Rag & Bone’s Denim-mimicking Miramar Collection Ups its Retail Profile

Miramar, the fashion collection that mimics the look of denim with the softness of a sweat pant, is advancing its retail footprint.

Two pop-up shops, on the concourse level of Manhattan’s Moynihan Train Hall and on 29th Street by the University of Colorado in Boulder, opened Aug. 28 and Aug. 20, respectively. A third Miramar pop-up will open in the American Dream entertainment and shopping center in East Rutherford, N.J., on Sept. 12. All three units will operate through the holiday season and into January.

While pop-ups are commonplace, it’s unusual for a brand to open three simultaneously in the same season, and in the case of Miramar, the maneuver hints at a possible deeper commitment to brick-and-mortar stores. Miramar could try to extend the leases on the pop-ups depending on how successful they are and agreements with landlords, or perhaps launch permanent freestanding Miramar stores elsewhere, which would be a first for the brand.

Miramar, a 12-year-old collection created by Rag & Bone, does have shops inside all of the 32 regular-price Rag & Bone shops in the U.S., but until this summer, never opened pop-up boutiques. Following the rollout of the shops-in-shop, “These pop-ups were really kind of the natural next step for us to pursue stand-alone boutiques,” said Jess Burns, senior vice president of marketing at Rag & Bone.

Asked if more pop-ups will be opened next year, Burns said: “I wouldn’t rule out the possibility, based on the performance that we’ve seen of these current pop-ups, and also the performance of the shops-in-shop within our existing retail stores. I can’t share specific details on sales, but we’re very encouraged.”

Asked if the pop-ups could be considered barometers for launching permanent Miramar stores, Burns replied: “That’s a great question. I think we’ll learn from these leases. They will be running for about six months, so we’ll learn pretty quickly on whether or not we want to extend. Based on how Miramar has been performing for our business overall, I’m very encouraged these pop ups will do well.”

Overseas, Rag & Bone has two stores in the U.K., one each in Amsterdam and Dusseldorf, two in Australia and one in Japan. Going forward, Burns said the company intends to drive awareness of Rag & Bone and Miramar to other regions as well through Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Rag & Bone is considered a contemporary brand and is especially known for denim.

With the pop-ups, “We’ve been pretty intentional about the decisions on locations,” said Burns. “At UC Boulder, we are able to target a college cohort, and get an understanding of that level of their interest and engagement with the brand. We’re excited about learning more. At Moynihan, we’re targeting a professional and a traveler. Moynihan is one of the biggest destinations in the city, and there’s a ton of businesses in and around the area.” Miramar has what it characterizes as a “travel-friendly DNA.” Burns also pointed out that Rag & Bone has locations uptown and downtown with Miramar included, so Moynihan gives Miramar exposure to a more central section of Manhattan. “With American Dream, we can target families. So these three pop-ups serve three different purposes. We’re really excited to get the learnings from each because they will tell different stories.”

While Miramar offers a variety of categories including pants, jackets, and shirting. Burns did highlight one sku (stock keeping unit) that has been selling particularly well at retail and online — the Miramar track pant. “It’s essentially a wide leg pant with two racing stripes down the side,” she said.

For the University of Colorado pop-up, Miramar is customizing the pant in the school’s black and gold colors. For the Moynihan pop-up, Miramar is customizing the pant in the colors of a professional team playing at Madison Square Garden, which is right next to the train hall. Odds are it will be the blue and orange colors of the Knicks pro basketball team, though Burns declined to disclose the team until a later date. Miramar’s pants are priced similar to premium denim, in the $150 to $225 range.

Miramar offers primarily loungewear and casual apparel that looks like denim but feels like sweats. Miramar has a special printing technique replicating denim that gets applied to more comfortable, less rigid fabrics for jeans, jackets, shorts, skirts, shirts, for men, women and kids. Some consider Miramar unique, in niche somewhere between traditional sportswear and athleisure.

“Miramar has the feel of sweat clothes, but it can be elevated,” Burns said. “If you look at some of our content on our website, we style it in a way that can be dressed up and dressed down. You could wear it to your kids soccer game. You could wear it around the house. You could also dress it up and wear it to work, or wear on a night on the town. And so you can wear a full kind of denim on denim Miramar look.”

The awareness level of the Miramar collection isn’t as high as the Rag & Bone brand though Burns said: “We’re actually in the process of doing a bigger ‘brand health’ study to get that data. As we speak, it’s in the field. The Rag & Bone brand has been around for 23 years. There is a very loyal fan base that has stayed with the brand. We’ve been able to cultivate high levels of awareness and positive sentiment. Miramar is the new kid on the block to a certain extent. But I believe 45 percent of our women’s new customer acquisition is from Miramar. That causes me to believe that Miramar’s awareness is trending up, but I think there’s still a ton of opportunity. And I think what’s interesting right now is that people are learning about Rag & Bone. There’s this next generation that is learning about Rag & Bone through Miramar. So we might actually see higher levels of Miramar awareness in certain markets that allows us to create a bridge to the Rag & Bone brand.”

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