Federica Marchionni Dishes on What’s New at Lands’ End

by Kristen Heinzinger

As the brand that got its start by outfitting sailors, Lands’ End is tapping back into the active, nautical lifestyle—infused with a major dose of modern style. CEO Federica Marchionni discusses her plans to update the iconic brand and reel in millennials en masse.

Lands’ End is having quite a moment. First things first: You brought back a former line, Canvas by Lands’ End, in April. How did that come about?
People asked me to bring it back because they loved it. The reason we closed it was because it was becoming too similar to Lands’ End. I didn’t want to make the same mistake, so I decided to use this brand to instill that design focus that the younger generation is asking for. It’s dressier but easy and not so fashion-forward, and it allows young people the freedom to choose their look—the freedom to decide. Canvas by Lands’ End became linked to art and an artist’s freedom to express themselves, often on a white canvas. The line has a white label with a brush stroke.

How are you reaching younger customers?
Our core customer is the Lands’ End family—almost 90 percent of what we do is dedicated to them. It’s multigenerational—a mom who shops for her kids until the kids are shopping for themselves. We talk to our younger customers with different imagery, and the attitude and approach of Canvas focuses on them. They want more design—they think Lands’ End is too basic. Last year, we did a Bruce Weber campaign for Canvas where we showed that family, and included the 13- to 30-year-olds.

Is Canvas having any impact on the core Lands’ End line?
We’re focused on making Lands’ End more relevant and updated, and Canvas can do that. When a person shops Canvas, they end up shopping on Lands’ End, too. The Canvas customer is buying two times the average order value of a Lands’ End customer. But we don’t want to become a “Canvas vs. Lands’ End.” Lands’ End is the main focus and continues to be the majority of the business, but we are attracting people to shop Lands’ End through Canvas.

You’re also exploring athleisure with Sport.
Sports are such a part of our DNA, but there wasn’t enough focus on it. Gary Comer, the founder of Lands’ End, was a sailor, and he built an 80K-square-foot sports center at our headquarters with a pool, basketball court, gym, and indoor track. When our board of directors was in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, for a meeting, we organized a basketball tournament with our employees! I want to promote well-being and use Sport as a way to help people to be balanced and disciplined. There’s also a lot of fashion in the Sport line—we’re taking athleisure and performance products from land to sea.

Surf launched just in time for summer. What can we find in that category?
Swim is a big trend for us. We have wet suits with rash guard, and our popular swim tee with UPF 50 protection. The swim products, in general, are one of the biggest parts of the business. The quality and detail are amazing, modern, and appealing—affordable, too.

What’s the overarching marketing strategy for Lands’ End and all its individual lines?
We’re making sure that people can recognize us. Our images are dreamy but inviting. Fashion sometimes scares people. Our approach as a brand is warm and welcoming. We have so many real stories to tell, and we can make them feel authentic in our marketing. I’m also proud of our quality of product and the prices. It could be more expensive, but we choose to be fair-priced. But we’re not into super low “deal” prices, either. And we have one of best customer service centers in the U.S., which I want to maintain.

Why did you choose to launch your new membership program, The Circle?
Customers can apply for The Circle membership for $50, and in exchange they receive free shipping, free returns and 20 percent off Canvas every day. It encourages people to shop more, and it’s the only way to get promotions, other than the regular holiday-centric ones, like July 4 and Memorial Day. When brands become too promotional, it doesn’t help them to really stand for something. It puts the company under a lot of pressure.

You’re expanding men’s and footwear, too.
Yes, we created a shoe line of high heels and more stylish looks for Canvas for the first time. Right now, our focus is 80 percent more on women than men, but men’s will be more of our focus in the fall. We hired a great designer who really understands the taste of today’s man who is looking for more fashion. We offer quality pieces that can be mixed with things that he owns already.

Where is Lands’ End available today?
Lands’ End has 10 standalone stores in the Midwest and one in Rochester, New York. We also have Lands’ Ends shops at Sears that feature the Lands’ End line. Canvas is online only, with a big focus on social media. We’ve taken a digital and social approach to promote Canvas, because that’s where the younger generation communicates. At this time, we aren’t creating catalogs for Canvas, with the exception of when we sent Los Angeles Times and Glamour subscribers a catalog, and ran a marketing insert in an issue of Harper’s Bazaar to build brand awareness.

How much of the company’s sales are from e-commerce versus stores and catalogs?
Our website is our biggest store. We were the first American line to launch e-commerce, in 1995. We consider it a store, not just a website. We have so much information there, including our wonderful brand story that talks about our founder and we use beautiful imagery to engage the consumer. We also focus on cross-shopping—when a customer is shopping for one product, we show something else they might like to buy. It’s something we’ve never done before.

How is the brand using social media to target consumers?
My goal is to bring back our heritage of being innovative, so I recently hired a head of digital marketing. It’s the first time we have someone with that title who can lead the team. In terms of how we’re using social media, we launched Canvas on Instagram first. We also partnered with Scott Schuman, of The Sartorialist, for Portraits of Canvas, a street-style type of campaign. Scott and his team are hosting casting calls around the world, and our first one was in New York City. We’re choosing girls who mix their own style with Canvas pieces really well. The way the young girls styled themselves at the casting was amazing. We released it on June 24 on our website and social media.

What’s the concept for the Canvas summer campaign?
It was important to capture the scenery. It had to be imagery people would remember. I wanted the model to have attitude, but not too much, because that’s not in the DNA of the brand. While we’re bringing in more design and taking a fashion approach, we don’t want to disconnect from our customer. We’re trying to turn our former customers on to Lands’ End again.

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