As Barneys (New York) looks to compete with other department stores and online outlets, the company is increasingly turning to exclusive products, whether from its own private-label brands or capsule collections/exclusives within other brands. That number of merchandise now accounts for approximately 25 percent of all of the retailer’s offerings.
According to Women’s Wear Daily, Barneys Chief Merchant Jennifer Sunwoo said that exclusive products are“most profitable because we’re not competitively pressured to mark down merchandise.”
To that end the company is building up its newest proprietary women’s collection, FiveSeventyFive, which just launched, and includes apparel and footwear. By fall, it will also feature handbags, jewelry and belts, and is expected to include menswear sometime next year.
The collection is being developed by an in-house Barneys merchandising team and is being sold in the retailer’s 13 full-price stores.