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BRANCH OF BURCH
Neely and Chloe Burch Make a Stylish Impact on Nantucket
In the hierarchy of fashion, there are names that everyone knows. Ralph Lauren, Lilly Pulitzer, Tommy Hilfiger. And then there’s Burch, as in the eponymous Tory Burch— but now there’s a new generation of the entrepreneurial family at the helm. Meet sisters Neely and Chloe Burch, the faces behind the approachable luxury accessories brand Neely & Chloe and Tory Burch’s nieces.
The brand itself has been deemed a success since its launch in 2016 with a bevy of bestselling handbags, travel wallets, jewelry cases, vanity cases, diaper bags and more. It celebrates a pivotal seven-year anniversary this fall. And the brand’s success comes as no surprise, with a retail-forward family helping to guide them along the way. “We always say, a lot of times doctors’ kids become doctors and lawyers’ kids become lawyers, and for us it’s been entrepreneurs’ and retailers’ children become entrepreneurs and retailers,” Neely says. “It was what we grew up talking about at the dinner table. And we were very lucky to have a lot of sounding boards as we went out into the space.”
This includes their uncle, who owned Eagle’s Eye for a number of years before it became the HaulOver Nantucket. Growing up, the sisters spent summers living in the apartment above the store. Core memories come in the form of playing on Children’s Beach and hanging out at the former Rope Walk (now Cru), as well as being allowed to walk to the nearby video rental store with their mom close behind. Today, the girls still spend time on the island, more specifically in ’Sconset, where Chloe’s in-laws own a home. “It’s just so picturesque and we can walk everywhere. We love walking to the lighthouse,” Chloe says, noting the market and Chanticleer as other favorites.
With their roots in Nantucket, it’s fitting that the sisters recently launched two Grey Lady-inspired collections. One, in collaboration with lifestyle blogger Carly Riordan, features blue and white summer- ready stripes printed across pillowed totes, cotton twillies, handwoven leather bags and more. “Getting to sneak up to Nantucket in May was so much fun for our shoot, and we got very lucky with the weather—everyone knows it can be touchy at that time of year,” Neely adds. The second collaboration with Cartolina Nantucket debuted last month and adds a playful and colorful touch to complement the Carly collection, which is on the classic side.
“What’s so nice about Nantucket is that it’s so classic; it’s the picturesque New England summer. And so you get a lot of that in the fashion world and [that’s] what we’ve tried to do with Carly’s [collection], but then it’s become such a popular spot that you’re now getting an influx of new people coming [who are] bringing a little bit more of a trend-driven [style] to the island and I think that’s what you’re seeing a little bit with Cartolina,” Chloe explains. Both collections are available throughout the summer on the Neely & Chloe website, as well as locally in Cartolina Nantucket’s storefront.
Looking forward, Neely and Chloe plan to stay as prominent figures in the island’s evolutionary fashion scene, which prides itself on the timeless classics we so love. “It feels so synergistic with Neely & Chloe as a whole … this idea that just like Nantucket, we’re grounded in these classic concepts, these evergreen ideas that you can always go back to time and time again,” Neely concludes. “It’s the Nantucket red pants. It’s the striped shirt. … And that’s what we feel is really the core of what we do and what we build and why it’s so much fun then to throw a fun pattern on it. … And to iterate on that with a little bit of newness and freshness coming in is such a fun way, and that’s what it’s been feeling like on Nantucket lately.”
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