Fashion’s DTC reset is here—and apparently AI is here to sell us the next version. This is Fashion Business Daily. Today: who’s actually built a better retail model as DTC resets, stores expand, and beauty heads to Amazon? We start with Atorie. Its growth claim is big enough to make you reach for a calculator before you applaud. Here's Loren Baker at Global Startups Insights:
Atorie, a Los Angeles-based AI-powered fashion startup, has raised $9.5 million in seed funding round. The round was backed by a16z speedrun, Night Capital and Lightspeed partner Jeremy Liew. Founded by Redouane Ramdani and Luis Angulo, Atorie connects shoppers with clothes and leather goods made in the same factories and materials used by luxury fashion brands, but at lower prices.
Atorie has raised $9.5 million from a16z speedrun, Night Capital, and Lightspeed's Jeremy Liew. The company says it did about $5 million in sales last year and is now above a $55 million annualized revenue run rate—an eleven-fold leap. Before we crown it, let’s see the math. “Same factories, same materials, lower prices” is a supply-chain pitch with an AI sticker on it. Fine—name the factories. And show the people making the bags and leather goods share in this new margin story. Atorie says the money is going to international manufacturing, logistics, AI inventory tools, affordable essentials, and creator collections. That’s a lot for a seed round. Trend prediction only matters if it leads to cleaner inventory and real sell-through. And creators can bring an audience, sure. They don't automatically make a great white tee or a leather jacket people come back for. Modern Retail writes:
Fjällräven is bringing its curled-up fox logo to more stores across North America. The Swedish brand is opening two new locations in Boston in September, two blocks apart. One will be a Fjällräven brand store (165 Newbury Street), while the other will be a Fjällräven + Co. store (304 Newbury Street).
Two stores, two blocks apart on Newbury Street—that’s a pretty clean merchandising experiment. Can Hanwag boots, Royal Robbins, and Tierra get a lift from the Kånken crowd, or does everybody just walk out with the little square backpack again? Fjällräven has roughly $700 million in global annual revenue, and only 24% to 30% of North American revenue currently comes through its stores. Boston is a test of whether owned retail can do more than sell one recognizable SKU. The pitch is heritage outdoors for people who aren’t “adrenaline junkies.” Fine. But those mountaineering trousers have to look good next to a Kånken, or this becomes a very expensive fox-logo museum. They already split North American sales 50-50 between wholesale and direct-to-consumer, with Nordstrom and Urban Outfitters in the mix. Opening weekend, September 11th through 13th, should tell them early whether the multi-brand floor expands baskets—or just diverts traffic from 165 Newbury to 304. From Glossy:
The first generation of digitally native fashion brands promised a cleaner way to build retail businesses. Online distribution would remove middlemen. Direct customer relationships would make brands more efficient. Values-led messaging, from transparency to sustainability, would give customers a reason to buy into the company, not just the product.
Everlane ending up with Shein for $80 million is a pretty brutal epilogue for the brand that sold us transparency as a shopping category. The promise went beyond fewer middlemen. It had to make clothes people kept wanting. Glossy’s survivors have operating evidence. Cuyana reports 90% sell-through and nearly 60% repeat customers, with customer lifetime value above $500. Faherty says it tripled revenue in three years while opening 78 stores and reaching 700 wholesale locations. The omnichannel pivot everybody’s calling a new discovery? It comes down to wholesale, stores, and a product people will actually come back for. Better PR, same rent. Atorie’s pitch is luxury-factory access for less. But distribution only amplifies demand; it can’t create it. Cuyana’s sell-through is more persuasive than any values deck. Glossy, with Emily Jensen:
The launch on the Amazon Premium Beauty Store in August is just one part of the skin-care brand’s plan to expand its distribution network. That also includes growing its footprint at Ulta Beauty, where it launched in 2025, from 150 to 400 stores.
Rodan + Fields is going from 150 Ulta doors to 400 while moving into Amazon Premium Beauty and TikTok Shop. For a company built on multilevel selling, this is a serious distribution reset—more than just another channel add. “Affiliate-fueled modern omnichannel” is a very polished way to say the old model stopped reaching enough people. They cut about 100 roles in 2024, built a marketing department, and now they’re putting the serum where people actually shop. CEO Dimitri Haloulos says this could unlock demand, and maybe it will. But Rodan + Fields declined to give growth projections, so the test is sell-through at those additional 250 Ulta stores—not the 8.9% sales growth Ulta reported for the whole chain. Amazon beauty was up 27% in the second quarter, with skin care up 33%, according to Front Row. That’s a nice current to swim in. It still has to be a product somebody wants after seeing it between twelve competing retinol ads. Have feedback, story ideas, or corrections? Email us at fashionbusinessdaily at lantern podcasts dot com. We’d love to hear what you’re seeing and what you want us to cover.
We’re watching Fjällräven’s two Boston stores as opening weekend approaches, September 11th through 13th.
Links to every story are in the show notes. Check out whichever pieces caught your attention. That’s Fashion Business Daily for today. This is a Lantern Podcast.