“This opening feels so special...filled with so much love and beautiful energy around the boutique. Being independent in our industry and being able to open our store in New York means so much. We’ve just announced our next project in London for next month,” French designer Simon Porte Jacquemus said in a statement following the inauguration of “The New York Boutique”, the brand’s first flagship store which opened this fall in the US located in Manhattan’s SoHo.

What the 34-year-old founder of the French luxury label clearly meant was that staying independent in an industry that gives an edge to big groups whilst managing to achieve such dazzling feats of growth (the retail push outside France) is a “defying of the odds” to say the least. Not to mention it’s 15 year tenure in the luxury ecosystem (having been founded in 2009) - an eon in fashion - proving the brand’s pulling power.

The Expansion Story

Slow, exuberant (might we add) and steady is among the brand’s key elements of the brand’s elevation journey to success. A journey, heavily facilitated by its viral, hype, “pop luxury” products - Jacquemus became ubiquitous thanks to trendsetters such as the Le Petit Chiquito bag and the Le Grand Chapeau Bomba. The house started with a small following and its tightly edited women collection sold largely online.

Then five years ago it splashed into menswear, crossing $10 million in revenue and eyeing the prospect of a shop in France. Well-known for its fast growing digital presence and its worldwide business spread, the brand continued to host novel retail experiences around the world, before opening the first permanent flagship store at 58, Avenue Montaigne in Paris in 2022. Since then, its ambitious expansion plans materialised in long-coveted stores across the globe - in spring, it opened stores in Dubai, Capri, and Saint-Tropez. This fall, it opened a store in New York with London (New Bond Street) and Los Angeles (Melrose Avenue) on track to appear November and February, respectively.

A Brand Written in First Person

“My name is Simon Porte Jacquemus, I love blue and white, stripes, sun, fruit, life, poetry, Marseille and the 80s,” says the designer’s instagram bio - a nod to carving a (revolutionary) path in fashion that sustains and protects his creative and corporate freedom. Also, a reminder of gentler times, when brands were synonymous with the names of their creative directors – the designers Yves Saint Laurent, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, Elsa Schiaparelli, Ottavio Missoni, Louis Vuitton.

A time before the birth of the luxury big business that saw the acquisition of independent brands by large enterprises exercising in turn domination of the luxury industry - notably the major conglomerates LVMH, Richemont and Kering.

This precise unconventional, bold and committed “independence” stance by Jacquemus, at this precise time in the history of fashion which earned the brand in 2023 the 8th position in Lyst’s Top 10 most searched brands, was recently praised. In early 2024 he was awarded the prestigious title of Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in recognition of his innovative contributions to the fashion industry. “Simon's story is that of a young man who launched his brand challenging conventions, listening to his friends and his heart. Instead of entering the industry in the traditional way, getting a degree, working with a major designer, he burst onto the scene using everything he could to attract attention,” said Anna Wintour at the ceremony.

From the American Dream to the Search for an Investor

Today, based in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, Jacquemus remains an independent fashion house with over 300 employees and notable growth - since the pandemic, the brand has grown exponentially with revenues surpassing €200 million in 2022, up from approximately €100 million in 2021, topping €280 million in 2023, according to estimates by Yann Kretz, a principal at consulting firm Laurent Berger.

But, as aforementioned, in a luxury market dominated by corporate mega-brands, the designer has decided he needs additional funding to take his business to the next level. An investor who will help both with the global expansion – the brand’s next phase of store openings in 2025 and 2026 - but also support the expansion into the beauty segment.

In an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro, Simon Porte Jacquemus said: “I value my independence, I want to pass the company on to my children, but I have to break the glass ceiling by finding the right partner who will remain a minority shareholder.”

A “Conglomerate” Brand

At a time when fashion brands and their acquisition by conglomerates are often believed to be interchangeable, Porte Jacquemus insists on something else - ensuring he finds ways to sustain and enhance his independence as a brand. And, unequivocally, just like the linear, uninterrupted, straightforward path the models follow in the unexpected locations where he stages his runway productions (in massive landscapes of infinite, vast potential (pun intended) - a Parisian swimming pool, inside the Musée Picasso, winding through a lavender field in Provence or a wheat field outside of Paris, a salt marsh in the Camargue, a beach in Hawaii, and at the Château de Versailles), it seems like a positive step, in a very right direction.

And he has all the right qualities for it, being the solo captain of the company - he is both the brand and the “conglomerate”: “I realised at the beginning of the year that this position of being both entrepreneur and designer is what I like best. I need to know what we sold yesterday at the Montaigne flagship to do even better tomorrow - that’s the person I am.

I thought I’d forgotten it, but that’s what makes the balance of Jacquemus,” he told editors following January’s “Les Sculptures” show.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

NICOLE ZENIOU

Nicole Zeniou is a Contributing Fashion Features Editor at Bungalow 28, joining in 2024. Previously the Fashion Features Editor at Madame Figaro Cyprus, she has contributed to titles like Marie Claire Greece, Cosmopolitan Cyprus, and The Cyprus Weekly. Founder of the online interview magazine The Éditor, Nicole is passionate about blending creative disciplines and supporting international talent. She has interviewed leading fashion figures such as LaQuan Smith, David Koma, Casey Cadwallader, Lorenzo Serafini, and Mary Katrantzou.

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