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Club Monaco's first shoe line is putting a fair amount of faith in their customers' willingness to drop money on footwear. The mass market chain has just launched a footwear line featuring 18 styles (six of which are through an partnership with indie footwear superstar brand Loeffler Randall) priced in the $198 to $395 range.
While those are obviously far from the highest prices you'll find in the footwear department, $400 for a pair of Italian-made booties skews higher end than we typically think of for CM—more towards the contemporary designer range (Tory Burch, Rachel Roy, DVF) than your typical mass-market, mall store.
But Club Monaco, which is owned by Ralph Lauren, has been rebranding itself recently. They're moving away from the sleek, Euro image they cultivated in the aughts towards a hipper, artier, urban-bohemian vibe. Perhaps a new, fancy footwear line is part of that effort. After all, there are certainly other examples out there (ahem, J.Crew) of mall brands who have managed to convince their customers that it's not crazy to pay a premium for stylish shoes.
Head here to shop.
· Tibi Demonstrates How an Apparel Brand Can Successfully Launch a Shoe Line [Racked]
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