Gabriela Hearst has entered the South Korean market via a residence within Hyundai Department Store Apgujeong Main Branch in Seoul. This marks Hearst’s first shop in Asia.
Hyundai Main will be the exclusive retailer for all Gabriela Hearst handbags — including the Nina, the Demi, the Diana, the Baez and the Nostalgia — in the region. In addition, the 895-square-foot shop features Hearst’s women’s collections, including ready-to-wear, knitwear and footwear.
“We always had a demand for our bags in this market; we saw this from the beginning when we did one of our installations in Hong Kong at Lane Crawford and it was really successful,” said Hearst in a telephone interview.
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She said the brand has had this project to open a store in Asia in mind for a long time. Because of COVID-19, it became impossible to do something in China, but then the opportunity of Korea came. “We started to see there was this demand in Korea. Korea has become the market for looking at trends and what is happening,” said Hearst.
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Currently, Hearst has freestanding stores in New York and London, as well as a store within Harrods in London. She plans to open another store in Korea at Hyundai Pangyo in March and a store in Los Angeles next September or October. She said Japan is always a goal, but there are no plans at this time.
“The day we opened in Korea was the [most] record sales we ever had, times seven, compared to stores that we opened on the first day,” said Hearst. “This is without any marketing campaign. This is just opening the store, people reacting to the product and having a relationship with the product and letting the product speak for itself.” She attributed that to the “aesthetic and a craftsmanship that’s highly appreciated.”
“There’s a sense that there’s a modernity to the look that has an urban feeling,” she said. “There’s a timeless aspect that comes from my ranching background that every civilization has a rural civilization,” said Hearst, a Uruguayan-born designer who grew up on a 17,000-acre ranch there and launched her business in 2015 with a commitment to sustainability.
Since opening in Korea last month, bestsellers have been the bags, the knitwear and the tailoring.
Hearst said she decided to go with Hyundai Main, rather than open a store on her own, because of the distance.
“At Gabriela Hearst, we keep a tight structure on purpose. We want all our efforts to go to the products. Everybody in our company does five jobs. The point is to have a partnership that gives you that ability to have extra manpower without having to increase your structure and still take you to a market that would have been very difficult to do independently. It is still under the umbrella of our retail department, so I have to approve all the visuals of the store. I look at the visuals of every store that we have every week. There’s a unison to what we do. It’s important to me that there’s a cohesiveness,” she said.
Hyundai Main opened its doors in 1985 and is considered one of the leaders of upscale shopping in Korea, featuring international brands such as Prada, Tiffany, Hermès, Fendi and Christian Dior.
Hearst has commissioned New York-based makers Benji Gavron and Antoine Dumas to create a collection of fine furniture called Nomad that is featured in the store. Each piece is crafted by local artisans, using only local timbers that have fallen naturally or are upcycled from prior uses.
Hearst has been working with them for a year and a half. They worked together on the redo of the Chloé store in downtown New York. “They are a rocket ship,” she said. “I’m just a little spark on where they are going to go. I will not be surprised if they will be some of the best interior designers in the next 10 years. They are incredible.”
Hearst has also worked with Gavron and Dumas for her brand’s retail installations in Aspen in partnership with Max in 2021 and in Le Bristol Paris last year, as well as shops with major U.S. retailers.
She said their designs are original and timeless. “They build the things so well that 10 years from now, you’re not going to get tired of seeing that piece of furniture,” said Hearst.
Hyundai Main is the first location where a large majority of the Nomad collection is being displayed. It consists of 21 handcrafted pieces of wood and leather furniture. The furniture is not for sale. The lumber used is zelkova, a Korean timber, a traditional local lumber used in high-end furniture. The leather is a fully traceable material from Europe. Gavron and Dumas collaborated with three different Korean-based woodworking studios. Each studio crafted parts of the collection from technical drawings, and each collaborated on aspects of joinery and engineering.
“I am very lucky that I work with some of the best creatives in the world. I can say it seldom happens when somebody understands you intrinsically and your aesthetic. It was instantaneous with Antoine and Benji,” said Hearst.
“Gabi gave us complete creative freedom within the parameters of making what Gabriela Hearst stands for, crafted locally with local timbers that have fallen naturally, or are upcycled from prior functions. This project’s aesthetic uses ornamental detailing such as leather inlays, and complex wood shaping to emphasize the beauty of the timber and the outstanding skills of the local Korean artisans,” said Dumas and Gavron in a statement.
In describing the store’s aesthetic, Hearst said the company has three guides for opening any store. “One, it has to be environmentally made. Two, it has to be our take on luxury; there’s no monograms, there’s no window displays, there’s a very calm environment that makes the product speak for itself. And number three, I want the client who comes to our stores to feel inspired, calm and not intimidated. I don’t want our stores to feel snobby. It has to be inviting, welcoming and warm,” she said.
Hearst officials declined to give a first-year sales projection for the new Korean shop. The shop is a long-term permanent residence.
Meantime, Hearst is getting ready to show the Gabriela Hearst collection in New York on Feb. 14 and the Chloé collection, where she is creative director, in Paris on March 2.