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Will TheDrop get the drop on streetwear retailing rivals?

May 30, 2019Written by RetailWire Staff

Photos: instagram.com/thedrop

As streetwear continues to trend, one e-tailer appears to be emerging as a go-to spot for the brands that athletes, urbanites and “hype beasts” are buying. TheDrop is now the largest streetwear website in the U.S., according to a press release. The site, which went live in 2017, offers more than 85,000 SKUs of streetwear and lifestyle-adjacent products like tech gadgets and skateboard gear. The company purports to be putting less tech-savvy brands in touch with their customer base at a faster rate than the brands are doing themselves. It has accomplished this by using data on customer affinity to present lesser-known up-and-coming brands a customer might be attracted to alongside established brands, such as Adidas and Nike. TheDrop website also features a section promoting recently “dropped” products from leading brands and has content with brief backstories on the brands it is recommending. While TheDrop offers a convenient way to discover and buy streetwear online, it is facing growing competition from brick-and-mortar stores. Both Nordstrom and Barneys have entered into partnerships with brands and urban fashion magazines to bring curated collections, popups and store-within-a-store concepts to consumers offering streetwear selections on the luxury end of the spectrum. In footwear, Foot Locker has begun to reinvent its brick-and-mortar stores to fit the streetwear customer lifestyle. The chain has begun experiencing a resurgence in popularity as it moves out of malls and into standalone locations, including its experience-oriented Power Store concept, which has launched in a few major cities in the U.S. and abroad. TheDrop has some competition on the way online as well, from none other than Amazon. The e-commerce juggernaut recently announced the launch of a streetwear-focused shopping experience called The Drop, according to Business Insider. The initiative appears unrelated to the website of the same name (as was also the case with Barneys’ thedrop@barneys event). Amazon’s The Drop offers made-on-demand designs available for only 30 hours. Amazon has not set a date for when The Drop will go live, but when it does, plans to make its fashions available exclusively through the Amazon website or mobile app.

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