Hi, and welcome back to Line Sheet. Sarah “SShapiro@puck.news” Shapiro is here with a second-day take on the Dôen funding news, an explanation of why catalogues have stopped listing all their prices, and a must-read shopping scene report from Mexico City. (I love it there, but you really do have to get a guide to take you to the best taquerias. Otherwise, you will be lost and stressed.) Finally, Sarah is giving the people (a.k.a. me) what they want: a deep dive into the business of Tuckernuck. It’s really big! Sarah also has something for those of you with the Shoppies: For the past half decade or so, the Instagram algorithm has become obsessed with a 39-year-old Harrison Ford in Cannes wearing blue short shorts. We can confirm that these are too short for most men… but they might look great on you. Anyway, the Harrison photo resurfaced again this weekend when the great Becky Malinsky posted her summer vacation packing list, and it got me thinking about a few shorts recs of my own. As I gear up for the Bay Area’s brief-but-real shorts season, I’m considering these Varley shorts (a polished version of the retro track runner), and Donni’s dressier style—the platonic ideal of a pleated, longer-length linen short. Lauren has the Spence tech baggies and really likes them. Matching sets are, somehow, still a thing after The Frankie Shop first released their version mid-pandemic. Meanwhile, With Nothing Underneath is sure to sell through its pink version, given that The Pink Shirt is the piece of the season. —Sarah Shapiro Mentioned in this issue: Tuckernuck, Jocelyn Gailliot, J.Crew, Madeline Grayson, September Votta, Polo Ralph Lauren, Staud, Ganni, Margaret Kleveland, Holly Soroca, Dôen, Gap, Chava Studio, Olivia Villanti, Delia’s catalogs, and many more…

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Three Things You Should Know…

Dôen’s Series A: When Lauren reported yesterday that Dôen had raised a Series A, I flashed back to my March interview with co-founder Margaret Kleveland and president Holly Soroca. At the time, Kleveland told me, they were “discussing what it’s going to mean” to cross the $100 million sales mark, which they’re on track to do this year, and how that milestone motivated them to “find the right partner.” Kleveland, who bootstrapped the business with her sister and co-founder, Katherine, was adamant about finding an outside investor who “understands the brand vision” and “would prioritize long-term, healthy growth.”Enter Silas Capital, which led a $25 million round at a ~$200 million valuation. That should give Dôen plenty of room to expand into other categories and continue to grow the brand’s wholesale business. Denim, in particular, is a major revenue driver—I heard the oversize denim jacket and wide-leg jeans from their Gap collab were some of the first to sell out—and should bring them more exposure at wholesale. Same goes for shoes and intimate apparel, categories they’ve only dabbled in. Dôen is capturing customers who are trading up from Gap and J.Crew to find special items with more relaxed, West Coast vibes, as well as customers who wear designer and want to mix in easy pieces. For instance: the Sebastiane skirt, which sold out many times last summer, is now a basic. It can be styled with The Row tops and Hermès Oran sandals, or a simple Hanes tank and Havaianas.
That missing price is not a misprint: If you haven’t bothered to check your physical mailbox recently, yes, fashion brands are still sending out seasonal catalogs. One thing that has changed, however, is that many of them have stopped including prices. (As J.P. Morgan said, if you have to ask…)Alas, retail has evolved from the days of dog-eared J.Crew and Delia’s catalogs. But there’s no conspiracy here, per se. As you might surmise, in our always-on, e-commerce world, print catalogs constrain retailers’ ability to experiment with dynamic pricing, flash sales, coupon codes, and seasonal markdowns. Those issues are especially pertinent now, with tariff rates changing from week to week. No retailer wants to have a disgruntled customer citing a former catalog price after a 20 percent hike has gone into effect.
Mexico City shopping spree: On a recent trip to Mexico City, I managed to squeeze in some channel checks. At Chava Studio, designer and founder Olivia Villanti had embraced the appointment-only model, appealing to tourists who come in for one-on-one tailoring. Now, she’s renovating the space to turn it into more of a shop with regular hours. Villanti can also give you great food recs—we loved Voraz. (I also like the women-owned guide Eat Like a Local for finding good street food.)A Line Sheet reader told me to visit Metta Running House, a café-fronted space that serves as a gathering spot for running clubs. The shop focuses on design- and performance-forward brands like District Vision and Soar, sort of like Renegade Running in L.A. Liverpool, meanwhile, delivers Macy’s Herald Square energy, making their Nordstrom partnership for U.S. expansion feel like a natural strategic move—one that will combine Liverpool’s Mexican retail expertise with Nordstrom’s U.S. market knowledge and partners.

And now for the main event…

Tuckernuck Takes Manhattan

The D.C.-born fashion brand, a favorite of the Butterworth’s set, has quietly bootstrapped a $100 million business by blending its own styles with curated third-party labels. But multibrand retail is notoriously difficult—and scaling the company beyond its single brick-and-mortar location will take serious capital.

Sarah Shapiro

Tuckernuck, the D.C.-based retailer behind the love-it-or-hate-it wool tweed “Jackie” dress that was everywhere on Capitol Hill during campaign season, is making a move to become the go-to “life hack” for millennial women looking for a J.Crew alternative. It was ubiquitous during the White House Correspondents’ Association group grope—particularly its climactic, Tammy Haddad–hosted garden brunch—and strewn across Butterworth’s, the center of the Republican social scene. Nine years after Tuckernuck opened its first retail store in the district, the multibrand retailer is opening its second location this fall, on Madison Avenue. Tuckernuck—named after the tiny, IYKYK island off the coast of Nantucket—has steadily won market share by targeting affluent-ish, Acela corridor William & Mary alum types who love preppy fashion but balk at retail prices, and want to shop complete looks served on a platter. (Think a dress, handbag, shoes, and accessories, all for under $800.) A personal shopper who works with C-suite executives that regularly buy Oscar de la Renta and Michael Kors told me her clients supplement their wardrobes with Tuckernuck, particularly for summer, and feel confident buying it on their own.

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But it’s been a long road to physical retail. When C.E.O. Joceyln Gailliot founded the brand in 2012 with her sister Madeline Grayson and Grayson’s college friend September Votta, investors were singularly focused on D.T.C. disruption. Tuckernuck took the bootstrapped route. The business worked its way through the incubator scene before joining 500 Global (f.k.a. 500 Startups) with an initial $65,000 investment. They raised an additional $400,000 from 500 Global, plus a friends and family round—and then hit a wall. Venture investors didn’t understand the value of another multibrand retailer with an e-commerce angle. In the end, of course, it all seemed to work out. Forerunner Ventures partner Eurie Kim advised them to stop raising money and focus on growing with available capital. What seemed like a setback became their advantage, forcing Gailliot to grow the company slowly and deliberately, with a focus on generating cashflow that could be invested back into the business. Tuckernuck now generates over $100 million in annual net sales revenue, without any institutional investment. In 2020, Tuckernuck launched its own private-label brands, for the same reason most ambitious retailers ultimately do—to build margin, and differentiate with looks that a customer can’t find elsewhere at that price point. While 60 percent of Tuckernuck’s styles come from brands like Staud, Ganni, Ulla Johnson, and Sea NY, its private label now drives 70 percent of sales. Strategic juxtapositions work in Tuckernuck’s favor: They sell Polo Ralph Lauren’s summer flag sweater for $298 alongside their almost identical version for $198, appealing to customers who don’t care about the label, or are looking to save some money.

The D.C.–New York Crowd

I asked Gailliot why Tuckernuck chose the Upper East Side, rather than Dallas or Nashville or even Charleston, for the brand’s second location. For one, Gailliot said, she now lives in the neighborhood. “I know this market so well, and we really try to go to where our customers are,” she told me. “Georgetown was our backyard. [The Upper East Side is] full of all the schools around here, lots of great families, lots of really busy moms, busy professionals. That kind of neighborhood is part of where our recurring customer is.” It’s a calculated expansion, and one that the brand seems well positioned to gamble on. Tuckernuck now employs 125 people at their D.C. headquarters, Gailliot told me, while she’s been gathering market intel for the new store in New York. Customer data reveals that digital shopping carts are consistently mixed between private label and third-party brands, she noted. With the Madison Avenue flagship, Tuckernuck can build its fashion cred, and test and learn in an adjacent market, before scoping retail opportunities in other locations.

Of course, multibrand retail is notoriously difficult—just ask Gap, which shuttered Piperlime, or Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom, which have to manage relationships with the same vendors they compete with. Tuckernuck needs their internal design team to keep delivering desirable products at strong margins, while minimizing markdowns and continuing to win at multibrand, too. The brand has thrived, so far, by staying customer-obsessed, as Gailliot told me, but keeping that intimate connection while growing is the test of every multibrand retailer with ambition. For now, the numbers suggest they’ve found a formula that works. Whether they can maintain it at scale, and continue to grow once they inevitably take on outside investors, will be Tuckernuck’s billion-dollar question.

What We’re Reading… and Looking at…

Asos doesn’t want to miss out on the coming Gen Alpha rumspringa in SoHo, so they’re opening their first U.S. store at 120 Wooster. Will efforts like this save Asos? The company, which trades on the London Stock Exchange, has lost more than 90 percent of its value in the past five years, and C.E.O. José Antonio Ramos Calamonte is three years into his “turnaround.” [WWD] Leandra Medine Cohen’s diamond collab with Aflalo went live, including this $3,000 toe ring. [Aflalo] Speaking of Aflalo, Marisa Meltzer profiled Yael. [The New York Times] Julie Brener Davich documents the watch-market correction, helped in part by the rise in demand for women’s time pieces. Also: Christie’s has a bunch of pieces from JAR—the only jewelry house we really care about—up for auction this week, including 11 pieces from Anne Bass’s collection. [Puck and Puck] Read the logline for this episode of Adam Curtis’s new documentary: “Who needs politicians in a magical world of free individuals? So they give away their power. But Alexander McQueen sees what is really happening. The monstrous rise of the handbag.” [Shifty, Part 5: The Democratization of Everything]

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

Puck fashion correspondent Lauren Sherman and a rotating cast of industry insiders take you deep behind the scenes of this multitrillion-dollar biz, from creative director switcheroos to M&A drama, D.T.C. downfalls, and magazine mishaps. Fashion People is an extension of Line Sheet, Lauren’s private email for Puck, where she tracks what’s happening beyond the press releases in fashion, beauty, and media. New episodes publish every Tuesday and Friday.

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