Dive Brief:
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Carbon 38 will unveil a permanent flagship store in Los Angeles in September, Women’s Wear Daily reports. The company previously had a temporary pop-up near its headquarters there.
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The online athleisure brand is also plotting a 2,500-square-foot indoor-outdoor pop-up in Bridgehampton, NY, according to the report.
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On its Facebook page, the company also announced that certain collections are now available at NeimanMarcus.com and Neiman Marcus stores in Dallas, Newport Beach, CA, Chicago, Las Vegas and Boca Raton, FL.
Dive Insight:
Carbon 38 was founded in 2013 by ballerinas Katie Warner Johnson and Caroline Gogolak as boutique fitness and athleisure took off. Since its launch, the digitally native brand has earned the backing of Foot Locker, which made a minority stake investment in January as part of a $15 million Series A funding round. Those funds bring the total raised by Carbon38 to $26 million.
Like Lululemon, Athleta and Free People, the brand offers discounts and perks to fitness professionals, offers fitness garb in performance fabrics and boasts that it has a "cult-like following." In January, Foot Locker Chief Financial Officer Lauren B. Peters, who has joined Carbon38's board of directors, said Foot Locker hopes to improve the performance of its own SIX:02 athleisure banner.
Over the years, saturation in the market has increased as traditional retailers launch athleisure lines and new e-tailers crop up. In addition to the likes of Lululemon and Gap Inc.'s Athleta, which already run stores, athleisure online rival Outdoor Voices has also attracted more funding and is making good on brick-and-mortar plans.
The Austin, TX-based retailer opened its latest stores in December and now runs seven, in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Austin and Aspen. Outdoor Voices founder and CEO Tyler Haney told Retail Dive in an email that the new capital from a Series C funding round of $34 million announced last month, will be used "to scale the community we've built around Doing Things. This includes continuing to build shops and host events in new cities across the country, and reaching an expanded audience online."
