Rails Plots U.S. Expansion and First Menswear Store in a Strategy to Pivot From Wholesale to Direct-to-consumer
Rails is making a strong case for the resurgence of brick-and-mortar. This year the Los Angeles-based brand that began over a decade and a half ago with a covetable plaid shirt will expand its retail presence across the U.S.
Rails, founded by Jeff Abrams with $5,000 of bar mitzvah money, is opening four new stores this year. The California lifestyle brand, which grew from shirting to a full run of womenswear and menswear offerings, has already opened in Atlanta’s Buckhead Village and the Scottsdale Quarter. The company will also open stores in Bethesda, Md. on April 25 and in Chicago on Armitage Avenue in the coming months.
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The openings are part of Abrams’ retail strategy to open four to five stores per year, “mostly focused on U.S. expansion” and “maybe one to two international stores per year,” which have thus far included the cities of Amsterdam, Berlin, London and Paris. Rails has 16 stores.
“The first 15 years of Rails’ evolution was allowing other people to sell our brand on our behalf,” Abrams told WWD, referencing the origins as a wholesale company. “As the collection grew and became full lifestyle, we knew we needed the retail stores to enable us to tell the full story of Rails.”
“What put us on the map was plaid shirts that we introduced many years ago that were super soft, but in the stores a customer can see the dresses, outerwear, knitwear, and denim we’ve introduced,” he continued. “The whole world of Rails is in front of them.”
That introduction is being done in a highly curated environment that mirrors the West Coast sensibility. While each store is built with a boutique approach, bringing California sunshine and effortlessly cool design across the globe is a common thread. See: vintage furniture, rattan lighting, warm wood tones, and succulents. “We spend a lot of time trying to make the stores not feel transactional, but really a place where people walk in and they can feel the ethos of the brand,” Abrams says.
In the new Atlanta store, for example, which stretches across 2,700 square feet and showcases Rails’ womenswear and menswear offerings, the decor includes a vintage rustic leather couch Abrams came across while shopping for his Montecito home, vintage lighting from Mix Galleries in L.A., and hand-painted works from Meson Art. For Abrams, the feel of Rails’ stores is all about delivering “the dream of California living.”
Soon, the brand will be bringing that dream to new markets such as Nashville and, in a homecoming moment, L.A. “Finding a Los Angeles location, which can be our West Coast flagship, is high on our agenda,” Abrams said. “I think we would do well both on Abbot Kinney and in Beverly Hills.”
Rails is also plotting a debut menswear store, starting with New York City. “Our goal is to start building men’s stores that are near our women’s stores,“ Abrams said.
While Rails has shifted from generating 100 percent of its business via wholesale to direct-to-consumer channels now accounting for one-third of sales, Abrams is working toward an even split. As for year-to-year growth, Abrams shared that retail sales are up more than 20 percent in the U.S. and more than 30 percent internationally.
Rails’ strategy of opening four or more stores a year isn’t just a marketing endeavor — it’s also self-preservation amid a changing apparel landscape. For Abrams, the resurgence of brick-and-mortar stores can be explained in part by dwindling wholesale opportunities. “There’s a lot of consolidation happening and big players have gone out of business,” Abrams said. “So you can’t rely on wholesale as your sole growth engine.”
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