Luxury brand The Row has raised investment from new backers – including the families behind Chanel and L’Oreal – at a valuation of $1bn.
Founded by former child stars Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen in 2006, the business has proven itself as a serious proposition thanks to its consistency and counterculture approach to marketing. It is logo-free, has mostly inaccessible price points and doesn’t promote its products through brand social channels. From this perspective, it’s easy to believe The Row is a very elevated idea that very wealthy consumers like very much. The end.
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Except, that’s not quite the truth. The Row is a very elevated idea that influencers market organically and make real every single day through videos that reach millions of consumers. Especially on TikTok. Nothing maintains aspiration for the brand like the stylish women who have independently decided to dedicate time and resources to finding dupes of its pieces.
Most can’t afford the real deal, but they are communicating that achieving The Row’s aesthetic is worth the significant effort. As for those who can afford the brand? You better believe they are talking about it. Not to mention unboxing and styling it.
@selenamual obsessed with this outfit, if I may say so myself☺️ #therowoutfit #therowstyle #flatteredbag #minimaloutfitinspo @Flattered @mysamsonite @Ray-Ban
Another thing driving lore around The Row is TikTok commentary about scarcity – how difficult it is to get your hands on pieces by the brand. These videos question how products that are so expensive always sell out. Also, in a retail landscape where everyone is trying harder and harder to scale and sell, The Row is asking consumers to look at art on Instagram.
This is a strategy. It is so much more impactful if other people talk about your brand (influencer marketing 101, right?) and the Olsens have understood this from day one. The Row’s price points are mad, its designs are derivative and its founders never talk about the business. This void of brand communication allows a frenzy of speculation, discussion and desirability to bubble up. At first, this was maintained by the fashion press. Now, it’s influencers.
@grace_mickells welcome home 👜👜lol #tjmaxx #therow #therowmargaux
The Row does not participate in any of this, but it certainly benefits. The huge volume of influencer content investigating, duping, loving and – the holy grail – BUYING The Row allows the brand to be quiet. Allows it to remain an idea, rather than a business that has to explicitly market and sell things.
It’s quite a strategy, but will it continue to work now that the brand is a unicorn? Most likely, because it is such an established reference point. Where trends come and go, The Row is an aesthetic fashion consumers understand and this keeps it prolific in creator content. All it has to do is remain quiet, timeless, expensive and mostly unavailable – and it’s really good at that.
By Sara McCorquodale, founder and CEO of CORQ.
