by Arimeta Diop
After years in traditional corporate settings, Hauteline founders Kristie Chow and Michelle Li are bringing about their vision for fashion retail: flexible, sustainable, honed in on emerging designers—and it could be the future.
Chow, who originally pursued the nine to five career out of necessity to secure a visa, always understood one day she’d have something of her own making. A sentiment which carried from a role at Microsoft to Farfetch where she recalls seeing fashion from an insider vantage point. This seeded the first ideas in November 2022 of what would eventually become Hauteline.
“I landed on rental because I realized the clothing can live here, we can share the proceeds of each rental back with a brand, and therefore they're making money without making more stuff. It can be so simple. So in June 2023 I was like, okay, let's try this.”
New to the city by way of California, Li on the other hand had already left behind a career in banking for the gig economy. Dog-walking, influencing, modeling, working at a vintage store: her first bit of retail experience foregrounded a sincere affection for the craft of fashion on display, “I just loved working at that store and touching the clothes was so cool,” Li says. Eventually the two were introduced in May 2024 and worked together for a few months before securing one of the Hauteline’s early wholesale brands: Effie Kats, an Australia-based eveningwear label. “The difference between working with Michelle and everyone else was — everyone else would be like, ‘Oh, I'm so happy for you,’ when something good happened, when we went viral or something,” Chow describes. “When Michelle was around, she'd be like, ‘Oh, I'm so happy for us, we did that’” The synergistic partnership was thus solidified.
“The fashion industry is very dependent on producing new stuff, selling more stuff: next thing. Again. Next season, next forever,” Chow explains. “What can we do to decouple the fashion industry from producing new things to make more money?” The answer is one which reinvigorates shoppers with exciting new modes of shopping via rental, resale and retail, and shares the rewards of rentals and sales with the partnered brands.
From the comfort of their Lower East Side storefront, a signature soft mossy green motif carried throughout the decor, just before the first “hautties” arrive to browse the racks, the co-owners reminisce with an ease between them earned through international sourcing trips, early matcha runs, hosting the city’s Internet celebrities, on brand development, the evolving joys—and challenges—of an emerging retail model, and what New York’s downtown brick-and-mortar fashion feels like today.
Something I was really interested in was your focus on impact—for you, what is impact?
Kristie Chow: I think it's changed over time. I think obviously the core mission of reducing dependence on production, reducing dependence on always just churning out new stuff as the only way we can make money in fashion: I feel like that lives forever. But I think as time has gone on, impact to me now is reshaping retail. We have seen over the last even two years, basically since Hauteline started, the collapse of basically all luxury e-commerce, right? We've seen SSENSE go down, we've seen Matches go down, we've seen LuisaViaRoma go down. Net-A-Porter is consolidating. Luxury retail online as we know it is dead. Whatever comes next has to be different because clearly this isn't working. Clearly just wholesaling and then marking it down online is not good enough.
What impact looks like is making this, the Hauteline way of retail, normal. I think we can be a market leader in retail in the sense that we provide fantastic product straight from the brand with the options of rental and retail. So super flexible and it's up to you. But we also provide vintage and one of one pieces. That is what the modern consumer is looking for, and that's essentially the cool girl's closet. She has some great things from emerging brands, but she also has some great vintage no one else could ever find. She has maybe one or two custom pieces she holds dear to her heart. We as a consumer generation are so hyper-focused on value. We know more than previous generations about natural fibers vs synthetics, in this world of online and fast fashion. We've had to become so smart about what we're spending our money on that I feel like this generation of girl is in tune with the value of what she's getting with her hard earned money.
This matters. Something where you can come in, buy it, rent it, take only what you need: I think is the next version of retail I think will succeed. If someone starts the same thing in Italy, starts the same thing in China, and this becomes this worldwide phenomenon where retail doesn't look like just going to Bergdorf's and buying something full price, but it feels more sustainable and more affordable, then we've done our job.
What was that draw for the brand to still have an in-person presence as opposed to that purely online focus?
Michelle Li: I think it's just how tangible and quality the pieces are. Fashion is getting dressed, it's putting on the clothes every morning, seeing your closet, seeing all the pieces; it's in real life. We're solving an actual problem, a problem that you can feel and touch. It is very, actually tactile.
KC: It's a passion for the clothes. We care about how it drapes. How the neckline sits, what the fabrication is.
ML: It's more than just the price of the clothes. It is how it fits, how it flatters a figure. It's that I think: how the clothes are brought to life by a person—
Thinking also about that retail experience going from showroom to storefront on Orchard Street, which feels like such a specific place, at this moment in New York, what has that transition been? But also, what have been the lessons?
ML: Wow. Truthfully, it's a lot of imposter syndrome still to this day. I feel like, how am I here? Why am I here?
KC: The progress has been very rapid since Michelle started. Since both of us have been doing this together, basically for the last year, things have moved so fast I don't think we even really process it in real time.
KC: We actually didn't really want a ground floor retail store. I think when we were looking for a different spot from Dumbo, we were like, “We still want a second floor showroom.” Where maybe you could see it from the street but it wasn't like you could just walk your ass in. We still wanted something that was basically storage plus customers could try things on. I don't think we really were going for something like this. We started looking in October 2024. It took us a good six months to find the right spot, and then one month later we turned it around, right? It took us a second because we didn't really, I guess, know what we were looking for. And so ultimately we chanced upon this place.
KC: Just a big jump. We were like, “Is this too big of a leap for us?” But then we were like, but square footage wise, we're basically getting five times what we had. The location is so much better. That's how it ended up happening, frankly, it wasn't super calculated.
Another leap of faith.
ML: In the two months we've had so much retail interest from people just buying things outright. I think it caused us to really take a step back and think what we want the future and direction of Hauteline to go in because we could very easily just make this [store] the main Hauteline experience where you come in, you buy or rent here. But I think Hauteline has always been an online presence too, of servicing fashion girlies all around. So I know we need to put a certain amount of energy into the store because it is so front facing and public. But then we also need a balance of servicing our original customers. So it's been a learning curve for us to balance that.
What makes a brand right for Hauteline — has sourcing shifted at all since the store opened?
ML: Being in the store, we started thinking about bringing on brands that would have more of a sales angel. Geel, for example, was one that we brought on with that intention of drawing in the younger customer. Once they're inside, they see all the beautiful dresses and then are turned into a lifelong loyal customer.
That has made branding a little more difficult. We have to explain. It used to just be, Oh, we have occasionwear, dresses for birthdays, weddings. It used to be that short and easy.
KC: In terms of categories too: now we're starting to do shoes, starting to do bags. There's a lot more on offer.
ML: A “Hauteline brand” is style and aesthetic agnostic, or inclusive. So things that are girly or edgy or more elevated basics, but then in each of those categories provides a unique point of view.
KC: It speaks to discovering and experimentation. It has to be fun, a bit more out of the box. It also has to speak to that “city girl's” life. I feel like Hauteline is designed for her, whether that's New York or somewhere else. So something that can flex from dinner and drinks to your weekend plans. It has something to say, I think that is what ultimate makes a Hauteline brand.
ML: It's very diverse. We don't, I feel like, lean in one way. I'd say it's feminine, but I think it covers the umbrella of what feminine dressing can mean. In a way that's fun and unique, experimental, but also wearable.
How do you see Hauteline evolving? In the next eight, nine months or so, but then later: the pie in the sky, big dream.
ML: I think short term is just settling into this space fully. Then also streamlining our operations. It's a beast down there.
KC: To add: carrying more brands we're excited about because with this new location that opens up some new opportunities for us to collaborate with brands we dream about.
Personally, since the genesis, I've taken a lot of inspiration from SSENSE. It's sad it isn't currently working out. Hopefully it'll come back. But I feel like what they do around the intersection of discovery and luxury and editorial is really fun. I think we can see ourselves becoming the next generation of that with more of an emphasis on sustainability, affordability, and again, discovery. Because I feel rental allows you to try something new, experiment with something at a much lower commitment. I think that is ideal.
You made the point earlier of the sophistication of your shoppers. We're not going to be out of this situation we're currently in—stagnating wages, cost of living, inflation—anytime soon. Even if we get to a better state, people don't lose that financial memory of a time they didn’t have enough.
KC: The feeling of, I can't do this right now.
That flexibility of models with rental allows for consideration for that shopper who by all means loves fashion. In thinking about the shopper who’s not NYC-based, what do you want that interaction to be between you and that larger national presence?
ML: I want it to feel as close to coming into this store as possible. Having this location, talking to people, seeing their problems with fit or length or whatever it may be, then being able to offer them a solution in the store is different than online—here we have fashion tape and we can show you how to “hem” the bottom. It would be making that personalization accessible.
KC: I would say our content matters a lot. Michelle and I are often featured in our branded content as well as our personal content. That is, at this time, a part of the Hauteline shop experience. You see us, you talk to us, you're like, “Wait, I know you, can you help me find something?” Keeping that personal connection with our customers who don't live here I think is also important. Continuing to be a part of our social presence, basically talking to the customer, is important for us.
This is in the future: we want to do popups around the country. We get questions about that already for places like LA. I think it would be great to go on tour. Ultimately, we're just only getting started on our journey to become the fashion marketplace of the future.