An Australian lingerie label has staked its claim on one of Manhattan's tightest retail strips. Kat the Label opened its first permanent United States store at 242 Lafayette Street in SoHo on Friday, bringing its lace bras, sleepwear and bridal collections to a brick-and-mortar address alongside its online sales and retail partnerships.
“On the 23rd of October, we've officially opened our New York store and this time we're here to stay,” the brand said, according to its own store page. The declaration carries weight for a company that, as WWD reports, has held a handful of temporary pop-ups in New York City before committing to a full-time lease. The new shop sits in SoHo, a neighborhood where available storefronts have grown scarce and asking rents have climbed.
From Melbourne Startup to Soho Storefront
Kat the Label was founded in Melbourne in 2015 by Kate Nixon and has built its identity around feminine lace lingerie, romantic sleepwear and bridal pieces, per the brand's own account of its history. What began as lace bralettes has since grown into a fuller product range that includes bodysuits and robes, according to a profile of Nixon published by designscene.net. The company has also built partnerships with major retailers including REVOLVE, Nordstrom, Anthropologie and Free People, the same page notes, and counts Kylie Jenner and Sabrina Carpenter among the celebrities who have worn its pieces.
The SoHo opening follows a New York pop-up the brand ran earlier this year, which WWD reports helped the company gauge customer interest in bridal and sleepwear products before committing to a permanent lease. That earlier pop-up period also included a capsule collection marking Marilyn Monroe's hundredth anniversary, per the same WWD account. The current store's lineup spans lingerie, sleepwear and bridal pieces, including a new holiday collection, white bridal ensembles, and signature styles like the Maverick, Nicolette and Sofia bras alongside the Celeste slipdress, according to WWD's reporting.
Bridal Suite Offers Private Styling With Bubbles
The New York location's centerpiece is its Bridal Suite, a space built for private, personalized shopping. “Enjoy a private, personalised shopping experience with your bridesmaids or besties, complete with a complimentary bottle of bubbles,” the brand says on its store page. WWD reports the brand will open bookings for private bridal styling appointments on November 1.
Nixon has described the brand's broader creative approach as centered on what she calls the female gaze, shaping how products, advertising and social media are presented, according to WWD's account of the opening. WWD also reports that the New York store will offer gifts with purchase from brand friends including Emmi Jay, along with coffee, matcha and flower giveaways tied to the launch.
SoHo's Shrinking, Pricier Storefront Market
Kat the Label's arrival lands in a SoHo retail market defined by scarcity. Median asking rent along SoHo's Broadway corridor hit $726 per square foot in the second half of 2025, up 24 percent from the first half of that year, according to a report from Commercial Observer. The Real Estate Board of New York attributed the climb to a growing scarcity of vacant retail space, the same report notes.
That squeeze is playing out across several of Manhattan's most sought-after corridors. The Real Estate Board of New York's own first-half 2026 retail report found Manhattan's retail market continuing its strong recovery, with leasing activity especially strong in SoHo, Madison Avenue, Lower Fifth Avenue, Bleecker Street and Flatiron. Average asking rents rose in eight of the sixteen corridors the board tracks, and food, fitness, apparel, luxury and digitally native brands led the leasing activity, the report states.
A companion press release from the real estate board found that SoHo and Madison Avenue together had fewer than twenty actively marketed retail spaces as of June, with quality storefront availability across several prime corridors falling more than 20 percent over the prior two years. Madison Avenue alone saw its available storefronts drop from 35 two years earlier to just 13 by the end of 2025, Commercial Observer reported. Retailers, the real estate board's release adds, are increasingly investing in experiential formats that blend shopping with hospitality and entertainment — a trend reflected in Kat the Label's appointment-only bridal concept.
More Expansion Ahead, Brand Says
Kat the Label's SoHo lease marks its first U.S. retail expansion after a growing American online presence built over the past couple of years, WWD reports. The brand has told WWD it plans to open a couple more stores in Australia and hopes to add further U.S. locations down the line.
