Dive Brief:

• Luxury plus-size apparel company 11 Honoré on Wednesday entered into an exclusive partnership with Nordstrom, according to a Nordstrom spokesperson. 
• Nordstrom is the first retail partner for 11 Honoré, and the collaboration launched online and "in several doors," according to an 11 Honoré spokesperson. The collection, created by Danielle Williams Eke, will be available in two drops. Drop one will retail for between $128 and $248 with 14 styles. Drop two is slated for late October with 14 new styles. 
• Nordstrom was part of a group of investors that contributed to a $10 million funding round for 11 Honoré in 2019. The department store has also hosted 11 Honoré trunk shows.  

Dive Insight:

An exclusive retail agreement with 11 Honoré allows Nordstrom to deepen its product offerings with designer, plus-size labels. Since its founding, 11 Honoré has been working with designers to expand their size runs and championing the notion that offering luxury apparel to plus-size audiences is a smart business decision. 

"Nordstrom's commitment to inclusivity aligns perfectly with our mission as the first size-inclusive retailer and we are so excited for the 11 Honoré collection to be reaching more women through the Nordstrom retail channels," said 11 Honoré founder Patrick Herning in a statement. 

Nordstrom is in the middle of a streak of landing new brand partnerships. It's part of a strategic goal announced earlier in the year to broaden its assortment from about 300,000 items to more than 1.5 million in the next three to five years. That plan also includes reducing its traditional wholesale operation, which typically provides 85% of its assortment, to provide 50% by introducing a model that has shared revenue and risk as well as increase drop-shipping and concessions.

The retailer has focused on partnerships with DTC brands, and even as far back as 2012 showed its interest in online apparel retailers when it made a $16.4 million minority investment in menswear brand Bonobos. (The company would later be purchased by Walmart in 2017.) More recently, the department store has forged partnerships with Everlane, Reformation, Glossier and Boy Smells. And last year the company teamed up with DTC darling Casper to sell mattresses and sleep accessories in some stores and its website. 

Then in June, Nordstrom made another move to diversify its apparel offering by announcing that Indochino would open 21 shop-in-shops in its stores nationwide. The partnership provides a made-to-measure suiting option for customers and broadens the men's category for the department store. 

Nordstrom has expanded other partnerships this year. Over the summer, the department store acquired a minority interest in the TopShop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT brands. Nordstrom has been the exclusive U.S. distributor of Topshop and Topman since 2012.