With three stores already in operation, La Ligne, the brand launched by two Vogue alumni, Meredith Melling, and Valerie Macaulay, and a former Rag & Bone fashion executive, Molly Howard, is setting its sights on Greenwich CT. Set to open this Month, the new location exemplifies the independent label’s recipe for success informed by trunk shows and online data.
Much like the New York store that sits on Madison Avenue next to luxury businesses such as Sydney Garber jewelry, The Mark Hotel, and Sant Ambroeus, the Connecticut store will be on Greenwich Avenue and in proximity to Saks Fifth Avenue, Rag & Bone, Frame, Love, Shack Fancy and Veronica Beard. The Veronica Beard team, also near their Madison Avenue location, have been supportive business colleagues, even offering up a store manager to brief the brand on the habits of local shoppers.
“Having proximity to luxury, customers think it’s the same price point, but when they see the product, they are surprised to find it more attainable,” said Macaulay.
In an interview in the Upper East Side store, the first retail location that opened in 2019, Howard and Macaulay revealed what’s made their company experience 100 percent YOY since launching in 2016. (Only 2020 was approximately 50-60 percent YOY growth.) The mainly online DTC brand operates 80 percent online and 20 percent in person but much of its initial growth resulted from in-person trunk shows, which helped organic growth while providing key insights.
“After about a year, we started doing trunk shows across the country at friend’s homes,” said Macaulay. The intimate in-home experiences also built-up customer loyalty and tested the waters for physical stores such as Dallas, Palm Beach, and Greenwich, CT. Several occurred in Dallas informing the Highland Park Village location, which opened in November of 2020. Soon requests from customers to host were coming in.
