Yahoo Finance EXCLUSIVE: Polène Opens Flagship in Seoul
PARIS — French leathergoods brand Polène is expanding its reach to Seoul, with a new flagship opening Saturday.
It precedes additional flagship openings slated for London in November and Paris in December, as well as Hamburg, Germany, in early 2025. A corner in Paris department store Le Bon Marché opened earlier this month. After Paris, Seoul follows New York and Tokyo.
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While it looks like a sudden expansion boom for the eight-year-old, family-owned brand, it has long been in the works, said cofounder and chief executive officer Antoine Mothay.
“Our bags are minimal and timeless, and we try to have the same approach in terms of development,” he told WWD.
The Seoul store has been in the works for a year-and-a-half, for example.
The Korean outpost is in the fashionable Sinsa-dong neighborhood, with a storefront subtly inspired by the material the brand uses. The idea of leather rolls inspired the architecture and outside view, while interiors by local design studio WGNB and founder Jonghwan Baek used the concept of folds to create gently curved walls that mold the 2,640-square-foot space.
The design is in line with the country’s aesthetic and place as an emerging fashion capital. “There is potential in terms of style, in terms of understanding of the quality of our brand. They are really aware of design — that could be architectural design or product design. It’s a country where they have a pretty strong taste in terms of modernity,” he said.
Polène worked with local artisans, including Jungjoo Im, who created seating carved from gingko wood, and artist Dosol Lee, who created a ceramic table that uses optical illusions to mimic the texture of leather.
The store features an experiential space that takes the idea of a selca up a notch — it includes a background image of sweeping landscapes. Accessories to model can be selected from a closet, while weather effects such as wind can enhance the photoshoot experience, as well as sound and fragrance. The set is booked by app, and the final product printed in store.
Mothay settled on Seoul based on the strength of existing online sales in the country, as well as studying the demographic makeup of visitors to the Paris stores.
“It’s like a cool laboratory in Paris, because we have about 70 percent of our sales coming from international clients.” He noted an influx of Korean tourists over the last two years. Armed with data from Polène’s sales software, Mothay set his sights on South Korea by hiring a local PR team, creating a local-language client services team, and establishing a presence on local social networks such as Naver to grow the brand organically before branching out into retail.
Each existing Polène store, including New York and Tokyo, sends a daily insight report on conversations or notes from clients as part of his ongoing efforts to gather information from the field.
“I don’t see retail as a point of sale, but as a complimentary experience for the client to be able to better understand our brand in terms of design. We can have an immersive or participative experience that is unique in the shop,” he said.
The brand’s entrance into Le Bon Marché is positioned as a unique alignment of brand values — not to mention a prime spot on the ground floor — and does not portend a major strategy shift to wholesale.
“It would be absolutely contrary to everything that I have been saying about creating a customer experience” to dive into wholesale, he believes. While that sales channel would allow easy access to markets such as Hong Kong, Shanghai or even Los Angeles, it is not the correct direction for the brand.
“If I have the opportunity to build something that reflects the brand, [where] I have enough space and liberty to create what I want,” he said. “But I’m not trying to multiply my points of sale.”
For now, he will stick with the flagship strategy, and says the brand could easily establish itself in 20 to 25 cities with his “be small, everywhere” motto.
The two current Paris stores with their long lines, security guards and velvet ropes demonstrates the demand. The Le Bon Marché outpost should have taken some of the pressure off the first locations; instead, the department store space now has lines as well.
Mothay insists that is not a strategy to make the product look more desirable.
“It was never a strategy of having a line, but it’s the reality of the demand,” he said. “In fact, this is not something I’m happy about because I think the client experience is not good. I don’t think it’s very pleasing to wait one hour outside of the shop, and to arrive in the shop and then sometimes be told, ‘Oh, we don’t have that bag.’ It’s absolutely not the experience I want for my clients.”
At 1,400 square feet, the Rue Richelieu store is a particular success story, Mothay said. “We are discreet on numbers, but what I can tell you is the shop on Richelieu is top three in France, even when you integrate the luxury brands, in terms of sales.”
The New York outpost opened in September 2022 and “has been profitable from the first month” with sales increasing every quarter, Mothay said. The Tokyo store can only open five days a week as of now, again due to high demand, he said.
Currently 80 percent of digital sales are outside of France, with the U.S., Japan and Germany being the top three markets. China, Singapore, the U.K. and Canada are also growing online sales markets. Survey data indicated that 41 percent of potential clients wanted to buy a bag in a physical store in their city.
While the brand has expanded into jewelry and thinks there is space for a new product at their price point of around 300 to 400 euros for a piece produced in Italy, there are no plans to go into footwear or other categories.
Mothay said the category is “not a big part” of sales currently, but all of the upcoming flagships will have dedicated jewelry sections to raise awareness about the brand’s offering, such as the cantilevered jewelry case in the Seoul flagship.
“Diversification is not easy — it takes time, and we will continue our journey,” he said.
The Polène price point has helped the brand establish itself across a wide demographic, mostly urban women 25 to 40 years old. Despite a slight price increase at the beginning of the year, small leathergoods are around 200 euros while all the bags are around the 500 euros mark. The price increase went to improving leather quality and metalwork.
Mothay is keen to note that the bags do not have exorbitant markups like some luxury brands, and have artisan, European craftsmanship that can be conveyed through the brand storytelling, unlike high street labels that position themselves as “accessible luxury” but still produce in China.
Polène’s bestsellers jockey for first place in different regions but remain steady, including the Cyme tote and the No. 10 everyday bag, among others. To keep the collection curated, when they add a new bag, the brand retires an old model.
The company had a big PR boost after appearing on “Emily in Paris,” which was an organic placement due to a longstanding relationship with actress Camille Razat. The appearance helped raise brand awareness, with clients from China and Singapore learning about it on the screen.
The London location will be a two-story, 4,845-square-foot space on Regent Street, while the upcoming Paris store will be at the quieter, roundabout end of the Champs-Élysées with a view on the Bouroullec Fountain in Square Marigny.
He hopes the new Paris store will decrease the lines at the existing units, leading to an improved customer experience, with one-to-one sales allowing for about 20 minutes per client. With the anticipated openings over the next year, Mothay said there is a plan in place with his existing supplier in Ubrique, Spain, to increase production.
“I have my plan that is ambitious,” he said. “In terms of capacity, we will sell as much as we can produce with the level of quality I want. I hope it will be enough for the clients and if not, it’s not a big deal if we sell less than what we could do.”
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