A new chapter in the history of Love Stories: on September 1st, while Amsterdam Fashion Week, the Dutch label launched a ready-to-wear collection. This was created at the request of its own community. ‘Whateverwear’ should be what the customer wants. It should invite you to play with clothing, Love-Stories founder Marloes Hoedeman said a few days before the launch. The entrepreneur gave Fashionunited an update on the current developments of the Dutch brand.
It is Thursday morning, 9:30 a.m., and Hoedeman takes the call in a good mood. A lot has happened since the last conversation between Fashionunited and Hoedeman: cooperations, stores, expansion and pandemic. There is a lot to discuss.
“We have existed for over ten years now and went abroad very quickly after our launch. We are in a niche market. You can only grow in it if you expand to other countries.” Love Stories experienced great success at the beginning. “We were about to trigger a hype. When we got into the Wholesale with the brand, we reached our climax.” After the climax, there was also a time of rethinking. “We have become a little stricter where we want to be positioned with the products. But also retailers:” That is not the right brand for us. “Hoedeman explains that more balancing had occurred after the fifth year of the brand.
Love Stories is currently active in Europe, with a few dozen sales outlets outside of Europe. “I also found that I could not expand immediately in Europe, America and Japan with our small team. It didn’t work. But I wanted to be very naive,” reflects Hoedeman. The last two markets are growth markets for Love Stories. “Although it also depends a bit on what Trump does.” A store in New York is still on the wish list.
Love Stories is expanding with ready-to-wear: “Our community asked about it”
Most people know Love Stories from their Bralettes and the associated slogan ‘Holiday for your boobs’. At the beginning, Love Stories with Bralettes and a playful approach was a pioneer at the Lingeriemarkt. Ten years later, most Lingeriemarken Bralettes have their range. “Fortunately, we never felt unsettled due to the increasing competition.” Hoedeman would never have expected to produce iron-bras. However, when she realized that she excluded many women by not offering any iron bras, she changed her opinion. “We can now welcome women with cup size E or F. In the area of the ironing bras, the market is still incredibly boring, so our articles are very well received. It is nice that we can now offer many more women suitable products.”
The extension of the range goes one step further on September 1st with the launch of ‘whateverwear’. Hoedeman always believed that there were enough fashion brands and that she did not have to get into the ready-to-wear with her brand. “But the demand for our community remained.” Love Stories actively works with the members to get input for the collection. “Our customers often stated that they would find the bralette, the bra or body so beautifully that they would like to wear it as a second shift – not just as a lingerie.” The collection already contained a pajamas or a jogging suit, “but we never really took it seriously”. “When the demand continued to exist, I thought: ‘Maybe after ten years we should continue with this second layer’. With the ready-to-wear collection, we also want to give the lingerie an additional stage.”
The name ‘whateverwear’ came out of the need not to put things in drawers. “In department stores, we sometimes fall between the chairs. Are we lingerie or lifestyle? The drawer thinking, from people to the moments when you wear a piece of clothing. Is it for a man or a woman, as a pajamas or normal pants – what is it like? ‘Whateverwear’ decided. ” The collection contains many different categories; The main thing is how to combine them.
The expansion of the range also means that the mono bangers from Love Stories need an update. Hoedeman, who is also interior designer, cannot hide her enthusiasm.
Love Stories launches ‘whateverwear’: “Too nice to just stay in bed”
Other plans for the brand include cooperation with the German brand Closed and the Danish brand Rotate. “I think cooperations are great. We also call them ‘love affairs’, because it feels a bit like cheating. Knutch briefly and then continue with our own thing,” jokes Hoedeman. “I find it exciting to take a look at the kitchen of another brand, and vice versa it is the same with us.” Hoedeman explains that the success of such cooperation also depends on the mutual appreciation. So the founders of Rotate were already fans of Love Stories before they founded their own brand and still worked as stylists. “At Closed, the entire Love Stories design department also wore.”
According to Hoedeman, interest in cooperation is also due to the fact that many Lingerie consider an interesting product that you would like to try out. “Sometimes a brand is not so sexy and does not really dare to add a pinch of sex that we can contribute.” Cooperation with Closed, known for the Pedal Pusher Denim, is therefore revolving by two denim articles, which can be carried by adjustments with a lingerie hook closure in two different ways: closely and wide. The collection will appear in September; The Rotate-Love-Affair will be released later in the year. A small foretaste was already given during the Rotate Show on Copenhagen Fashion Week last summer.
Whether it is a new cooperation, a new category and collection or the growth markets – Love Stories is far from over. Hoedeman has also been dreaming of a Love-Stories Hotel since the beginning, but that is still the future of the future. The most important effect that Hoedeman wants to achieve? “Wear what you want and how you want. Our pajamas are too beautiful to just stay in bed.”
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