DATE OF POP-UP 

• Feb 26, 2015 

DURATION 

• 3 days

ATTENDANCE 

• 1,000 +

LOCATION

• Lower East Side, NEW YORK

BENEFITS

• Exposure to new audience

• $16k+ sales

Miista is a fashion forward footwear brand based in Hackney, London. As a curator of styles, Miista brings together seemingly opposites. Miista deliberately juxtaposes elements that would be at war without creative expertise. Miista is always searching for an elegant balance in the unusual.

> MORE ABOUT MIISTA

POP-UP RECAP & INTERVIEW
(FROM MARCH 2015)

Hailing from London, Miista is emerging fashion brand that we hosted for 3 days last month at our Popup Launchpad. Their popup sample sale generated over 300 transactions, got some good buzz from the press and even had a unicorn-dragon stop by! One of their objectives for popping up was to test the market reception for their brand in New York. They had a chance to meet their NY customer base (which they said was the most valuable part!) and received very positive feedback. Like all good things, especially in the world of pop-ups, the Miista-shop-in-NY fun had to come to an end.After they packed up their pop-up, we had a chance to ask the team some questions to learn about, and learn from, their experience as an international brand successfully popping up in NY. Our conversation with their Head of Communications, Ella Hagi, is below:

miLES: Had you done a pop-up before? Where?
Miista: We generally hold a sample sale once a season in London. We moved to a new studio last summer so we’re now holding those in our showroom – previously we did at Dalston Pier, which is this really bright spacious studio run by a friend of ours and makes the perfect space for it.

miLES: What was the most rewarding part of doing the popup?Miista: Honestly, it was meeting our customers. People tell all these horror tales about retail, but we always have so much fun when we get to meet ours. Obviously when you have a queue outside and the shop floor turns into a war zone it’s a bit stressful, but it gives you so much motivation. Selling a product isn’t just about the product – the people buy into an experience, the feeling the product gives them, and looking at sales reports or Instagram follower numbers isn’t quite the same as talking to people. It just makes you love your job so much more.

miLES: What was your biggest learning?
Miista: How tricky it is to organise things from a distance! You come across websites where you can’t use UK credit cards or find that some things operate with completely different time frames than here etc. The funniest realisation was that paper sizes are different in Europe and US! Thankfully Eric (miLES founder) and everyone at the pop-up were so incredibly helpful and everything went smoothly.

miLES: What was the most challenging part of the popup?
Miista: To be honest I think the most challenging part was running out of stock! From a sales perspective it’s wonderful, of course, but it’s much harder to get people enthusiastic when there’s hardly anything to buy. Organisation wise it all went really well – the help from the miLES team was invaluable!

miLES: Words of wisdom for someone considering popping up?
Miista: Always have a checklist – it’s the smaller more tedious things that are easier to forget. Make sure to have an interesting concept. Whether in New York or London, there is so much happening and it’s necessary to stand out.

miLES: What’s next for Miista?
Miista: We’re now back in London and working on our first BIG pop-up. So far we’ve done sample sales and a few collaborations with our stockists, but we’re now going all out with a concept store revolving around our SS15 collection, Future Athens. We’re having the launch event on the 16th of April – it’s 30a Redchurch Street if you happen to be in London then! It’s a concept store revolving around an athletic aesthetic and presenting an interactive film that takes the guests to our favourite spots in East London; our home and an endless source of inspiration.

miLES: Anything else you’d like to share?
Miista: We’re just really grateful for all the help you guys gave us! Really made the world of difference, and it’s always great to work with someone that believes in what you do. Hopefully we’re able to soon come back to New York for an even bigger, better pop-up!

miLES: Thank you! We'd love that! Fingers crossed to work with the your team again on Miista's next NY pop-up!