EXCLUSIVE: Reese Witherspoon’s Draper James x Lands’ End Get in Bed Together
Reese Witherspoon’s Draper James and Lands’ End are back together.
This time the lifestyle brand started by the actress and producer and the Wisconsin-based all-American retailer are adding sleepwear, loungewear, home goods and even pet products to the mix.
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“Our fur babies need to be part of those holiday photos as well,” Chieh Tsai, executive vice president and chief product officer at Lands’ End, told WWD. “We have dog flannel shirts and dog bandanas and pet beds for matching the whole family.”
It’s southern charm meets Americana in the 45-piece collection (the duo’s third), which includes duvets, bed shams, blankets, towels, flannel pajamas, slippers, stockings, sleep masks, bags and more across men’s, women’s and children’s.
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“It’s feminine, but it’s also casual and polished,” said Kathryn Sukey, head of design at Draper James. “That’s something that was part of Reese’s life growing up. Her grandmother would say that a lot to her, ‘look good, feel good, do good.’ That’s part of the brand. We know that our girl is feminine, but not overly complicated. She doesn’t want anything that takes a lot of contrived effort. It really does have to feel a little bit effortless.
“And this collection is actually quite timely, even though people are starting to emerge [from quarantine] and are vaccinated,” she continued. “The pandemic really showed us how important it is to create this beautiful home space for yourself and make your home a sanctuary.”
Tsai added that even with consumers making more in-person appearances these days, the hybrid lifestyle is here to stay.
“The home is such a multiuse space now; you’ve got work there. It’s an entertainment space. You want to relax there. It’s your heart space,” she said. “And people want to be comfortable in all those moments and surrounded by things that make them feel good, because everything else outside is uncomfortable.”
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Draper James and Lands’ End first teamed up in May 2020 with a collection of women’s swimwear, followed by a second installment the following May. Each time, consumers who came for the collaboration ended up shopping across the assortments, exceeding expectations, Tsai said. So much so that the two brands wanted to expand into other categories.
“For us, at Lands’ End, sleepwear was always such a strong category for us,” she said. “And also, the weather is changing; people are cozying up for the holidays, going indoors for the fall. We thought sleep and home was a perfect and natural evolution.”
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The partnership also helps Draper James, which Witherspoon founded in 2015, scale, while attracting a younger demographic to the iconic Lands’ End brand, which tends to resonate with an older crowd.
“And what we’ve been seeing, which makes us super optimistic, is that there continues to be this really great appetite in both retail streams and environments,” Sukey said. “The Draper James girl is loving what we’re doing with Lands’ End. And then the Lands’ End girl is loving what we’re doing with Draper James.”
Tsai added that, although the collection is limited-edition, both companies will use the sleepwear and home goods launch as a trial run for future expansions in the same categories.
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The Draper James x Lands’ End collection, which launches today, will be available at draperjames.com and landsend.com, as well as all three Draper James stores and 31 Lands’ End retail locations. Apparel pieces come in sizes XS to 3XL for women, XS to 2XL for men and sizes 2 to 20 for children, with prices ranging from $11.95 to $239.95.
A portion of proceeds from the collection will go toward Girls Inc., a nonprofit that supports young girls.
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