Editor’s Observe: This text was initially printed by The Business of Fashion, an editorial associate of CNN Fashion.
(CNN) — A decade in the past, Lilly Pulitzer’s vibrant prints had been omnipresent on school campuses throughout the US, and a pop-up for its 2015 collaboration with Goal in New York’s Bryant Park drew crowds of Millennial buyers on the top of their fashionable preppy obsession. That very same yr, gross sales grew 22 p.c.
Style has since moved on from that aesthetic, however Lilly Pulitzer hasn’t: In an period of quiet luxurious, inexpensive facsimiles of the loud colours and patterns favored by the rich denizens of Palm Seaside, Florida, the place the model was based 65 years in the past, look misplaced. Gross sales replicate that stagnation, rising 1 p.c final yr to $343.5 million.
Seeking to usher within the model’s subsequent period, earlier this month Lilly Pulitzer unveiled a brand new emblem that retains its signature vibrant pink hue — however now with a typeface that appears straight out of the Fifties, the last decade the model was based.
Connecting with a brand new era will take greater than a brand new font, nevertheless.
Gen-Z tastes reign supreme now, and so they have a really completely different thought of what preppy seems to be like. Quite than shift clothes, they’re massive on impartial outsized blazers and dishevelled denims. Quite than totally capitulate to Gen Z’s tastes, Lilly Pulitzer is focusing on prospects who “love the model that perhaps hadn’t shopped shortly,” mentioned the model’s chief government Michelle Kelly. That features event put on, the place vibrant and daring nonetheless flies even in right this moment’s quiet luxurious second. In March, it launched a collaboration with Badgley Mischka, with items operating from $400 to $700, versus a $100 to $300 commonplace worth level.
“There are positively moments within the tradition the place tendencies are going to be in our favor or much less,” Kelly mentioned. “Our method… is to do what we do. That steadiness of staying grounded to who we’re, however being conscious of modifications.”
The cultural tides can also be delivering Lilly Pulitzer’s favor as soon as once more. Palm Seaside has been on the rise as a trend vacation spot in recent times, with manufacturers together with Hill Home House, Nili Lotan and MyTheresa internet hosting occasions and opening shops there. Plus, Nineteen Sixties Palm Seaside fashion has been within the highlight this spring on Apple TV’s collection “Palm Royale.”
Greater than that, it’s a model that loads of girls — from those that had been contemporaries of Pulitzer herself to their granddaughters who’re sharing their Lilly hauls on TikTok — have a delicate spot for.
“Lilly is likely one of the few manufacturers that prospects of all ages can come to an occasion, store and never be alarmed that somebody three many years older or youthful is procuring,” mentioned Kelly. “It’s simply actually particular that each one ages can have an affinity (for the model).”
Based in 1959, the model was born out of a conundrum confronted by its eponymous founder: Palm Seaside residents Pulitzer and her husband owned a number of orange groves, and Pulitzer operated a juice stand. Consistently discovering juice stains on her garments, she requested her dressmaker to make a costume with colours vibrant sufficient to cover the marks. They had been so well-liked she started promoting them on the juice stand, too.
By the Nineteen Sixties, they’d turn out to be one thing of an icon of American attire, and had been notably a favourite amongst well-heeled girls together with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and socialite Wendy Vanderbilt.
In 2010, the corporate was acquired by Oxford Industries, which additionally owns Tommy Bahama and Johnny Was, amongst different manufacturers, and is now headquartered in Philadelphia. However it maintains agency roots in Palm Seaside.
“Nothing is extra rooted in a resort Americana aesthetic than Lilly Pulitzer,” mentioned Robert Burke, chief government of retail consultancy Robert Burke Associates. “It’s all the time stayed very grounded in that Palm Seaside mentality.”
Kelly sees the model’s historical past as a bonus in connecting with a youthful viewers.
“Gen-Z desires that authenticity, and we have now an genuine model story that we lean into, and that I believe differentiates us within the crowded market proper now,” she mentioned.
Nonetheless, she’s conscious that the model must push ahead in addition to look to the previous. The emblem change up is only one ingredient in a “journey of name refreshment” that Lilly is presently present process, Kelly mentioned. The objective, she added, is to strike the suitable steadiness between honoring the model’s historical past — and its loyal prospects — whereas pushing it ahead sufficient that it resonates with younger customers.
“We simply noticed the chance to have our visible id and our total branding match our wants a bit higher,” she mentioned. The brand new emblem, created by designer Robin Kramer, she mentioned felt like a “nice steadiness of look backward, however an enormous step ahead” with a extra fashionable tackle a retro-inspired typeface.
As effectively, the model is popping up in new areas. Collaborations have lengthy been part of the model’s technique; since Goal, it inked a partnership with Pottery Barn that’s nonetheless ongoing. This yr, along with the Badgley Mischka collaboration, it rolled out a team-up with Natalie’s Juice, promoting bottles of orange juice that includes a customized Lilly Pulitzer sticker. The nod to the model’s origin story made it a pure match for its diehard customers, Kelly mentioned.
The model is predominantly a direct-to-consumer enterprise, with 85 p.c of its gross sales coming from its personal channels. Which means it’s extra insulated from wholesale troubles, however extra reliant on its direct reference to customers. With about 66 p.c of its direct gross sales coming on-line, Lilly Pulitzer desires to develop its brick-and-mortar presence and plans to open six shops in 2024, together with a brand new location in Cranston, Rhode Island that opened its doorways in April. To succeed in new customers — and reconnect with older ones — it’s additionally constructing its presence on TikTok, creating extra cuts of its advertisements to run throughout numerous platforms.
The hope is all these elements will hold the model’s longtime loyalists completely happy, however intrigue new prospects, too.
“Generally manufacturers simply have intervals the place they’ve recognition once more as a result of they take a more energizing course,” mentioned Burke. “There’s no written script for it, nevertheless it definitely has extremely good bones.”
This text was initially printed by The Business of Fashion, an editorial associate of CNN Fashion. Learn extra tales from The Enterprise of Style here.