Toccin, the New York-based contemporary brand founded by Michael and Alex Toccin, is having a busy season. The brand is getting ready to open a shop-in-shop at Harrods in the contemporary department on June 23 and will open its first freestanding store — a 1,400-square-foot pop-up — in Southampton, N.Y., on Thursday.
The next goal for the brand is to open freestanding stores in key locations around the country, and Toccin is targeting New York City’s Upper East Side, Texas, Florida and Washington, D.C, for future stores.
“Our goal within the next 12 months is to roll a store or two out,” said Michael, chief executive officer and designer of the privately held company, in a Zoom interview from the new Southampton store on Wednesday.
The brand is looking for expansion on both the international and domestic fronts.
The shop-in-shop at Harrods, which is on the fourth floor and measures 234 square feet, is near such brands as Veronica Beard, Vince Theory, Anine Bing, and Alice + Olivia, and is an ongoing relationship.
“They approached us. We’re really filling that white space of addressing the woman who wants to feel polished. She wants a clean aesthetic, but with a fashionable lens, and we’re dressing women of all ages, and that’s what makes the brand so exciting,” said Michael, who founded the brand with his wife Alex in 2019.
Alex and Michael Toccin
Courtesy of Toccin
In Europe, the brand also sells such retailers as Gente in Rome and Ounass in the Middle East, as well as other specialty stores in Europe and Israel.
Michael said he found the 44 Main Street location for the Southampton boutique on Mother’s Day weekend, and they hustled to get it ready for Thursday’s opening. They’ve got several brand partners for the opening, including Homenature, a lifestyle and home furnishings retailer, for the store’s furniture; Canfora Capri sandals; Stephanie Gottlieb for jewelry; Colors in Optics eyewear; Kim Seybert for tabletop; Zafferano, for glassware and portable table lamps; Taschen books, and Sag Harbor Florist, where they will sell pre-made bouquets and grab and go bouquets outside the store. Toccin is also launching its own candle, which is a Hamptons scent. “We made it the Toccin home,” Michael said.
Toccin will open the doors to its pop-up shop in Southampton on Thursday.
Courtesy of Toccin
The pop-up, which measures around 1,400 square feet, will feature the summer collection and will transition to fall. It will stay open through December.
Alex, chief marketing officer, said what’s unusual about the Toccin brand is that customers tend to come in and purchase their entire wardrobes that can carry them through the season. They buy multiple pieces that they can wear different ways. She anticipates that in the Southampton store, they will buy items to wear in both the Hamptons and to work since the items are timeless and can carry her through the season.
The brand’s wholesale accounts in the U.S. include Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdale’s and nordstrom.com.
A look from Toccin’s summer campaign.
Courtesy of Toccin
Michael, who said his business has doubled year-over-year across all channels, plans to expand the brand’s offerings to scarves for July and August delivery and belts for fall. The company doesn’t have handbags or shoes yet, but that’s on its wish list. “That finishes the look,” Michael said.
He said they aim to double their volume again in the next year.
Michael said the wholesale business at department and specialty stores has grown significantly in the past year. “Our e-commerce and V.I.C. is growing,” Alex said. The company has a team that does pop-ups around the country where someone will host a cocktail party for customers. It will give a portion of proceeds to charity. They said they can do between $30,000 and $70,000 in two hours.
“We have all different clients and customers coming in from the professional woman who’s coming in for new outfits that she can wear to professional events to the mom on the go who just needs to refresh her wardobe so that she can feel put together as she is running through her day to even an older woman who is very charitable and just needs a few different pieces to help her,” Alex said.
Overall, Toccin’s average retail price point is around $595. The apparel ranges from $125 for a T-shirt to $1,295 for an evening piece. Leather jackets are $595 to $895. Sizes range from 00 to 14.
Asked what they anticipate will be bestsellers at the Southampton store, Michael said, “Always our cardigans, our dresses, something she can wear to someone’s party. Honestly, I am looking around the store, and I think all of it is going to sell. I hope we have enough product.”
