PARIS — A surge in Asian purchases — including in Mainland China — lifted Longchamp revenues 14 percent last year to 566 million euros, or $628.5 million at average exchange rates.
In organic terms, the gain stood at 10 percent, outpacing growth in the luxury sector and some of the French firm’s larger luxury peers.
Disclosing 2015 results exclusively to WWD, Longchamp chief executive officer Jean Cassegrain said sales on the mainland jumped by 30 percent. “Europe has been very dynamic, too, thanks to the influx of tourists,” he added.
By region, sales advanced 21 percent in the Americas, 15 percent in Asia and 13 percent in the Middle East and Africa. The French remain Longchamp’s number-one clientele, with Chinese in second place and Americans in third, Cassegrain said.
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Longchamp operates 25 stores in Mainland China, far fewer than its competitors, “so we still have room to grow,” he said. “Also, as a brand, we are seen as discreet. We are not flashy, or logo-driven and maybe the trend is coming our way.”
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Hong Kong was the only region where sales contracted last year, he noted.
The family-owned business, founded in 1948, opened 15 stores last year, bringing its network of directly owned units to 299.
This year, the company plans to open roughly the same number of doors, including its first in India, in Delhi; its first in Texas, in Dallas, and its first in Monaco.
Construction is also under way at its Paris flagship on the Rue Saint Honoré, with a temporary location set up across the street.
The corner site is to expand to an adjacent building and an additional floor, allowing for a larger showcase for women’s ready-to-wear and shoes – categories tagged for future expansion. Once that’s completed, the temporary location will be transformed into Longchamp’s first standalone unit for men’s products and luggage. All told, the Paris store is to almost triple in size and span some 7,500 square feet across the two sites.
“It’s such an excellent location, it deserves the investment. It’s our home. It’s important we look our best here,” Cassegrain said with a smile.
Longchamp tapped American artist Ryan McGinness, whose sketches line one wall of Cassegrain’s office, to create an artwork for hoarding that is to wrap the entire building from mid-March.
Handbags remain the firm’s largest category, and it continues to test higher price points. Longchamp’s fall 2016 collections, to be unveiled in March during Paris Fashion Week, are to include a handbag that retails at 1,500 euros, or $1,675 at current exchange rates.
“We want to emphasize the leather portion of the collection as opposed to canvas or nylon,” Cassegrain said.
To wit: Longchamp plans to open a state-of-the-art production facility in 2018 in Pouzauges, in the Loire region of France, in 2018. It is to replace a smaller workshop nearby. The company operates six production sites in France, employing some 900 people.
“We find it very important that we remain a maker,” Cassegrain said. “It’s a key competitive advantage.”