A family-owned fashion brand turns to fleece
HOW DUDLEY STEPHENS MARRIED A HUMBLE SPORTS FABRIC WITH COOL FASHIONS
“THIS BUSINESS REALLY CAME OUT OF FAMILY — WE WANTED TO WORK TOGETHER.”
Like most people who grew up in the northeast suburbs, Lauren Stephens and Kaki McGrath grew up wearing fleece pullovers. As ubiquitous as glassbox office buildings on the Post Road, and just as functional, fleece is one of the essentials of suburban workandplay attire. It’s comfortable, of course, and durable — but boxy and a bit pedestrian an everyday component, not in the same realm as the fabrics that make up a truly stylish wardrobe.
But fleece has gotten a makeover under the entrepreneurial conjuring of two gogetter sisters from Darien, with an assist from their mother, another fashion maverick. They’ve taken the unofficial uniform of football tailgate parties, yard work and long walks in the woods and given it a cosmopolitan makeover, with some insights culled from Lauren Stephens’ career in fashion and public relations with Calvin Klein and Gucci.
Their company, Dudley Stephens, has been aiming to connect with mothers who want style and comfort, with a marketing angle that evokes the hipster neighborhoods of Brooklyn and a nodding reference to haute couture. The name of the company is combination of the sisters’ maiden names and Lauren’s married name.
Since the startup of Dudley Stephens in 2015, the enterprising sisters and their mom have now set up shop in a new location in Greenwich, in a townhouse overlooking Greenwich Avenue, and recently made sales to moms in every state in the United States.
Skipping a conventional advertising campaign, they’re using Instagram and popup retail sites to move the merchandise. Their business offers an insight into the way social media, coupled with a backstory and compelling “characters” — two stylish sisters from Darien and their spirited mom— can attempt to create a sense of community, with a heavy dose of consumerism thrown into the mix.
The road to an entrepreneurial startup began early.
“I always loved fashion since I was a little girl,” Stephens recollected. She also inherited her taste from her mother Bonnie Dudley, who “devoured” Vogue magazine every month. “She always had a great wardrobe and classic style,” Stephens said of her mother, who is also a part of the company.
Stephens worked in fashion and dressed celebs in Calvin Klein for promotional events, and after getting married and having kids, took some time off from the working world. “Life changed,” she said, and an old idea took root: starting a family business based on an observation they’ve shared on family boat trips around Long Island Sound, that fleece feels great but doesn’t dress up.
“This business really came out of family — we wanted to work together,” said Stephens, a Greenwich resident. “It was down to: what can we do together, what can we build, what are our passions, and what do we bring to the table that we can build a company with?”
She didn’t blanch at starting a new business — “I’ve never been surer of anything than this.” And it wasn’t as stressful as dressing celebrities like
Gwyneth Paltrow, she joked.
“It was a light bulb, clear moment — we need to do this, how can we get there?” she recalled. “The fleece offerings weren’t as versatile as we wanted them to be, they didn’t fit our lifestyles, going from one place to the next and not needing to change. I became obsessed with it.”
Kaki McGrath, who still lives in Darien, did not take much persuasion — “doing it with family, it was reassuring.”
The idea certainly seemed promising, to put some polish and sophistication on a beloved, if humble, fabric. “It’s a fabric that can lend itself to anything — it’s just that nobody took it to a fashion point before,” said Bonnie Dudley.
Fleece was created in 1979 when a rockclimbing outdoorsman, Yvon Chouinuard, set out to create a lighter and more sportsfriendly fabric than cotton or wool. A textile mill in Lawrence, Mass., obliged with “Polar Fleece,” a fabric that became a staple of hikers and cyclists the world over. The fabric eventually crossed over “as a fashion statement initially among posh prepschoolers in the mid ’90s,” notes Wall Street Journal men’s fashion editor Jacob Gallagher.
While there have been some “highfashion” work with fleece, such as the Italian brand Marni, and the streetwear hipster John Elliott from Los Angeles, there is little competition in the upper end of the fleece market. Enter Dudley Stephens.
The startup fashionistas found a factory in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn and located supplies of recycled yarn to create their line. Kaki taught herself computer coding and website design, as well as honing her socialmedia skills and Instagram game — “connecting with the consumer and figuring out what they like and need,” she said. Stephens brought her years of experience in the fashion business, and Bonnie her creative energy. They choose a pineapple as their logo — the shape of which adorned Lauren’s childhood bed in Darien, as well as an early New England symbol of opulence and hospitality.
They’ve been running it as a family business for the past five years, doing much of the inhouse work themselves and channeling profits back into the venture. Many of the photo shoots posted on social media are taken in the lightfilled studio off Greenwich Avenue, with the two cofounders modeling the merch, with preppy nonchalance. The turtleneck — “the Cobble Hill” — in bold colors like marigold and cobalt has has been their bestseller, and they’ve since branched out into cardigans, vests, boatneck tops, ponchos and outerwear. There’s a line for kids, and a menswear selection is also coming.
The garments start at $78 and to head up to the $200 range. That’s a lot more than the fleece jackets at the mall, but there’s a difference, the cofounder says. “We strive to have unique design, with sustainable fabric, and people understand that the price point is justified,” said Stephens.
People are starting to take notice. Elizabeth Ariola, a lifestyle blogger from New Canaan, has a Dudley Stephens item herself, and she’s been seeing more of their telltale pineapple logo popping up around the region at local schools and sidewalks.
“They’ve found a pretty special place in the market, where style and comfort are equally important,” said Ariola, who blogs under the name of Mrs. Nipple, a joking reference to her married name. “Especially for moms. I can’t think of any other brand that has that microfocus. They tap into a space that didn’t exist, but there’s a need for it.”
“There’s a shift of wanting to be comfortable, but because moms are as busy as ever, to wear a piece from dropoff, to a meeting, to a night out, without having to run home to change,” she continued. “That’s special,”
Ariola was also intrigued by their marketing campaign.
“With ‘social,’ the opportunities are endless. There are so many social platforms that are great launching pads for business. Now more than ever, moms don’t have to choose between staying at home or doing back to the workforce . ... And they’re really building a community — it’s more than a onetime purchase. With Instagram, they’re building more of a community than a brand. And millennials and younger people care about where items are made, and how they’re made. They have that story to tell, they’re two moms. It matters.”