What:  A new partnership with a fashion retailer for the iconic American department store

Why it is important: The approach is very different from the previous (and failed) partnership with Jeffrey’s, as Nordstrom is positioning itself as a platform for new brands, rather than using Dover Street Market as a way to emphasize its fashionable positioning.

Nordstrom has announced a new partnership with fashion retailer Dover Street Market and will present seven brands belonging to the DSM incubator in stores and online. Said brands cover Men’s and Women’s RTW, accessories and shoes areas.

Dover Street Market has never partnered with another retailer before and uses Nordstrom as a way to leverage the visibility and exposure of the brands belonging to its incubator.

Nordstrom on the other hand sees this partnership as a way to support newcomers to fashion, as well as to bring unusually and never seen before products and brands to its customers. Very interestingly, this new approach is quite different from Nordstrom’s previous (and failed) buyout of Jeffrey’s, which had the delegated task to bring fashion sense back to Nordstrom. Here, the partnership is all about collaboration for the sake of new brands, without any delegation of any sort.

Nordstrom Space to Offer Dover Street Market Incubator Brands