Holzweiler’s China Long March Kick Starts with Three Openings
LONDON – Holzweiler, the Oslo-based label, is preparing to expand in China a year after taking investment from Sequoia China.
In the second half, the brand is set to open four stores worldwide with more planned for next year across the Asia-Pacific region.
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Three stores will be in China, a market that has seen a rebound in luxury spending post-pandemic.
The first opening will be in Chengdu’s upscale, luxury-filled shopping complex Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li, where Louis Vuitton opened its first restaurant in the country. The Chengdu store will open on Thursday and will be the brand’s ninth location, and first retail outpost outside of Scandinavia.
In September, additional stores will open in Xintiandi in Shanghai, and Beijing’s Sanlutun Taikoo Li, where a pop-up opened in June.
Andreas Holzweiler, chief executive officer at Holzweiler, which he co-founded with his sister Susanne in 2012, said it was key for the brand to be present in first-tier shopping destinations like Beijing and Shanghai, as well as new first-tier cities like Chengdu.
“These emerging destinations will connect us with broader customer groups with high spending power. That is crucial for a new brand like ours to enter the market. Once we had decided on the key cities, we focused on refining the most relevant districts and identifying locations that would align with our brand DNA, including lifestyle offers, architecture and design, and cultural hubs. Each location needs to feel like it makes sense for those customers entering the store and learning what Holzweiler is, maybe for the first time,” he added.
To best convey the Holzweiler identity, the brand has enlisted long-time collaborator Sn?hetta to handle the interiors of the Chengdu store. Taking cues from the concept of “Norwegian forces,” this new visual direction will eventually be translated into all global Holzweiler retail spaces.
Sequoia China, which is now called HongShan as the China branch was split from the U.S. business last month to operate independently, said it will continue to support the brand through the retail openings. Last year, the venture capital firm took a majority stake in Holzweiler. It is also an investor in brands including We11done, Ami, Destree, and Canadian e-tailer Ssense.
Prior to planned physical retail rollouts in China, Holzweiler launched an online flagship on Alibaba’s business-to-consumer platform Tmall, and became the first Scandinavian brand to launch a pop-up in Beijing’s SKP-S last October.
Angelica Cheung, venture partner at Sequoia China and founding editor of Vogue China, said “Holzweiler’s unique brand value lies in a blend of quality design, community, modern lifestyle, and continued inspiration from nature. In our partnership with the brand, we see huge potential for these qualities to resonate with the audience in China.”
As the brand progresses in China, Holzweiler believes that it’s imperative to “maintain the level of connectivity and closeness we seek with our customers,” even when operating at a larger scale.
“We believe that physical stores, particularly as a relatively new brand in China, will be key to our success in what is a hugely competitive market. It will enable us to more effectively communicate the essence of the brand and what makes us unique,” he said.
“The more opportunities that we can create to enable customers to connect with our heritage and engage in the lifestyle that we encapsulate at Holzweiler, the more we believe that they will connect with our product and understand how we differentiate as a Scandinavian brand. Universal values of sustainability, building community, and respect for nature are brand cornerstones that we’re confident will resonate in China as effectively as the sentiment we’ve built in our home market,” Holzweiler added.
The brand hosted its first local event in Shanghai last March to connect with local media and influencers. It will continue to focus on these niche experiences, including store opening events and calendar moments, to encourage awareness and hype-building around core products.
It also plans to engage with customers via online shopping events such as 618 and Singles’ Day.
After gaining enough local audience insight and feedback, Holzweiler said the brand will fine tune its offering to better cater to the Chinese market while ensuring that “our product is increasingly universal while being true to the Holzweiler aesthetic.”
He said the partnership with Sequoia China has been instrumental “in identifying those aspects of the brand and product that we believe our Chinese customers will particularly respond to. We are entering this next stage armed with a valuable knowledge of our key appeal,” noted Holzweiler.
A London store will also be unveiled in September, coinciding with the brand’s London Fashion Week debut, Holzweiler confirmed. The store will be in Soho, on the corner of Berwick Street opposite Axel Arigato.
He called the London showcase a key moment to “bring together, and connect with our global community.”
“We plan to use our London platform to translate our core values on a larger scale, and reach audiences in our key territories and further afield. We are working closely with an incredible creative team, including stylist Francesca Burns, on a spring 2024 show concept that will center on our Norwegian heritage and underscore nature as a constant inspiration to Holzweiler,” he added.
In the fourth quarter, the brand will also launch a season-less product initiative that will highlight its core versatile and interchangeable styles.
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