I feel like the American analogy for Sezane is Reformation…claims of sustainability, they are EVERYWHERE, hard to tell how the clothes actually fit. And interestingly: No reviews on site either! Wonder how that strategy plays out for brands—I tend to prefer Madewell because pretty much every item has enough reviews to give you a sense of fit/quality/etc. Might be worth its own investigation!
I'm so with you. My friend worked on Reformation branding very early on. It's greenwashing, truly stupidly priced cheaply fabricated garbage that has pivoted from greenwashing to scarcity and exclusivity power moves in their stores, making people wait, controlling inventory, creating barriers to activate desire. It's amazing to behold! Psychologically fascinating. I'm not above wanting what I want, just so over it. A company that meaningfully values sustainability does not behave like that.
I’m a French girl living in the USA and I’m amazed by the fact that American women think that Sezane is the Parisian style but you now what, Parisians (the real ones who live in Paris and not in the whole France) don’t wear Sezane at all! They wear vintage 501 Levi’s, Agnes B, Petit Bateau…Sezane is just a facsimile;)
100%. I’m a British girl living in Paris and think it’s so funny when I see articles in the UK media saying it’s every Parisienne’s go-to or “best kept secret” when this is just not the case at all.
Love this deep dive. I always think it’s funny that the marketing is based on it being the ultimate Paris girl brand – when I live in Paris and don’t know a single person who wears it. It’s never mentioned in the fashion press there and is definitely not seen as a fashion-y brand, it’s seen as very yummy mummy at the school gates, quite suburban. The people who queue at the store are pretty much all British and American tourists.
I don’t even recall seeing French influencers I follow wearing it in paid posts (when I see British ones all the time), which just confirms to me that the strategy is very much to market it as quintessentially French to non-French people. This is in contrast to, for example, Rouje, which does the same thing in foreign markets and very heavily, but also does this in France and is bought and worn by girls in Paris (there’s a store by my flat and it’s always film of French girls) and seen on French influencers.
But the gifting to UK journalists (not just influencers) must be pretty generous because if you believe UK press everyone in Paris is wearing it.
yeah none of the french women i worked with wore it! but i was absolutely corralled into their "francophile" American marketing audience. i cant recall ever seeing a french person wearing it!
really interesting about rouje - i didnt know the distinction there. thx for sharing this fascinating info!
Jeanne Damas has been smart to make sure that when she’s selling a brand internationally that’s entirely based on the French girl trope, potential buyers can actually see French girls wearing it, most of all Damas herself.
Rouje isn’t perfect (and isn’t my thing so I’m not fangirling), the quality is pretty bad especially for the prices, and there are plenty of clichés there being milked, but Damas is one of the reasons they’ve become clichés over the last decade so there’s at least that authenticity there.
I really don’t know what the young ones are wearing, other than being able to say I see a lot of Lycra and what look like Frankie Shop oversized blazers à la Hailey Bieber. The Maje/Claudie Pierlot/Sandro trifecta is I think still popular with younger girls? I’m 43 and my friends are all in their 30s and 40s. Soeur is very popular right now. Perennials I’d say are like vintage Levi’s, lots of vintage actually, and mid-level French brands like Isabel Marant, Vanessa Bruno, Sessùn, APC... Depends of course on your age and where you live and your circle though and how much of a fashion crowd you’re in, but that’s what I see among women around my age group who like to shop and care what they wear but aren’t following trends or working in fashion.
i can’t remember the newsletter that inspired this but a commenter noted that sezanne is the ann taylor of france and i…haven’t looked at their site since. i liked the items i had ordered previously but couldn’t justify the cost per wear. and maybe i’m in the minority on this, but the heavily perfumed items smelled like they had been worn and not luxuriously spritzed. 😬
oh my gosh that was a comment on one of my past posts and it’s gold. Actually meant to include it in here but blanked. thx for the reminder mj. and agreed on the perfume - that’s not always everyone’s preference 😖
This cracks me up, in the early 2000s Ann Taylor had really pretty, high quality, well made pieces that I wore to death. They originally were a regional brand (started in CT) and did preppy weekend and office wear so well. I felt they were very aspirational for adult women's clothing (vs H&M, Dress Barn, Express). It makes me sad that the original quality isn't there any longer.
oh my gosh yes, in the late 90s/early aughts I'd browse Ann Taylor at the mall and it was *such* good quality. Really lovely and well made. A lot of it was out of my price range at the time and didn't fit my life at *all* (healthcare worker), but I loved the beautiful dresses and blazers.
So true!!! sezane and ann taylor have a similar arc of scale and mass. Remembering the beautiful quality of early aughts mall clothes gives me sadness laced with existential despair: does anyone care anymore? what does it say about me, that my clothing purchases are willingly overlooking this?
i came to say the same thing re: ann taylor! it’s kind of amazing when one idea can break the marketing spell, lol… i have simply not been interested since!
This is fascinating and INSANE!! I had no idea. And it's just gross to see the panic and stress this whole circus puts people through just to buy something cute. The investor info makes a lottt of sense. Thanks for putting two and two together for us!
Loved this - I've got a similar thing with Rouje. The brand was so aspirational to me when I tried to stop dressing like a teenager and dress a little more like...a woman? While also remaining youthful. When they opened the store in Soho, I realized that the quality is so low for the prices they charge. Also some of the staff in the store is French and they literally told me some jeans I tried on didn't look good on me hahah
Totally agree on the Rouje quality, and the staff telling you the jeans didn’t look good made me laugh, this is so French. The first time it happened to me in a shop in France (where I live) I almost died but now I love it!
The similarities to the heyday of J. Crew are remarkable. They had a great brand identity and great quality. Like Sezane, they got greedy and decided to take over the world. Social media influencers started wearing J. Crew, especially Collection items. J. Crew showed at New York Fashion Week and invited A-list customers (read, high spenders) to attend the show. Roll outs became frequent and product shortages plus website issues exasperated customers. Quality began declining and they lost the core group of original customers that appreciated that. They are now essentially fast fashion, and I'm not sure they know who their customer base is. They also had private equity investors, they went public for a while, privatized again. Its like deja vu.
I was thinking the exact same thing about JC when reading this!! Also with regard to the "Sezanettes", there was the "J. Crew Afficionada" blog which was VERY busy and active with the "JCAs" (they called themselves) posting about fit/quality of various items, discussing items in the new roll-outs, sharing promos/pricing games etc. J Crew really had a great thing (quality) back in the day...but then they tried to be all things to all people and diluted the brand beyond recognition.
Yes! I aspired to own jcrew as a teen in the 90s but the quality took a nose dive post 2012ish. Honestly I'm also shocked they haven't relaunched their bridesmaid line. I (and just about everyone I knew) wore those dresses to death in the 2008-2014 timeframe. They were great and well made, especially for the price!
They also did wedding dresses had stand alone bridal stores in nyc for a time! If bhldn is still a part of anthro I don't see why this can't come back.
I don’t think it’s a good analogy think there us a difference though as JCrew had a much longer run in the 80s and 90s selling good quality preppy clothes. (I still have my 90s and aughts pieces). Sezane seems like it was designed from an Instagram algorithm - the French girl trope.
Also, I am sorry, but I have NEVER found Sezane to have good quality
Wow— this was such an incredible read! You summed up all of the things I have been thinking (scarcity tactics/endless capsule launches/lower quality fabrics/bad customer service/influencer marketing), and now that we know who their investors are it all makes more sense. I have two 100% cotton shirts from the brand, which I love and the price/quality is fantastic…but started noticing how a lot of their other products started using cheaper fabrics and along with everything else, I won’t buy from them again.
super interesting read! i have one sezane item: a suede tote bag that i bought in 2017 after seeing it carried by another girl at a restaurant on a weekend trip to san francisco. i had never heard of the brand so it took some extensive googling to find what i was looking for on the internet but i thought it was gorgeous so i persisted. i currently still use it as my work bag. i’ve been intrigued by the clothes but haven’t found myself conveniently around a physical store and am too lazy to order from brands when i’m not familiar with the sizing and then just end up with the homework of making a ton of returns.
i am not a tiktok user and i frequently delete instagram off my phone (currently in one of those phases) so i am thrilled i have avoided the onslaught of influencer marketing. as soon as a brand does that, it signals terrible quality to me which is definitely not the effect they are intending to have and i find that funny.
separate but related (a really though-provoking piece!), i think most retailers are fast fashion (not always at typical fashion prices anymore) because of the breadth, depth and frequency of new drops? it feels pretty alarming in a world where the planet needs us to all have and do less things in order to survive but of course capitalism doesn’t care. gotta be the richest when the apocalypse starts!
thats pretty great your sezane bag is still holding up and thats cool youve opted out of tiktok and insta - just missing out on mostly marketing.
im really intrigued by this idea that everything is fast fashion. i was kind of feeling that way towards the end of this piece and heard a voice like...yeah but so what? isnt this the way it all is? the fact that i heard that says a lot. thanks for your thoughtful comment!
I’ve been buying sezane for a few years now and have had great experiences in terms of quality, price, and customer service! Don’t love the investor who also has a stake in SHEIN nor the story of Guillermina though…that’s good to know.
This was such a fascinating read! I have been noticing the glut of Sezanne influencing and while the pieces look nice, I feel skeptical when every influencer has a code or affiliate link. How can they be trusted to be honest when it comes down to their bottom line? I feel the same about Dorsay. Every influencer claims the pieces are fantastic but privately, I know people who have bought pieces they felt were vastly overpriced and the customer service was unresponsive. It's tricky, because I love the fashion content and the frivolity and I don't mind letting myself be influenced sometimes, but there is a certain fatigue that comes in when a brand is so relentlessly being pushed. It dos put me off, somehow cheapening the brand in my eyes, and I suspect others feel the same, so it is a strategy that may ultimately backfire.
completely agree about loving captivating content and the desire to be swept away but also balancing the mental gymnastics involved in deciphering when I'm being misled. im also quite curious about dorsey's quality there seems to be such a mix of opinions out there
I'd love a deep dive on Dorsey, because every single review I find from influencers if 5 stars but that just seems unrealistic. Not trying to bash any brand, I'm just curious.
My Dorsey pieces have held up almost a year in. I do think they’re overpriced for the quality but overall, I’m happy with them. However, the customer service is TERRIBLE. They might as well not have any because of how bad it is.
That's good to know! Very annoying about customer service, but that's been what I've been hearing from a lot of people, and it's honestly a big deterrent when they don't allow returns for so many pieces.
I bought two pieces, a necklace and bracelet, and quality was pretty dismal. Gold plating wore off immediately and the clasp on the bracelet first caused many pulls in a few sweater sleeves and then broke altogether. Done with it.
Thanks for sharing that and sorry you wasted your money. The prices seem inflated for gold plated brass (not even vermeil). The look of them is nice, but if the plating wears off fast, you basically can't wear it anymore. I have some pieces from Monica Vanadar and Missoma, which are plated and have not faded in years, lower price point, too.
“When influencers heavily promote a brand, it's funny how this sense of collective anticipatory grief sets in.” Ditto for The Row, which has been tarnished by the likes of Tamara.
I love your writing. This is so good. I have so many opinions that my head now feels like it's 100% cotton. But my only worthwhile thought is that this is a Netflix Docu in the making. Gifting! Scarcity! Sustainability! IPO! Influencers! SHEIN for God's sake! The only thing missing is an exploding polyester factory! Send it in!
I was just in Paris last week and couldn’t wait to visit an actual Sézane store. To say I was disappointed is an understatement and for all the reasons you outlined in this article. I returned my last two orders-fit was off and fabric was cheap. I think I’m over it.
Same!! I just had my first visit to a store yesterday and have been thinking the same thing. I found the sizing inconsistent and the fits totally off. The staff was helpful, but mostly they would say “oh we ran out of this in store, you’ll have to look online”. Now with this marketing strategy it all makes sense! Very timely and now I feel like I’m not having a totally different opinion to the rest of the world!
I’m in the US and have had amazing customer service from them. My order was delivered with nothing inside of it. It was a large box with a pair of boots and a sweater and they refunded my money with in a week with no problem. I can only assume the items were stolen in transit.
That being said I do not like the frenzy created around drops and the archives sale. I refuse to get up at 3am to shop for the chance to buy a shirt. There will always be other shirts to buy!
thats interesting - i saw this empty box situation happen to a couple other people too. i wonder if items having to go through customs has to do with it? thats great they remedied it for you!
I've bought every Sezane piece I have secondhand. Went to the store in Soho a couple of times, but it was such an eh experience that I've not bothered to go back. I mostly stick to blouses and have been very happy with them, but the minute I saw "private equity" I was like, damnit, because nothing good happens when private equity gets involved.
I feel like the American analogy for Sezane is Reformation…claims of sustainability, they are EVERYWHERE, hard to tell how the clothes actually fit. And interestingly: No reviews on site either! Wonder how that strategy plays out for brands—I tend to prefer Madewell because pretty much every item has enough reviews to give you a sense of fit/quality/etc. Might be worth its own investigation!
youre right! and definitely seems worth of an investigation! its so hard for me to shop sites without reviews - im really deterred
I'm so with you. My friend worked on Reformation branding very early on. It's greenwashing, truly stupidly priced cheaply fabricated garbage that has pivoted from greenwashing to scarcity and exclusivity power moves in their stores, making people wait, controlling inventory, creating barriers to activate desire. It's amazing to behold! Psychologically fascinating. I'm not above wanting what I want, just so over it. A company that meaningfully values sustainability does not behave like that.
I liked madewells older stuff… their jeans from around 2015-2017 to me were so great.
Thank you for this deep dive article.
I’m a French girl living in the USA and I’m amazed by the fact that American women think that Sezane is the Parisian style but you now what, Parisians (the real ones who live in Paris and not in the whole France) don’t wear Sezane at all! They wear vintage 501 Levi’s, Agnes B, Petit Bateau…Sezane is just a facsimile;)
youre 100% right. no french people that i know wear it! and levis, agnes b and petit bateau is more spot on
100%. I’m a British girl living in Paris and think it’s so funny when I see articles in the UK media saying it’s every Parisienne’s go-to or “best kept secret” when this is just not the case at all.
Love this deep dive. I always think it’s funny that the marketing is based on it being the ultimate Paris girl brand – when I live in Paris and don’t know a single person who wears it. It’s never mentioned in the fashion press there and is definitely not seen as a fashion-y brand, it’s seen as very yummy mummy at the school gates, quite suburban. The people who queue at the store are pretty much all British and American tourists.
I don’t even recall seeing French influencers I follow wearing it in paid posts (when I see British ones all the time), which just confirms to me that the strategy is very much to market it as quintessentially French to non-French people. This is in contrast to, for example, Rouje, which does the same thing in foreign markets and very heavily, but also does this in France and is bought and worn by girls in Paris (there’s a store by my flat and it’s always film of French girls) and seen on French influencers.
But the gifting to UK journalists (not just influencers) must be pretty generous because if you believe UK press everyone in Paris is wearing it.
yeah none of the french women i worked with wore it! but i was absolutely corralled into their "francophile" American marketing audience. i cant recall ever seeing a french person wearing it!
really interesting about rouje - i didnt know the distinction there. thx for sharing this fascinating info!
Jeanne Damas has been smart to make sure that when she’s selling a brand internationally that’s entirely based on the French girl trope, potential buyers can actually see French girls wearing it, most of all Damas herself.
Rouje isn’t perfect (and isn’t my thing so I’m not fangirling), the quality is pretty bad especially for the prices, and there are plenty of clichés there being milked, but Damas is one of the reasons they’ve become clichés over the last decade so there’s at least that authenticity there.
What ARE the young Parisian women wearing now though, besides Rouge?
I really don’t know what the young ones are wearing, other than being able to say I see a lot of Lycra and what look like Frankie Shop oversized blazers à la Hailey Bieber. The Maje/Claudie Pierlot/Sandro trifecta is I think still popular with younger girls? I’m 43 and my friends are all in their 30s and 40s. Soeur is very popular right now. Perennials I’d say are like vintage Levi’s, lots of vintage actually, and mid-level French brands like Isabel Marant, Vanessa Bruno, Sessùn, APC... Depends of course on your age and where you live and your circle though and how much of a fashion crowd you’re in, but that’s what I see among women around my age group who like to shop and care what they wear but aren’t following trends or working in fashion.
i can’t remember the newsletter that inspired this but a commenter noted that sezanne is the ann taylor of france and i…haven’t looked at their site since. i liked the items i had ordered previously but couldn’t justify the cost per wear. and maybe i’m in the minority on this, but the heavily perfumed items smelled like they had been worn and not luxuriously spritzed. 😬
thanks, tr, for another excellent read!!
oh my gosh that was a comment on one of my past posts and it’s gold. Actually meant to include it in here but blanked. thx for the reminder mj. and agreed on the perfume - that’s not always everyone’s preference 😖
This cracks me up, in the early 2000s Ann Taylor had really pretty, high quality, well made pieces that I wore to death. They originally were a regional brand (started in CT) and did preppy weekend and office wear so well. I felt they were very aspirational for adult women's clothing (vs H&M, Dress Barn, Express). It makes me sad that the original quality isn't there any longer.
oh my gosh yes, in the late 90s/early aughts I'd browse Ann Taylor at the mall and it was *such* good quality. Really lovely and well made. A lot of it was out of my price range at the time and didn't fit my life at *all* (healthcare worker), but I loved the beautiful dresses and blazers.
agreed!
So true!!! sezane and ann taylor have a similar arc of scale and mass. Remembering the beautiful quality of early aughts mall clothes gives me sadness laced with existential despair: does anyone care anymore? what does it say about me, that my clothing purchases are willingly overlooking this?
i came to say the same thing re: ann taylor! it’s kind of amazing when one idea can break the marketing spell, lol… i have simply not been interested since!
so true
*full of French girls
This is fascinating and INSANE!! I had no idea. And it's just gross to see the panic and stress this whole circus puts people through just to buy something cute. The investor info makes a lottt of sense. Thanks for putting two and two together for us!
yeah i feel like stress shopping really makes people buy stuff they normally wouldnt. never a good situation to be put in!
Loved this - I've got a similar thing with Rouje. The brand was so aspirational to me when I tried to stop dressing like a teenager and dress a little more like...a woman? While also remaining youthful. When they opened the store in Soho, I realized that the quality is so low for the prices they charge. Also some of the staff in the store is French and they literally told me some jeans I tried on didn't look good on me hahah
i saw a lot of comparisons to rouje re: sezane. also them telling you stuff doesnt look good on you sounds about right haha
I bought the jeans! haha they are actually pretty nice, must be a different manufacturer than the rest of the offering
Totally agree on the Rouje quality, and the staff telling you the jeans didn’t look good made me laugh, this is so French. The first time it happened to me in a shop in France (where I live) I almost died but now I love it!
Also love that you bought them anyway!
They don’t make me look like a French cool girl, it’s true! But they make me look like a cool NYC downtown girl and that’s all that matters haha
Haha brilliant comment!
love this for you
The similarities to the heyday of J. Crew are remarkable. They had a great brand identity and great quality. Like Sezane, they got greedy and decided to take over the world. Social media influencers started wearing J. Crew, especially Collection items. J. Crew showed at New York Fashion Week and invited A-list customers (read, high spenders) to attend the show. Roll outs became frequent and product shortages plus website issues exasperated customers. Quality began declining and they lost the core group of original customers that appreciated that. They are now essentially fast fashion, and I'm not sure they know who their customer base is. They also had private equity investors, they went public for a while, privatized again. Its like deja vu.
completely. did you read the book The Kingdom of Prep: The Inside Story of J. Crew? it goes through a lot of their ups and downs.
I was thinking the exact same thing about JC when reading this!! Also with regard to the "Sezanettes", there was the "J. Crew Afficionada" blog which was VERY busy and active with the "JCAs" (they called themselves) posting about fit/quality of various items, discussing items in the new roll-outs, sharing promos/pricing games etc. J Crew really had a great thing (quality) back in the day...but then they tried to be all things to all people and diluted the brand beyond recognition.
Yes! I aspired to own jcrew as a teen in the 90s but the quality took a nose dive post 2012ish. Honestly I'm also shocked they haven't relaunched their bridesmaid line. I (and just about everyone I knew) wore those dresses to death in the 2008-2014 timeframe. They were great and well made, especially for the price!
never knew this bridesmaid line, i am intrigued
They also did wedding dresses had stand alone bridal stores in nyc for a time! If bhldn is still a part of anthro I don't see why this can't come back.
wow i had no idea about the afficionadas! so interesting.
Whoa, I had forgotten about that blog! :)
I don’t think it’s a good analogy think there us a difference though as JCrew had a much longer run in the 80s and 90s selling good quality preppy clothes. (I still have my 90s and aughts pieces). Sezane seems like it was designed from an Instagram algorithm - the French girl trope.
Also, I am sorry, but I have NEVER found Sezane to have good quality
Wow— this was such an incredible read! You summed up all of the things I have been thinking (scarcity tactics/endless capsule launches/lower quality fabrics/bad customer service/influencer marketing), and now that we know who their investors are it all makes more sense. I have two 100% cotton shirts from the brand, which I love and the price/quality is fantastic…but started noticing how a lot of their other products started using cheaper fabrics and along with everything else, I won’t buy from them again.
yeah the tactics are pretty exhausting. its good info to know you love the pieces you have.
The minute private equity gets involved in a brand, it's done. Greed over quality and customer-focus every single time.
super interesting read! i have one sezane item: a suede tote bag that i bought in 2017 after seeing it carried by another girl at a restaurant on a weekend trip to san francisco. i had never heard of the brand so it took some extensive googling to find what i was looking for on the internet but i thought it was gorgeous so i persisted. i currently still use it as my work bag. i’ve been intrigued by the clothes but haven’t found myself conveniently around a physical store and am too lazy to order from brands when i’m not familiar with the sizing and then just end up with the homework of making a ton of returns.
i am not a tiktok user and i frequently delete instagram off my phone (currently in one of those phases) so i am thrilled i have avoided the onslaught of influencer marketing. as soon as a brand does that, it signals terrible quality to me which is definitely not the effect they are intending to have and i find that funny.
separate but related (a really though-provoking piece!), i think most retailers are fast fashion (not always at typical fashion prices anymore) because of the breadth, depth and frequency of new drops? it feels pretty alarming in a world where the planet needs us to all have and do less things in order to survive but of course capitalism doesn’t care. gotta be the richest when the apocalypse starts!
thats pretty great your sezane bag is still holding up and thats cool youve opted out of tiktok and insta - just missing out on mostly marketing.
im really intrigued by this idea that everything is fast fashion. i was kind of feeling that way towards the end of this piece and heard a voice like...yeah but so what? isnt this the way it all is? the fact that i heard that says a lot. thanks for your thoughtful comment!
I’ve been buying sezane for a few years now and have had great experiences in terms of quality, price, and customer service! Don’t love the investor who also has a stake in SHEIN nor the story of Guillermina though…that’s good to know.
good info! and yes it seems like when private equity gets involved, it often turns into a complex and interconnected web.
This was such a fascinating read! I have been noticing the glut of Sezanne influencing and while the pieces look nice, I feel skeptical when every influencer has a code or affiliate link. How can they be trusted to be honest when it comes down to their bottom line? I feel the same about Dorsay. Every influencer claims the pieces are fantastic but privately, I know people who have bought pieces they felt were vastly overpriced and the customer service was unresponsive. It's tricky, because I love the fashion content and the frivolity and I don't mind letting myself be influenced sometimes, but there is a certain fatigue that comes in when a brand is so relentlessly being pushed. It dos put me off, somehow cheapening the brand in my eyes, and I suspect others feel the same, so it is a strategy that may ultimately backfire.
completely agree about loving captivating content and the desire to be swept away but also balancing the mental gymnastics involved in deciphering when I'm being misled. im also quite curious about dorsey's quality there seems to be such a mix of opinions out there
I'd look at some of the small jewelry influencers on tik tok. Jewel Boxing was honest but scathing in her review.
Interesting, thanks.
I'd love a deep dive on Dorsey, because every single review I find from influencers if 5 stars but that just seems unrealistic. Not trying to bash any brand, I'm just curious.
My Dorsey pieces have held up almost a year in. I do think they’re overpriced for the quality but overall, I’m happy with them. However, the customer service is TERRIBLE. They might as well not have any because of how bad it is.
That's good to know! Very annoying about customer service, but that's been what I've been hearing from a lot of people, and it's honestly a big deterrent when they don't allow returns for so many pieces.
I bought two pieces, a necklace and bracelet, and quality was pretty dismal. Gold plating wore off immediately and the clasp on the bracelet first caused many pulls in a few sweater sleeves and then broke altogether. Done with it.
Thanks for sharing that and sorry you wasted your money. The prices seem inflated for gold plated brass (not even vermeil). The look of them is nice, but if the plating wears off fast, you basically can't wear it anymore. I have some pieces from Monica Vanadar and Missoma, which are plated and have not faded in years, lower price point, too.
“When influencers heavily promote a brand, it's funny how this sense of collective anticipatory grief sets in.” Ditto for The Row, which has been tarnished by the likes of Tamara.
woof the row. is tamara the youtuber?
I love your writing. This is so good. I have so many opinions that my head now feels like it's 100% cotton. But my only worthwhile thought is that this is a Netflix Docu in the making. Gifting! Scarcity! Sustainability! IPO! Influencers! SHEIN for God's sake! The only thing missing is an exploding polyester factory! Send it in!
hahaha once SHEIN gets involved its straight to hollywood. TY for reading!
I was just in Paris last week and couldn’t wait to visit an actual Sézane store. To say I was disappointed is an understatement and for all the reasons you outlined in this article. I returned my last two orders-fit was off and fabric was cheap. I think I’m over it.
yeah it seems the fabric quality varies so much piece by piece and the fit i found way inconsistent
Same!! I just had my first visit to a store yesterday and have been thinking the same thing. I found the sizing inconsistent and the fits totally off. The staff was helpful, but mostly they would say “oh we ran out of this in store, you’ll have to look online”. Now with this marketing strategy it all makes sense! Very timely and now I feel like I’m not having a totally different opinion to the rest of the world!
i did find the sizing was very inconsistent as well!
I’m in the US and have had amazing customer service from them. My order was delivered with nothing inside of it. It was a large box with a pair of boots and a sweater and they refunded my money with in a week with no problem. I can only assume the items were stolen in transit.
That being said I do not like the frenzy created around drops and the archives sale. I refuse to get up at 3am to shop for the chance to buy a shirt. There will always be other shirts to buy!
thats interesting - i saw this empty box situation happen to a couple other people too. i wonder if items having to go through customs has to do with it? thats great they remedied it for you!
Their boxes are so distinctive and the resale value on their items are pretty high so I think it makes them an easy mark.
ahh interesting! yeah the resale is there - seems like some things are sellling above original value. This makes sense
I've bought every Sezane piece I have secondhand. Went to the store in Soho a couple of times, but it was such an eh experience that I've not bothered to go back. I mostly stick to blouses and have been very happy with them, but the minute I saw "private equity" I was like, damnit, because nothing good happens when private equity gets involved.