Frances Valentine, the company that was started with the help of ace designer Kate Spade who died recently, is on its way to its first retail venture- a Madison Avenue pop-up store. The 850-square-foot space will also offer a collection called “Love Katy” that honours Kate Spade.
Talking about honouring the memory of the designer without being exploitive, Elyce Arons, Chief Executive Officer of Frances Valentine said, “For us, it is our way of honouring Katy and keeping her spirit alive. We have a really small team in the office and it hit us all really hard. That first week, we had so many customers and friends of the brand write in — people who had known her a long, long time and people we had never met, who said please keep going — you have to keep her designs alive.”
Andy Spade, Kate Spade’s co-founder and the late designer’s husband is Frances Valentine’s Creative Director as well as a its branding director. “We’re trying to give him as much space and time that he needs, because he is taking care of his daughter. But he’s still very involved,” Arons said. “He’s always worked on design, so it will be the same role that he has always played.”
Located at 793 Madison Avenue, the old town house store will showcase an assortment of handbags, shoes and jewellery. The “Love Katy” collection will feature the designer’s favourites every season each season, with a floral-patterned cardi-coat as the debuting piece for this season.
The pop-up will remain open through January and can be converted to a permanent outlet if the customer response is good. Frances Valentine will also donate about 20% of the revenue made by sales of The Kate Bag for the aid of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
The pop-up launched on November 10 and witnessed a good response with favourites being the $ 295 Trixie bag, which is a T-bottom tote along with the Zelda handbag, which is being retailed at $ 245.
