If you haven’t yet heard of British apparel retailer Aligne, we’ve gotta ask: Where have you been?
Launched in East London in 2020, Aligne began as a wholesale womenswear label before evolving into a buzzy DTC brand known for its influencer-backed blazers and denim dresses.
In the first eight months alone, the brand notched $1 million in sales in the US with ShopMy as an affiliate partner. While primarily online, the brand has also been operating a widely popular summer pop-up in NYC’s Soho since April this year, which shuttered earlier this month.
And if you’re thinking, this is just another viral Gen Z brand, think again; the majority of Aligne’s customers fall between the ages of 30 and 50.
CEO Ginny Seymour, who first came on board in 2022, said a pivot from wholesale to DTC has been instrumental in the brand’s growth.
“I wanted to change who the customer was,” Seymour told Retail Brew, explaining that the brand initially launched as an affordable option but needed repositioning “to make that shift and to change the design handwriting, and to reestablish who our customer was.”
Seymour, who has a background as a buyer, said she wanted to build a direct relationship with the customer that was not through the “lens” of another buyer or their customer.
“By being DTC, you can also move much quicker; you don’t have to worry about wholesale selling periods,” she added.
Aligne’s US customers in particular have been a big part of the retailer’s virality and success as a DTC label. While the initial goal was to have the US account for 35% of its total sales, as of August 1—which also marks the end of Aligne’s first fiscal year as a DTC brand—the US made up for 70% of its overall revenue. Currently, the company’s sales in the US have surpassed those in the UK.
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Seymour added that the brand is also available through retailers like Shopbop and Anthropologie, although the majority of its orders come through its website. While she said New York has been its “strongest” market in the country, San Francisco and Los Angeles are close seconds, followed by Dallas.
But despite its rather rapid rise to fame, Seymour said the company has no plans to open a permanent physical location in New York or the US anytime soon. Instead, Aligne is pivoting to an omnichannel model this fall, with a permanent office opening in New York and plans to build out a US-based team.
“We’re releasing omnichannel as a complement to direct to consumer,” she said. “Right now, we’re seeing brick and mortar as a way to support, not replace, our direct to consumer strategy.”
The retailer has also opened a warehouse in the US already for faster shipping and to avoid complications from tariffs. “It’s much more complex to run a business in the US,” Seymour said. “Shipping lead times across the country, different providers and carriers are just many more nuances to it, where, when we were 90% UK based, the UK is such a small region with a lot more similarities.”
She added that “catching up operationally” has been the biggest obstacle despite significant growth.
Still, the brand has no plans of slowing down. In fact, over the next 12–18 months, Seymour plans on expanding into other categories to begin Aligne’s ascension into a full-grown lifestyle label.
“One of the things for a brand to last is that people need to understand who the brand is, and that brands can have a moment,” she explained. “But making sure people understand the ethos around Aligne and the lifestyle around Aligne is a really important part of our journey.”