Rebecca Allen Enters First Retail Partnership With Nordstrom
One “nude” shade has never fit all, so Nordstrom’s bringing footwear shoppers closer to their perfect match. Nordstrom.com and select Nordstrom stores now carry Rebecca Allen, a DTC footwear brand with “nude” heels and flats for several skin tones, in the brand’s first wholesale partnership.
Stepping in: Nordstrom has spent the past two years inking deals with DTC brands from Glossier to Harper Wilde. Stocking Rebecca Allen’s heels and flats allows Nordstrom to grow its DTC partner roster while investing in underserved consumers.
- Rebecca Allen told Fortune that, in preliminary research to start her brand, she learned that Black and Brown women only owned one “nude” shoe on average—“and it wasn’t even the appropriate tone for them,” she said.
- Some footwear brands have tiptoed into expanding their “nude” offerings, including fresh footwear shades at Louboutin. But varied options at Rebecca Allen’s price point—$150/pair—are still scarce.
Best footwear forward: Despite a recent return to Real Life™ activities, formal shoe sales are still about 40% below 2019 levels, Beth Goldstein, NPD executive director and accessories and footwear analyst, told Retail Brew.
Goldstein said nude shades for diverse skin tones could lift retailers’ heel sales higher: brands like Rebecca Allen “serve a need that nobody was addressing before."