Stance Opens its First Flagship Store in New York City
Music, motion and art are brought to life in a space that pays homage to the building’s heritage and the brand that now inhabits it
SAN CLEMENTE, California (November 24, 2015) – Nearly five years after the company shipped its first pair of socks and changed the landscape of a forgotten category, Stance opened the doors of its first flagship retail store in the heart of New York City. The brand brings an uncommon retail experience to SoHo with a 2,000 square foot space that offers offer new reasons for people to go shopping, especially for socks.
With Stance’s never-ending devotion to distinctive design and technical innovation, the store offers curated pieces from key collections to draw shoppers off the high traffic sidewalks into Stance’s world. The building housing the store is over 100 years old, giving Stance the opportunity to work with the Landmarks Preservation Commission to bring the heritage of the original building to life with a modern twist.
“When first scouting locations for our flagship store in New York, we wanted to find a building with character in a neighborhood that combined art, fashion and street culture, while paying homage to the local heritage,” said Dan Levine, EVP Brand Development and Retail at Stance Socks. “This city is the home of countless iconic cultural influencers that have inspired the brand and is the ideal location for our first flagship store.”
Upon entering, shoppers walk through a tunnel of inspiration where they come to floor-to-ceiling wall featuring portraits of Stance’s Punks & Poets. The portraits remind the shopper of the role that music, motion and art play in the brand’s design philosophy and product design. As an extension from the window displays, customers see the stories behind Stance’s design process, and then can design their own socks and watch them get made on Stance’s proprietary sock customization platform called Stance Canvas.
Along with its expansive foundation of casual and lifestyle collections that Stance is known for, other key collections highlighted in the store include Stance’s NBA line – the brand signed a deal with the league this year to be the official on-court sock – along with men’s and women’s performance socks and men’s underwear, a newly launched category. Rihanna also became a Contributing Creative Director this year, and her line is prominently displayed in the store with visual merchandising that has mannequin legs wearing her holiday collection spilling out of a silver trunk.
One key distinctive feature of the store is the glass panel in the floor that allows customers to peer down to watch sock artisans bring custom socks to life through Stance Canvas. Shoppers use an in-store Apple iPad Pro to design a custom pair of socks, incorporating color, patterns and text. The Canvas custom design process acts as a coincidental throwback to the previous tenant of the building – a glove factory that made custom knit gloves for the upscale population of New York City in the early 1900’s. Stance’s proprietary machine, which uses dye instead of ink, places custom patterns on socks in a 360-degree process that ensures there is uniform coverage on the seams.
The artistic centerpiece of the store will be a mural positioned as the headboard of the space. It currently debuts a collaborative multimedia project from photographer Kassia Meador and artist Russ Pope, and will be updated throughout the year to display a wide array of art from Stance’s Punk & Poets.
Stance’s authenticity and thoughtfulness in product design cohesively connects with the store’s aesthetic from the angle of the recycled floorboards sourced from the legendary Oakland docks to the free-standing fixtures that visually tell a story. The progressive atmosphere is unlike any other, with a mobile-based point of sale that nearly eliminates lines and cash registers.
The Stance flagship store is located at 510 Broadway, New York City, NY 10012 and is now open for business. Stance’s architectural partner for this project was Skylab Architecture and its interior designer was Danny Gonzalez. Be sure to stop by and check it out or follow along for regular brand updates on Instagram with @stancesocks or on Twitter or Facebook @stance.
ABOUT STANCE
Embracing “The Uncommon Thread” as its mantra, Stance turned socks into one of the world’s most exciting categories in less than five years. Stance’s founders saw a category that had been ignored, taken for granted, and dismissed. By breathing life into something that had been overlooked, Stance ignited a movement of art and self-expression that has drawn athletes, performers and iconic cultural influencers to the brand – a group they call the Punks & Poets. And by underpinning its creative roots with a relentless focus on technical innovation, Stance is now found in over 40 countries on the feet of those who dare to be different. Stance was named the official sock of the NBA starting in the 2015-2016 season, and will be launching its first underwear line later this year.
