Lord & Taylor is reintroducing itself to customers this fall with an aggressive marketing campaign along with an expanded assortment of national and international brands in a range of categories.
Although the business is nearly 200 years old and was America’s oldest department store, L&T hasn’t had a brick-and-mortar presence since the final stores were shuttered in 2021 after the chain filed for bankruptcy and was liquidated. Saadia Group, which bought Lord & Taylor and its parent, Le Tote, for $12 million through a bankruptcy auction in the fall of 2020, revived the business last spring as a digital-only retailer. Saadia also owns New York & Company and the Fashion to Figure plus-size women’s chain.
Earlier this year Saadia brought Sean Foster on board as chief executive officer of L&T and Macy’s Inc. veteran Mark Stocker as president and chief merchandising officer to revitalize the business. On Tuesday it will reemerge from the shadows when it launches Fall Fete, a new campaign designed to pay tribute to the brand’s history and provide a peek into its future.
The campaign features models from many different industries.
In an exclusive interview with WWD, Stocker said when he joined the company in January, he quickly realized that as a digital-only entity it lacked a clear vision. So his first order of business was to evaluate what consumers were buying and determine the best way to differentiate the L&T brand to compete in the competitive retail climate.
The result of that deep dive was to establish L&T as aspirational and more fashionable than it had been in the past with more of a “youthful and fun” message.
Next up was to mine the long-standing relationships he had established in the apparel industry to shake up the assortment. “We went to shows in Milan, Florence and Berlin,” Stocker said, “and found a lot of brands with little to no distribution in the U.S.” Stocker called this The International Edition and the brands will begin flowing in for fall and next spring. That includes Mos Mosh + V Italia, ICHI, Atelier Reve, and Charles Tyrwhitt as well as Quiz, Vero Moda and Gentil Bandit.
“We’re evolving alongside our customer’s needs to provide a curated selection of international offerings that prioritize quality design and luxury, as it’s central to our new mission,” Stocker said. The new brands range from classic to modern and contemporary, he said, with about 20 being added for fall and some 30 to 40 over the next year. “It will touch apparel, beauty, jewelry and footwear,” he said.
But it’s not just little-known international brands that have been added to the mix. A bevy of labels from the U.S. and beyond are now being offered at L&T. They include Bagatelle, Brodie Cashmere, Ed Hardy, Juicy Couture, Recycled Karma, Lev’s and Thrills in women’s and Boss, DKNY tailored clothing, Chubbies, Earnest Sewn, Mackie and The Recycled Planet in men’s.
Kids is a new addition to the assortment.
The plus size area will also get some fresh blood including Pissaro Nights, La Femme, Suburban Riot, Anne Klein, Fila and Kenneth Cole outerwear while mothers-to-be will find Motherhood Maternity and A Pea in the Pod among the brands. In kids, which is being launched for fall, it’s Levi’s, Hurley, Vintage Havana and Appaman that are being offered.
Footwear has added a number of new labels including Aquatalia, Cole Haan, K-Swiss and Karl Lagerfeld Paris while new brands in jewelry range from Kendra Scott and Adina Eden to Djula and Apres Jewelry. There are also a number of additions in handbags, watches and sunglasses.
Beyond apparel and accessories, Stocker said L&T is beefing up its assortment in home with Alessi, Dualit, Ruffoni cookwear and Zwilling being added in the kitchen area; Sferra in bed and bath, and Samsonite and New Balance in luggage.
“We want to meet our customers where they are in all aspects of their fashion journey,” Stocker said. “We are here to provide them with the essentials they need to live their best lives, from day to night, office to dinner, school to formal, while also helping them discover new brands and must-haves.”
He said right now, dresses are still a strength of the business and he expects that to continue even as the new brands flow in over the next 30 to 45 days.
This expanded assortment is also seen as a way to attract customers from throughout the U.S., not just in the company’s stronghold in the Northeast. Although a “good portion” of the business still derives from the Northeast, he said there are also shoppers in Florida, Texas, the Midwest and on the West Coast. “There was a lot more perception of the brand that I realized,” he said.
He said the “while we don’t want to take away from our heritage,” the new message is one that is “youthful, diverse, size inclusive and more fashion-forward.”
The new logo.
The campaign will feature 14 models from all walks of life and will include model and writer Kendra Austin; drag queen and influencer Josh Wallin; Maggie Rawlins, a registered nurse; Madhulika Sharma, a human rights activist, and Nancy Ozelli, an actress.
The campaign was shot in New York by Max Papendieck.
“They’re young and old alike and the photos show people engaging with one another,” Stocker said.
It will also feature an updated logo for the company.
The all-digital campaign will be featured on the company’s website and social channels for the next two weeks.
“Our goal was to digitize the brand and create an elevated online experience,” said Tim Bitici, L&T’s new creative director. “We wanted to create a diverse, multigenerational fall campaign that spoke to everyone, and the fall campaign shot by Max Papendieck does just that. In addition, it was important for us to simplify our logo. We landed with a classic, yet modern Helvetica font, then juxtaposed it with a transparent ampersand to add that extra edge.”
Stocker said the campaign is just “the beginning of the story” of the new Lord & Taylor. “It’s going to feel different and we’re excited about what we will learn from it.”
