LN-CC Acquisition

[stemcell]

http://www.businessoffashion.com/2014/02/bof-exclusive-level-group-buys-ln-cc-administration.html

Thought this was interesting. They confirmed dropping Ann Demeulemeester from their roster, and from what I can tell online it looks like they might have dropped a few other brands, possibly including Dries and By Walid. I'd be surprised for them to keep Lanvin, over something like Dries though.

The BoF article is pretty thorough but I was curious if anyone else had any thoughts/information/insight to add. Hopefully this was the appropriate place to post this.

Thanks

[Faust]

Moved to fashion media.

It's too early to speculate what they might and might not drop as they go through restructuring. I wish them the best - it's a wonderful store that deserves its place in this industry.

[TriggerDiscipline]

Moved to fashion media.

It's too early to speculate what they might and might not drop as they go through restructuring. I wish them the best - it's a wonderful store that deserves its place in this industry.

they seemed to have moved locations and had their telephones disconnected for a bit when I tried to get into contact with them but this could have been some sort of miscommunication, they aren't stocking Ann D Men's or Part of 4 (my favorite, I wish) but they are stocking Rick SS even though it's late, it should be up by tomorrow it seems.


I don't think it will affect them too much as a whole though, but we'll see.

[DividedWay]

I'm just sad because now everything goes through a warehouse in Italy, and the Italian post is significantly more of a pain (and less reliable) than English post.

[michael_kard]

Thanks for sharing stemcell. LN-CC is by far one of the most progressive retail outlets in Europe at the moment, and I've been left speechless by the strength of their styling. That said, they did slash their prices considerably during sales, especially on their more expensive buys. I sincerely hope this is for the best.

[justinhere]

They grow too fast and you can saw they're crazy sale on all the brand,even on guidi last year,then they drop it.

[beyondthemeans]

http://www.businessoffashion.com/201...istration.html

Thought this was interesting. They confirmed dropping Ann Demeulemeester from their roster, and from what I can tell online it looks like they might have dropped a few other brands, possibly including Dries and By Walid. I'd be surprised for them to keep Lanvin, over something like Dries though.

The BoF article is pretty thorough but I was curious if anyone else had any thoughts/information/insight to add. Hopefully this was the appropriate place to post this.

Thanks

Would be a shame if they drop Dries, especially because most of their buy seems to sell out quite fast. I started buying brands like Dries, that aren't really the thing you will immediately associate with SZ, because of their buy. For me at least, their styling shows that certain items of brands like Dries or Lanvin can work very well with more "SZ" brands. They really re-introduced me to certain brands again.
Can get that they'll drop By Whalid, but would make more sense to drop Damir over Dries.

LNCC in the past gave me customer service beyond expectation. Hopefully this won't change in the future.

[stemcell]

They definitely have the best styling of any of the larger retailers.
It's weird to me to keep a brand like balenciaga (for men) versus something like Men's Ann. However their Ann buy last season was absolutely ridiculous from a business perspective, to highlight:
-purple velvet coat in an awkward cut, and then
-the same coat in two other versions.
-Two color ways and full size runs of a $12 fur coat
-multiple versions of the same shoe, including white calf hair

Those alone were probably enough to weigh the whole seasons buy of that brand down... I was lucky to get a pair of black calf hair boots from them before the brand was taken down, and I am grateful that they stock interesting pieces but at the same time it just seemed inexperienced and doomed to not sell. (although that ann fw did poorly across several retailers) I love the Ann SS14 collection so much and was so excited to see how they styled it with all the stripes and what not, but now we'll never know!

[stemcell]

They put up some new Rick. It shows what I guess is their new product shot style. White backgrounds, maybe for some kind of cross exposure? This is required to be featured on sites like Amazon or farfetch... or maybe they just wanted white. The lighting is really awkward though, not sure if it was a rush job because their spring collections are arriving late, and not to be an anal asshole (see what I did there ) but they edited the blacks so hard... which is a bit weird IMO for showcasing a brand like Rick, it's common sense you have to edit the blacks up a little, especially on a stark white background (could just be my monitor, but see the photography on Rick's official site for comparison). One of my favorite things about LNCC was that you could always see the details of their fabric so clearly in their beautiful photography.

Not trying to harp on superficial bullshit, whatever it takes them to succeed!

[Ives927]

The starkness of the new style shots are really grating on the eyes. I agree that it looks like a rushed job. I really hope this is just a transitional period they're going through. LNCC is the one store I would continuously return to time and time again. The customer service was superb, styling was brilliant and always made me see the garments in ways I hadn't expect to, and the online store was just the best.

I wish them the best and really look forward to the changes to come.

[mikko]

Hope they can make it work from the numbers' perspective too...

[pregnantbob]

"it kind of got to a point where cash flow was becoming so tight that it was becoming impossible to get the product in on time"

It actually hurt to read that part.

"we’ve never really nailed the actual business side of our offer"

ahhh heck we've all been there. I hope they do okay with a bit more oversight

[kuugaia]

To see a store like LN-CC go through issues like this really speaks volumes about the state of retail at the moment; it's not like they're inexperienced either. Sad news but definitely hope the next phase in their brand will be even better than the last.

I don't think their By Walid sold through very well, but I'm personally a fan and hope they keep them on. Price tag too baller for me though.

[ilurkaround]

http://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/bof-exclusive/bof-exclusive-the-second-coming-of-ln-cc

New article from BOF on the "re-launch" of LN-CC. Interesting short read, I didn't know they had difficulty paying some of the labels on time, which lead them to being dropped. Definitely not a fan of their new website design.

[mrbeuys]

Definitely not a fan of their new website design.

Fuck, their website was something I used to reference. Looks almost like they got moved onto the yoox platform or some demandware shit. How can you ruin something that was pretty close to being perfect ( apart from only showing you what sizes are avail until you select one ).
Shame.