Springwise:
Over the past few years, we’ve seen nearly every major clothing
brand—from the Gap to Louis Vuitton—set up one or more pop-up stores,
drawing attention to their product lines and to their regular retail
outlets. In contrast, a Munich-based brand isn’t attempting to
supplement its fixed-store bread and butter; Clemens en August’s
only offline sales are through temporary outlets, twice a year.
Avoiding the pop-up moniker, the brand describes itself as being ‘on
tour’.
Through planned scarcity, meanwhile, the strategy creates a new sense of
exclusivity based on limited availability, not price. Together, those
benefits have clearly helped the brand survive during these tough
economic times, allowing it to win a cult following and to see a sales
increase of 30 percent in 2009, according to a report in Time. While it
also sells through its online store, Clemens en August maintains a sense
of scarcity: the third floor of its webshop is reserved for customers
who’ve visited the most recent tour
