Los Angeles-based brand Dstld is redefining the “perfect core wardrobe” of luxury, lust-worthy essentials.
But gone are the days when “premium” naturally translates to expensive, according to Corey Epstein, a cofounder of Dstld. Through Dstld’s (or ‘distilled’) unique business model that aims to provide its customers with a minimalist, high-quality, “pared-down” selection of hot closet staples, its direct-to-consumer platform sells premium denim and luxury essentials for about one-third of traditional retail prices and side-steps department stores and boutiques, enabling as much as 60 to 80 percent off retail prices on its own e-commerce platform.
Epstein and cofounder Mark Lynn are all about addressing overconsumption — a topic many brands, understandably, shy away from. Hil Davis, the ceo of Dstld’s parent company Digital Brands Group, told WWD, “We distill down to the essentials and upgraded quality to cultivate consistency and longevity in your closet.” And naturally, Dstld’s product is sustainable, too: Its selection of premium denim, silk tops, T-shirts, outerwear, denim jackets, cashmere accessories and leather goods are realized through the use of eco-friendly fabrics and sustainable production partners located all over the globe, replete with a 100 percent sweatshop-free guarantee, in addition to using natural dyes and green practices and techniques for product development. Dstld offers a rudimentary color palette of black, white and denim.
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“We’ve taken steps to massively improve our raw materials,” Davis told WWD. “This starts with sourcing top-of-the-line premium cottons, leathers and cashmeres from factories in Italy, Europe and Inner Mongolia for cashmere. Using better fabrics starts at the fiber growth phase; our organic cotton doesn’t use any pesticides and is grown following a sustainable cycle. Our fabric producers believe in sustainable practices and make for the leading luxury brands in the world who are driven by enduring quality. This results in higher-quality materials, and construction, which means our products have a much longer life cycle.”
And Dstld moved its supply chain to Europe from Asia, as “the fabric mills in Europe are focused on making sustainable and eco-friendly fabric; to reduce our carbon footprint significantly; and to source higher-quality materials that do not require as many chemicals from the seed stage,” he noted. Davis added, “The factories in Turkey are regarded as some of the best factories in the world for quality, worker safety, and compensation. Our factories treat their workforce extremely well and the factory conditions are modern and pristine. Our mills and manufacturers are centuries-old and focus on higher-quality sustainable brands to partner with.”
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