Apparel brand Roller Rabbit’s story started with a single piece of fabric. After discovering a discarded textile scrap featuring a block print depicting a rollerskating rabbit, Roberta Freymann launched the label with a focus on vibrant prints and a playful attitude.
More than two decades in, the brand — which is now under new ownership — continues to serve up fun. While its earliest customers were Boomers and Gen X, it has found a following among Millennials and Gen Z.
“You are touching every generation within a family,” Carolyn Phillips, chief marketing officer at Roller Rabbit, told Ian Fredericks, chief executive officer of Hilco Global Capital Solutions and executive director of Hilco’s consumer and retail platform, during an episode of WWD Voices for Retail RX. “They’re gravitating toward different products, but it’s been amazing to see this younger generation really adopt a brand that Millennials, Gen X and Boomers are very comfortable with and have known at this point for 23-, 24-odd years.”
Originally centered on resortwear, the brand soon expanded into pajamas. With loungewear and sleepwear, there is more freedom for all these age groups to incorporate fun into dressing, and Roller Rabbit brings a “sense of play” with its designs. Another product differentiator is artisanship, which comes through in the slightly imperfect prints — made either through block printing or via digital prints that mimic the traditional techniques. Maintaining consistency, the brand also works with many of the same factories that it has been with since the start, and as it has scaled, it has sought out similar artisanal producers.
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“It really is a very close and two-way relationship. That is not always the case in our industry,” said Ed Bertouch, CEO of Roller Rabbit. “If you’re…one of 20 or 30 or 40 clients in a big factory, you get a ton of benefits when it comes to whatever it might be — economies of scale, technology, things like that — but you don’t get the ability to or the chance like we have to talk to the owner of the factory almost every day. And they’re there experimenting on stuff and sending it to our creative team.”
In its early days, Roller Rabbit had a storefront in Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Over the years, it grew its retail presence, and at one point the brand was sold by around 500 wholesale partners. When the business changed hands, the incoming leadership decided to scale back and eventually eliminate wholesale, opting for a fully direct-to-consumer model.
As a replacement for the exposure that would typically come from wholesale partnerships, Roller Rabbit’s strategy pivoted toward collaborations. The brand’s tie-ups have ranged from local players such as ice cream shop Caffe Panna and Stoney Clover Lane to nationwide household names like Target and Starbucks.
“What works is when there’s just a natural conversation and there’s a sense of fun, there’s a sense of irreverence across both companies, whether it’s two brands or a brand and a food and beverage partner, whatever it might be,” said Bertouch. “But ultimately, the goal is that whatever it is we’re creating is just greater than the sum of the two of us.”
In this episode, Bertouch and Phillips speak about Roller Rabbit’s collaboration strategy, how the brand is engaging Gen Z and the company’s DTC pivot.
