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Build DTC strength first, then use it as leverage to dictate wholesale and retail terms instead of chasing them.
$500K to $2M
online with healthy contribution margin
According to Retail Touchpoints, apparel brand Bylt is opening seven brick-and-mortar stores this year while launching wholesale distribution starting with Bloomingdale's. The move follows years of building a direct-to-consumer revenue base that reportedly crossed $100 million annually, giving the brand negotiating weight when it finally went to retail partners.
Bylt's sequence matters. The company spent nearly a decade refining product, building customer files, and proving unit economics online before approaching department stores. When it did approach wholesale, it came with a known brand, documented sell-through data, and the ability to walk away if terms didn't work. Bloomingdale's is the anchor partner, with Bylt reportedly planning additional selective wholesale placements rather than broad distribution.
This is the opposite of the old apparel playbook, where brands chased wholesale early to get discovered and then tried to build DTC as a margin backup. Bylt flipped it. DTC first means you control pricing, own the customer relationship, and generate the cash flow to open stores on your timeline. When you do go wholesale, you're not begging for shelf space. You're offering a proven product with a customer base that already wants it, and the retailer knows you're not dependent on them for survival.
The wholesale deal also de-risks the physical retail expansion. Bylt's seven new stores will sit alongside its Bloomingdale's presence, creating a compounding discovery effect. A customer sees Bylt in Bloomingdale's, searches the brand, finds a standalone store nearby or orders online. The channels reinforce rather than cannibalize. And because Bylt controls its own stores, it can test location strategy, train staff on product storytelling, and capture full-margin transactions while the wholesale channel handles volume and geographic reach it can't cover alone.
The steal for a smaller physical-product brand: build your DTC base until it's strong enough to be your Plan A, then use retail partnerships as Plan B on your terms. If you're doing $500K to $2M online with healthy contribution margin, you have the data to approach regional retailers or specialty chains. Prepare a one-page sell sheet: your bestselling SKU, its online conversion rate, your average order value, your repeat purchase rate, and your email list size. Walk into the buyer meeting with the posture that you're evaluating them as much as they're evaluating you. Offer a test: one or two SKUs, consignment or guaranteed sale, 90-day trial. If it works, expand. If it doesn't, you still have your DTC engine.
For your first physical location, don't sign a long lease in an expensive market. Look for pop-up opportunities, shared retail spaces, or short-term subleases where you can test foot traffic and brand presence for three to six months before committing. Use the DTC customer data to choose the geography—where are your repeat buyers clustering? Open there. Your existing customers will visit, post about it, and drive local discovery. The store becomes a billboard and a customer experience lab, not a make-or-break revenue bet.
Bylt's expansion is a case study in sequencing. DTC first. Prove the product and the brand. Then leverage that proof to get better wholesale terms and open stores that amplify rather than replace the direct channel. The brands that win physical retail in 2025 are the ones that don't need it to survive.
The branded-identity layer Chiefs of Staff and heritage CMOs route through — your name imprinted on real authorized stock, your pick of 200+ brands and 70,000 products, shipped from one accountable house. Nine editorial desks publish the intelligence those operators read before they sign.
200+authorized brands
70,000products · virtual proof on each
9 deskspublishing daily
1997one house, since
70,000 SKUs · virtual proof in 60 seconds · no platform fee · blind-shipped · ASI #217876
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