MILAN — Moncler, the historical French outerwear brand, is turning to Balenciaga’s Nicolas Ghesquière to give its high-tech down jackets a cool urban spin.
According to Remo Ruffini, Moncler’s majority shareholder and creative director, negotiations between the two parties are in advanced stages. Ghesquière would design 10 ultra-exclusive women’s outerwear jackets, tagged with a joint Balenciaga-Moncler label, which would be sold within the designer’s and the manufacturer’s collections.
“I really like Ghesquière’s interpretation of coats and jackets — sporty, edgy and chic,” said Ruffini. If all ends well, the designer’s first effort would bow for fall 2005 in Paris in March.
A similar undertaking took off last season when Moncler joined forces with Junya Watanabe to design 10 exclusive men’s wear looks called Junya Watanabe Man by Moncler. The Japanese designer played with contrasting elements, partnering tartans, pinstripes and flannels with fluorescent nylon.
Moncler’s more basic 250-piece collection, which is centered on down jackets but includes tops, bottoms, knitwear and accessories, is available in 2,000 doors worldwide.
The U.S. has become an especially important market for the expensive jackets — which retail for about $1,000 — where they are carried in 180 sales points, including Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Barneys New York, Maxfield and Louis of Boston.
Moncler also has two mountaintop stores, one in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and the other in Courmayeur, Italy. By year-end, a third will open in Cortina d’Ampezzo, the tony Italian ski resort in the Dolomites.
Ruffini, who acquired a 51 percent stake in Moncler in 2003, said the company’s jackets are still entirely made in France, where the Grenoble-based firm was founded in 1952. Two years later, a specially stuffed down jacket that was featherlight yet very warm was used by Italian climbers to scale the K2 peak.