How Brands Pick the Right Multibrand Retailers to Sell To

Read “Navigating the Unravelling of Multibrand Retail,” BoF’s special memo for executive members breaking down the changing dynamics of wholesale.

Selling to multibrand retailers has become a source of opportunity and risk for fashion brands.

On one hand, these players can still offer credibility, scale and geographic reach without the costs of operating stores.

On the other, they’ve also become a source of mounting financial and strategic risk as a wave of bankruptcies, restructurings and distressed transactions has laid bare the fragility of the wholesale ecosystem. Department stores are weighed down by high fixed costs and eroding foot traffic, online platforms are struggling with returns and rising customer acquisition costs, and even well-regarded specialty retailers are exposed to inventory risk and thin margins.

In this environment, choosing the wrong partner can quickly undermine liquidity, pricing power and brand equity, and brands today must be far more selective about who they work with as a result. They’re rethinking who to sell to, and why.

In March, The Business of Fashion published “How to Navigate the Unravelling of Multibrand Retail,” a memo for executive members that unpacks how brands can leverage these partnerships while minimising their risks. Key to that balancing act is choosing the right partners to begin with.

“There is no easy one-size-fits-all solution for luxury brands,” said Francesca Padula, a senior team leader at consultancy Metyis.

The strongest retail partners share a few defining characteristics: a loyal customer base, disciplined buying, strong storytelling and the ability to sell products at full price through human interaction, not just by discounting.

A small group of multibrand players continue to perform despite the broader sector’s structural pressures. The common thread is prioritising full-price sell-through, tightly edited offerings and close alignment with brand partners.

Multibrand Winners

Mytheresa

With a relentless focus on full-price selling and top-tier clients, Mytheresa has built one of the most resilient online luxury models in the world. The business has a strong emphasis on exclusive capsules and pampering high-spending customers, which management highlights as key to profitability. Unlike platforms that pursued scale through promotions and broad assortments, Mytheresa has prioritised price discipline, avoiding the margin compression that has plagued much of online multibrand retail.

FWRD

The data infrastructure and operational knowhow of Revolve, FWRD’s parent company, allows the online retailer to better target high-value customers while maintaining control over inventory and avoiding excessive discounting. Revolve’s data-driven model enables more efficient buying and marketing, helping FWRD avoid the struggles associated with rising customer acquisition costs and returns that have plagued other online retailers.

Dover Street Market

Operating less like a traditional retailer and more like a curated cultural platform, Dover Street Market uses constant rotation, scarcity and creative merchandising to drive demand. For brands, it functions as a stage for storytelling rather than a volume channel.

Le Bon Marché

Le Bon Marché has maintained strong performance by operating at the very top end of the department store spectrum, with highly curated assortments, exhibition-style retail and a loyal high-spending clientele. Its alignment with luxury brand expectations around presentation and pricing has been a key differentiator.

Printemps

A similar premium department store approach — leaning into experiential retail while focusing on curation, services and a strong domestic and tourist base to sustain traffic and full-price sell-through — has worked for Printemps as well.

Lane Crawford

Anchored around its core Asian customer and managing sales across both stores and online, Lane Crawford offers clients a carefully selected range of brands. Rather than expanding aggressively across markets, Lane Crawford has focused on depth within its core region, avoiding the operational and inventory complexity that has challenged global platforms.

Fashion brands need to consider each of the multibrand players they work with individually and determine the advantages they offer and where they have weaknesses. The lesson for brands is not that wholesale is broken beyond repair, but that it must be treated as a managed risk rather than a default growth channel. Fewer doors, tighter assortments and clearer expectations increasingly outperform broad but fragile distribution.

Wholesale relationships now resemble balance-sheet decisions as much as commercial ones. Payment terms, markdown rights and inventory ownership are no longer minor details. They are credit risks that can determine a brand’s financial resilience in a downturn. Brands also need to consider the terms they strike with partners to ensure the relationship is beneficial for both parties.

The brands that emerge strongest will be those that deploy wholesale tactically – to seed markets, build prestige or test new categories – while protecting pricing, inventory and brand narrative.

Want to dive deeper? Check out “Navigating the Unravelling of Multibrand Retail,” BoF’s special memo for executive members breaking down the changing dynamics of wholesale.