How Frances Valentine Built a Viral Fashion Brand Around Women 50+

Summary

Key Takeaways

• Frances Valentine has found major success by focusing on the underserved and highly affluent 50+ female consumer
• Co-founder and CEO Elyce Arons’ authentic social presence has become a powerful customer acquisition and engagement engine.
• Frances Valentine balances owned digital channels with retail stores and wholesale partnerships to deepen loyalty.

Katherine Brodie, CMO of Frances Valentine, joined Kate Robertson, the new Editor in Chief of Retail TouchPoints and host of the Retail Remix podcast, to discuss how the New York lifestyle brand has built a social-first marketing engine by focusing on an underserved demographic: women 50 and up.

“We’ve really found this white space talking to this consumer who’s 50 and up in the digital world,” Brodie said. “We’ve gotten pressure in the past to speak to and bring in a younger consumer, but have really found that this 50-plus consumer is our edge.”

Founded in 2016 by the late Kate Spade, Andy Spade and current CEO Elyce Arons, who also co-founded the Kate Spade brand, Frances Valentine centers on color, vintage fashion and what Brodie describes as a joyful customer experience. Its motto: wear what makes you happy.

Approximately 40% of Frances Valentine customers fall between the ages of 55 and 65 — a demographic that closely mirrors Arons herself.

“Nobody’s talking to this consumer, or there aren’t that many brands talking to this consumer successfully on the internet,” Brodie said. “She’s so affluent, she has all the purchasing power, she knows what she wants and we love her.”

Elyce Arons as Brand Engine

When Brodie joined Frances Valentine in 2025, she came in on the eve of a significant moment: the launch of Arons’ memoir about her friendship with Kate Spade, We Might Just Make It After All: My Best Friendship with Kate Spade, which went on to hit the New York Times bestseller list.

That timing shaped much of the brand’s marketing direction. Arons, who is 61, has become the face and personality of the brand across social media, posting outfit-of-the-day videos on TikTok and Instagram. That content is then fed into Meta advertising campaigns.

“I’ve been doing this for 20 years and we’ve been able to scale acquisition in a way that I’ve really never seen,” Brodie said. “Because this woman is there, she’s on Instagram, she’s on Facebook, she’s resonating with Elyce and then converting.”

The authenticity of Arons’ presence is central to why the strategy works, Brodie said. “Our customer really looks up to her because she’s also living her best life.”

That authenticity has extended to the brand’s more playful content, including a viral video in which a new intern attempted to annoy Arons — and couldn’t. The video drew from a TikTok trend, but the Frances Valentine team pursued it specifically because they knew how Arons would respond.

“We’re like, ‘We have to try it on Elyce because she’s going to be so nice,'” Brodie said. “It’s really just such a testament to Elyce, who is just the loveliest human being on the entire earth.”

Content as a Separate Production Track

Executing a video-first strategy at scale requires dedicated resources, and Brodie said the brand has structured its team accordingly. Frances Valentine operates with a creative director, an art director who handles both video and photography and a social media hire with deep video expertise.

“These younger kids are just so native to video,” Brodie said. “They have a sense of humor, they understand the brand. They move really, really quickly.”

The result is a content operation that functions like its own studio — separate from traditional campaign production. “We’ll shoot our campaigns and that’s for the site and for emails,” Brodie said. “But really social and social ads have become their whole other track of content.”

The team operates with speed as a priority. “We’ll come in and be like, what if we did this? And by evening we have it posted on Instagram and it’s going viral,” she said.

Brodie cited a framework she follows from Emily Hickey, the co-founder and CEO at Chief Detective:

“Winners win,” she said. “We’ve been taking our winners in content, which is Elyce and video of Elyce, and pairing it with our best-selling styles and then just pouring more iterations of content and testing and learning and keeping going.”

Stores, Wholesale and a Deliberate Channel Mix

Frances Valentine currently operates nine retail stores and has a wholesale presence through partners including Dillard’s. The brand is not on Amazon, a deliberate choice Brodie framed around ownership.

“Right now we’re prioritizing anything that we can own,” she said. “The customer is where we’re going to shift and spend most of our time and resources and energy.”

Physical retail plays a measurable role in customer value. Brodie noted that customers who shop both online and in-store spend 4.5X as much as those who shop online only — making stores a significant loyalty driver, not just a sales channel.

Wholesale serves a different function: national reach. “Being able to speak to the customer and have her see Frances Valentine across the country has been so powerful and such a big brand awareness driver for us,” Brodie said.

Diversifying Beyond Meta

While Meta remains the brand’s primary paid channel, Brodie said Frances Valentine has been actively expanding its marketing mix. The brand recently launched on AppLovin, a platform that serves ads within mobile games, and is seeing early results.

“She’s playing Candy Crush and seeing our ads and seeing instant success from it, which is so gratifying,” Brodie said.

The brand has also launched on ShopMy and is running cost-per-acquisition ads through the Shop app.

“It would be irresponsible to not diversify because we know what happens when you’re at the whim of other platforms,” Brodie said.

Collaborations on the Horizon

Frances Valentine recently wrapped a collaboration with blogger Blair Eadie of Atlantic Pacific, selling 65% of the collection within one week of launch. A second collaboration with Eadie is planned for November.

The brand will also release a collection with the Mary Tyler Moore estate in September. The partnership carries personal significance: Arons’ memoir takes its title from the Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Arons and Kate Spade chose to major in journalism in college because of Moore. The collaboration will include a charitable component supporting the Vision Initiative, a foundation focused on ending vision loss caused by diabetes.

Advice for Marketers

Brodie closed with a note aimed at marketers who focus too narrowly on top-of-funnel metrics.

“So many marketers will walk in and they’re responsible for brand impressions and traffic,” she said. “But if you’re not understanding the full picture of what’s driving sales, what’s selling, what’s getting her to add to cart, what’s driving profitability — it’s so important to understand the big picture and be able to really understand all of the departments. It all has to work together in concert in order to be successful.”

Related Links

• Explore Frances Valentine’s colorful fashion and lifestyle collections
• Get more retail industry insights from Retail TouchPoints
• Subscribe and catch up on all episodes of Retail Remix
• Don’t miss the Retail TouchPoints Trendcaster webinar series

Summary

Key Takeaways

• Frances Valentine has found major success by focusing on the underserved and highly affluent 50+ female consumer
• Co-founder and CEO Elyce Arons’ authentic social presence has become a powerful customer acquisition and engagement engine.
• Frances Valentine balances owned digital channels with retail stores and wholesale partnerships to deepen loyalty.

Katherine Brodie, CMO of Frances Valentine, joined Kate Robertson, the new Editor in Chief of Retail TouchPoints and host of the Retail Remix podcast, to discuss how the New York lifestyle brand has built a social-first marketing engine by focusing on an underserved demographic: women 50 and up.

“We’ve really found this white space talking to this consumer who’s 50 and up in the digital world,” Brodie said. “We’ve gotten pressure in the past to speak to and bring in a younger consumer, but have really found that this 50-plus consumer is our edge.”

Founded in 2016 by the late Kate Spade, Andy Spade and current CEO Elyce Arons, who also co-founded the Kate Spade brand, Frances Valentine centers on color, vintage fashion and what Brodie describes as a joyful customer experience. Its motto: wear what makes you happy.

Approximately 40% of Frances Valentine customers fall between the ages of 55 and 65 — a demographic that closely mirrors Arons herself.

“Nobody’s talking to this consumer, or there aren’t that many brands talking to this consumer successfully on the internet,” Brodie said. “She’s so affluent, she has all the purchasing power, she knows what she wants and we love her.”

Elyce Arons as Brand Engine

When Brodie joined Frances Valentine in 2025, she came in on the eve of a significant moment: the launch of Arons’ memoir about her friendship with Kate Spade, We Might Just Make It After All: My Best Friendship with Kate Spade, which went on to hit the New York Times bestseller list.

That timing shaped much of the brand’s marketing direction. Arons, who is 61, has become the face and personality of the brand across social media, posting outfit-of-the-day videos on TikTok and Instagram. That content is then fed into Meta advertising campaigns.

“I’ve been doing this for 20 years and we’ve been able to scale acquisition in a way that I’ve really never seen,” Brodie said. “Because this woman is there, she’s on Instagram, she’s on Facebook, she’s resonating with Elyce and then converting.”

The authenticity of Arons’ presence is central to why the strategy works, Brodie said. “Our customer really looks up to her because she’s also living her best life.”

That authenticity has extended to the brand’s more playful content, including a viral video in which a new intern attempted to annoy Arons — and couldn’t. The video drew from a TikTok trend, but the Frances Valentine team pursued it specifically because they knew how Arons would respond.

“We’re like, ‘We have to try it on Elyce because she’s going to be so nice,'” Brodie said. “It’s really just such a testament to Elyce, who is just the loveliest human being on the entire earth.”

Content as a Separate Production Track

Executing a video-first strategy at scale requires dedicated resources, and Brodie said the brand has structured its team accordingly. Frances Valentine operates with a creative director, an art director who handles both video and photography and a social media hire with deep video expertise.

“These younger kids are just so native to video,” Brodie said. “They have a sense of humor, they understand the brand. They move really, really quickly.”

The result is a content operation that functions like its own studio — separate from traditional campaign production. “We’ll shoot our campaigns and that’s for the site and for emails,” Brodie said. “But really social and social ads have become their whole other track of content.”

The team operates with speed as a priority. “We’ll come in and be like, what if we did this? And by evening we have it posted on Instagram and it’s going viral,” she said.

Brodie cited a framework she follows from Emily Hickey, the co-founder and CEO at Chief Detective:

“Winners win,” she said. “We’ve been taking our winners in content, which is Elyce and video of Elyce, and pairing it with our best-selling styles and then just pouring more iterations of content and testing and learning and keeping going.”

Stores, Wholesale and a Deliberate Channel Mix

Frances Valentine currently operates nine retail stores and has a wholesale presence through partners including Dillard’s. The brand is not on Amazon, a deliberate choice Brodie framed around ownership.

“Right now we’re prioritizing anything that we can own,” she said. “The customer is where we’re going to shift and spend most of our time and resources and energy.”

Physical retail plays a measurable role in customer value. Brodie noted that customers who shop both online and in-store spend 4.5X as much as those who shop online only — making stores a significant loyalty driver, not just a sales channel.

Wholesale serves a different function: national reach. “Being able to speak to the customer and have her see Frances Valentine across the country has been so powerful and such a big brand awareness driver for us,” Brodie said.

Diversifying Beyond Meta

While Meta remains the brand’s primary paid channel, Brodie said Frances Valentine has been actively expanding its marketing mix. The brand recently launched on AppLovin, a platform that serves ads within mobile games, and is seeing early results.

“She’s playing Candy Crush and seeing our ads and seeing instant success from it, which is so gratifying,” Brodie said.

The brand has also launched on ShopMy and is running cost-per-acquisition ads through the Shop app.

“It would be irresponsible to not diversify because we know what happens when you’re at the whim of other platforms,” Brodie said.

Collaborations on the Horizon

Frances Valentine recently wrapped a collaboration with blogger Blair Eadie of Atlantic Pacific, selling 65% of the collection within one week of launch. A second collaboration with Eadie is planned for November.

The brand will also release a collection with the Mary Tyler Moore estate in September. The partnership carries personal significance: Arons’ memoir takes its title from the Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Arons and Kate Spade chose to major in journalism in college because of Moore. The collaboration will include a charitable component supporting the Vision Initiative, a foundation focused on ending vision loss caused by diabetes.

Advice for Marketers

Brodie closed with a note aimed at marketers who focus too narrowly on top-of-funnel metrics.

“So many marketers will walk in and they’re responsible for brand impressions and traffic,” she said. “But if you’re not understanding the full picture of what’s driving sales, what’s selling, what’s getting her to add to cart, what’s driving profitability — it’s so important to understand the big picture and be able to really understand all of the departments. It all has to work together in concert in order to be successful.”

Related Links

• Explore Frances Valentine’s colorful fashion and lifestyle collections
• Get more retail industry insights from Retail TouchPoints
• Subscribe and catch up on all episodes of Retail Remix
• Don’t miss the Retail TouchPoints Trendcaster webinar series