Meghan Markle may be ‘using her global stage to promote labels’ and rescue languishing Club Monaco after its poorly-received rebrand
As a TV star-turned-Duchess, Meghan Markle knows all too well that when she steps out of her Montecito home, the world is watching.
On Saturday night, the Duchess of Sussex attended a book event hosted by Oprah Winfrey at the new Godmothers bookstore in Summerland.
For the occasion, the mother-of-two looked suitably sophisticated in a £315 black collared jumpsuit by the Canadian fashion brand Club Monaco.
The brand has been a staple for Meghan over the years – after the Duchess developed a penchant for their pieces back when she was still starring in Suits.
During her time as a working royal, Meghan wore their dresses regularly – including her only Christmas at Sandringham and during her royal tour of South Africa – which led to them flying out of stock online.
As such, Meghan’s recent endorsement will no doubt come as a lifeline to the brand, which had had a challenging few years before Covid even struck.
After being sold by Ralph Lauren in 2021, Club Monaco is in the midst of a challenging rebrand and now trying to reposition itself as a more affordable alternative to The Row and Toteme.
Here FEMAIL delves into how Meghan is using her star power to salvage one of most beloved brands.
Struggling in competitive market
Club Monaco was founded by Canadian designers Joe Mimran and Alfred Sung in 1985 – and the pair set about creating ‘better basis’ for their customers.
The brand’s first store was in Toronto – where Meghan lived for six years while filming Suits – before expanding to the US, Europe and Asia when it was purchased by Ralph Lauren Corporation in 1999.
The following year, the brand launched their own homeware brand Caban, which lasted only six years before Ralph Lauren pulled the plug.
In the 2010s, the brand played around with different kinds of shopping experiences to drive sales to their struggling retail spaces.
In 2013, the company were one of the first to convert a section of their store into a coffee shop to entice customers through the door.
Five years later, they collaborated with Hamptons hotel Ruschmeyer on a pop-up – and former CEO Francis Pierrel told Fast Company that their e-commerce sales were up 20 per cent.
Sudden sale by Ralph Lauren after ‘losing tons of money’
However, in-store sales were already starting to wane and so the brand decided to combine menswear and womenswear in their stores.
After refusing to give sale stats, Francis insisted: ‘This has increased the productivity of the stores.’
According to Business of Fashion, insiders claimed Club Monaco had been struggling in the years leading up to the pandemic and ‘was not well-positioned to weather’ lockdown.
