Piperlime was an online retail company based in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Founded in 2006 as a spin-off by

Gap Inc. The Gap, Inc., commonly known as Gap Inc. or Gap (stylized as GAP), is an American worldwide clothing and accessories retailer. Gap was founded in 1969 by Donald Fisher and Doris F. Fisher and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The c ...

, Piperlime offered a selection of footwear and handbags for women, men and children. Beginning in fall 2009, the company sold women's clothing and, later, men's clothing, with the men's business retiring in August 2014. On January 23, 2015, Gap Inc. announced its decision to close Piperlime by the end of April 2015, in order to focus resources on its core brands. Piperlime was Gap's smallest brand, with annual revenue below $100 million, which was less than one percent of Gap's total revenue.

History

Initially launched with more than 100 well-known brands, Piperlime stocked over 250 footwear brands, including women's salon and designer brands like Alberto Fermani, Hollywould,

Giuseppe Zanotti Giuseppe Zanotti is an Italian luxury footwear and fashion designer known for his sculptural, jeweled heels, luxury sneakers, handbags, jewelry, and leather ready-to-wear. His wholly owned company, Vicini S.p.A., manufactures his eponymous label, ...

, Belle by Sigerson Morrison,

Frye Frye is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Channing Frye (born 1983), basketball player *Charlie Frye (born 1981), football player for the Oakland Raiders *Don Frye (born 1965), mixed martial arts fighter *Donna Frye (born 1952), ...

, Donald J Pliner, Kenneth Cole,

Nine West Nine West, also known as 9 West, is an American online fashion retailer which is based in White Plains, New York. It was founded in 1983 and closed its brick and mortar stores business in 2018. Its products continue to be sold at other retai ...

Crocs Crocs, Inc. (stylized in all lowercase) is an American footwear company based in Broomfield, Colorado, that manufactures and markets the Crocs brand of foam clogs. History Crocs was founded by Lyndon "Duke" Hanson, and George Boedecker Jr. to ...

, Converse and

Steve Madden Steven Madden (born March 23, 1958) is an American fashion designer and businessman. He is the founder and former CEO of Steve Madden, Ltd., a publicly traded company. Life and career Madden was born in Far Rockaway, Queens, the son of a Jewis ...

. Since launching its handbag division in spring 2008, Piperlime stocked over 30 handbag brands including

Marc by Marc Jacobs Marc Jacobs (born April 9, 1963) is an American fashion designer. He is the head designer for his own fashion label, Marc Jacobs, and formerly Marc by Marc Jacobs, a diffusion line, which was produced for approximately 15 years, before it was d ...

, Chloe, Botkier, Kooba, Foley + Corinna, Beirn, Orla Kiely and Linea Pelle. Piperlime had ongoing partnerships with celebrity stylists, who recommended their favorite seasonal products online as "

Fashion Editors Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion ind ...

". Stylists included

Rachel Zoe Rachel Zoe Rosenzweig (born September 1, 1971) is an American fashion designer, businesswoman and author who rose to prominence as a celebrity wardrobe stylist. She has been credited with the creation of "the boho-meets-rock chic look that came ...

Rachel Bilson Rachel Sarah Bilson (born August 25, 1981) is an American actress. Born to a Californian show-business family, Bilson made her television debut in 2003, and then landed the role of Summer Roberts on the prime-time drama series ''The O.C.'' Bils ...

and

Olivia Palermo Olivia Palermo (born February 28, 1986) is an American socialite, fashion influencer, entrepreneur, model and television personality. Palermo gained celebrity status when she sued socialiterank.com for releasing a letter that was proven to be f ...

. The company partnered with the creators of the

reality show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

Project Runway ''Project Runway'' is an American reality television series that premiered on Bravo on December 1, 2004. The series focuses on fashion design. The contestants compete with each other to create the best clothes and are restricted by time, mater ...

for seasons eight and nine. In addition to sponsoring the fashion show's "accessories wall," the retailer provided one of the major prizes for the winner of the show's eighth season (the opportunity for the winner to design a collection to be sold exclusively by Piperlime). The first Piperlime retail store opened in

SoHo Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develop ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, on September 6, 2012, and closed April 2015.

References

External links

* {{Gap Inc. Gap brands Online clothing retailers of the United States Defunct retail companies of the United States 2000s fashion American companies established in 2006 Clothing companies established in 2006 Retail companies established in 2006 Internet properties established in 2006 Retail companies disestablished in 2015 Internet properties disestablished in 2015 2006 establishments in California 2015 disestablishments in California Defunct companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area