Solid & Striped hires Sofia Richie Grainge to debut lifestyle rebrand

Solid & Striped is entering the era of luxury lifestyle with the help of Sofia Richie Grainge.

Richie Grainge is co-designing and art directing the brand's Spring 2024 ready-to-wear, swim and cover-up collection (dubbed Solid & Striped Spring 2024 by Sofia Richie Grainge). The announcement was made Thursday in tandem with the launch of the company's revamped website. . Featuring modern, upscale separates and dresses, sophisticated swimwear and luxurious knitwear, Solid & Stripes' oversized brand rebrands itself from a luxury swimwear and resort wear label to a fully-fledged lifestyle player. It's part of the plan.

The brand has previously focused on activewear, accessories and ready-to-wear, but CEO Elissa Scala Blomer told WWD that the brand is reimagining itself to more fully embrace lifestyle. He said that is the goal.

“I was really lucky because we were able to have a very strong supply chain. We were able to play very quickly in many different categories and had really specialized talent. . Sophia has a great eye. Even though she is youthful, she speaks to all ages. She can cross the bridge, but very few people can do that. It's not trendy, but it really It's a true lifestyle, elegant and fun, and it's now part of our DNA,” said Scala Blommer.

The Spring 2024 collection will be available exclusively on the brand's website on Thursday, and at Moda Operandi on Friday.

Scala Blomer and Solid & Striped majority shareholder Chris Birch said the rebranded line had been well received by appointments in the market. Ultimately, Ritchie Grainge-designed pieces will be available starting March 15th at Bloomingdale's (New York 59th Street and online), Shopbop, Liberty London, neimanmarcus.com, and Fred Segal (Los Angeles store) It turns out.

“We're seeing an influx of new subscribers. We've rebuilt our website and reworked the entire DNA of our brand. I couldn't be more grateful to be here today,” said Scala Blomer. Ta.

“As we rebranded Solid & Striped, we wanted to find someone extraordinary. Sophia is not only elegant, she is a wonderful person. She has a great understanding of the type of elegant clientele and today's culture. What we needed was someone with design talent, insight, and a level of sophistication to work with our team to build great collections and collaborations. . Her talent is overwhelming and I think the collection reflects that perfectly,” Birch said.

Birch said the co-design experience was “really a give-and-take collaboration.” Throughout the process, Richie Grainge came up with his ideas for design, executed by Solid & Striped's team, and worked collaboratively on color, concept, and overall aesthetic, creating Solid & Striped's ready-to-wear items throughout his pieces. Achieved a high level of elegance and taste. -Clothes, cover-ups and swimsuits.

“I absolutely loved this project and loved being behind the scenes in every aspect,” said Richie Grainge. “We have enjoyed the process of creating these garments, starting with the sketches, moving to reviewing and sampling the sketches, to the final results and seeing the campaign come to life.”

In addition, Richie Grainge recommended the Solid & Striped team to consulting firm Invisible Dynamics to collaborate on the rebrand.

High-quality fabrics and a “very affordable” price point (the line ranges from $98 to $798), as evidenced by the collection's new Cady Leisure Suits (chic sleeveless tunics and pants), solid & striped and Ritchie Grainge. Debut outerwear (his Italian cotton twill trench coat) and enzyme-washed cotton twill pants. In addition, the brand's main program – viscose knits (said to be his 35% of the business, its opening point).

Throughout the line, customers can feel Ritchie Grainge's effortlessly luxurious look in sophisticated swimwear, including an asymmetrical one-shoulder high-leg maillot with new custom hardware. In addition to whimsical florals and adorable mini dachshund prints (a nod to Richie Grainge's dogs, seen on dresses and swimsuits), this collection also reflects Richie Grainge's Nouveau inspirations. It also features details such as side slits and cut-out details. The landscape of Montecito, California, where the campaign was also shot.

Following Thursday's unveiling of its Spring 2024 collection, Solid & Striped will open the doors of its New York pop-up on March 9th. Ahead of the new store on Soho's Prince Street, the brand closed its Noho store a month ago to pivot and prepare. For pop-ups.

“The collection will be stored there and the rebranding will be introduced. The important thing is not only to show our customers what we were able to do together with Sophia. Sophia has done a lot of work for us. So I worked really well with the team to learn the process, participate in it and act as creative director, not only for this relaunch and our first collaboration, but also for the in-store presentation,” said Scala Blomer at 900. Talking about the square foot space, she described it as a “jewelry box.”

The store will occasionally close for events and host private shopping sessions for groups, while offering concierge services to make customers feel special and elegant.

Both Burch and Skala Bromer said they envision the rebrand to put Solid & Striped on a growth trajectory for the next 10 to 20 years.

“We consider that swimming will always be there, but we think it will gain some market share. We are very excited about the beauty of where we are going. Very simple and easy, but solid & stripes, and gives customers great confidence at a great price,” said Scala Blommer, adding that the spring collection in collaboration with Ritchie Grainge is the brand's kick-off. A new era is also the brand's vision for the future. This future includes her four collections a year, potential future collaborations, and retail activation.

“We work in apparel. We all have experience. We have a great team and thanks to Chris, we have a great backend, sourcing and supply chain. “We're in a great situation to get things done. We have great talent and we're moving forward,” she said.