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Bringing Barneys back as people remember it can\u2019t simply be a business transaction, says fashion consultant Julie Gilhart, who was SVP, fashion director at Barneys for 18 years. \u201cBarneys started out of a love and a passion for retail, and for people and talent. That was the secret sauce,\u201d she says. \u201cThe business followed that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The key to getting a relaunched Barneys right would be balancing the fond nostalgia so rife within the fashion industry, with a focus on creating something novel for the modern retail scene. \u201cWith the 90s nostalgia at its peak after Love Story<\/em>, it feels like a great time to revive Barneys \u2014 as long as they don\u2019t dilute or cheapen the original vision,\u201d says Malcolm Carfrae, founder of Carfrae Consulting and Calvin Klein\u2019s former chief communications officer. \u201cIt needs to be relevant for now, not a copy of what worked decades ago.\u201d<\/p>\n Gilhart agrees. She\u2019s not confident that the \u2018old\u2019 Barneys can ever return, but does believe that there are lessons to be learned from the store\u2019s approach to business. \u201cIf you put the right partners together, you could probably come up with a Barneys-esque store \u2014 but you would have to have real, true merchants and retailers that have their finger on the pulse, are willing to take risks and aren\u2019t looking at how their neighbors did it,\u201d she says. \u201cIf they wanted to do something fun and inspiring, that would create business.\u201d<\/p>\n The number one factor that would determine Barneys\u2019s success in 2026 is investment, Pressman says. \u201cWhoever is financing this [must be] willing to infuse enough capital to make it happen. There\u2019s no cutting corners,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Though Authentic has said it would look at opening smaller Barneys concept stores, Pressman is strong in his conviction that, if it\u2019s going to operate large stores, Barneys should only exist in two places: New York and Los Angeles. (It can \u2014\u00a0and should \u2014\u00a0have an internet presence, he adds.)<\/p>\n Burke is also dubious about Authentic\u2019s reported plans to open Barneys in its original location. \u201cIt would be compared to the original Barneys, which was built over decades,\u201d he says. Instead, Burke would like to see Barneys open in stages, starting smaller to better execute its curation.<\/p>\n After all, Barneys\u2019s most important investment will be in its merchandise. Here, the store must lift from its pre-2000s playbook and focus on young, emerging designers. \u201cIt\u2019s about energy, belief, commitment and working with young designers \u2014 but it needs capital,\u201d Pressman says. Taking the time \u2014\u00a0and the risk \u2014\u00a0to seek out and invest in unknown talent is a tall order in 2026, when margins are thin and each dollar must be spent wisely. It\u2019s also the only way to stand out.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t want another rack of Chlo\u00e9, another rack of LVMH [brands],\u201d Sykes says. \u201cThey\u2019ve got to go out there and find the cool, smaller brands that get people excited because they haven’t seen them on every single person they know.\u201d<\/p>\n Back in the day, the Barneys team was also fiercely competitive, says Burke, who worked at competitor Bergdorf Goodman at the time. \u201cThe demands of exclusivity by Barneys were very important to them, and they would get behind the brands and support them,\u201d he says. This would be even more competitive in 2026, as independent boutiques are better able to discover and enlist early-stage brands, and bigger legacy players like Bloomingdale\u2019s and Nordstrom lean further into emerging designers, earlier on \u2014\u00a0once again, requiring a bigger investment from Barneys.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nMoney matters<\/strong><\/h2>\n