Fast Fashion Is Even Faster On Four Wheels

Despite the rise of online shopping in just about every retail market imaginable, fashion brands are still somewhat confident that their business model primarily relies on the in-store behaviors of trying clothes on before buying. Of course, traditional apparel players have been falling to their fast-fashion competitors like dominoes, but even the Zaras and H&Ms that take their places are still dependent on the brick-and-mortar store to act as the central hub for sales.

But what if fast fashion decided to takes its name more literally? In cities across the country, that’s exactly what mobile-minded boutique retailers are doing, even if they have to pack up their shops and hit the road to do so.

Chicago Tribune is reporting that boutique fashion retailers across the city have begun to apply for “emerging business” permits that allow them to drive souped-up trucks around town in search of crowds curious enough to take a look. Essentially food trucks transformed into mini-showrooms with fitting rooms sometimes tucked into the back, these “mobile boutiques” offer customers a new and novel way of interacting with brands outside of the mall — not to mention the savings from not paying rent.

Chicago-area fashionistas are far from the only ones jumping on the mobile boutique bandwagon. Italian luxury goods designer Fendi has also begun driving an iconic three-wheeled Italian vehicle across the country, starting in New Jersey and ending in Miami, with a pit stop in Los Angeles for the Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic in October.

While these mobile boutiques still face competition from their rooted counterparts, it’s not exactly accurate to force them into the food truck category either. Though diners will only buy one meal from a collection of a dozen food trucks, there’s no limit to the number of fashion pieces or accessories that catch their eye on the side of a mobile boutique.

Of course, that assumes that the owners of these wheeled apparel emporiums manage to pack their diminutive spaces with products from their larger catalogs that consumers are going to be interested in. Traditionally, that lack of floor space would be a hindrance for retailers with thousands upon thousands of items to pick through, but as far as Karen Tardrew, Wisconsin-based owner and operator of mobile boutique Grasshopper Goods, is concerned, the limited space in her truck forces her to curate the collection she takes out on the road much more closely than she normally would in a store, where items can subsume into nothing more exciting than retail wallpaper.

“You’re constantly trying to fill this giant space, and you had all these goods that weren’t meaningful,” Tardrew told The Capital Times. “You didn’t have this connection or this story as to why things are there.”

For some mobile boutiquers like Tardrew, the experience in the back of the truck is enough to run a business off of. However, stuffing some top-selling items into a tricked-out truck and taking it on the road away from a brick-and-mortar location can be just as profitable for retailers in need. Kate Colussy, owner of Pittsburg-based Highway Robbery Vintage, runs both a physical store front, as well as a truck that drives sales along with interest in her rooted store.

“It’s a good complement to the store,” Colussy told Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “It’s the same energy as the store, which is fun and youthful and just something exciting about it. If you like the store, you would probably like the truck and vice versa.”

Mobile fashion trucks might be too literal of an interpretation of the maxim “Be where your customers are,” but if it drives sales on the road or back home in a physical store, it might be hard to find many small business owners who care.