the brand is launching new lines and adding hero products: last year it launched shoes, and it built on its popular Align leggings with an Align dress in May. In the year ahead, it will continue to build out golf and tennis collections. The company’s strong retail network has helped it stay resilient against emerging competitors like Alo Yoga.

Lululemon plans to open 50 new doors this year. Over half of those will be located internationally — mostly in China, where the brand has set big expectations.

The Chinese athletics landscape represents a huge opportunity for brands, but also a challenge, especially as homegrown brands like Anta and Li Ning gain in popularity. Outside of opening stores, Lululemon is building awareness through local-focused campaigns, with ambassadors including Formula 1 driver Zhou Guanyu, who the brand brought on board in January, said chief executive Calvin McDonald.

Strong growth in China buoyed results: revenue in the region was up 79 percent. Total net revenue abroad increased 60 percent compared to 17 percent in North America.

Elsewhere, the brand has been looking to find inroads with new consumers. It debuted a membership program “Lululemon Essential,” alongside a new app fit with workouts in October 2022. (The brand is trying to offload The Mirror business, which is acquired for $500 million in 2020, according to Bloomberg.) In May, Lululemon hosted a viral “dupe swap,” where it offered free Align leggings to mostly Gen-Zers who brought their knock-offs to a store in Los Angeles.

“Brand awareness and consideration is low and represents a significant runway of growth and opportunity for our business,” said McDonald.

Outdoor clothing retailer Patagonia Inc has settled its lawsuit accusing Gap Inc of illegally copying the “iconic” snapped flap pocket that the company has long featured on its fleece outerwear.

The judge dismissed the case on Wednesday after the companies told the court they had reached a settlement and agreed to drop their claims. The settlement terms were not disclosed.

Spokespeople for Gap and Patagonia did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In a complaint filed in November 2022 in San Francisco federal court, Patagonia said Gap willfully and deliberately sold fleece jackets that mimic its flap pocket and rectangular “P-6″ logo without permission.

The outfitter alleged the jackets were intended to confuse shoppers into believing they were Patagonia products or that Patagonia let the retailer use its trademarks.

Gap denied the claims and argued in court filings that Patagonia had waited too long to bring the lawsuit. Gap also filed a counterclaim asking a judge to rule that the design of Patagonia’s Snap-T pullover fleece is not legally protected.

Patagonia said it has featured the snap pocket on its Snap-T jacket for more than three decades.

By Andrew Goudsward

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Gap to Cut Hundreds of Jobs in New Round of Layoffs

Gap Inc. is eliminating hundreds of jobs from its global workforce, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the situation.

New Guards Group co-founders Davide De Giglio and Andrea Grilli are exiting the company, owner Farfetch announced Thursday.

Farfetch group president Stephanie Phair will add chair of NGG to her role, while NGG’s chief marketing officer Cristiano Fagnani will become Off-White’s CEO in addition to leading the e-commerce platform’s new partnership with Reebok. The leadership of other NGG brands, such as Palm Angels, remains unchanged, the company said.

New Guards Group, which was founded in Milan in 2015, has “performed extremely well” since it was acquired by Farfetch in 2019, founder and CEO José Neves said in a statement.

“I would like to thank Davide and Andrea for their dedicated leadership over the past four years, and for building a very strong team of successors to continue driving the strategy and operations of NGG,” Neves said.

The executive shuffle comes after Farfetch inked a deal with Authentic Brands Group last month to become the operating partner for Reebok in Europe.  Neves has described the move as a “multi-hundred-million-dollar” opportunity for his company.

Still, Farfetch’s market capitalisation continues to hover at less than 20 percent of its $8 billion valuation at the time of its 2018 IPO. 

Acquiring New Guards Group, a hub that develops and distributes streetwear brands, disrupted the investor narrative that had positioned Farfetch as a fashion tech and e-commerce innovator set to dominate the luxury sector online. The sale of the trademark for flagship brand Off-White to LVMH (NGG still owns the operating company) and death of the label’s founder Virgil Abloh have heaped on additional uncertainty ahead of the shakeup.

“With a very experienced management team ... and the added benefit of Stephanie’s oversight, I am confident in the continued success of NGG,” Neves said.