Fashion’s latest online marketplace launches with The Style Pulse

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Sep 22, 2020

Milan Fashion Week will witness the full launch of a new B2B digital fashion wholesale project named The Style Pulse, with an innovative business model.

 
The Style Pulse is the brainchild of its founder and CEO Helen Lambert, a highly experienced Paris-based fashion insider with three decades of experience in the industry. Though barely a week old, The Style Pulse offers 3,000 brands.
 
“Basically, The Style Pulse is B2B digital retail discovery and buying tool. Our business model is 180 degrees from anything else on the market. We have an incredible database. Each brand has been seen, vetted and touched by one of my team. And by Christmas, we hope to have 4,500 brands,” insists Lambert, who has assembled a team of some 25 experts worldwide.
 
The basis of The Style Pulse is years of work with retailers, scouting and searching new designers and concepts. After working in the fashion, home and beauty advertising in the International Herald Tribune, and several years managing international advertising for Elle, Lambert acquired France’s most famous buying office, granting her unique links to of major international retail players like Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman or Saks.
 
“We believe in  integrity.  By that I mean the fashion, home, and lifestyle brands on The Style Pulse, unlike on other platforms, do not have to pay to appear on the site,” argued Lambert.
 
The only brands allowed on the site are ones they feel would really resonate with the premium market and Style Pulse retail members.

 
“The world has changed, and retail is dire or at the very least in flux. We’ve been working towards this launch for three years, and digitalizing all the work we have been doing. Making it all forward facing and geared to buyers. We believe in the designers we pick. They do not pay to be on the platform. This is our curation. With the New Black, Joor or Ordre they all pay something,” argued Lambert, referring to existing fashion wholesale B2B platforms.
 
Instead the revenue stream is retailers paying monthly subscriptions – a minimum of 450 euros per month, per category. The Style Pulse does not take a percentage of sales.

The Style Pulse is certainly user-friendly. One can cross reference by geographic location, category, pricing, season, origin, positioning or even where each label retails.  The platform also allows access to line sheets, and excel pages with actual order forms; while seasonal trend forecasts help keep buying teams on focused and on message.

 
So far, the platform boasts a novel mix of compelling brands: in fashion names like Mark Kenly Domino Tan, Carl Kapp, Rue de Tokyo and Le 17 Septembre. For home, Stonelab Design, Iluka London, Kam Ce Kam and Lisa Corti. And in beauty, Lauren Napier, Lengling Munich, Le Pinceau TO and Melayci.
 
Plus the platform has real global reach: Lambert’s experts have covered seasons as far flung as Seoul or Shanghai, and it is updated daily with new content.
 
“We can also buy for a store that isn’t travelling. We have offices in Paris, Milan and London, and are opening in New York. We have full-timers and freelancers, often experienced independent experts in their area,” noted Lambert, who was born in Ireland - but speaks fluent French.
 
Lambert’s team has already reached out via mailings to 12,000 retailers internationally, since a soft opening in late July,  targeting key retailers in the Middle East; American and UK department stores and specialty boutiques.
 
“All stores have all completely reduced travel. So, this is a really good time to start The Style Pulse. We all thought back in June everyone would wait to travel to Europe this month, but now it looks like practically no one will come. Our goal now is that we become a reference. That designers believe it’s a badge of honor to be on the site,” concluded Lambert, who does have the right pedigree. She comes from Nenagh, County Tipperary, famed for its historical market.