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In the entryway of Paloma Wool’s New York City pop-up, open at 425 Broome Street from 9 May to 30 June, is a table topped with notecards and pencils. An array of minimalist garments in muted shades of grey, navy and burgundy are hung artfully throughout, but there’s no pulling from the racks here. The space acts as a showroom, where shoppers note the items they’d like to try on using the cards, which are then placed in the dressing rooms for them. Limited-edition zines and photo books line the tables, and there’s a long, custom-built sofa where visitors can sit and read or hang out while they wait.
“People really like the experience. It gives you a lot of time in the dressing rooms, which is very important for us,” founder Paloma Lanna says.
New York is just one of the many stops on Paloma Wool’s “global pop-up tour”, which kicked off in 2019 — paused during the pandemic — and spans cities such as London, Los Angeles, Paris and Seoul, typically for two-week periods. It’s a way to bring the brand to life in key spots: locations were chosen in step with where the brand saw sales rising and communities forming, Lanna says.
Pop-up sales have risen 40 per cent in the last year, says Paloma Wool managing director Pablo Feu, and now make up a fifth of the brand’s direct-to-consumer (DTC) revenue. The business doesn’t share revenue figures, but said that wholesale accounts for 30 per cent of sales, while DTC is 70 per cent.
The pop-up strategy has been a necessary one to reach audiences beyond Instagram — a platform that has become saturated with brands since Lanna started Paloma Wool in 2014. The daughter of brand owners, she dropped a pseudo-collection of 15 pieces she designed herself. It was the golden era of the ‘Instagram brand’, and Paloma Wool quickly became synonymous with bold prints and bright colours, while social media did its thing and helped to build a loyal following.
Now, the brand — which has grown into a team of 20 — is teeing up bigger moves off the back of its pop-up tour. It recently introduced menswear, and later this year will open a multi-use space in Barcelona that will house its studio, its first permanent store and a library full of books for fashion lovers.
The Instagram leap pad
As competition has increased, Paloma Wool has had to evolve to stay relevant. The brand’s aesthetic has shifted — the clothes have become more minimalist in design, the colours far more subdued. Core silhouettes include striped T-shirts or baggy, studded jeans (the ones seen on Lily-Rose Depp) and trousers with a mini skirt fixed on top.
The brand recently partnered with artist Isabella Benshimol on a temporary exhibition in Milan, as well as a clothing capsule, and the global tour often leads to projects with members of its community. Collaboration was also crucial to translating the world of Paloma Wool to the runway in a way that felt authentic to the brand, says Lanna.
Its first catwalk show was held in Barcelona in March 2022, outside the city’s Museum of Contemporary Art, and saw the brand collaborate with Lanna’s long-time friend and artist Carlota Guerrero on the creative direction. The designer considered it a major landmark moment for a number of reasons. “It was a statement of what Paloma Wool was going to be,” Lanna says. “We wanted to change our direction and elevate the project. I had grown older, and wanted to do something that represented me more. It’s much more sophisticated, but casual at the same time.”
Paloma Wool garments are produced locally, at family-owned factories predominantly in Spain, but in Italy and Portugal too. In addition to selling DTC, the brand works with key retailers such as Ssense, Nordstrom and Voo Store, but places limits on wholesale orders to avoid saturating suppliers. “We try to do controlled production of our pieces,” she says. “The world doesn’t need more clothes, so I have to be super proud of what I’m doing… I really want to make timeless pieces.”
For Spring/Summer 2023, Paloma Wool took its runway show to Paris Fashion Week, and its buzzy immersive performances have cemented the brand as one to watch. After models walked through an open storefront, they submerged themselves in a pool. For AW24, Guerrero staged a beautiful petanque game. “It was a full experience — people got really emotional,” says Pol Conill, a photographer on the creative team.
“I don’t want to follow strict rules of, ‘OK, a fashion show has to be like this because it’s Paris’... It’s Paloma Wool. We have to do our own thing and we will find a space and the people who understand it and appreciate it,” Lanna says.
That applies to Paloma Wool’s store strategy as well. The pop-ups are laying the groundwork for the brand’s first permanent space in Barcelona, due to open later this year. And like other parts of her business, Lanna wants to do things her way, with the hope to create a place for customers to come in, read and hang out.
“There will always be the clothes,” Conill adds. “But there’s a thirst for being more than that.”
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