Gilt Groupe Is No Guilty Pleasure

Gilt Groupe is a members-only website that provides access to men’s and women’s luxury and contemporary fashion at incredible prices, usually about 70% off retail prices. While the invite-only site originally catered to women only, Gilt has since expanded into menswear and home goods with equal success. Business is white-hot.

Gilt Groupe, which made online flash sales of women’s clothes popular in the United States, is trying to refashion itself as a high-end Amazon.com — a one-stop shop for luxury goods, half of which it says will be full-price within a few years. According to an article in yesterday’s New York Times, Kevin Ryan, Gilt’s chief executive, said the company was simply repositioning as “a broader lifestyle brand, all high-end,” adding, “Whether it’s full-price or discount is a detail.” But others say the effort reveals that the much-heralded flash-sale business is hitting its limits.

A sub-brand of Gilt Man is Park & Bond. While the general level of fashion is a bit fast for me Park & Bond serves a terrific niche in elevating a man’s appreciation for quality dressing. A recent article on “How To Care For Your Shoes” is well written and easily followed through on by any guy who has not a clue as to how to properly take care of the foundation of his wardrobe – his shoes.

Of course, immediately connected to the brief “how to” article is a selection of terrific shoes that any guy, especially one empowered to care for his own shoes, would want to buy.

The Gilt Groupe is smart. They not only have savvy merchants but they are investing in the creative side as well. They have hired editorial directors for each of the company’s divisions. In doing so Gilt Groupe has elevated themselves into an elite group of retail brands who realized the value of creative story telling to sell product. Brands such as Lands’ End, Banana Republic (they were successful enough at it to make the brand an acquisition target for Gap), J Peterman come to mind. Today, Duluth Trading Co. and J.L. Powell come to mind.

This strategy could propel Gilt Groupe to replace editorial only providers like Esquire all together. I’ll be looking to elevate my “urban hipness” via Park & Bond. Wish me well!