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A few days before its Spring/Summer 2024 show, the Isabel Marant HQ in the centre of Paris is a hive of activity. Prototypes have arrived and colour-coded stickers dot the seating chart. It’s 3.30pm and Marant hasn’t had lunch yet. Grabbing a salad, she sits down with her CEO Anouck Duranteau-Loeper and artistic director Kim Bekker to discuss the show, upcoming projects and the next stage of growth.
It’s a critical time for the brand, which Marant founded in 1994. It plans to reach revenues of €500 million in the next four to five years, up from around €260 million in 2022. In February 2022, Bloomberg reported that private equity firm Montefiore was considering selling its controlling stake in Isabel Marant, acquired in 2016, in a deal that could value the business at as much as €1 billion.
The leadership team is confident about its future, and that the SS24 show will reinforce the brand’s strengths, paving the way for expansion. Bekker is a Dutch designer and longtime collaborator of Marant, having worked alongside her for 10 years until 2018, and returning as artistic director in September 2021 (she has also held positions in the design studios of Chloé and Saint Laurent). For the last few seasons, Marant has been taking her bow alongside Bekker after the show. “It’s a constant ping pong game,” says Marant on the creative process with Bekker. “We don’t look the same at all, nor are we the same age. So, it’s interesting to have this dialogue on everything.” Bekker says this extends to the colours, materials and inspirations for each collection, adding: “We complement each other.”
The co-ed SS24 show is made of around 50 looks. “We’re in a new era where we want clothes but we want the right quality pieces that will last. We wanted to work with all that without asking ourselves too many questions, more instinctively.”
Expect breeziness, muted colours, soft tailoring, clean silhouettes. “It isn’t armour, it’s very light and slouchy,” says Marant, in line with the DNA of the brand but with a softer touch. She notes that there is still tension: one SS24 look mixes old-fashioned lace with technical parachute fabric and shiny leggings. There will also be reinterpretations of T-shirts and jeans as well as party dressing. The show will unveil a new handbag, which Bekker describes as a “slouchy big brother of our Moon handbag, larger and softer”.
“Isabel was known in the beginning because of the cool girls of the moment: Gisele [Bündchen], Daria [Werbowy], the supermodels, these girls who came out of the shows dressed by Isabel with this relaxed attitude,” says Duranteau-Loeper. Isabel Marant is still associated with the French girl coolness. “You don’t need to be French. It’s about the attitude, the nonchalance, the way you wear your clothes, having oomph,” says Bekker, who embodies this woman. “Clothes are not stiff, comfortable, not too dressed up, but not too cool either,” adds Duranteau-Loeper. When asked about the brand’s values, Marant says: “Desire and disorder. I like imperfection. I like when it’s a bit crumpled, there's a charm that comes from being a bit messy,” Marant says.
Category expansion and a ‘cool luxury’ positioning
Menswear, accessories and growth in Asia will be among the growth drivers that will help Isabel Marant reach its €500 million mid-term revenue target. In 2022, Europe accounted for 50 per cent of revenues, the US for 30 per cent, and Asia (South Korea, China and Japan) 20 per cent. The brand has recently started operating directly in Japan and opened a store in the Aoyama area of Tokyo.
Ready-to-wear represents around 70 per cent of the brand’s business, and accessories around 30 per cent. Menswear — launched in 2018 — represents 7 per cent of total sales. The aim is to get this to 15 per cent, notes Duranteau-Loeper. Footwear is a historically strong category, thanks to bestselling styles such as the Bekett and Balskee sneakers, as well as boots. Eyewear is another opportunity, while an entirely new category is also in the pipeline: an Isabel Marant electric bike, created in partnership with e-bike brand Voltaire, is slated for late October.
The brand is also betting on what it calls its “new luxury” positioning, alongside other brands such Jacquemus, Acne Studios, Margiela and Zimmermann. “I believe a lot in the segment of new luxury that we represent, in this luxury segment but not ultra luxury,” says Duranteau-Loeper. “Ultra luxury prices have increased so much. There is room between contemporary and ultra luxury, for a client who is demanding and stylish.” Isabel Marant is about “cool luxury”, she adds.
On the status of the sale, Marant says: “There’s no rush. What matters above all is to have the right next person [as owner]. Everyone’s happy, we get on really well. When we brought [Montefiore] in, it was because I started my company with two childhood friends [Sophie Duruflé and Nathalie Chemouny] and we managed the company like a frugal parent. We didn’t spend a single euro that we didn’t have.” Eventually, the friends realised they needed finance and expertise to expand its retail network worldwide, she explains. “We’d always had a plan to bring in someone who would support us in the future. We took a lot of time to choose the right one. We're delighted with our choice. What’s more, it’s a French fund. It went very well. We really did what we’d hoped to do with them.”
And who best to lead it into the next stage of growth? “I think it could go to an existing luxury group,” says Marant, who retains a stake of approximately 40 per cent.
Duranteau-Loeper adds: “It’s not a matter of cash, the brand has always been profitable. The company has always been managed in a very healthy way. Maybe it’s the woman’s touch. It’s not a matter of means. But, it’s true that we’re realising that there are certain sizes of business that require certain relationships and the big groups are getting bigger and bigger and more and more powerful. This asset is probably one of the best French brands, and there aren’t many of this size and longevity, and when you look at the resonance of the brand with its customers, one day it could end up in a group.”
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