Oscar de la Renta Creates Line for The Outnet

Oscar de la Renta is launching a "cheaper" line exclusively with The Outnet. The 24-piece collection, described on WWD as "more approachably priced," debuts on February 26th with prices ranging from $325 to $1,295, with the bulk of the dresses set to retail at less than $1,000.

"Currently, the brand's outlet model is driven by surplus merchandise, and this marks the first time product has been actively developed for this channel of trade," Oscar de la Renta chief executive officer Alex Bolen told WWD. As of now, the company's only outlet store is located in Central Valley, N.Y.'s Woodbury Common Premium Outlets. Bolen added that he's "very seriously thinking about" opening a second outlet in the U.S. as well as one in Europe.

"We have things around here that are underutilized - [such as] 40 years of patterns, fabrics and artwork that a lot of people spent time on. We thought, perhaps we can put something together in a way that is new, that doesn't require as much development time and in an exclusive way," Bolen said. "[But] the thing we have to be careful about is that we don't want to dumb down our product or offer the same thing at two different prices."

Olivia Palermo has been named as the face of the campaign. Commented on that choice, Stephanie Phair, the e-tailer's managing director, said "We know that our customer loves Oscar, but we also feel that this is an amazing opportunity to tap into The Outnet's audience and a new audience that Oscar as a brand might not have reached yet....It's all about reinterpreting classic styles, so we wanted someone polished who represented the Oscar brand but that also was someone that Oscar doesn't typically use."