Skin Adds Menswear, Katie Sturino Teams With Amazon, Bruce Pask on the Road
MORE SKIN: Pretty soon men will be putting on Skin Worldwide.
The luxury innerwear and loungewear brand — which includes celebrity fans like Meghan Markle, Oprah Winfrey, Kylie Jenner and Martha Stewart — is expanding into men’s basics this fall, just in time for the holidays.
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“Our female customers tell us how jealous their men are that they get to wear Skin,” Susan Beischel, founder of the brand, told WWD. “I decided it was time to start building the Skin family.”
The news comes as other intimate apparel brands have recently made the move from women’s only innerwear and lingerie to men’s. Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty, Commando, Natori, Cosabella and Journelle are just a few. Kim Kardashian has hinted that her Skims brand will do the same.
But Skin’s chief executive officer Ken Sitomer said men’s is just the beginning. He said the New York-based firm would like to expand into license deals in the beauty, footwear, accessories and home categories, as well.
Meanwhile, Skin’s own e-commerce business continues to grow.
Beischel — who launched the brand in 2003, making her first shipment a year later — said Skin began as a wholesale business. (The company currently sells to Net-a-porter, Selfridges, Harrods, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Revolve, Shopbop, Dillards and Goop, among others, including specialty boutiques around the world.) But these days, the majority of Skin’s revenues come from its website.
The founder said she’s not opposed to opening Skin brick-and-mortar stores, or other IRL Skin happenings in the future either — like the annual Cannes Film Festival Pajama Party, which Skin hosted last July.
“That’s my dream,” Beischel said. “To have the world feel comfortable in their skin.” — KELLIE ELL
STURINO’S NEW GIG: Katie Sturino and Amazon are joining forces for the most size-inclusive collection to come from the e-commerce giant’s fashion category.
The Megababe founder and influencer is teaming with Amazon’s The Drop — the company’s fashion arm that offers limited-edition collections with celebrities, influencers and brands — for an eight-piece spring fashion collection that is the most size-inclusive range ever carried on The Drop. Sizes for the apparel collection range from XXS to 5X.
“Amazon brings something really unique to the plus-size space,” Sturino said. “First of all, they offer plus-size clothing already and have for a while. They also have the ability to offer trendy, affordable and fashionable items for plus-size women. I think that’s something unique and I’m excited to be a part of it.”
Sturino was inspired by the Milanese woman for the spring collection, looking to bright reds, yellows and pinks in an array of chic, yet comfortable styles.
The collection includes pieces like a red jumpsuit, a pink and red checkered caftan, a casual red blazer and matching trousers, a yellow and white caftan and other pieces.
Courtesy of Amazon
“I wanted bright colors because I know that’s how I feel most confident and comfortable when I’m wearing something, especially just a single tonal look” she said. “I wanted pieces that were going to allow women to style them with their wardrobe that they already have or they can buy the full look.”
Sturino explained the caftans are her favorite pieces from the collection as they’re a comfortable option to wear daily, but that she also loves the separates, like the red blazer and yellow trousers, because they can be matched with other pieces in her wardrobe.
“Even though it may sound intimidating to wear a red jumpsuit, the whole point of my platform is that everyone should have fun with fashion and express themselves,” Sturino said. “This collection makes it easy for women of any size to do that.”
Sturino has become an influential player in the fashion industry over the years, growing her social media following to roughly 683,000 Instagram followers with her fashion series like #MakeMySize, which encourages popular fashion brands to be more size inclusive, and #SuperSizeTheLook, where she recreates looks seen on celebrities, models and influencers.
She also launched her beauty brand Megababe in 2017 to address body-discomfort issues that were rarely addressed in the beauty industry, like thigh chafing or body sweat. The brand has since grown to offer other personal care products and is now sold at Target.
The Drop x Katie Sturino collection will be available to shop starting Tuesday on Amazon’s The Drop website. All pieces retail for under $100. — LAYLA ILCHI
Courtesy of Amazon
ON THE ROAD: Bruce Pask has travel on his mind.
The men’s fashion director of Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus has partnered with Herschel Supply Co. to create a luggage/travel capsule for his B. Shop.
B. Shop is a boutique on the third floor of the Goodman men’s store that was created and is curated by Pask. It opened in 2019 and features some of the retailer’s favorite pieces.
“This was a really fun collaboration,” Pask said, adding that it is a timely addition as the weather warms up and people start to plan summer and weekend getaways.
“I was contacted by the Cormack brothers, Jamie and Lyndon, the cofounders of Herschel Supply Co., to create a luggage/travel capsule with them and we came up with this six-piece collection of black canvas and leather pieces: a weekender bag (expandable, protected shoe compartment), a backpack (multiple pockets, separate padded laptop and iPad storage), toiletry bag, a padded laptop folio, passport case and sunglass case,” Pask said.
He said his extensive travel experiences over the years informed the storage and portability of the pieces, which have a utilitarian aesthetic with tonal zigzag accent stitching details.
The capsule will retail from $50 for the sunglass case to $350 for the weekender and $450 for the leather and canvas backpack — prices that are higher than the Herschel core line.
Since opening at the beginning of 2019, Pask said B. Shop has become a popular spot for the curious. “I comb the markets to find products interesting to me and others in a style-minded sphere,” he said. “It’s a nice eclectic mix grounded in easy, wearable pieces.”
Since B. Shop debuted, Pask has partnered with other brands on special products or capsules including Le Mont St. Michel, Common Projects, Peregrin and others. — JEAN E. PALMIERI
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