French luxury fashion house Yves Salomon sees China as a key growth market, along with South Korea.
“We also see bright market prospects in Japan, which is moving away from more traditional fashion styles,” says president Yves Salomon.
The master furrier opened a store in Seoul three years ago, and has since inaugurated stores in Hong Kong Harbour City, Shanghai and Beijing (two).
Apart from its 15 free-standing stores, the label’s contemporary ready-to-wear collections can be found in about 500 department stores worldwide including Barneys, Bergdorf Goodman, Le Bon Marche, Galeries Lafayette, Harrods, Joyce, Lane Crawford, Shinsegae and SKP Beijing.
A strategic initiative for the brand is the unveiling of an online boutique showcasing its main collection of women’s and men’s wear, military-inspired parkas and down jackets, children’s line, and accessories as well as web exclusives. Hong Kong shoppers can have their online purchases delivered within 48 to 72 hours.
For this year, the fashion house has developed Pieces, an unusual collection made with collected materials. The patchwork fur coats are made with recycled garments or scraps.
“Today, we prefer to reuse rather than continually revive the production cycle,” says Salomon.
The company has developed over four generations with its roots in the Siberian fur trade of the early 1900s.
Innovation has become a priority with a fresh approach of colouring, embellishing, embroidering or mixing shearling and fur with different fabrics such as leather, cashmere and knits to become warm weather clothing, not just winter-only staples.
There are now five distinct collections: the main Yves Salomon line, YS Army with an urban take, Yves Salomon Accessoires, Yves Salomon Homme and a children’s collection.
For its latest spring collection, the label is using an innovative leather-lightening technique to produce ready-to-wear pieces in cotton, suede and crafted leather. Dresses and skirts are made in leather, with many left unlined for ultimate ease of movement. There are also patent and satin styles in both single block colours and prints.
