Officine Générale Accelerates U.S. Push With New Los Angeles Store
PARIS — Officine Générale is expanding its retail network in the U.S., with a new location in Los Angeles and plans for further stores in New York City and San Francisco this year.
Following the opening of a store in the Palisades Village shopping center in Pacific Palisades in January, the French brand last week unveiled its second L.A. location on North Sycamore Avenue in Hollywood, a neighborhood that the Los Angeles Times recently branded as “L.A.’s coolest new hangout.”
More from WWD
Pierre Mahéo, designer and chief executive officer of Officine Générale, said it’s part of a retail rollout that also includes a revamp of its e-commerce site set to launch in May. While the e-shop helped to tide over the label during the pandemic, he believes a digital presence alone won’t guarantee future growth.
“All these tools that have been put in place have never and will never replace putting on a jacket or coat, trying on a sweater or touching fabric,” he told WWD. “That’s why retail is very important.”
The brand plans to end the year with 18 directly operated stores. In addition to the U.S. locations, it’s looking for an additional space in Paris, where it has seven boutiques.
Known for accessibly priced classics in a handpicked selection of materials, Officine Générale is set to move its operations to a larger warehouse space near the French capital as it grows into new areas, with plans to launch its first line of leather goods later this year.
The expansion reflects a healthy growth trajectory, with revenues up 45 percent in 2022 and forecast to rise 52 percent this year, according to Mahéo, who declined to provide total sales. The U.S. is the brand’s biggest market outside of France, and womenswear accounts for 40 percent of revenues overall.
“The last quarter of 2022 was hard to read in terms of predicting how 2023 would pan out. So far, it’s holding up well,” the founder reported. “The start of the year has been very, very strong in France and the U.S. Now let’s see what happens.”
In addition to the ongoing protests in France against the government’s pension reform, which risk impacting tourism flows, Mahéo is keeping a wary eye on the fallout from Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse, which has raised fears of a new global financial crisis.
His brand is in solid shape though, having emerged from the pandemic with a new backer, New York-based investment fund Untitled Group. That partly explains the U.S. push, though he’s also looking to secure distribution deals in China and Japan, along the lines of the label’s existing partnership with LF Corp. in South Korea.
Officine Générale opened its first U.S. outpost in New York City in December 2021. A hands-on executive who selects each location, Mahéo signed the lease for the store in SoHo, which also doubles as a wholesale showroom and office, sight unseen. The moment borders reopened in November 2021, he went to check it out.
“I was on the second plane out of Paris,” he recalled. “We have a warehouse, and we did a physical mockup of the space using masking tape to get a feel for it. It was somewhat unusual, but it worked out well.”
The New York store has been doing brisk sales, thanks to a loyal fan base that was familiar with Officine Générale’s brand of elevated classics, largely through Barneys, which used to be its largest wholesale account before it went out of business in 2020.
“We didn’t just land in the U.S. out of nowhere and decide to open six or 12 stores. We had already forged those ties, which was very important. We had a lot of quality retailers, including Mr Porter, which has been very strong for us in the U.S., department stores like Saks and Nordstrom, as well as specialty stores,” he said.
Now that travel restrictions have been lifted, he’s in the States roughly every six weeks, recently spending three days on the shop floor in Pacific Palisades to get a feel for the local customer.
Though it turned out to be an unusually cold winter in California, Mahéo reported a good start, with strong demand for its Daily Classics line of wardrobe staples, launched in December 2021 and available exclusively in its own stores.
“We sell the same things that we sell in New York,” he said. “What’s great about Los Angeles is that we have quite an international clientele.”
The 1,300-square-foot store at 927 North Sycamore Avenue sits on a stretch that is home to media companies and art galleries, as well as luxury eyewear brand Jacques Marie Mage, U.S. menswear label Bode and concept store Just One Eye.
“My first visit to the neighborhood was love at first sight. The architecture, the vibe of the area was everything I was looking for,” said Mahéo, who designed the space with his wife Nina Haverkamp and Paris-based architect Juliette Rubel.
Original features include Bossche School “Goliath” chairs by Gerard Wijnen, alongside midcentury furniture items such as a primitive oak coffee table and stool. Ceramic vases by Léa Ginac, a ceramic sculpture by Tim Orr and works by photographer Annemarieke van Drimmelen and artist Laurent Jaffrennou complement the space.
Officine Générale’s second New York store, located on Madison Avenue between 72nd Street and 73rd Street, is set to open in the fourth quarter, with San Francisco also due to bow before the end of the year.
Mahéo said that while he’s conscious of the environmental impact of frequent travel, it’s important to maintain close links between France and the U.S. in order to impart his retail philosophy to local sales associates.
“We have a selling ceremony that’s a little different from U.S. standards,” he said. “We spend a little more time explaining the product, the collections, the cuts. We try to suggest and fine-tune looks. It’s more like being a personal shopper.”
Looking ahead, Mahéo is scouting potential locations in cities including Munich; Brussels; Geneva, Switzerland; and Lille and Bordeaux, France — but he’s taking his time. “It’s good to step it up a gear, but to do it with care. I’ve always done things in stages,” he said.
Best of WWD