|
|
 |
  |
| |
|
|
| LITTLEMISSMATCHED |
 |
A groundbreaking company that inspires creativity and individuality
through a
diverse range of fashion, home and lifestyle products,
LittleMissMatched launched in 2004 with a collection of
mismatched socks sold in odd numbers to encourage girls of
all ages to express themselves each and every day of the year.
The company’s ‘nothing-matches-but- anything-goes’
philosophy knocked people’s socks off and sales jumped
from $5M to $25M in just three years. Today, the LittleMissMatched
product line includes everything from socks, winterwear and
sleepwear to books, bedding and furniture for mismatched
mavens of all ages. |
|
 |
|
“As
a brand, LittleMissMatched is about creativity and individuality,”
says CEO Jonah Staw. “We target what we call ‘tween’
girls, aged 8-13, with product that is 100 per cent focused
on creativity, whether it be socks that don’t match, a
bedding range that makes 134 different combinations or furniture
that you can draw all over and then erase, each product that
we launch is totally innovative and unique.”
The LittleMissMatched offer comprises three focus areas: apparel
and accessories, ‘the girl’s room’ (furniture
and bedding) and ‘the girl’s life’, comprising
a range of five books. So what was the inspiration behind the
brand?
“Generally, brands are focused on a demographic by aligning
themselves with that specific demographic; if a product is aimed
at surfer girls, then everything that brand does equates to
surfer girls. We saw an opportunity in a very different approach
to branding, marketing and product development, which was to
say ‘let’s re-invent and develop a new point of
view for each category that we enter’,” explains
Staw. “That is the baseline for
our business and that is what inspires us.” |
|
 |
|
LittleMissMatched
is active within a number of different business streams, including
wholesale and e-commerce, and there are close to 3,000 retail
outlets that carry the product. The brand is also located at
a series of diverse retail venues, such as FAO Schwartz, Bed,
Bath & Beyond, JC Penney and others in the US, Hamleys in
London, and a LittleMissMatched-branded store at the Bluewater
Centre in the UK, where it manages and showcases its products.
“We are also working closely with the Macy’s corporation,
the largest department store group in the US, and are planning
the opening of our first standalone retail store here in the
US,” says Staw.
LittleMissMatched has reached an agreement with Macy’s,
which operates more than 850 department stores in the US, to
open 85 ‘shop-within-a-shop’ boutiques throughout
the country by September 2008, and additional boutiques in 2009.
The company has also completed its first round of funding
from Catterton Partners, the US’s leading private
equity firm in the consumer sector. An early investor in companies
including Build-a-Bear, Frederick Fekkai, and PF Chang’s China
Bistro, Catterton Partners has committed $17.3M of growth capital
to LittleMissMatched. The investment will be used to increase
LittleMissMatched’s distribution, launch a flagship retail
store in
New York City within the next 12 months and expand the company’s
product offerings
Staw says: “The management team strongly believes that
the brand has the potential to be a major force. We believe
very strongly in concession shops and that, in the US, we need
to have our own retail footprint to present a diversified lifestyle
brand and to tell the full brand story.” Given the current
global economic situation, it seems quite a brave time to make
such a large investment.
“Correct, but my point view is that when you have innovative
companies with strongly differentiated product, there is a certain
immunity. Customers are always looking for something new and
different,” says Staw. “We are not concerned by
the economy because we have a lot of growth in us and, obviously,
with this capital infusion we can certainly weather a significant
economic downturn.”Finally, RLI asked Staw what it
is about brand that resonates with the consumer
For the full article please see the RLI
September 08 issue |
|
|
Paramount
Publications Ltd Suite 15, Hardmans Business Centre, New
Hall Hey Road, Rawtenstall BB4 6HH UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1706 212200 Fax: +44 (0) 1706 211782 Email:
info@rli.uk.com
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
