As it enters its 10th year, Draper James has a ‘global mindset’ for 2025

The company, named for Witherspoon’s grandparents, launched in Nashville, Tennessee. Draper James mostly sells ready-to-wear clothing and accessories, but it also offers glassware, picture frames and bedding. Most of its customers live in the South and the Midwest, but heading into its next decade of business, the brand wants to have more of a global presence. It hopes that its expansion plans — overseen by its new CEO Jeannie Yoo, who joined in October — will help with this.

“Our customer is not just in Nashville anymore,” Yoo told Modern Retail. “And with that more global mindset, I think it behooves us as a business to make sure that the product that we’re delivering is on point with what she expects in her day-to-day.”

In 2023, Draper James sold a majority stake of its business to the private equity firm Consortium Brand Partners. Witherspoon continues to be involved with Draper James as a partner and board member and is featured in its marketing materials.

One of Draper James’ biggest focuses for 2025 is its partnerships with other brands. In 2024, the brand paired up with Minted, which makes holiday cards, as well as Hilton’s Graduate Hotels, which held Draper James pop-ups at four Southern universities. In December and January, Draper James will collaborate with Petco on leashes, cat tunnels and pet apparel that come in Draper James’ prints. In February, it will team up with furniture company Polywood on co-branded dining chairs and rocking chairs. In March, it will roll out a collection of picture frames, craft supplies and yarn in partnership with Joann.

Partnerships have been key in growing brand awareness for Draper James, Piper Parsley, the company’s vice president of marketing and e-commerce, told Modern Retail. “We look at partners that index high from an affinity and interest level for our customers,” she said. The Minted partnership, which launched in October, “is still driving traffic,” Parsley said.

Customers will be able to find the new collaborations on Draper James’ website, which the brand revamped in 2024. The site now has updated photography, more detailed product pages and more relevant sidebar recommendations. These changes were necessary to improve consistency across Draper James’ stores and online channels, Yoo explained. “I think we’re much closer to that today than we were even three months ago, and we’re excited to continue to refine that,” she said.

Most of Draper James’ sales come from direct-to-consumer. Its next biggest category is licensing deals like its 2018 deal with Altair Eyewear and its 2022 deal with Aldo (which has since ended). In addition to its new licensing deal with PDS, which Yoo called an “effective way to get into more markets,” Draper James is eyeing expansion into Latin America and Australia. “We’re hoping that by holiday of 2025, you’ll start to see us more globally,” Yoo said.

Draper James plans to promote its new products and markets through social media posts, influencer campaigns and in-person events. Kassi Socha, a director analyst at Gartner, told Modern Retail that maintaining a strong marketing mix during expansion is crucial for any brand. “The retail brands that we see outperforming their peers or seeing growth are those that protect and fight for brand marketing resources at the same time [they are] doubling down on their performance marketing goals,” she said.

Draper James’ leadership is excited about all of the changes it has planned for 2025 — and even 2026 and 2027. “We are always looking to evolve while staying true to who we are,” Parsley said. “I think you’re going to see that over the next 12 to 36 months, it’s really going to start becoming evident as we grow into more categories and more stores and do more marketing.”

This story has been updated to clarify a source’s misstatement about Draper James’ revenue mix.