SIBLING FINERY
Kendall and Kylie out-marketing kin
It’s hard to keep up with Kendall and Kylie Jenner.
Just ask Kim, Khloé and Kourtney Kardashian, whose younger half sisters are rapidly building a clothing empire to rival their own.
The Jenners have reached an impressive array of deals with luxury retailers, including Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, to launch their debut apparel and shoe line Kendall + Kylie — a big step up from the downmarket Sears where their famous realityTV siblings launched the Kardashian Kollection five years ago.
The Jenners are throwing a VIP party Monday in New York — guests didn’t even know the location last week — to mark their first foray into high fashion, a society Kendall was already familiar with as a top runway model and the kind of exposure that sets the stage for them to launch the brand globally.
“They have more credibility when it comes to fashion than their older sisters who didn’t work the runways and had not captured people’s imagination as style icons,” said an industry insider close to the sisters who didn’t want to be identified.
Fashion bloggers have been breathlessly reporting on every leaked detail ahead of the Feb. 8 launch of the collection, which lands three days before the start of New York Fashion Week.
As social media stars, Kendall, with 48 million Instagram followers, and Kylie, with 50 million, have been on the front lines of every photo and post on the upcoming brand.
“You couple their [social media clout] with the right retailers and the brand has the potential to be very successful,” said John Goodman, of Marvin Traub Associates, who launched the Kardashian Kollection at Sears.
The Jenners’ Los Angelesbased company has inked deals with a number of specialty retailers, such as ShopBop and Revolve, as well as Bloomingdale’s, Lord & Taylor and Nordstrom, which have been hosting presales.
Their Web site will go live on Monday, listing the stores carrying their pricey duds, including a black halterneck jumpsuit for $298 and a cropped denim top for $88. Average prices for the line range from $175 to $200 and go up to $500 — a far cry from the Kardashian Kollection’s cheaper duds, many of which were deeply discounted toward the end of their run, including a $189 dress that sold for $29.99, according to Fortune. The struggling Sears quietly stopped carrying the Kardashion line last year.
The Jenner sisters cut their teeth on the business in 2012 with PacSun, the teen retailer that is carrying an exclusive line of their juniors styles.
Their older sisters — who have a cosmetics line, endorsements and, of course, reality television shows — turned their fashion attention in 2014 to Kardashian Kids, a line of clothing for infants to 7yearolds that’s sold at BabiesRUs and on Nordstrom.com.
Kendall, 20 and Kylie, 18, are taking the lead in their new venture, with their famous mom, Kris Jenner, not a big presence in the business, said the source.
Sibling rivalries aside, “They are a very close family, all very hardworking and driven to be successful,” Goodman said.