Dee Ocleppo-Hilfiger has been preparing her namesake brand for global expansion and has signed a retail partner to help her scale worldwide sales. Starting today, the Dee Ocleppo brand will be available for sale on Farfetch.
During the pandemic, Ocleppo-Hilfiger has made strides to expand her brand’s online sales and hopes that, with the addition of Farfetch, she will grow that target along with wider name recognition. The brand will continue to donate a portion of yearlong sales to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, or BCRF.
“Business has surprisingly been really great for us because COVID-19 has really helped our online business immensely and surprisingly people are still shopping for shoes and bags, which is great news for us. We had a 200% spike in online sales, and we expect to have an even bigger bump with this [Farfetch] partnership,” said Ocleppo-Hilfiger.
The company’s work with Farfetch starts with its spring 2021 collection, which includes an assortment of low-heeled feminine shoes, soft leather crossbody bags and polka dot motif sandals.
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Over the last few months, Ocleppo-Hilfiger has honed in on her line’s hero products. “Our mule design has been crazy. We also have really great sneakers in nude and blue and saffron colors. The mule we had to reorder a few times now, and with our bags we always do well in a lot of different colors. I’m a stickler about quality, and I think it also has to be affordable,” said the designer.
The average product in the brand is about $250 retail. “I think people have learned to live with a lot less during COVID-19, and the things they ended up holding onto are things of high quality and basics. I personally have gotten rid of half my things,” said Ocleppo-Hilfiger.
Her husband and brand adviser Tommy Hilfiger said of the days to come: “I think comfort will be here forever, but I think people will be anxious to dress up and get out of their homes to restaurants and parties and events. I think they’ll dress up in a comfortable way, and I think it should be chic and fun, but there should be a comfort factor.”
This story was reported by WWD and originally appeared on WWD.com.
