Sackler, founded the brand back in 2019 as an offshoot from her female members-only wine club, tapping Elizabeth Kennedy as creative director, showing her luxury priced collection at New York Fashion Week. Sackler, who is chief executive officer, added e-commerce in 2020, in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when “some of the major retailers were faced with their own issues of surviving during COVID-19, so we became direct-to-consumer. At the same time, we viewed this as a strategic move to increase our profitability,” Sackler explained.
“The large retailers didn’t want to carry a Sackler brand, and they experienced a lot of financial hardship from the pandemic,” admitted Sackler, who is married to David Sackler, whose family owns Purdue Pharma, the controversial maker of OxyContin. The prescription drug company has been sued by governments and individuals for its key role in the opioid crisis. While Joss Sackler is not technically part of the company, she is, through her last name, attached to the family’s cultural notoriety.
“Solution: we went d-to-c; we weren’t at the mercy of anyone running an anti-Sackler campaign and we control our own sales,” she said.
That was 2020, and now as most of the world has reemerged, she sees an opportunity for her brand to expand to a new customer. “We analyzed the existing landscape in mass market retail and realized there was a gap and that we could do it better,” she said. “LBV. is producing affordable clothing, with original design, and with better quality and fit compared to the competition.”
Part of the new direction is a bit of a re-brand, adding a period to the LBV. name “to showcase the expansion of the brand,” she said.
The executive deems her offering — priced from $45 to $159 — as “fast luxury,” defining it as not replicating runway trends at a mass-market level. “Fast luxury produces high-end design at a low cost according to a quarterly product drop schedule. This accessible luxury allows for longevity,” she explained.
“We are attracting a wider generation of shoppers that have a very real internet presence,” the CEO said, when asked about the new customer for LBV.
“On average, people spend two to three hours per day on social media,” she continued. “LBV.’s goal is to appeal to these customers regardless of their social platform of choice. Our new website offers an integration with both TikTok and Instagram, which merges customers’ social feeds with our homepage. We also take into account that today’s customer wants a better sense of community from the brands they support and are looking to be wholly immersed into the world of those brands.”
Sackler explained that she plans to leverage the community concept with a new wave of technology centered around gamification and 3D digital fashion. “We have come to realize that the era when customers would look to place preorders for next season’s collection is now dated. Nowadays, people want to buy now and wear now, without having to forfeit good design. LBV. provides customers with luxury level design and instant gratification.
“It’s not what I think, it’s what I know,” she said firmly, when asked what her brand brings to the mass price point fashion conversation, placing LBV. on the same playing field as Zara and H&M. “We have taken the consumer into account every step of the way. We have an in-house creative design team with Elizabeth Kennedy at the helm. We pay particular attention to quality and fit, replicating the development process we use at the couture level. This includes a minimum of two fittings on a live model and sometimes even three before going into production,” she said.
“The translation to mass price point is surprisingly very seamless,” said creative director Kennedy, adding that the collection has a range of suiting appropriate for day or evening, as well as evening pieces.
“The truth is that you can achieve a very couture look at a much more accessible price-point,” Kennedy said of her work with sequins, matte jersey and crepe. “We have homed in on the fundamentals — fabric, fit and thoughtful construction. I find the fit of a garment to be one of the most, if not the most, important components of designing a garment; somewhere I feel other mass market brands are missing the mark.”
The first collection in the affordable category will nod to the company’s greatest hits over the past six seasons. “We have translated many of our couture looks for the launch, and you will see us continue to reference previous seasons as inspiration for each collection,” she said. The first summer collection will drop in May with a color palette of candy pink, a vibrant green, metallics and neutrals. Speaking of hits — Kennedy said the summer collection will see an update to its spring 2021 wide-leg tan pant suit, worn by the likes of Sharon Stone and Rita Ora.
Its tailored experiential digital shopping program includes the ability for customers to view product on three e-commerce models in sizes two, six and 12, with digital renderings that offer 360-degree views of the clothing by Dressx, and includes interactive games to earn reward points.
Kennedy explained that while the first collection will be a bit larger, helping to establish the brand voice, the aim is to have four collections a year, dropping product every three to four months. “As we expand and establish our core product offering, we will replenish the site more frequently,” she said. “We will also be introducing some limited-edition pieces and couture made-to-order come August.”
“We offer styles worn by countless celebrities on the red carpet,” Sackler added. “Most importantly, we have set up LBV. so that it is positioned to scale quickly. To that end, we have implemented hassle-free returns, translation of our website to other languages such as Arabic, the ability to shop our website globally in more than 100 different currencies, global shipping and a desirable loyalty rewards program.”
LBV.’s first images will roll out on social channels with wild postings around four major cities: New York, Miami, Chicago and Los Angeles in May.
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