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And now for the main event…

As it approaches its 10th birthday, Dôen seems determined to avoid the awkward tween phase: This year, the coastal casual brand is set to cross the $100 million revenue threshold and is expanding strategically with the kind of easy grace reminiscent of its signature Sebastiane skirts. And they’ve done it without significant investment. Not surprisingly, suitors are lining up for a brand that’s managed to grow intentionally, striking the right balance between their D.T.C. roots and strategic wholesale partners, without succumbing to the sort of growth-at-all-costs tactics that have waylaid competitors. Among the key ingredients in Dôen’s secret sauce is the leadership triumvirate of co-founders Margaret and Katherine Kleveland, responsible for the company’s easygoing California sensibility, and president Holly Soroca, a disciple of Theory founder Andrew Rosen and Frame investor John Howard, both masters of measured expansion. The Kleveland sisters provide the creative, Soroca supplies the retail strategy. And while it seems like every other brand is trying to ape Dôen’s style, the company has stayed focused on doing its own thing, undistracted by competitors or copycats.

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In particular, Dôen is succeeding by limiting its physical presence—there are plans to expand from five to eight stores by the end of 2025—and capping wholesale to 20 percent of the business. In other words, Dôen is just visible enough to covet, but scarce enough to chase. Their recent launch into 20 Nordstrom locations allows them to expand without overextending their operations or overexposing the brand. Nevertheless, Dôen is growing: The company recently expanded its footprint at Le Bon Marché, following an earlier partnership with Net-a-Porter, and may be considering another funding round, too. Luxury powerhouse Mousse Partners, the Wertheimer family office that also invested in The Row, has looked at Dôen’s financials, I’m told. For a brand that’s remained fiercely independent while building a cult following, choosing the right long-term minority partners may be their most consequential decision yet. For more on the Dôen’s future, I called up Margaret Kleveland and Holly Soroca to discuss what they’ve gotten right, how their partnership strategy is unfolding, and what’s next beyond the $100 million mark. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

Sarah Shapiro: Many brands struggle to strike the right balance between D.T.C. and wholesale. How did you approach your channel strategy from day one, and what’s guiding your expansion now? Margaret Kleveland: When we launched as a digitally native company, we never had the mindset that we were only going to be direct-to-consumer forever. It really was about launching a company and a channel where we felt we could get the most direct connection with our customer and build our brand organically, knowing that wholesale was eventually a really important part of our strategy. When we started strategizing what a larger wholesale expansion would look like for us, about three years ago, we were really targeting the 20 percent number. That number felt like we would be distributed to the extent where we were acquiring customers and having brand awareness, but also where we could still really choose and have meaningful effective partnerships. What are the benefits of partnering with Nordstrom for a brand like Dôen?  Holly Soroca: We’re always looking to be in the best of the best retailers in each location, and we’ve spent a lot of time thinking about cherry-picking the partners that are going to be able to work with us in a way that is mutually beneficial. Nordstrom has locations where there are no other locations, and so we don’t have any physical distribution in a lot of those places. They are the fashion authority [and] have such an expertise in curating an assortment that is very specific to their customer. It’ll look different than it’ll look in our own store and on our website. There’s places like Seattle or even North Park in Dallas, Tampa, King of Prussia in Pennsylvania—places where we have e-com customers. We sometimes get messages like, When are you opening a store here? We can’t open stores everywhere all at once, so how can we really meet the customer where we know she already is? And then also I think there’s a huge amount of opportunity for brand awareness. The foot traffic that [Nordstrom] has is obviously very different than what we would get in our own boutique stores, even if we did have a store in the same location.

You’re becoming one of the brands to watch. What does it take to get to the next stage of company-building? Are you going to bring in outside money? Kleveland: For the last two years we’ve been discussing what it’s going to mean when we cross the $100 million mark, and we’re headed toward that this year. For that milestone, I do think it has motivated us to have conversations to potentially find the right partner. We’re really looking for someone who understands the brand vision [and] would prioritize long-term healthy growth. We are open to the right partner for an initial minority investment, and because we are growing pretty quickly, we’re mindful of how that growth could make for a potentially more difficult transaction. Historically, we’ve been profitable and we’re at the point now where we’re having really healthy double-digit EBITDA. Let’s talk about last summer’s collaboration with Gap. It seems like it was incredibly successful, if for no other reason than that it brought Dôen a ton of awareness and site traffic. Was that a one-and-done or are there more collaborations that you’re considering? Kleveland: We’ve been really selective when we’ve chosen partners, and the reason behind Gap really has to do with the right product fit, and also their understanding of brand, and how they’ve stayed true to their brand throughout time. It was really gratifying. I got a message the day of launch that was like, My favorite brand in the ’90s partnering with my favorite brand of now. And so I think people really got that for us, and it’s important to to maintain that level of why going forward into partnerships. We feel like we have such a good connection to our customer in understanding product category needs, so for us, doing collaborations is less of a testing mechanism and more [about] customer acquisition, to delight our existing customers and maybe convert customers. We have been strategic about pricing, knowing that our goal is to continue to convert that younger shopper into our brand with some of our opening price point items, and we’ve had a lot of success.

The Prada results were even better than expected, with the namesake brand coming through to bolster Miu Miu’s seemingly unstoppable growth. The lesson here? Success comes from creating something undeniably exciting and creative (i.e., a sensational runway show), and then applying the rules of good merchandising to your production and distribution strategy. What comes up inevitably comes down—this isn’t Hermès—but the team running the show over at Prada Group is doing everything right these days. [Read the results for yourself] Jacquemus’s new C.E.O. is Sarah Benady, who previously ran Celine’s North American operations at LVMH. (Now I know why they were recruiting for that job in recent months.) Benady has a great résumé for Jacquemus: Prior to Celine, she oversaw the U.S. market for French high street brands ba&sh and The Kooples, so she understands what works stateside—a priority for Jacquemus as it puts its L’Oréal money to use. [WWD] I don’t know why Hedi Slimane’s lawyer agreed to do this interview, but I’m glad he did: It gives great insight into how he advises designers in negotiations, and why he thinks shorter contracts are better for them. [WWD] Five hours on the history of Rolex: great for Metro and taxi rides between shows. [Acquired] Royals, they’re just like us: Kate Middleton isn’t wearing her engagement ring much these days, opting for a diamond band instead. (Granted, most of us don’t have a ring as extraordinary as that Princess Diana sapphire, but at the same time, this is very common practice for Smug Marrieds of a certain age.) [Town & Country] Social media consultant Rachel Karten breaks down what brands need to consider when they launch a Substack newsletter, from how to measure performance to whether or not it’s even worth it. [Link In Bio]

Until tomorrow, Lauren P.S.: We are using affiliate links because we are a business. We may make a couple bucks off them.

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