As ealier reported, Beyoncé’s Ivy Park x Adidas line has been struggling to return to its sold-out era.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the sales of Ivy Park tumbled by over 50% to about $40 million in 2022 – coming in just below internal Adidas projections for $250 million in sales that year. Documents obtained by WSJ also show that Ivy Park has left a roughly $200 million hole in the firm’s annual projections.
Now, a business strategist who goes by @ alist_business_strategist on Instagram is claiming that the reason the decorated-Grammys-winner’s fashion line is struggling is because Beyoncé doesn’t wear her own brand.
“It doesn’t even make sense {referring to the Ivy Park’s financial struggle}, Beyoncé doesn’t even wear the clothes,” @alist says in the video.
She continues:
“You know why she {Beyoncé} doesn’t wear her own clothes {Ivy Park}? Because they don’t go with her brand aesthetic. It doesn’t make sense for her to wear them. Watch and learn.”
The successful business analyst then takes us back to a throwback video she made discussing the reason why Rihanna can retire and Beyoncé can’t.
“Yahp. I said it on Beyoncé internet,” she says in a semi-playful tone (you know the Beehive can come for you when you talk about Queen Bey in a “not-so-positive” manner.
“Rihanna has successfully figured out how to create and package her brand into a passive form and to give you and I that experience. Her personality. Her expectations. The experience of the Good Girl Gone Bad,” @alist continues.
“Beyoncé has not figured out how to package Beyoncé. Every time she launches a product, it doesn’t correlate with her brand experience. And this is why she has not been able to consistently create a product {Ivy Park} that kind of carries itself on its own.”
“As a result, Beyoncé will continue to have to perform until she is successfully able to transfer this particular brand experience over into a product,” she adds.
And unlike other business analysts and critics, @alist_business_strategist has some advice for Queen Bey. She has a brilliant idea on how the I’m That Girl singer can make Fenty billions – package her brand experience.
“This is what I’d recommend,” @alist starts.
“Create a line that’s called Queen Bey. Simple as that.”
She continues:
“We all know what that means. We all know what that represents. And Queen Bey can represent different things for different women. For some women, it can be royalty…take care of me…or for other women, it can be strong and independent. It doesn’t matter. There’s a range of experiences and emotions and preceptive wrapped up in that name – different aspects and components of Beyoncé.”
Oh no. She’s not done yet.
@alist understands why (presumably) Ms. Carter hasn’t explored this “affordable luxury” opportunity. She just wants to give her consumers pocket-friendly products.
“There’s an opportunity here that Beyoncé hasn’t explored. And I understand why she has not done it. Because the idea is that she wants to produce something that her target consumer can afford,” the business strategist says.
“But here’s the reality of the situation. She {Beyoncé} can still create an affordable luxury line, but she’s got to create something of high-quality that we can keep for a long period of time and have and carry and wear with pride.”
@alist doesn’t think Beyoncé (with her Queen Bey status) should go out and buy a pair of athleisure or jeans. Instead, the boundary-pushing artist should look into creating a line of faux furs, some sexy handbags, elegant gowns, or beautiful jewelry that make her fans and target consumers feel like a Queen – Queen Bey, to be exact.
“Beyoncé looking like Queen Bey and then going out and buying a pair of athletic wear or a pair of jeans? No!” she adds.
“But, if Beyoncé had a line of faux furs or had some beautiful handbags or some elegant gowns or some beautiful jewelry that makes me feel like a Queen, a Queen Bey. Mmmmhhh…that’d be something I’d pick up throughout the year.”
She concludes by telling Beyoncé to reconsider her team of advisors and instead give her a call.
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And while you might assume she’s the only one who thinks Beyoncé needs to reassess her entrepreneurial venyou’re mistakene wrong. Some fans gave their two cents on the issues. Here’s what they had to say:
I agree, and to be honest, when I think Beyoncé, I don’t think fashion. I think she would’ve made a fortune in the jewelry industry cuz she’s killing the Tiffany collaboration. Not sure if she’d be able to create her own jewelry brand, though. Tiffany and Co probably have a non-compete clause @ khadija2flyy
Agree! I’ve been saying this… Beyonce was never a fashion girl. Even now, with a stylist, her outfits just don’t GIVE.. ppl just love her. The clothes wear her. However, the route that this woman stated would probably fit her best. I also don’t think Bey sending those PR packages to all those ppl translated well. It came off as if you weren’t “in” so you couldn’t get that “exclusive” even tho it was sold it stores. When u see Rih and Fenty… all the influencer girls were promoting it first, and that, for the everyday consumer, seems more relatable and attainable. Plus, Ivy Park was way overpriced for athleisure during the pandemic when a lot of the world was suffering financially. The whole thing just gave tone death and great promotional content from her. @passport2reign
Even Twitter had something to say about it:
The color schemes, styles and shoes don’t hit like the first two releases. Everything starts to look similar after a while
— jordan demi (@jordan_demi1) February 9, 2023
and
I really liked Drip 2 and Icy Park. I’m not vibing these very loud prints seen since Ivy Heart. Ivy Heart was my least favorite drop. #PARKTRAIL is the best drop since Icy Park for sure. I copped quite a few pieces from it.
— Dylan Farr (@parknpeaks) February 10, 2023
and
I love Beyoncé but I’m not surprised. Beyoncé is not a fashion icon, not in the same way that Rihanna is. Also when have you seen Ivy Park in the wild? I’ve never seen it outside of a campaign shoot. https://t.co/ZAZ4iQWpX8
— Aadam – آدم (@ThoughtsOfAadam) February 9, 2023
and
I think it doesn’t work because she is selling a product that isn’t her brand. Beyoncé is glamorous. Fashion forward. Expensive. Luxury. A mega wealthy celebrity. Exclusive.
Athletic clothing is not her brand. Nothing about Ivy Park makes sense. Nothing about it screams Beyoncé.
— SOLOMON RAY ? (@solomonraymusic) February 10, 2023
and
It would help if we could find Ivy Park. It’s never in the stores. ??♂️
— Tiq Milan (@TheMrMilan) February 8, 2023
and
I blame the poor marketing and promotion. Give her the Yeezy team
— EZ (@Izzybb310) February 8, 2023
and
I don’t see why Beyoncé fans would buy something that Beyoncé herself doesn’t wear outside of press images
— ECHLN (@prodbyechln) February 9, 2023
and
Did Adidas even advertise this line? Never heard of it. Seems they missed a major opportunity. Having worked in product development including launch plans, I can say even great products can fail without proper launch orchestration.
— Forthwith (@dancingprose) February 8, 2023
So, what do you think about this? Should Queen Bey reconsider her product strategy and move to jewelry and faux furs? Or should she revamp Ivy Park?
Let us know in the comment section below.
