David’s Bridal on expanding its quinceañera line

David’s Bridal is on a mission to meet its customers at whatever point they might be in life. After tapping into weddings and proms, the retailer decided to keep the celebrations going: It recently expanded Fifteen Roses, its quinceañera label that debuted last April, to include dresses for damas.

“When we looked at our junior assortment, we were really only servicing customers for prom and for homecoming,” CMO Nancy Viall told Retail Brew.

• There are more than 525,000 quinceañeras a year in the US, according to a 2019 study.

Out of the ordinary: Fifteen Roses is designed and produced in-house, with quinceañera dresses starting at $399 and its new damas collection at $99.95. Viall said that while the category ordinarily skews toward a higher price point, the retailer was able to keep the prices low by working in-house.

“For us, it’s really giving that customer who is middle America that value,” Viall explained. “We are vertically integrated, and we’re able to extend innovation and style and really have inclusiveness so that it’s not representing anyone’s line that you can get at all these different boutiques.”

David’s Bridal also hopes to stand out by becoming a one-stop-shop as it grows the category.

“The one advantage that we have, quite frankly, is that we are a brick-and-mortar retailer,” Viall said, adding that beyond the dresses, it pulls together handbags and jewelry and shoes to “really outfit [the customer] and her party head to toe, which I think is really critical.”

• Fifteen Roses initially debuted across 31 David Bridal stores in the US, and is now in 79 retail locations in 12 states, she noted.

Erin Schmidt, senior analyst at Coresight Research, agreed that the strategy could help David’s Bridal be a differentiator: “They’re providing an experience that other mom-and-pop shops haven’t been able to or have not previously entered in,” she told us.

One and all: Viall said that David’s Bridal hopes to cater to more cultural celebrations, but whether it’s a quinceañera or a wedding dress, its philosophy remains the same: Be a dress destination for all social interactions.

“When we do have this one-time customer through the bridal party,” Viall explained, the aim is that “she’s coming back as a repeat customer…to really serve her throughout her life.”