One Brand’s Secret to Lower Prices? Off-Peak Production

“It looks way too good to be true,” wrote one Reddit user. “I was skeptical — the prices are so cheap, I thought it must be a weird dupe brand,” wrote another. “But I’ve bought a few items now, and they’re legit and very good quality. The brand is on point, and before long, they will be huge, I think.”

The brand in question is a one-year-old womenswear label Palome, whose tagline is ‘Parisian luxury, honestly priced’. Founder and creative director Liz Morling grew up in Paris and studied fashion prints at Central Saint Martins, and spent the first 15 years of her career gaining design experience at brands including Balenciaga, Pringle of Scotland, Alexander McQueen, Paul Smith, Tom Ford, and Karl Lagerfeld.

Over the past several years, luxury brands have raised prices without replacing the entry-level offering. ‘Greedflation’, as some experts call it, has put off customers across the spectrum, pricing many out of the market and alienating more entry-level consumers. Increasingly, customers are looking for brands that demonstrate value.

Despite that, anyone shopping for high-quality clothing in natural materials would be forgiven for raising an eyebrow at Palome’s prices. A 100% white cotton T-shirt costs just £20; a mulberry silk camisole £50; a pair of Italian denim jeans £65; a Grade A Mongolian cashmere sweater goes for £70; trenches range from £135-£185. The most expensive item on the site (which is currently sold out) is a £495 wool and cashmere blend belted coat.

Palome is able to keep prices low thanks to its innovative production strategy: the brand only manufactures during off-peak factory times, using deadstock fabrics sourced from around the world (denim from Japan, silk from China, cashmere from Mongolia). “I was working with luxury brands and building relationships with factories, and I realised that there is a downtime,” explains Morling. Factories tend to know some of the “downtime” periods in advance, but in other cases, Palome makes the most of quiet periods that arise due to last-minute changes in a factory’s schedule. “If you don’t mind being at the back of the queue and waiting, it brings the prices down quite a bit. Because we’re not ordering huge quantities, we could also get these [orders] at a better rate.”

The production model is not without challenges. “We are at the mercy of most factories. We work in partnership: they tell us what’s available, and we create what we can around that — so we don’t dictate the materials,” explains Morling. Customers may end up disappointed about a lack of availability for certain items, which the brand has to manage.