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Today, Mansur Gavriel is launching MG Forever, a resale programme for customers to buy and sell used handbags and shoes and for the brand to sell off samples. It’s the first big launch since co-founders Rachel Mansur and Floriana Gavriel reclaimed the brand, resuming their roles as co-creative directors this year. And, it’s a statement: Mansur Gavriel is not trend-led, its products are timeless.
It’s a natural progression, say the founders. “We always imagined the product living on for a long time,” Mansur says.
Mansur and Gavriel temporarily stepped back from the day-to-day when they sold a majority stake to private equity firm GF Capital Management (whose portfolio includes Oscar de la Renta and Marc Cross) in 2019. Isabelle Fevrier (who previously held positions at Cartier, LVMH’s DFS and Ralph Lauren) served as CEO from then until 2022, after which the brand was without a CEO for about a year.
The pair refer to this period as one where “the brand was taken in a new direction”. During this time, the strategy was focused more on trend and top-line growth. In May, CEO Maria Borromeo came on board. Mansur and Gavriel celebrated their return as co-creative directors one month ago with a Lower East Side block party-cum-presentation (of archival pieces) during NYFW. Now, the New York label is returning to its roots, driven by both Borromeo and the founders.
Borromeo understands the founders’ ethos — and believes their rejection of newness to be good business. “Chasing trends is not only a slippery slope and a short-sighted business strategy, but also it goes against the grain of our brand’s tenets, which is to create pieces that you will have for a lifetime and that can — and should — go on to have more lives beyond its first with you,” she says, tying the brand ethos to its latest resale venture.
“Now, with Maria coming on, we so clearly see a joint vision,” Mansur says. “The moment of her coming on is an exciting one, and feels like a new chapter.”
The launch of resale marks the beginning of this new chapter. It’s thanks to Borromeo’s arrival that the programme is debuting now, according to Mansur. “We would have loved to do it as soon as we could,” she says. But, after not having a CEO for about a year, it took Borromeo coming in to gear up for the launch. “It gave us the opportunity to get organised operationally to do this,” Mansur says.
No to newness
Mansur Gavriel’s New York Fashion Week presentation was a sign of what’s to come. Though timed to SS24 — the collection presented off-schedule at the Orchard Street block party didn’t include any new pieces, instead showcasing the brand’s archival classics, with its famed bucket bag at the centre (and piled up in the tens by the entrance).
“From the very beginning, we wanted to create a brand rooted in slow fashion,” Gavriel says. “Products that last for a long time, and look great later, not just because they’ve aged well — but also because of the design.”
It’s here that resale comes into play. “We always imagined the product living on for a long time,” Mansur says. She notes that vegetable tanned leather (a signature of the brand’s) develops patina, a dark colour that comes with time due to exposure to sunlight and skin oils. “It takes years to build up and look really pretty,” Gavriel explains. “It gets stains, sunshine, rain, all of that. After years, it has this beautiful, high-quality aged look.”
MG Forever is powered by resale platform Recurate, which has worked with brands including Mara Hoffman, Michael Kors and Rachel Comey. Users can either select an item to sell from their purchase history, or search Mansur Gavriel’s product catalogue for the model. All items will be vetted by either the Mansur Gavriel or Recurate teams. Sellers will receive either a cash payout or credit.
In addition to used handbags (via peer-to-peer), consumers will also have access to brand samples. It’s a way to move quality samples without discarding them, the creative directors agree. “We were thoughtful in our design process,” Gavriel says. “But, of course, we also have some samples and one-off pieces that we would love to be able to sell. [Resale is a] really good channel to be doing that.”
The pair are resisting fashion’s unsustainable cycle of newness. “It’s exhausting and crazy to think about how much is churned out in fashion — and how often,” Mansur says. “We’re more inspired by the design world where a brand can evolve and have new products, but not at this pace that feels so wasteful and over the top.”
Borromeo is on the same page. “Our merchandising and retail strategy for the near future takes a ‘less is more’ approach,” she says. It’s a strategic business decision not just on how the brand will move forward, but what it’s already got in its inventory. “We have so much product, both bags and shoes, in our archive that has either been prematurely retired and our customer continues to ask for it, or that has never even been released,” she says. To this end, the team is working within its own archive to develop forthcoming collections, producing less inventory.
It’s also taking a data-led approach to new product production. “Data and market demand will dictate how much inventory we create, as opposed to placing bets on what we feel ‘might’ be the next ‘it’ bag,” Borromeo says.
So don’t expect Mansur Gavriel to present a new collection every February and September. “The calendar doesn't make much sense for us,” Gavriel agrees. Mansur adds: “Especially for a brand where we do want to work with these shapes that we believe in for a long time.”
Building worlds – for younger consumers
The creative directors can’t offer any specifics as far as expansion (aside from the fact that, in the near future, they’re sticking with existing products), but they do subtly point to Mansur Gavriel’s past category experimentation as a hint of what’s to come from the brand.
There are no definitive plans as of yet, but the co-creative directors would also love to bring back physical retail spaces. Previously, they had two: on Wooster Street in Soho, New York, and one on Melrose Place in Los Angeles. They both closed in 2020. For now, they’re working from their Lower East Side showroom (today, they’re hosting a press preview of the ten-year anniversary collection). But, down the line, the hope is to bring shops back to continue building out the MG world.
Gavriel recalls the pair’s 2017 transformation of their Wooster Street store (which was usually entirely pink) into a citron yellow candy store for New York Fashion Week. “It had these beautiful, dreamy Italian candies,” she recalls. Before Covid, the pair were experimenting with other, non-fashion-focused components of design, from photography to typography to installations. “We’re very excited to come back to all of that,” Gavriel says.
Now, the goal is to broaden the brand’s reach — not just with physical spaces, but with a venture deeper into digital in a bid to expose its offerings to a younger generation. “We haven’t been very active on social media platforms,” Gavriel says, noting that this move is about introducing the brand to younger generations, as opposed to pivoting its offering to capture the attention (and dollars) of Gen Z, like other brands such as Coach have done.
It’s up against stiff competition, as brands offer Gen Z offshoots (Coach’s Coachtopia; Hugo Boss’s Hugo) and tap youth-focused creative directors (like Fashion East grad Maximilian Davis’s post at Ferragamo). However, Gen Z are also fans of conspicuous consumption (aka “recession core” or “quiet luxury”), Chris Beer, data journalist at market research firm GWI recently told Vogue Business. Mansur Gavriel’s pared-back accessories fit the bill.
Borromeo is confident that reinvigorating the brand’s communication strategy, without changing its aesthetic, will attract a younger audience who may not know about the brand yet. “Historically, the brand communicated primarily through a visual language, namely with lush, gorgeous imagery and immersive retail spaces,” she says. “This will always be an important part of our language, but we want to go deeper with our storytelling, enrolling the consumer into the world of MG in ways that weren’t available 10 years ago, both physically and digitally.”
By introducing resale — a Gen Z favourite way to shop — Mansur Gavriel is taking a step in this direction. “For us, maybe the most interesting thing about fashion, this business, design in general, is how you can build a world that can live on and feel really rich but true to itself,” Mansur says.
Clarification: Updated to reflect that shoes will be included in the resale offering as well as bags.
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