Having relaunched in April, Erin Dana has a new collaboration with the Dream Downtown.
The New York-based accessories label will have a weekly pop-up Choker Bar poolside at the hotel’s The Beach. Guests and revelers can customize Erin Dana leather and python necklaces. Chief marketing officer Robyn Davidson will be at The Beach’s 5,000-square-foot pool deck — with its imported sand border — with Dana, helping people make their selections.
The company’s husband-and-wife founders Erin Dana Lichy and Abe Lichy have repositioned their company as a direct-to-consumer business sourcing local materials and designing everything in-house. Launched in 2013, the brand manufactured its collection in China and was sold in 100-plus stores in the U.S. As born-and-bred New Yorkers, the couple decided to regroup manufacturing in the city and using only materials from the Garment District, Brooklyn and Queens. The six-month turnaround time needed for Asia and consumers’ increasing preference to shop online were two reasons they wanted to change their business model. Now handbags and accessories can be made based on customers’ preferences in a matter of weeks, as opposed to the industry norm of four to six months.
Abe Lichy said, “We wanted to make a commitment to bringing back jobs from New York. This hits close to home. We always planned to bring jobs back to New York and this was an opportunity to do that.”
Earlier this year he gave up his job as a corporate litigator at Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman to work on Erin Dana full-time. The brand’s namesake also started out in another industry, working in real estate after earning a master’s degree in sustainable design from New York University. In April, they lined up Davidson, as well as Andrew’s Rosen son Austin as a strategic partner. (Dana has been friendly with the younger Rosen since they were 14.)
The brand gained popularity after Taylor Swift, Hannah Bronfman and others were photographed wearing Erin Dana chokers. By keeping production local, Erin Dana can eliminate a lot of the 220 to 250 percent mark-up that comes with selling to retailers, Abe Lichy said.
Erin Dana is in talks with a major London retailer to introduce its Choker Bar concept for the holidays. And the company aims to continue its tie with the Dream Hotel Group, when the David Rockwell-designed Dream Hollywood location opens in September. In addition, Dream hotels are in the works in Nashville, Dallas, Palm Springs, Times Square and Long Island City. All of those U.S. outposts are expected to be welcoming guests by the end of 2019.