The CHALLENGE

In the case of Elizabeth Suzann, a bread and butter fabric offering had been unavailable for purchase for four years. Amongst various factors, fabric costs had drastically increased for high-quality 100% silk, and the finicky nature of the fabric limited domestic manufacturing options. But customer demand persisted. If we were to bring a catalog of silk styles back, retail prices would have to increase by a significant margin to support the drastically higher COGS. Would returning customers pay these higher prices for a long-coveted fabric? How could we communicate this product's value to new customers accustomed to the retail prices of our linen and cotton garments?

the Approach

Since its founding in the 2010s, every garment sold by the DTC brand has been garment-washed as an integral part of their unique manufacturing process. This means extensive shrinkage testing by dye lot is completed prior to cutting, and the patterns used in manufacturing are adjusted to accommodate for the expected shrinkage that will occur once the sewn garment is machine-washed and dried. The benefits of this process are multi-fold, as are the financial and production-related challenges. Most advantageous to the customer is the inherent ease of care. Rather than going to the dry-cleaners, you can launder your silk garments from the brand in your home machines.

*To effectively market this returning (and now more expensive) product to new and existing customers and meet or exceed revenue goals for this release, I iterated and implemented a few key components to our strategy.

• Increase actual and perceived value by releasing the catalog formally known as “Silk Crepe” under a new, SEO-optimized name, “Washable Silk.”

• Write and produce a product FAQ covering questions we believed would “tip the scales” for new and returning customers debating purchasing. Founder Liz Pape also recorded this FAQ as a Reel to capture a broader, video-first audience.

• Choose a video-forward approach for e-commerce and marketing assets to communicate the liquid-like movement and drape, as well as the subtle sheen and soft-as-butter hand feel of the fabric.