Laura Mulleavy on Rodarte’s Brand-New E-Commerce Site
JULY 25, 2016 1:23 PM
by STEFF YOTKA
Rodarte contains multitudes. The decade-old brand, dreamt into existence by sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy, has done it all from costume Natalie Portman in Black Swan to create travel mugs for Starbucks. In between, they’ve produced a book; a football jersey worn by Jay Z; a series of hoodies and tees beloved by Will Ferrell and Elle Fanning alike; and will release their first feature film, Woodshock, starring Kirsten Dunst in 2017. None of this is even the main event: The sisters’ sylphlike dresses and gowns are a red carpet and editorial staple that built the brand into ’s go-to source for whimsy and magic. Today, the Mulleavys are embarking on yet another new adventure for their label, e-commerce.
I know what you’re thinking: How did they ever make an e-commerce site out of Rodarte? I’ll let designer Laura Mulleavy do the explaining, but in short, they made it with their favorite items, some reissues of outstanding pieces from collections past, and an eye turned to serving their customers and fans in ways they never could before. Read on for excerpts from Vogue.com’s conversation with Laura Mulleavy about Rodarte’s new e-store, now live at Rodarte.net.
Why does now feel like the right time to launch e-commerce?
Laura Mulleavy: We really started talking about doing e-commerce about a year ago, thinking about how we would want to approach it, slowly figuring out how we could develop something in a way that would reflect all the different variations of things that we do. We want to have direct access to our consumers, and also the people that would want things we have that aren’t available in smaller cities or in certain areas of the country.
How did you choose the selection of products to put on the site?
We thought about things that had a variety. I thought about things that I would be willing to buy online, as we figure out the language of online retail ourselves. It will be our only direct retail at Rodarte. We don’t have a store yet, so at first we wanted to offer various price points, things that we feel like people have a strong reaction to, and also reflect the idea of what we feel is core to the brand and to this idea of a California brand. Online is such a wonderful world and there’s so much access, and yet I find that people want to be taken to more personalized marketplaces that create a world around where they’re spending their time or their money. For example, we get to have the book that we did with Catherine Opie and Alec Soth on our site, which is something that we were so proud of at the time. It’s been at least five years since it came out, but I think it would be something cool for people to know about today. I didn’t have social media at the time to promote what that book meant and what it was. It will be cool to have that kind of voice now through our e-commerce
We also wanted to start with things that we get a lot of requests for. Bringing back product offerings, I thought that was a really fun way of using our voice online. We always have so many requests for our Spring 2014 booties and bringing those back in different variations has been really exciting. We’re also going to have a crystal padlock necklace that we had done in that collection, the response to it at the time was really exciting, and it’s a piece we still get requests for. It’s a cool way of speaking directly to the fans of the brand and giving them things that are asked for. It’s not something we normally get to do.
Why launch e-commerce with , shoes, accessories, and Radarte, but not runway pieces?
I think that runway, for us, is going to take a long time to translate our very fine products online. It’s something we’ve always been careful with all online vendors, in figuring out what the right voice is. Certain styles, we maybe made one to 10 of, and it’s a very special thing to want to communicate in a certain way, so I think that as we learn the voice of our online store then we can learn how to develop the specialized products in a space like that and treat it as specially as we want to. I understand that and we believe that it would just take a little bit more time to figure out the language for that. I definitely think it’s an end goal to have that kind of offering as well.
There is a difference between high design and high-design concepts within things that are available more quickly and more readily. I think that’s why our T-shirts have always done so well, and why people really respond to it: It came from a cool concept, it was conceptual, it was based in the idea that we grew up in Northern California, in Santa Cruz which is the home of skateboarding, and I think that we just always grew up in hoodies ourselves. As we say in California, you don’t really wear jackets that much. You either wear sweaters or you wear a sweatshirt. I think [the Radarte hoodies] came from a vernacular that would always be a part of what we do, but it also gives an offering of something that’s more direct and quick to thought because that’s how people use that type of clothing in their life.
Earlier in the year there was an article in the Washington Post that questioned if Rodarte “actually existed” because of your nontraditional business model. How did you respond to that?
I don’t really have a direct response to it, however I feel like in a situation like that you have to wonder where information is being pulled from, what someone really cares about. For me, I think our intentions as designers have been very obvious in the industry in what we care about personally, in what we care about our legacy to be. I think that we care about design. We’re independent designers that really believe in the idea of independence and the idea of creative freedom. With that comes, in this industry currently today, a big responsibility because it’s so rare. I think voices that are independent should be more celebrated than they are.
Is there a business aspect to your creative process or is it that you trust that if you follow your vision the people who are on the same page as you are will follow it too?
I think it’s kind of a combination. Kate and I, we run our company. We’re essentially the people that make all the business decisions. However, I think we let our creative voice take responsibility for everything because we count on that to be the thing that attracts people that care about our work. The times when we haven’t done it is when I feel like we haven’t been as excited about our collections and the response to them. I think what I’ve learned is that what makes brands survive and have a voice within the sea of everyone that can create is to really follow your vision and your individual voice. When we do a collection, I don’t really think we think so much about what’s going to sell because I don’t think we can ever predict that. However, when you do see something coming together and you think, “That’s so pretty and I want that!” it’s a fun and exciting moment. But I’ve never really been able to predict what people respond to so much—I just do allow a moment of spontaneity with that part of the process.
Why is it important to you and Kate to maintain your creative and financial independence? And how have you managed it over the past decade?
I think our minds are just that way. I think strangely enough, that is one of the industries in the world that will always accept the outsider’s voice. It’s very exclusive, but at the same time it’s very inclusive to having visionary ideas, and I think that’s one of the things that people always look to for and maybe what brings people to being a fan of . Kate and I were just raised in an artistic-minded household, with a severe love for independence and having your own voice and I think that’s just allowed us to follow our own vision. I just can’t imagine it any other way. It’s part of who we are. It’s a very difficult thing to achieve but I do think it lets the design process be fun and inspiring for us.
What do you see as some of the other goals of the e-store other than just increasing revenue and growing your reach?
I think it will be exciting because I feel like it will be more interactive and more immediate. You can understand what people like directly through you, you can respond fast. You can do things on a whim, it doesn’t need to be based on a season. You can say, “Someone brought up this old piece they want us to bring back and we can.” I think it’s going to allow a lot of spontaneity to our process.
Do you see the e-commerce site as a gateway to a brick and mortar store?
Well, we definitely will want one. I think that’s the ultimate goal for a brand, to have a place that really represents the vision. I think it’s exciting for consumers to be able to go to a space like that where it feels like you’re really a part of understanding something. In the long term that would definitely be a goal.
...
