Dive Brief:

• Amazon has considered buying multiple fashion startups including Everlane, Le Tote, Rent The Runway, ThirdLove, and PreeLine to boost its recent foray into the space, sources have told TechCrunch.

• The e-commerce giant sells apparel and accessories from other retailers as well as its own house brands that were introduced earlier this year.

• The startups eyed by Amazon, according to TechCrunch, go about selling their wares in a range of approaches: Everlane and lingerie retailer ThirdLove​ are vertically integrated businesses, Le Tote and Rent the Runway are subscription apparel rental companies, and PreeLine is a social media-like discovery platform.

Dive Insight:

Apparel has been something of a tough nut to crack for Amazon because many brands have been reluctant to cede marketing control and pricing to the e-commerce giant. If true, acquisitions like these floated by TechCrunch could really help Amazon's efforts in the apparel and accessories space, perhaps even increasing its credibility with fashion-conscious customers. This effort appears to be something of a “can’t beat em, join em” approach.

It's a tricky area. While apparel remains a huge chunk of sales and growth in retail, several brands have stumbled in their efforts to come up with merchandise that people want. Gap has struggled to relive the fashion influence it once had, while Urban Outfitter's CEO Richard Hayne recently blamed consumers' "lack of enthusiasm" to spend on clothing and accessories on a "lack of fashion newness."

Plus, there appears to be great truth to the idea that many consumers, including younger ones, are opting to spend their money on experiences rather than stuff like clothes. As TechCrunch notes, some of the sites Amazon has looked at would help the e-retailer overcome this trend, given their subscription-based business model. 

Beyond customer preferences, selling apparel also involves complicated logistics, as shoppers tend to order the same item in multiple sizes, try them on and return all but the one that fits (if they like it). That prompted Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren earlier this year to question whether Amazon is quite prepared for the reality of online apparel sales online, saying the company is "going to have an interesting challenge when they start getting all those returns coming back online.”

But retail futurist Doug Stephens says that Amazon likely knows what it’s up against, and that the move is probably more about attracting more Prime members, in addition to increasing its involvement in the massive apparel business.

“What Amazon recognizes is the apparel trade that is happening online is in the billions and billions,” Stephens told Retail Dive earlier this year. “There an incredibly long tail in apparel, and I suspect that the apparel play is more aimed at that than it is becoming a competitor to Macy’s or Bloomingdales’s, where they get stuck with end of lines. [Like Amazon’s bookstore,] everything Amazon does is aimed at that—getting their consumer into their ecosystem. Apparel is another way to do this.”