Website Closers® presents a pioneering heritage brand in the niche field of Organic Luxury Resort Wear. Well-established with 15 years of experience, the brand has developed an appealing line of 60 SKUs, offering its growing customer base essential intimates crafted from ultra-fine organic cotton and specialty fabrics.
Everything they create is marketed under their own brand name. This thriving eCommerce business has not only seen its online sales soar year over year but has also established crucial sales relationships with boutique retailers and luxury discount eTailers in both the U.S. and Europe. They have become well known and highly respected within the resort wear industry, an enormously profitable field that focuses on clothing women can wear while basking in the sun or rendezvousing with friends for a yacht party.
Considering that millions of consumers love to go on a shopping spree before they head out on vacation, and while they are on vacation, this is a burgeoning field and one where this company has definitely become the go-to brand name.
This business can quickly scale in several creative ways. Products are now sold exclusively on their Shopify website and select eTailers but could be expanded to other popular eCommerce sites such as Amazon, which would also enable the brand to take advantage of Amazon’s Canada and EU platforms to boost sales internationally. Additionally, they could expand their marketing efforts to include its first SEO program. Leveraging a new blog on the website, along with the use of paid media, to reach a wider audience. The brand also has a massive amount of opportunity to expand its assortment to include new and more specialized items.
Founded in 2006, this Internet Business capitalized on a strong connection to ultra-fine organic cotton, which was scarce at the time, and to carve out a whole new corner of the fashion industry. This initial partnership has become the brand’s Signature Line. In the 15 years since then, the majority of the brand’s product line is still made from this lightweight cotton. Offering flowy dresses, lounge pieces, and essential intimates, items dubbed as “barefoot luxury” because they could be worn from bed to beach to bar.
The company employs a sewing team in New York City to make their popular SKUs and has developed a loyal customer base that continues coming back over the decades for the newest items added to each product line. While the brand now has 60 parent SKUs, there are varying color options on each one.
The brand’s messaging goes beyond the concept of luxury clothing. This company recently partnered with a female-owned manufacturer in Madagascar that specializes in ultra-fine traditional handiwork and finishing, while also promoting a women’s independence cooperative that helps women rise out of abusive relationships by providing job skills, housing, and financial literacy.
Sales have been robust, with an average order value of $350. Their customer base now surpasses 5,000+ and is largely composed of higher income women between the ages of 30-50. Six percent of the brand’s customers have spent more than $1,000 on their SKUs, with one customer spending a whopping $24,000.
This was all achieved with sales solely generating via their Shopify website, which the brand felt would create exclusivity for them while also enabling them to control pricing. However, they have used luxury retailer Matches Fashion for sales in Europe and Asia; those purchases represent about 55% of all sales.
A growing percentage of sales are being made through boutique retailers, with the brand represented in 70 stores around the world, and through luxury discount eTailers, like Outnet and Moda Operandi.
As a resort wear brand, sales tend to peak in spring and summer when the weather is warm, and during the holiday travel season, with higher priced items selling more frequently during the warm months. More recently, sales have been expanded to resort and hotel shops.
The brand stocks and fulfills orders for both eCommerce and wholesale. They have an 800-square-foot warehouse and tend to stock up to $325,000 worth of inventory in the high season, and between $120,000 – $150,000 during the slowest months. Inventory orders are placed quarterly.
Their marketing efforts have relied on email marketing to a growing email database of 8,500 addresses, and organic social through sites such as Facebook and Instagram, where they have more than 30,000+ followers. This impressive engagement has driven incredible growth while the brand utilizes word of mouth and highly personalized service to continue expanding its customer base. The brand has performed well with brides and moms-to-be, but hasn’t marketed itself directly to them, and could employ targeted marketing campaigns within these profitable categories.
Additionally, expanding the company’s wholesale distribution channels and reaching out to a larger audience by shifting sales onto sites such as Amazon could also deliver extraordinary results. The development of an Amazon storefront would also enable the brand to expand its international reach, taking full advantage Amazon’s platforms in Canada, the EU, and other global sites.
The current owners dedicate an average of 20 hours per week running the business. They are responsible for customer management, billing, invoicing, and managing and sourcing orders. The owners are open to a consulting or designing contract with the new owner post-acquisition. The company then has two employees, a full-time worker who manages production and wholesale fulfillment, and a freelancer who manages customer service. They tend to average 10-12 customer contacts per day.
Today, resort wear has invaded the current trends of modern high fashion and evolved to being more than just the styles that someone wears on vacation. It’s becoming more versatile and wearable outside of a resort setting. This is a highly profitable industry, and this brand has done exceptionally well, with high sales and a loyal customer base that continues to come back, no matter the time of year.
This is an outstandingly rare opportunity to take a company that has an enduringly loyal audience with tremendous spending power. Keeping revenues high, this acquisition provides a buyer with clear opportunities to dramatically increase profits. Expanding product lines, shifting to other eCommerce platforms, and using digital marketing, this brads delivers limitless potential. Women’s apparel will always be a high selling product, and this brand benefits by already having a, unshakeable reputation within the resort wear industry. It is ideally positioned for fantastic growth.
