Dive Brief:
- Following a 2021 funding round, infant and toddler brand Lalo on Monday announced it teamed up with West Elm to launch a collection, according to an announcement emailed to Retail Dive.
- The collection includes a 3-in-1 chair, a play kit complete with a small table and two kits with dishware and bibs. The products will be available on Lalo’s and West Elm’s websites and the registry on Babylist.
- The collection is priced between $35 and $330. Half of the sales from the collection will be donated to No Kid Hungry until Oct. 2, per the announcement.
Dive Insight:
The launch of the Lalo x West Elm Kids collection comes a year after Lalo raised $5.6 million in a seed funding round, which it planned to use for hiring more employees and developing more products, according to Retail Brew. Since Lalo’s debut in 2019, the brand’s revenue has grown 300% for the past two years, the company noted in its announcement.
“We are very excited to partner with such a renowned and influential interior design brand. It was clear from the first conversation that the West Elm Kids team shared our vision for making family homes more beautiful,” Lalo co-founder and president Michael Wieder said in a statement. “We’re excited to marry our best selling high chair with West Elm’s iconic acorn finish to bring an elevated look to the family dinner table without sacrificing ease.”
West Elm has partnered with other DTC brands over the years, including in January 2020 with Bloomscape, a DTC plant company, to sell its products through West Elm’s website.
But West Elm isn’t the only retailer collaborating with DTC brands. Nordstrom has worked with multiple DTC companies, including Away, Thinx, Everlane and Reformation. Other major retailers, including Target and Walmart, have made similar moves with brands like Native, Quip and Bonobos. These partnerships often provide value to both parties involved: providing exposure to DTC brands, and attracting a new, oftentimes younger, set of customers to shop with the traditional retailers.
