Backstage: What’s happening with Amazon Fashion?

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Welcome to The Backroom, a look at what happens behind the scenes as the Retail Dive team covers the stories and trends transforming retail. You can check out all of our podcast episodes (past and present) here and listen on Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio and Spotify.

A few years ago, researchers at various companies noted that Amazon would soon join – if not unsettle – Walmart and Macy’s as the top-selling clothing retailer in the US. Just this month, Wells Fargo analysts said a milestone had been reached, estimating that the e-commerce giant and its third-party sellers sold more than $68 billion worth of apparel and footwear in the U.S. last year, putting it in first place. Financial records show that in 2023, Amazon reported overall product sales of $255.9 billion.

But how much of the clothing offered by Amazon and its marketplace can be called “fashion”? In some ways, the company seems to be backing away from any fashion ambitions. For example, last year both Amazon Style locations were closed after feedback that the stores were not conducive to new store discovery. The company also renamed its Prime Clothes option, which once offered a styling service, to the more descriptive, if down-to-earth, “Try Before You Buy.”

Amazon’s website seems best suited to shopping for practical clothing rather than high-end fashion, but according to Lara Ewen, senior editor of sister publication Fashion Dive, that doesn’t have to be the case. This month, we sat down with her to find out what’s happening – and what’s not – at Amazon Fashion.

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Editor’s note: This episode was produced and edited by Caroline Jansen.