womens clothing

New women's clothing boutique opens in Camden - PenBayPilot.com
Dai women's workwear review: comfortable, timeless work clothing - Business Insider
Rent the Runway scores $1B valuation with $125M fundraise - PitchBook News & Analysis

New women's clothing boutique opens in Camden - PenBayPilot.com

Posted: 21 Mar 2019 08:30 AM PDT

CAMDEN — Even Camden girls get the blues... denim blues that is. Barefoot in Denim, a new clothing and accessories boutique for women opened at 24 Bay View Street, in the former Theo B. Camisole space. Owner Jennel Johnson Pendleton, sporting a light blue denim shirt, has put her own stamp on the sunny shop.

"I do like the color blue," she said.

Johnson Pendleton and her husband permanently moved to Camden five years ago. With a retail merchandising degree and her kids in school, she decided it was time to do something for herself.

She opened the shop on March 8 with little fanfare.

"My daughters put it out on social media, but we'll likely have a grand opening in April with champagne and cupcakes," she said.

A balance of comfort and style is the store's aim.

"We're trying to provide beautiful clothing at an affordable price, so we have four brands of jeans, all ranging from $68 to under $90," she said. "We have dresses and tops, a lot of vegan leather as well as jewelry, purses and gifts."

Johnson Pendleton said she opened the kind of boutique, she herself would like to shop in, rather than have to buy merchandise online. The shop's clothing style and aesthetic is comparable to an American Eagle aesthetic.

"Soon, we'll be adding more spring dresses for Easter and Spring Break," she said. "After that, summer shorts and tops will be rolling in."

For more information visit www.barefootindenim.com

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Dai women's workwear review: comfortable, timeless work clothing - Business Insider

Posted: 20 Mar 2019 12:01 PM PDT

Insider Picks writes about products and services to help you navigate when shopping online. Insider, Inc. receives a commission from our affiliate partners when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.

When you put on a dress or suit from new women's workwear startup Dai, you feel like a thousand bucks. If you were shopping at a luxury European brand, that's also about how much you'd have to pay for your shiny new outfit.

Founded by former JP Morgan executive Joanna Dai, Dai is making sleek women's workwear that you'd expect to cost much more, especially for how well-constructed and comfortable it is. It's one of a growing number of direct-to-consumer brands in the last few years that is finally putting an end to the laborious search for more affordable, high-quality workwear.

Coming from eight years in the finance world, Dai developed a smart and polished style that was further nurtured through living in New York and London. The comfort and casual ease at the heart of growing up in California, however, was a glaring component missing from her workwear shopping experience.

Me in the Pep Top ($210), Trail Blazer ($475), and the Power Move Trousers ($225).

Connie Chen/Business Insider

She thought about the qualities of the pieces she loved most in her wardrobe — timeless, beautiful fit, and well-made — and brought them to the designs at Dai. To be clear, they are still investment pieces, ranging from $175 pants to $475 blazers, but every one of your hard-earned dollars is going towards a purpose, including eco-certified raw materials, luxe, technical fabrics, and precise, elegant tailoring.

Dai tells Business Insider, "Finding the right suppliers to partner with was pivotal for the product and the brand, and we were uncompromising in our approach, so we tested ten different factories just within our first year."

Dai

Having tried similar technical workwear from brands like ADAY, Athleta, MPG Sport, and MM.LaFleur, we're convinced that technical fabrics are the best innovation to happen to women's workwear.

Usually reserved for athleticwear, they feature properties of stretchiness, wrinkle resistance, and breathability. These all convert cleverly into other parts of life. Even if we're not increasingly active throughout the day, we at least want to be comfortable, whether we're sitting down all day or constantly bouncing between calendar events.

Dai's dresses, pants, blouses, and blazers are stretchy, soft, and breathable. They're also wrinkle-resistant, quick-drying, and machine-washable, but they don't look like the running top or yoga pants it sounds like we're describing. Its pieces, made by pattern cutters with more than 30 years of experience, are structured and cut precisely, with clear attention paid to fit and detail.

Remi in the Coolottes ($190).

Connie Chen/Business Insider

You can shop these beautiful pieces of workwear on Dai's site, where eye-catching colors like red, plum, and forest green share the stage with versatile neutrals like black, gray, and white. Its simple styles will be wearable and relevant all year round, but you won't tire of wearing them since they're easily mixed and matched and can be accessorized in many different ways.

If the founder could only choose one outfit from the collection, she told Business Insider:

"I'd pick the original full suit look, which comprises of the Trail Blazer, Power Move Pants and Now and Forever Blouse. Not only is it incredibly comfortable, it's a power suit that establishes a sense of effortless confidence, as if it were (very comfortable) armor.

Worn separately, I think each standalone piece is incredibly adaptable and powerful. The Trail Blazer, inspired by the classic Le Smoking jacket in terms of its clean cut and longer tuxedo length, can also be worn over jeans for a polished day look, or with a dress and heels for an evening event. The blouse is a timeless classic, and the trousers are your feels-like-yoga, tailored go-to for everything."

The pieces she mentions are a good place to start while shopping at Dai (the Power Move Trousers sold out no less than five times in just over a year). Some other styles that caught our eye are the Power Line Skirt, with its front side vent and invisible pockets, and the Squared Away Dress, a modern geometric take on the classic black dress.

The UK-based brand does follow the UK sizing chart, so add four to your usual size to get your Dai size. For the best fit, we recommend measuring yourself and following the size chart on its site, or emailing wegotyou@daiwear.com.

We had a chance to try out a few workwear pieces from Dai. You can find our thoughts on styles from this up-and-coming women's workwear brand below.

Rent the Runway scores $1B valuation with $125M fundraise - PitchBook News & Analysis

Posted: 21 Mar 2019 05:09 PM PDT

It's been a great week for female-founded, VC-backed startups.

Rent the Runway has received a $125 million funding injection led by existing investors Franklin Templeton Investments and Bain Capital Ventures, granting the New York-based company unicorn status with a $1 billion valuation. T. Rowe Price Group and Hamilton Lane Advisors also participated as new investors. Rent the Runway's billion-dollar milestone follows closely on the heels of beauty brand Glossier, which reached a $1.2 billion valuation with its $100 million Series D, announced Tuesday.

Started in 2009 by Jennifer Fleiss and Jennifer Hyman, Rent the Runway provides an online platform for users to rent designer clothes and accessories. The company experienced rapid growth in its early years, going from an almost $50 million valuation in 2010 to $520 million four years later, per PitchBook data, though it has grown more modestly in the past few years. Rent the Runway was valued at $750 million in early 2016 and at $770 million last March. With the newest fundraise—the company's largest round to date—it has raised about $337 million in equity funding.

The company expanded its offerings in 2016, transitioning away from providing per-item rentals to also including a monthly subscription service. The new business model advanced the idea of entire outfits versus individual pieces, and with the addition of personalized recommendations and a Member Concierge offering style assistance, Rent the Runway enhanced its ability to deliver novelty and curation—a key factor when it comes to analyzing subscription-based success.

Rent the Runway's outfit selections — *Courtesy of Rent the Runway*

Moving forward, an IPO appears to be a clear possibility, as Hyman, who serves as CEO, told Bloomberg that Franklin Templeton and T. Rowe Price are especially valuable backers should the company choose to go public. Rent the Runway was rumored to be considering an IPO as far back as spring 2017, per Forbes, but Hyman would not comment Thursday on a timeline for either a public offering or a sale.

A public offering would follow in the footsteps of Stitch Fix, which debuted on the NASDAQ in 2017. While both companies offer personalized, high-end clothing selections by mail, Stitch Fix customers choose whether to purchase the items they receive, whereas Rent the Runway's rental focus reduces purchase-invoked friction in the customer conversion process.

Stitch Fix, on the other hand, is a leaner business, having raised just shy of $48 million in equity financing before its IPO, which pulled in $120 million with a final private valuation of $1.43 billion. This could be attributed to its focus on customer purchases, which inherently pull in higher margins and reduce ongoing maintenance expenses, compared to managing an inventory of rental clothing constantly being cycled out.

Unlike Stitch Fix, however, one of Rent the Runway's current growth avenues includes providing a full array of access to various style items beyond clothing and associated accessories. This includes a recent partnership with West Elm to provide items such as quilts and pillow shams as part of Rent the Runway's core rental service. By adding home decor, the company may be positioning itself to provide a full ecosystem of style that unifies clothing and a customer's personal environment.

While a possible IPO may be currently just a thought for Hyman, the company's billion-dollar valuation comes at a symbolic time, amid Women's History Month in the US and less than two weeks after International Women's Day. Fleiss and Hyman's clothing rental unicorn is the latest company to help further the success of women in the venture capital space, which last year saw only 2.3% of total funding go to companies with solely female founders, per PitchBook's Female Founders Dashboard.

Featured image courtesy of Rent the Runway