It is 10 times more expensive than an ordinary T-shirt. Is the "next-generation Hermès" targeting the nouveaux riches instead of the middle class?
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The luxury market is in a slump. Some are intensifying internal competition, while others are making money while taking it easy.
At the Paris Fashion Week in March this year, the American luxury brand The Row staged a tough scene. The brand strictly prohibited all audiences from taking photos in the show venue and only gave each person a notebook to record their thoughts. Not a single photo of the show leaked. This unconventional move, instead, sparked a heated discussion on social media.
As a luxury brand that can sell a basic white T-shirt for $5,000, where does The Row's confidence come from?
A recent acquisition news seems to answer this question.
In September, the Wertheimer family, the owners of Chanel, and Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, the heir of L'Oréal, along with other investors, acquired a minority stake in The Row. The transaction valuation is as high as $1 billion (about 7 billion yuan), giving The Row a significant affirmation from a capital perspective.
The trend of consumption downgrading has swept through the luxury market, but it seems to have bypassed The Row.
According to the statistics of the fashion retail platform, in the past three years, the search volume for The Row has increased exponentially and it is highly sought after. In the fourth-quarter list of 2023 released by Lyst, The Row Margaux handbag defeated Miu Miu, Prada, and Ralph Lauren, winning the title of "The New Birkin".
Not only has the handbag become an "Hermès alternative", The Row is also often said to be a brand expected to become the next Hermès. However, in today's era of consumption contraction and even Hermès having to accelerate the launch of new products, The Row does not engage in intense marketing, does not strive for attention, but makes money with a relaxed attitude.
For ten years, The Row has been focusing on minimalist design and high prices, selling expensive basic styles to a new height. What kind of charm does it have?
The Low-Key Choice of the New Professional Elite
In 2023, a trend of "quiet luxury" that advocates low-key taste swept through the fashion industry. However, as early as 2019, the fashion media BoF described The Row as "Quiet Luxury".
● Source: @businessoffashion
It can be said that it is The Row that invented the concept of "quiet luxury".
Soft neutral tones, restrained design, excellent tailoring, and high-quality fabrics seem to be a concrete interpretation of the old-money spirit of "money talk, wealth whisper".
The brand is calm, but the customers' purchasing desire is very strong. Among The Row's items, a basic T-shirt can be sold for more than $5,000, nearly half of the handbags are priced at more than 20,000 yuan, a cashmere coat is priced at as high as 50,000 yuan, yet classic and popular products are often sold out.
After the epidemic, The Row held its only sample sale in New York. People lined up outside the venue five hours in advance. According to reports, after entering the venue, only by quickly picking without thinking can one grab the goods. Hesitating for even one second can only result in leaving empty-handed.
● The Row sample sale, Source: @VOGUE
● The Row sample sale, Source: @VOGUE
The editor of the British version of Marie Claire magazine said, While ordinary brands have consumers, The Row has collectors. Once you start buying, you can't stop. While other luxury brands are busy innovating and competing for the market, The Row's customers are very loyal and consciously follow and buy season after season.
The 29-year-old Xiaohongshu blogger @StarSalt started buying The Row in 2019, and his daily outfits are mainly composed of The Row items. He claims that his dressing philosophy is that being decent is more important than being comfortable, and being fashionable comes after.
Last year, he bought many luxury clothing items with big brand logos, but some were only worn a few times and then not worn again. "I can't stand the feeling of being stared at." For him, Anything that is extremely popular will quickly become outdated. "Because as long as it has a logo, it has a very clear time limit."
Wearing The Row's clothes gives him a sense of classic and unchanging calmness, "When I put it on, I feel like you guys can fight and make a fuss, it has nothing to do with me."
Abroad, there are more fashion enthusiasts who admire The Row's low-key and minimalist style.
Fashion blogger Neelam Ahooja has gained nearly 200,000 followers on Instagram by sharing her ootd with The Row items and evaluating The Row items. Neelam said that she likes The Row for its excellent craftsmanship, simplicity but elegance, and sometimes avant-garde.
● Blogger Neelam Ahooja, Source: Instagram@Neelam Ahooja
Stylist and brand consultant Whitney Olschwanger said: "85% of the clothing in each collection is timeless and will never go out of style."
The minimalist style that The Row advocates can bring a more elegant and relaxed temperament, and therefore has become the favorite of many fashionable female celebrities. From Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid to Hailey Bieber, Jennifer Lawrence, Zoe Kravitz, and Rose, a member of Blackpink, they often appear in The Row.
Beyond design, Mason Henry Howell, a handbag historian who has collaborated with auction houses such as Christie's and Sotheby's and is also a collector of The Row, said, "When you attend an event and meet someone else wearing The Row, it's a super fun thing. The Row provides an anonymous way, and only other members of this club can recognize each other."
Without a logo, simple and restrained, it is not conducive to the brand attracting the public's attention, but instead forms a unique hidden interest belonging to a small circle. When two The Row believers meet in the crowd, ordinary people cannot see the difference, only a "trained" eye can identify the same good taste.
In other words, wearing The Row shows, more than wealth ability, a rather advanced aesthetic taste.
Fashion writer Monica Ainley used an example to illustrate what kind of people The Row's fans are when talking about The Row.
Her sister is a 30-something tech company founder and chief operating officer, and also a customer of The Row. And she said that as a woman who wants to maintain a professional image without being flashy but also loves fashion, The Row is extremely attractive.
"No one will notice that you've worn it 500 times, people will only see that you look energetic and then quickly shift their attention to what you say."
In an interview with The Row enthusiasts on the buyer platform Net-A-Porter, creative director and producer Nian Fish said, "For me, clothing and accessories must be effortless. I'm the kind of woman who needs to get dressed and out the door in five minutes, but I still want to look good, and The Row has never let me down."
It can be seen that The Row's believers are not ordinary middle-class, but those new professional elites who have financial freedom. They want to be decent and elegant, but don't have so much energy to spend on managing their wardrobes. They have the ability to plan and dominate their own lives and can afford to wear tens of thousands of basic styles as daily uniforms.
The Row targets high-end customer groups, providing itself with a stronger ability to resist risks in the current generally sluggish luxury market. More importantly, it also builds a consensus among core users about the brand's consumers: intelligent, elegant, capable, discerning, with good taste, and a bit of relaxed fashion and a coolness that doesn't care about trends.
Expensive Basic Styles, Are They Really Worth It?
The Row's styles are mostly basic, but the prices are astonishing.
On the official website, a Margaux handbag costs more than $5,000, an Ash cotton-silk blend white T-shirt is priced at $790, a Harisi cashmere coat requires $8,900, and a pair of cashmere calf socks is priced at $220.
Compared to the expensive and straightforward prices, The Row has always followed an "If you know, you know" approach.
For example, The Row's popular GALA wide-leg pants are priced at about $15,000. It uses a specially developed and custom-made fabric that brings a special soft and shiny luster. The bias-cut technique creates a draping silhouette that makes the legs look longer. And a rather difficult ironing technique is used to heat-treat the fabric to change the shape of the trouser legs in places that are not visible.
All of this ultimately presents an effect that can only be felt but not explained. Roughly speaking, Some clothes can't be clearly explained where they are good, but no one can replace them.
In 2008, the legendary supermodel Lauren Hutton shot the first magazine cover for The Row and has since fallen in love with The Row, "It's cut very modernly. It fits well and is very fashionable. They cut jackets like Paris haute couture, making the arms look thinner and longer."
● Lauren Hutton wearing the perfect legging on the Forbes magazine cover
Another famous supermodel Alek Wek, who has worked in the fashion industry for more than 20 years, also said, "The Row's designs can be kept in the closet forever and effortlessly mixed and matched. The tailoring is exquisite and the fabrics are very luxurious. In short, wearing The Row is a feeling of being right."
Of course, Chinese consumers are often more practical, "I think if you are selling at this price, isn't this supposed to be the case?" @StarSalt told Chaosheng TIDE. He recognizes the brand, but doesn't want it to be deified.
Among the praises surrounding The Row, the keyword that is often inseparable is tailoring.
In 2006, the Hollywood star twin sisters Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen officially founded The Row. This name is a tribute to Savile Row, the bespoke suit street in London. The Olsen sisters said, "The tailors of Savile Row have pushed bespoke tailoring to the extreme. We also want to convey a message with this name: This is a brand that will put tailoring at the center."
● Olsen twins, Source: @Net-A-Porter
Joe Karban, the purchasing vice president of The Row, also reaffirmed to The New York Times, "Our team really cares about the art of making clothes, considering how to make the sleeves fit the best, how the fabric performs, rather than making everything the same."
The reason why they care so much about tailoring is that the sisters are petite and have difficulty finding suitable clothes. They often have to send ready-to-wear clothes to the tailor to be altered to fit, which is why even though they have not received formal fashion education, they are so concerned and knowledgeable about tailoring.
● The Olsen sisters, who have been fashionable since childhood, Source: VOGUE
Therefore, The starting point of The Row began with a white T-shirt that wins with tailoring.
This white T-shirt is claimed to be "perfect", without any logo or obvious unique design. It is priced at $195 but was a great success as soon as it was launched. There is no other reason, just because its exquisite tailoring is like haute couture, which can make people of different body shapes show the most beautiful body shape.
● Source: Instagram@Neelam Ahooja