Entireworld, the direct to consumer fashion brand founded by Band of Outsiders creator Scott Sternberg, is closing.
The company announced the news in an Instagram statement, saying a lack of capital investment, a fundraiser that fell through and tough competition were to blame, with all items on its website on sale to liquidate and generate cash as quickly as possible.
The brand, who’s hero product was a sweat and pant made from Japanese cotton terry, branched out to elevated basics, scoring a hit at the beginning of the pandemic as customers turned to comfortwear. Dubbed the Covid-19 uniform, sales of loungewear grew 433 percent in early lockdown according to Business Insider.
At first, a boom in sales
After an email campaign in March 2020, over 1,000 sweat suits were sold in a single day, compared to a daily average of 46, with sales steadily climbing during lockdown, increasing over 600 percent over the previous year. The New York Times wrote a flattering piece back in August called “Sweatpants Forever,” painting Sternberg as being in the right place at the right time to grow his fledgling DTC business.
But it was not to be. After shuttering Band of Outsiders, Sternberg publicly denounced the difficulties of the wholesale business model, which at its height was selling 15 million dollars a year to 250 global retailers. Being financially reliant on third party stores was a detriment to the brand when accounts closed or couldn’t pay, faced bankruptcy or downsized their orders. In its heyday Band of Outsider thrived at retailers such as Barney’s, but when Barney’s faced bankruptcy, the small brands dependent on its timely payments suffered the brunt. Direct to consumer models also have their tribulations, having to forecast demand, produce and pay factories in advance, invest in marketing to reach the same customers as everyone else. Many brands also underestimate the need for a retail presence, focusing on growth over profitability.
When he launched Entireworld in 2018, Sternberg posted a video in which he asked “why would I even want to start a fashion brand right now, when there is so much available?” The answer was that commodity fashion, the items we lived in, had undeservedly lost the sublime – the attention to detail of high quality fabric and local production.
“I fell into fashion when it hit me what a unique opportunity it presented,” the Los Angeles-based Sternberg said in his Instagram post, “build an intricate world through a super personal brand vision, meticulously design all of the products that make up that world, and if I’m doing it right, people will literally live in it every day.”
Header 2A fundraising deal fell through
“Just a few weeks ago, we were closing an acquisition deal that – after years of unsuccessful fundraising — would have finally given us a shot at realizing the financial potential of the brand. But that deal disappeared in a flash, leaving us and our factories high and dry and giving us no choice but to shut things down.”
