David’s Bridal Deepens Way of life Push With Allure Eyewear Partnership

Less than 4 months into her function as chief government officer, Kelly Cook is already making daring strikes to rework David’s Bridal right into a full-fledged life-style model — from tapping into the Labubu craze by creating customized robes for the viral plush toy to launching menswear each in-store and on-line by a partnership with Perry Ellis and its sibling model Cubavera.

Now, after the success of the earlier ventures, she has her sights set on eyewear.

On Wednesday, WWD solely discovered that David’s is partnering with Allure Eyewear, a number one designer and producer that has produced frames for manufacturers like Hurley, Roxy, Adrienne Vittadini and Flower by Drew Barrymore.

The collaboration will convey a brand new line of optical and solar kinds to life beneath Oleg Cassini, the bridal label offered at David’s. 

“We knew we were driving hundreds of millions of dollars in sales through the Oleg Cassini brand, but the question we needed to answer was: ‘Does it have legs beyond the dress?’” Cook advised WWD. “[So,] when we started doing research, it became very clear to us that there was an opportunity we were missing, which was to push it past dresses and more [into] lifestyle.”

Retailing for $88 to $110 for optical and $42 to $60 for solar kinds, the eyewear line will supply prospects “stylish and modern frames” at an inexpensive value, one thing Cook mentioned was vital for the launch.

“The [eyewear], launching later this year, is extremely high quality, but the good news is they don’t have the quality price,” Cook mentioned. “They will be premium craftsmanship because Oleg never did anything that wasn’t high quality. He really wanted all women to feel the way the luxury woman felt. And we loved that about him, so we brought it to this collection.”

Expanding Reach 

In addition to broadening its product assortment, David’s is ramping up its operational technique.

According to Cook, the vertically built-in firm started “thinking smarter” about its provide chain after U.S. President Donald Trump ignited a commerce warfare. With 36 design and manufacturing facilities worldwide — together with a number of exterior of China — David’s discovered itself in a singular place to help manufacturers immediately grappling with tariff strain.

“We had partners coming to us saying, ‘Oh my gosh, I need help…I’m 100 percent in China,’” Cook mentioned. In response, David’s started manufacturing choose merchandise on their behalf, providing a cheap different amid rising commerce tensions.

“We already have the design and production centers,” she mentioned. “So the partner gets margin breaks because they’re moving their production from somebody that’s more expensive to us. Plus, we have the benefit of not having the tax burden, because the center is outside of China, so they don’t have that tariff issue.”

Cook mentioned this method has turn out to be a brand new avenue for progress — one which advantages each David’s and its trade friends. “It’s another way to grow the business and allow these businesses to grow and thrive through current market conditions,” she added. “I mean, we don’t even think of bridal boutiques as competitors right now, they’re partners. Overall, It’s really an exciting time at David’s.”