The Row is a

luxury Luxury may refer to: * Luxury goods, an economic good or service for which demand increases more than proportionally as income rises *Luxury tax, tax on products not considered essential, such as expensive cars **Luxury tax (sports), surcharge pu ...

fashion label established by

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Fuller Olsen (born June 13, 1986), also known as the Olsen twins as a duo, are American fashion designers and former actresses. The twins made their acting debut as infants playing Michelle Tanner on the television s ...

in 2006.

History

The Row sweater and scarf at the Met (52716)

The idea for the brand started as a personal project in 2005 when Ashley Olsen challenged herself to create a perfect T-shirt."The Row: The Quiet Ones"
Women's Wear Daily, April 29, 2015. She tested the design on a variety of women of all body shapes and ages in an attempt to find a "commonality in fit and attitude"."Behind The Row: Meet Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen"
Vogue, March 22, 2011. By 2006, the sisters had created a 7-piece collection that included the T-shirt, a pair of cotton sateen

leggings Leggings are several types of leg attire that have varied through the years. Modern usage from the 1960s onwards has come to refer to elastic close-fitting high-rise garments worn over the legs typically by women, such as leg warmers or tights ...

, and a

cashmere wool Cashmere wool, usually simply known as cashmere, is a fiber obtained from cashmere goats, pashmina goats, and some other breeds of goat. It has been used to make yarn, textiles and clothing for hundreds of years. Cashmere is closely associate ...

tank dress.

Barneys New York Barneys New York Inc. is an American luxury brand founded in New York City in 1923. It has introduced major designers including Armani, Azzedine Alaïa, Comme des Garçons, Christian Louboutin, and Ermenegildo Zegna to the US market. Barneys N ...

bought the entire first collection. The brand has expanded to include

ready-to-wear Ready-to-wear (or ''prêt-à-porter''; abbreviated RTW; "off-the-rack" or "off-the-peg" in casual use) is the term for ready-made garments, sold in finished condition in standardized sizes, as distinct from made-to-measure or bespoke clothing ...

, resort, handbags, sunglasses, and shoes."Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen, Designers, The Row"
Business of Fashion, retrieved January 9, 2016. The brand is named after

Savile Row Savile Row (pronounced ) is a street in Mayfair, central London. Known principally for its traditional bespoke tailoring for men, the street has had a varied history that has included accommodating the headquarters of the Royal Geographical ...

in London. Initially, the Olsens did not want their names attached to the brand and preferred to let the clothes speak for themselves. They did not give an interview about The Row for the first three years after its inception."The Surprise Luxury Label"
Wall Street Journal, May 14, 2014. In 2008, Lauren Hutton modeled for the brand's first look book. Hutton explained: "... I saw the clothes, and they were wonderful, real simple, minimalist designs ... Ash had a place on the beach, so we did it at her place ... And they would dance on the deck, and I would do what they were doing. And it was good.""Lauren Hutton: 'I haven't slept in 10 years'"
Los Angeles Times, April 10, 2010. Hutton accompanied the Olsens to the

Council of Fashion Designers of America The Council of Fashion Designers of America, Inc. (CFDA), founded in 1962 by publicist Eleanor Lambert, and headquartered in Manhattan, is a not-for-profit trade association comprising a membership of over 450 American fashion and accessory d ...

's annual awards show in 2012, the year they won their first Womenswear Designer of the Year award. The Olsens work primarily out of The Row's

TriBeCa Tribeca (), originally written as TriBeCa, is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Its name is a syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street". The "triangle" (more accurately a quadrilateral) is bounded by Canal Stre ...

studio at 609 Greenwich Street, New York, USA, which they have occupied since 2012, though a Paris office was opened in 2011 and a London office recently being opened in 2019."The Row: The Quiet Ones"
Women's Wear Daily, April 29, 2015. In 2014, The Row opened its first store in Los Angeles. The brand's second

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

store opened in New York in May 2016 with the brand's Pre-Fall 2016 collection."Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen Launch Shoes, and Other News From The Row’s Pre-Fall Presentation"
Vogue, January 8, 2016."The Row’s Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen Are About to Open Their Most Beautiful Store Yet"
Vogue, May 19, 2016. The Row first created a menswear collection for Spring 2011, and in October 2016 the label launched a new collection of menswear at their Los Angeles and New York stores, with the intention to continue expanding the offerings."What Does The Row’s New Menswear Look Like? You’ll Have to Go to Its New York and L.A. Stores to Find Out"
Vogue, November 3, 2016. In August 2018, The Row announced a complete menswear collection that included suiting, denim, and knits."Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s The Row Launches Menswear"
WSJ Magazine, August 27, 2018. The Olsens conducted two years of research prior to launching the collection, which became available in stores in October 2018. In July 2020, it was reported The Row was weathering financial difficulties and had laid off half of its staff, stemming from the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and the bankruptcy of

, one of its largest accounts. In September 2021, it was announced that The Row had launched its first children's collection."Introducing the Row’s First Children’s Collection"
W Magazine, September 28, 2021. '' The Cut'' estimated that The Row reached $100 million in sales per year.

Marketing

The brand's collections are regularly presented at

New York Fashion Week New York Fashion Week (NYFW), held in February and September of each year, is a semi-annual series of events in Manhattan typically spanning 7–9 days when international fashion collections are shown to buyers, the press, and the general publ ...

and have been presented twice at

Paris Fashion Week Paris Fashion Week (french: Semaine de la mode de Paris) is a series of designer presentations held semiannually in Paris, France with spring/summer and autumn/winter events held each year. Dates are determined by the French Fashion Federation. ...

. The Spring 2016 collection was shown at the

Château de Courances The Château de Courances () at Courances, Essonne is a French château built in approximately 1630. The house and gardens are open to the public. House In 1552, Côme Clausse, a notary and royal secretary to the King, acquired from the Lapite ...

Retail locations

The Row is currently available in 164 stores in 37 countries. In 2014, The Row opened its first store in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles location won an American Architecture Award from The

Chicago Athenaeum The Chicago Athenaeum is a private museum of architecture and design, based in Galena, Illinois. The museum focuses on the art of design in all areas of the discipline: architecture, industrial and product design, graphics, landscape architecture, ...

in 2016."The Row - Melrose Place , Los Angeles, California , 2014"
The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design, retrieved September 26, 2018. The brand's second

store opened in New York in May 2016 with the brand's Pre-Fall 2016 collection. A London store opened in 2019."Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen Gave a Rare Interview About Their Clothing Line"
W Magazine, retrieved March 16, 2019.

Collaborations

In 2011, The Row collaborated with TOMS Shoes for a limited-edition collection for the latter brand's one-for-one model.Olsens Collaborate With Toms Shoes
''

Women's Wear Daily ''Women's Wear Daily'' (also known as ''WWD'') is a fashion-industry trade journal often referred to as the "Bible of fashion".Horyn, Cathy"Breaking Fashion News With a Provocative Edge" ''The New York Times''. (August 20, 1999). It provides infor ...

'', February 11, 2011. Afterward, the Olsens accompanied TOMS on a shoe drop in

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

. In 2012, The Row teamed up with

Damien Hirst Damien Steven Hirst (; né Brennan; born 7 June 1965) is an English artist, entrepreneur, and art collector. He is one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingd ...

to create a line of luxury backpacks.Olsen Twins Collaborate With Damien Hirst
''Vogue '' UK, December 4, 2012. The collection featured The Row's signature crocodile backpack in 12 different designs by Hirst. A portion of the proceeds of each sale went to

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

. In 2015, The Row collaborated with

Oliver Peoples Oliver Peoples is an American luxury eyewear brand established in 1986, and owned by Luxottica. The brand is sold in Oliver Peoples boutiques, online, and in fashion boutiques and department stores throughout the world. Oliver Peoples eyewear is ...

on an eyewear collection, which included both optical frames and sunglasses.The Row, Oliver Peoples Link for Eyewear Collection
Women's Wear Daily, September 25, 2015. In 2018, The Row collaborated with Oliver Peoples on a second eyewear collection. The collection was inspired by the 1990s.The Row, Oliver Peoples Team on Second Eyewear Collection
''Women's Wear Daily'', August 29, 2018. In February 2018, The Row collaborated with the

Noguchi Museum The Noguchi Museum, chartered as The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, is a museum and sculpture garden in the Long Island City section of Queens, New York City, designed and created by the Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi. ...

for their Fall 2018 show at

. The Olsens filled their showroom with sculptures by the artist, and their models walked among them. In September 2018, The Row again collaborated with the Noguchi Museum for an installation at the

Dover Street Market Dover Street Market is a multi-brand retailer originally located on Dover Street, in Mayfair, London. It has stores in New York City, Tokyo, Singapore, Beijing and Los Angeles. Dover Street Market was created by Rei Kawakubo of Japanese fashio ...

in New York. The installation included a selection of looks from the brand's Fall 2018 collection, two sculptures by

Isamu Noguchi was an American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public artworks, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several ...

, and three Akari light sculpture panels."The Row Is Bringing a Noguchi Show to Dover Street Market"

Vice Media Vice Media Group LLC is an American-Canadian digital media and broadcasting company. , the Vice Media Group included five main business areas: VICE.com (digital content); VICE STUDIOS (film and TV production) VICE TV (also known as VICELAND); V ...

, September 6, 2018.

Awards

References

External Links

The Row
{{DEFAULTSORT:Row 2006 establishments in New York City Clothing brands of the United States Companies based in New York City Clothing companies established in 2006 Retail companies established in 2014 Fashion accessory brands High fashion brands Luxury brands