Sally LaPointe — who’s garnered attention the past few seasons for her statement fur sweaters and outerwear — is looking online to grow her business.
In tandem with her spring collection rolling out to retailers this week, the designer is today introducing a photo series, Her.Found, shot by Italian photographer Jasmine Deporta who LaPointe discovered on Instagram last summer. The brand’s digital flagship at sallylapointe.com, which quietly saw a refresh last week, will also see an official relaunch today.
“We’re not advertising; it’s what we’re calling a campaign,” said Sarah Hauser, who heads marketing at the brand, of the photo series that gives the spring collection a “new context.” Deporta’s images will live on the new sallylapointe.com, designed by Brooklyn based firm Hugo + Marie, and the LaPointe Instagram account @sally_lapointe.
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The company is scrappy, and with a small team of six operating out of the designer’s New York City-based headquarters, Hauser called the site refresh and collaboration with Deporta a way to rethink the brand’s digital existence as it readies to launch an e-commerce business later this year.
“We’re putting much more effort into marketing… [with] a plan to seasonally to do one project — a photo series or video – to coincide with next collection shipping,” Hauser said of the company’s new strategy. “LaPointe runs the brand’s Instagram herself. It’s a way of continuing that relationship [with the consumer] in a more direct way, as well as scaling the business.”
LaPointe introduced her first collection in 2010, and has a tight global distribution that includes Bergdorf Goodman and Moda Operandi in the U.S. to 10 Corso Como in Milan and Harvey Nichols in Hong Kong and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Hauser said key retail partners will continue to drive the business, but an e-commerce destination will allow LaPointe to reach consumers who might not live near any of the dozen points-of-sale her wares are sold.