he company declined to share current revenue, Gabby Hirata, Halara’s global brand president, disclosed that the brand experienced 100 per cent year-over-year sales growth from 2020 to 2023, and expects to grow at a similar rate from 2023 to 2024.  Having launched as a strictly direct-to-consumer brand, Halara is switching things up and will be hosting its first-ever pop-up shop at 470 Broadway in New York City. The space will be open from 11 am to 7 pm and will be running from May 31 through June 9.  The temporary store experience was designed by Pop Up Mob, a New York-based agency specializing in developing and executing unique pop-up experiences. The 3500 square-foot-space features unique design elements such as a fabric-covered wall to speak to the brand’s machine-learning tactics and a fireside chat stage at the rear, aiming to foster a sense of cohesion and brand engagement amongst the brand’s New York fanbase.  Hirata sat down with Inside Retail to discuss the brand’s growth strategy and its upcoming plans for building a physical in-store presence.  Strategies behind Halara’s success A large part of the brand’s exponential growth boils down to this question: “How can you predict and make the right amount of units for customers to price for?” As Hirata remarked, “Often you can’t, that’s why brands do markdowns like discounts or sample sales, or even why inventory sometimes goes straight to the landfill.” In fact, that’s a large part of what drew Hirata to the brand. Prior to joining the team, had been acting in the role of chief executive officer at Diane von Furstenberg.  Hirata recalled, “When I had my initial coffee chat with [Zhang], I remembered having so many questions about the brand primarily because I couldn’t understand and desperately wanted to know why the quality was so good. How is it possible to have such a quality at $25?” “I started my career in production [at Ralph Lauren], so I know my [production] cost sheets fairly well and how retail pricing works, those costs were just like not possible. So I thought what was the secret?”  The executive explained to Inside Retail that the machine-learning technology Halara uses allows the company to track developing Google trends data and consumer engagement on the site and responses via the brand’s social media accounts to fairly accurately determine what type of clothes and the amount to produce within a month’s time frame. Another factor behind the brand’s success is its social media presence. Halara has over 665,000 followers on TikTok and over 2 million on Instagram currently, from which the company averages about 10,000 comments per day. From the comments, the company can make adjustments as needed to the existing product, pick up on wanted items, and effectively enhance promotion through user-generated content, like try-on hauls.  What’s next for Halara? Hirata disclosed that in addition to the New York location, there are plans for additional pop-up shops in California, Texas, Florida, and Pennsylvania in the coming year or so.   In addition, Hirata said the company eventually plans to open permanent brick-and-mortar locations.  An ideal wholesale partner for the athleisure brand to partner with would be Target, Hirata enthused, having previously worked with the big-box chain on the launch of the Target x DVF collaboration during her time with the luxury fashion brand.  “Target is such an amazing partner to work with and I think they have a pretty big activewear/athleisure division. They also have beautiful stores. I love that Target refers to consumers as guests, and I think Target will help the guests into our [company’s] space,” the chief brand president mused. Hirata stated, “We will always be a DTC-centered brand because having that business model allows us to be efficient, obtain near-zero inventory, and continue passing the cost-saving options to our end consumers.”  However, as the executive elaborated, “This is our fourth year of running Halara and so many millions of customers are asking for a physical touch point where they can try the fit and touch the fabric. So we understand that we must have retail stores not so much for revenue because we’ve been so blessed with our revenue growth, but for our customer base to have a physical space to try on the clothes and hopefully to create a space [of connection] for those communities.” Ultimately, “the most important goal for Halara for the next two years is to have a distinct brand identity amplified and conveyed in a way that results in a shared identity between Halara and our various pockets of communities. It’s about reaching out to each of those communities and forming that shared identity and connection with them,” Hirata concluded.