Sandro’s very first store is getting a new look just as the French fashion brand is redrawing its map.
The original women’s boutique on Rue Vieille du Temple, opened in 2004 as its first point of sale, and the men’s boutique, which sits just around the corner, have both been revamped.
They’re the first locations to showcase a new concept. The new look was designed by HAOS, a French design duo based in Lisbon better known for furniture than interiors, along with Sandro’s longtime creative agency Atelier Franck Durand. It draws on Shaker design, Brutalist architecture, Japanese furniture and inspirations from the work of American minimalist artist Donald Judd as part of the company’s overall effort to upscale and refine its brand in its stores globally.
Chief executive officer Isabelle Allouch called it a “strengthening of the creative singularity” of its collections and visual identity.
The result is a blend of visible fixtures, natural wood and stone, exposed lighting and vintage Polish hardware from the 1970s. Collections are arranged in niches meant to read more like a personal wardrobe than a traditional retail display.
The point is to make the brand’s Parisian identity travel throughout its 56 markets without turning it into a collection of familiar cues and clichés. Instead the interiors are meant to convey a certain idea of curated, design-conscious French taste.
The concept will be rolled out across its retail network, starting with Lausanne, Switzerland, planned for December and London’s Regent Street next year.
“We need to always remain very current and contemporary,” added chief marketing officer Augustin Letellier.
And while you could call it “quiet luxury,” it is a very loud statement of where Sandro is going as it tries to move closer to luxury codes without necessarily trying to become a luxury brand.
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Under Allouch and former Kering executive Letellier, Sandro has spent the past few years refining its brand language and leaning on art, architecture and design cues, particularly with its Paris Fashion Week presentations, so far staged at Musée Bourdelle, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France’s Richelieu site and the Opéra Comique, as well as its campaigns, shot at the same sites with a mix of models, artists and dancers.
Sandro is now taking that show on the road.
On Wednesday, it will present its fall collection in South Korea during Frieze Seoul. There the company has realigned with a “powerful” new local partner in the Samsung Fashion Group. Then it will head to Beijing for its first presentation there.
For a brand with more than 700 points of sale, the next stage of growth is not about adding more stores in the usual fashion capitals. It has recently opened in Yerevan, Armenia, and plans to enter Johannesburg in January.
Sandro is looking for customers in places where the brand already has them, and counting on a flagship structure to raise visibility.
“We have access to data that allows us to know where the buyers of our products come from — through their credit cards, shipping addresses and purchases made on our websites,” Allouch said. “This allows us to identify countries where demand is significant even though we are not present.”
That is a different proposition from simply planting a French fashion label in another major city. Sandro combines that customer data with an internal international development team and local partners, she said, to determine when a country is ready for the brand and how quickly it should enter.
The approach helps explain markets such as Armenia, which would not necessarily rank near the top of a conventional fashion brand’s expansion list.
“You wouldn’t think Armenians would need this type of brand, but that’s what’s interesting,” said Letellier, comparing Sandro to other French brands such as Longchamp. “We see that there is a need for this type of a mid-market brand that represents the Parisian identity. There is an appetite for this type of brand because it is not yet represented.”
Sandro’s expansion comes as the company tries to sharpen its positioning across its collections and retail.
The new Marais stores are part of what is described as a “brand elevation,” but Allouch is careful not to call it a repositioning. Sandro is not trying to become a traditional luxury label, she said. Instead, it wants to strengthen what she calls its “contemporary premium” position — upscaling in style and quality, but remaining more accessible than luxury through its price point and wide distribution.
“The elevation of the brand is built above all on the creativity and quality of our collections,” she said. Allouch said the strategy is intended to strengthen rather than replace Sandro’s existing identity, with more refined materials, finishes and details while retaining its accessibility.
The Seoul presentation will build on the culturally connected strategy used at the Paris presentations, bringing together celebrities, VICs and influencers around the collection and an exhibition staged in an art gallery.
South Korea is particularly important because it combines an established Sandro customer base with a new local partner, Samsung Fashion Group.
“The brand needed some rejuvenation, and I think we have the right partner,” Letellier said.
In the Middle East, Sandro operates with partner Al-Futtaim, and its Dubai Mall store is the brand’s highest-turnover location globally, Letellier said. Its new Kuwait flagship at The Avenues Mall is its largest by square footage and includes a private floor for VICs.
“The Middle East also offers significant development opportunities, driven by customers who are highly receptive to fashion and premium experiences,” Allouch said.
The VICs are also invited to the Paris presentations, which are full-day experiences featuring canapés, cocktails and cookies inside major cultural institutions. It’s another part of the strategy to create experiences around the clothes that again borrow some of the relationship-building of luxury without adopting a luxury price structure.
“Our biggest challenges come from factors beyond our control — particularly geopolitical and economic events that can have a significant impact on our business,” Allouch added.
Sandro’s customer is somewhat more mature than the one attracted to sister brand Maje, according to Letellier, and has a higher average basket. Accessories and handbags are a category that the company is looking to strengthen with the launch of its Petit Bazaar and Grand Bazaar styles this month.
“We’re being challenged on the bag category, and we need to make it a success,” Letellier said.
In the U.S., Allouch said the priority is to consolidate the brand and strengthen awareness. Celebrity dressing is a big part of that strategy, and to that end Sandro signed agency BPCM last February. So far it has resulted in highly visible placements such as Viola Davis on “The Tonight Show.”
The company’s Paris Fashion Week presentation will be held at Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine at the Trocadéro on Sept. 29, followed by the grand opening event for its redesigned Marais flagships on Oct. 1.