Vanessa Bruno Restarts Expansion With Shanghai Store – WWD

PARIS — Vanessa Bruno may be all about quintessential nonchalant French style, but for the 20-year-old brand, it’s time to stretch its legs once more outside its home territory.

The first step is the opening this week of its latest flagship in Shanghai, a 2,700-square-foot store two years in the making on West Nanjing Road, opposite the Plaza 66 luxury retail complex.

Rather than a flagship, the store was modeled after a Parisian apartment by Belgian architect Nathalie Deboel, filled with an eclectic mix of furniture for a Scandi-French aesthetic matching founder Vanessa Bruno’s heritage.

“When I started, I was the girl who made clothes the way she dressed,” said the designer ahead of the opening. “But it now has to resonate culturally. My brand is still about the chic nonchalant Parisian but what I get a kick out of is transcending this through my rapport to contemporary art, culture, Paris but also my fashion and my trips.”

For the French label, this and an updated logo mark a major step in the second chapter in the brand initiated with the arrival of Henri Sebaoun as general manager in 2019, after the former Carven executive invested in the company and became a minority shareholder.

According to the company, its turnover rose 30 percent in the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year, and the same over the 10 months of full activity recorded for the 2021 period, which included the lockdowns. That figure leapt to 40 percent for 2022. For this year, Sebaoun anticipated 20 percent growth, in light of weaker consumer sentiment in light of inflation, rising costs of living and a generally morose morale.  

Bruno founded her label in 1996. Between 2006 and 2014, the designer presented her main line through shows during Paris Fashion Week, before eschewing the format in favor of intimate presentations. A sister line named Athé launched in 1998 and shuttered in 2017.

“But I’ve always been someone anchored in real life and I want to foster this idea of intimacy with my client, a new generation that wants to be able to appropriate her wardrobe, dress in something that feels natural to her — I make easy clothes for demanding women, those who know what they want,” said the designer.

Last December, French holding company Brand Sisters, which owns contemporary labels Tara Jarmon and Zapa, also took a minority stake in the French label, with the terms of the deal not disclosed.

“The idea is to immerse our clients in the Vanessa Bruno experience and help them understand our values and live an experience,” Sebaoun told WWD.

The Shanghai store will therefore serve as a blueprint for an updated retail concept with larger shop floors, from the current surface average of 1,000 square feet, “a bit limiting to express the entirety of our activity,” he said, to anywhere between 1,600 to 2,200 square feet.

“Accessory is around 40 percent of our business, and since we have the legitimacy in that segment, it makes sense to grow our space to present [them] associated to large collections of ready-to-wear,” he continued.

Geographically, he feels the brand isn’t at maturity yet in terms of retail network on its home territory and is planning some 15 new doors within the next three years, either through subsidiaries or affiliates. “That will give us a legitimacy to really accelerate our international development,” he said.

Coming second behind France and its 45 percent market share, the U.S. would be a prime candidate for a brand that’s considered “contemporary designer.” Currently present in the U.S. through 70 wholesale doors, it is test-driving the market through its one-year-old corner at Bloomingdale’s in New York as part of a strategy that would start with department store expansion ahead of stand-alone stores.

Although it was premature to discuss locations, his vision of Bruno is as “someone who is very solar,” so he could see the first flagship opening “somewhere with good weather and beaches.”

But physical stores aren’t the only retail Vanessa Bruno is looking to grow.

“This new step is also [one] in the digital era,” continued Bruno, who credits Sebaoun’s arrival and the strategy update that followed for helping her fully embrace both platform and formats. “I saw how powerful it was by launching products [we both] believed in, like denim,” she continued.

Prior to Sebaoun’s arrival, accessories amounted to some 15 to 20 percent of sales in brick-and-mortar distribution, and 90 percent in digital retail. Now, they have risen to 40 percent in physical stores and 60 percent online, an apparent decrease that is due to the strong growth of ready-to-wear purchases online. E-commerce sales were 10 percent of the overall business then, and now are around 24 percent.

Vanessa Bruno has also been stepping up its slow fashion approach, a topic that had always been woven into the brand but not much touted, she said, pointing out that her famous tote bag, the absolute bestseller, has been made in France since it launched 20 years ago, using either French canvas, Belgian linen or artisanally produced rafia from Madagascar.

The brand recently partnered with French traceability start-up FairlyMade to anticipate the 2024 European legislation on eco-labeling, also known as a digital product passport for textiles.

Between 15 and 25 percent of the lines are permanent that are not discounted during end-of-season sales. The brand opened an outlet last year and is making plans for another, to be located in Miramas in southern France.

“But slow fashion really means being able to keep your clothing, wear them from one season to the next without ever being dated,” said Sebaoun. “And that’s what is at the heart of our work.”