VAULT

Private · Master Plan · v1.0
VAULTAPPAREL LINE

VAULT Apparel Line

Owner: Taj Hines, Founder and Creative Director Strategic sponsor: Trill Walker, CSO Merchandising lead: TBH (recruit ex-Alo or ex-Bandier buyer, Charlotte or remote) Status: Line concept, pre-sample. Target soft launch with club opening. Full first drop 90 days post-opening.

1. Thesis

VAULT apparel is not a merch table. It is the second revenue engine of the brand and the primary vehicle for extending VAULT beyond the Charlotte footprint before the second location is ever signed.

Three roles the line must play:

  1. Revenue: 15 to 20 percent of total club revenue by Y2, 25 to 30 percent by Y3, blended DTC plus in-club plus wholesale.
  2. Membership retention: members who own three or more VAULT pieces churn at less than half the rate of members who own zero, based on Equinox and Barry’s internal benchmarks. Apparel is a retention tool disguised as revenue.
  3. Brand carrier: every piece that walks out of a Bank of America gym bag, a Truist elevator, or a Charlotte airport terminal is a paid ad. The apparel is the billboard the club cannot afford to buy.

Taj is the face. Every campaign, every drop, every look book leads with Taj. She is not modeling the line. She is the line’s aesthetic thesis in a body.

2. Category Architecture

Three tracks, one wardrobe.

Track A: Studio Performance

The technical pole, dance, and floorwork line. The core of the brand identity.

Pieces: - Grip Set: high-cut brief plus scoop crop, silicone-lined grip zones on hip and torso, four colorways. Retail 148 for set. - Contour Long: full-length legging with grip panels at inner knee and calf for climbs, gusset for splits, seamless waist. Retail 128. - Silhouette Bra: medium support, deep V, removable pads, designed to be seen not hidden. Retail 78. - Studio Short: 3-inch inseam, grip waistband, side vent. Retail 68. - Warm Layer: cropped waffle-knit hoodie for pre-class warmup and post-class walk to car. Retail 148.

Fabric spec: 78 percent recycled nylon, 22 percent Lycra elastane, 240 gsm. Silicone grip zones are Wacker Elastosil printed inline. Made at a small technical mill in Portugal or Long Island City. Not made in Bangladesh. That story matters at this price point.

Track B: Athleisure Crossover

The line members wear from studio to café to Trader Joe’s without changing. Priced and cut against Alo Yoga and Lululemon’s Studio line.

Pieces: - Column Pant: wide-leg high-rise ponte pant. Studio to dinner. Retail 168. - Ribbed Bodysuit: long sleeve, thumb hole, snap closure. Retail 108. - Weightless Tee: pima cotton plus modal, boxy cut, tonal VAULT wordmark at hem. Retail 68. - Recovery Sweatsuit: brushed French terry, matching set, drop shoulder, wide leg. Retail 258 for set. - The Robe: heavyweight waffle robe with VAULT crest, sold in-club and DTC. Retail 218.

Fabric spec: pima cotton and Tencel modal blends, Portuguese-milled French terry, no polyester in the athleisure track. Athleisure at this price cannot feel synthetic.

Track C: Members Only Exclusive

Cannot be purchased by non-members. Barcode tied to active membership at checkout. This is the loyalty moat.

Pieces: - Black Card Robe: black waffle robe with gold crest, only issued to Black Card members at signup. Not for sale. - Founding Member Jacket: bomber issued to the first 100 members. Serialized 001 through 100. Not reprinted, ever. - Anniversary Drop: annual limited piece released on club anniversary. Members-only for first 30 days, then public if inventory remains. - Competition Watch Kit: capsule tied to THE VAULT INVITATIONAL, tickets bundled, members priority.

The Black Card Robe is the single most important piece in the entire line. It is the physical proof of tier. It gets photographed in every locker room in Charlotte within 60 days of launch.

3. Positioning and Price Ladder

Comp set, ranked by where VAULT sits:

  • Alo Yoga: parity on core athleisure, slightly premium on studio performance.
  • Lululemon Studio and Align: parity on price, superior on story and cut.
  • Bandier: parity across the board, VAULT wins on club integration.
  • Beyond Yoga: VAULT premium by 15 percent.
  • Set Active: VAULT premium by 30 percent.
  • Free People Movement: not a comp, VAULT is above.

Blended AUR target: 118 dollars. IMU target: 68 to 72 percent on Track A and B, 78 percent on Track C exclusives. These margins support the price of Portuguese milling and small-batch runs.

Member pricing: - Access ($299/mo): 10 percent off apparel, standard drops. - Studio ($499/mo): 15 percent off, early access to drops 48 hours before public. - Black Card ($999/mo): 25 percent off, first look on every drop, complimentary Black Card Robe on activation, one free anniversary piece per year.

Non-member public: full retail, no discounts, no promo cadence beyond one archive sale per year.

4. Drop Cadence

Four seasonal drops per year. Not six. Not monthly. Scarcity is the brand.

  • Spring: February 1. Fresh core plus one capsule.
  • Summer: May 1. Lighter fabrics, expanded Track B.
  • Fall: August 15. Back to studio, layering emphasis.
  • Winter: November 1. Recovery sweatsuit, robes, holiday gifting focus.

Between drops: two capsule collaborations per year (see Section 6), one anniversary drop, one archive sale.

Inventory rule: sell through 85 percent of drop inventory before markdown. If a piece sells through 100 percent in under 21 days, do not restock in season. Reissue in next season with a variation. Never chase demand within a drop, it kills the scarcity moat.

5. Fabric and Manufacturing Detail

Portugal is the anchor for technical pieces. Portuguese mills serve Alo, Vuori, and most premium athletic brands. Named partners to court: - Impetus Portugal for seamless technical - Tintex Textiles for jersey and rib - Adalberto Estampados for finishing and print

Long Island City for cut and sew on Track C exclusives. NYC labor cost is real, but Founding Member Jackets and Black Card Robes need to say Made in USA. That is worth 40 dollars of margin.

MOQ reality: Portuguese mills want 300 units per SKU minimum. First drop is 12 SKUs. First order is 3,600 units, roughly 340,000 dollars landed cost. This is the biggest single check the retail arm writes in Y1. Financing plan in ecommerce doc.

Trims: custom VAULT hardware on drawcords, waistbands, and zippers. Cost adds 4 dollars per piece, protects against counterfeit at wholesale, and photographs well.

6. Capsule Collaboration Strategy

Two collabs per year. Not more. Every collab must do one of three things: extend into a new customer, deepen brand credibility, or create press.

Target collab partners, ranked:

  1. Aime Leon Dore, streetwear crossover, extends men’s story.
  2. Bandier, athletic prestige, extends East Coast pole and dance credibility.
  3. Rowing Blazers, preppy crossover, extends country club adjacency.
  4. Studio Nicholson, minimalist tailoring, extends beyond athletic.
  5. A Charlotte artist, one collab per year with a local visual artist, keeps the club rooted.

Structure: 50/50 margin split on the collab drop, VAULT owns retail through DTC, partner owns their DTC and their stockists. Limit to 500 units total, no restock, ever.

The first collab should not be Nike or Adidas. Never anchor VAULT to a mass athletic brand. That vaporizes the luxury story overnight.

7. Men’s Question

Y1: no men’s line. Focus is women, femme, and non-binary bodies dancing.

Y2 evaluation: unisex Track B pieces (Weightless Tee, Recovery Sweatsuit, The Robe) get cut wider and offered in expanded sizing. Not a separate men’s line, just a wider fit book.

Y3 evaluation: separate men’s Track A only if pole and floorwork classes are pulling 15+ male members per week.

Do not launch men’s in Y1 to protect margin dollars for the core drop.

8. Y1 Financials (High Level)

  • Development and sampling: 45,000
  • First production run (3,600 units): 340,000 landed
  • Photography, look book, campaign (Taj led): 65,000
  • Ecommerce platform build (see ecommerce doc): see 02_ECOMMERCE
  • Total Y1 apparel investment: roughly 450,000 excluding platform
  • Revenue target Y1: 780,000 blended (in-club, DTC, one wholesale test)
  • Gross margin Y1: 55 to 60 percent net of markdowns and shrink
  • Net contribution Y1: 250,000 to 300,000

The line does not carry the club in Y1. It pays for itself and builds inventory into Y2 where the real leverage sits.

9. What Taj Owns, What CSO Owns, What GM Owns

Taj: aesthetic direction, campaign face, drop calendar approval, capsule partner approval, no operational buying, no inventory management, no direct vendor communication except partner intros.

CSO (Trill): financing, mill relationship escalation, wholesale strategy, collab deal structure, protecting Taj from being pulled into ops. Explicitly no VAULT payroll seat.

GM: nothing on apparel except in-club inventory reconciliation with the merchandising lead. Apparel is not the GM’s job.

Merchandising lead (to hire): everything between the mill and the checkout button. This role reports to Taj on aesthetic, to CSO on numbers.