Kostüme has announced it is bringing its demand-led pre-order batch model to physical retail with the launch of Kostüme Partner Studios. An approach it believes ‘is a first-of-its-kind for ready-to-wear apparel.’
Launching to coincide with #EDIT012, Kostüme’s new autumn/winter batch, the first Partner Studio has opened at Port Velo Cycle Works, near Kostüme’s home city of Bristol.
Kostüme says Port Velo gains exclusive regional access to the brand, with customers able to see and try its products ahead of each new launch, plus a guaranteed allocation from its strictly limited production runs. Pre-orders are made via a dedicated Kostüme-powered microsite.
Simon Andrews, co-founder of Port Velo Cycle Works, said:
We never planned to offer apparel, because the existing model doesn’t really make much sense. The stock commitment – and the over-reliance on heavy discounting to shift seasonal stock – simply wasn’t attractive to us.
Kostüme obviously changes that equation. Our customers now get exclusive local access to see the products, feel the quality and get the fit right, and we can offer them something genuinely distinctive and different, without filling the store with speculative inventory or discount rails.
The brand says this new model eliminates speculative forward orders, up-front inventory risk and the damaging discounting that dominates contemporary wholesale, while creating new opportunities to drive in-store footfall through regular Kostüme-supported activations.
Kostüme founder Ed Bartlett said:
Preorder was never simply about asking if people would wait a few weeks for their order. It was about questioning why an industry routinely manufactures huge quantities of products in the knowledge that a significant proportion will end up discounted or unsold. The Kostüme Partner Studios model has been developed to offer the best of all worlds.
We retain the demand-led model that allows us to cut waste and make exceptional products, while our partners provide everything that online direct-to-consumer struggles with – touch, fit, experience and community. Most importantly for retailers, it removes the usual up-front inventory risk, as well as the reliance on endless heavy discounting to clear stock.
Founded in Bristol in 2020, Kostüme says it has spent five years ‘since commercial launch demonstrating that removing the significant waste built into the traditional apparel model is not only possible, but also allows far more to be invested where it should be – in the products.’
Simon Andrews from Port Velo and Ed Bartlett
The brand says Kostüme Partner Studios is designed to extend the unique advantages of the direct-toconsumer preorder batch model into physical retail, adding local discovery, customer acquisition and distribution, but without reintroducing the risk and inventory burden of traditional wholesale.
With customers already preordering directly from over 40 countries, including 12% of sales from North America, Kostüme is opening discussions with prospective Partner Studios across multiple territories, focusing on premium customer experience and community engagement.
#EDIT012 is live now to preview and preorder at Port Velo Cycle Works until Sunday 11th October, with a special customer ride and Kostüme presentation planned for Saturday 3rd October.
