Fashion’s Great Inventory Pullback

This time last year, Scott Studenberg of Los Angeles luxury brand Baja East was, as he puts it, living his best life. The creative director had just relaunched his line of “loose-luxe” staples at a more contemporary price point, and 15 top retailers had snapped up the fringed halter dresses, printed kaftans and metallic cycling shorts he showed for spring 2020. Then, of course, the pandemic hit, and nearly all of those retailers cancelled their orders, sticking Studenberg with a season’s worth of inventory. Still, the brand was in a better position than many of its peers: slouchy sweats and tie-dyed tees are core to its business, and Studenberg had a supply of blank white versions that he tie-dyed at home after his printer shut down. “I’m so thankful that’s something I’ve stuck to because that’s what’s selling right now,” he says. “Has anyone bought my scarf-dress that I dressed Georgia Fowler in when I went to the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards? Well, if I had it then and there, yeah. But now I have those on my website, and zero people are buying them because there’s nowhere to go.” Read more at Vogue Business.