Luxury French brand Longchamp sees Asia as a major contributor to the brand’s global growth in coming years.
CEO Jean Cassegrain says 25 per cent of the brand’s business now comes from Asia – and 50 per cent of its customer base is Asian.
In an exclusive interview with The Straits Times in Singapore last week, Cassegrain, grandson of the brand’s founder of the same name, described its Southeast Asian customer base as a “mature luxury shopper” and confirmed an expansion of the brand’s activity as it boosts its presence across the region.
Part of the Longchamp Asia expansion plan will include a doubling in the size of the Singapore store at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands late next month, to better showcase its ready-to-wear collections.
“Customers [in Singapore] are well educated on luxury, perhaps more so than in China and Taiwan, where luxury consumers are more in discovery mode,” he told The Straits Times.
“It just shows the enormous opportunity Southeast Asia still holds for us to grow our business. We are far from reaching our potential in Asia.”
Longchamp remains family-owned in an era when most high-profile luxury brands have been swallowed up by corporate giants in Europe, or private equity investors.
Since its foundation 68 years ago, Longchamp has grown to a network of some 300 directly-operated retail stores in 24 countries, with franchise partners expanding that reach to 80 markets. Sales topped 566 million euro last year, (US$621 million).
In the full interview, Cassegrain talks about the brand’s heritage, the advantages of being a family-owned company and the unique ‘folding bag; concept. Read it here.
- Footnote: The Longchamp bag in our feature photo is the Jeremy Scott For Longchamp “Remote Control” bag, new for Spring 2016, inspired by the 1960s.
* Image: Caterina di Orgi via Twitter
