PARIS — It’s one of the best of each worlds for Thierry Gillier. The Zadig & Voltaire founder is co-branding an present boutique to mix his cornerstone up to date model and his luxurious cashmere label Pellat-Finet.
The placement at 326 Rue Saint-Honoré in Paris will now home the 2 labels underneath one roof with a tightly curated choice of items from every line. The retail house may even function a launch pad for brand new ideas and collaborations.
Gillier acquired the French legacy cashmere model out of receivership from founder Lucien Pellat-Finet in 2019, dropped the primary title to rechristen it Pellat-Finet, and got down to reestablish the model’s retail presence. It opened the Rue Saint-Honoré location as a standalone retailer in April 2023.
“This step one to kind of revive and reinvigorate [Pellat-Finet], as a result of we’re slowly rebuilding the model,” he mentioned. The knitwear label will proceed to concentrate on high-end, quiet luxurious fundamentals, whereas Zadig & Voltaire has a extra rock ‘n’ roll aesthetic. “I really like this distinction between the 2 manufacturers.”
Additional solidifying the combination, a choice of Pellat-Finet items may even be out there at choose Zadig & Voltaire shops, together with its location on Rue Cambon and its flagship on Avenue des Champs-Élysées.
After revealing final yr that it had named designer and guide Dryce Lahssan artistic director of collections and picture, Pellat-Finet has reverted to being designed by an in-house studio workforce that’s distinct from the Zadig & Voltaire model.
Gillier doesn’t anticipate to nominate a brand new artistic director at Pellat-Finet and as an alternative will strengthen the model’s collaboration technique. The primary is within the works and might be unveiled throughout males’s week in January.
The corporate will “concentrate on the product and on the craftsmanship round cashmere,” he mentioned. The workforce will look to make refined tweaks on traditional designs, slightly than overhaul the aesthetic.
Contained in the Zadig & Voltaire x Pellat-Finet boutique.
Stéphane Pasadovic / Courtesy Zadig & Voltaire and Pellat-Finet
Gillier stepped into the artistic director footwear at Zadig & Voltaire in January, following the departure of Cecilia Bönström, with the intention of returning the model to its roots. He’s additionally planning to be again on the runway throughout Paris Style Week in February.
If the positioning of the 2 manufacturers appears to be at odds, Gillier famous that Pellat-Finet was subversive with its early intarsia designs of smiley faces and marijuana leaves.
The retail house will function an incubator or “laboratory” to facilitate new collaborations and extra product improvement, the chief mentioned.
“It’s going to be a brand new expertise and a brand new manner of placing product collectively — as a result of I don’t just like the phrase vogue, I like ‘product,’ [meaning] it’s one thing that’s being labored on,” he defined.
“We have to have a brand new expertise,” he added. “We will keep the place we’re, however there’s a want to seek out new fashions, new roads, and work on one thing otherwise.”
Beforehand dwelling to the Pellat-Finet label alone, the mix retailer retains the knitwear model’s extra minimalist inside design, which distinguishes it from the Zadig & Voltaire aesthetic, equivalent to its flashy Champs-Élysées flagship.
Zadig & Voltaire additionally has 14 stand-alone boutiques in Paris, in addition to shops-in-shop at Galeries Lafayette, Le Bon Marché and Printemps.
The brand new house was designed in-house, with classic furnishings items blended with trendy fixtures.
Gillier mentioned his longstanding appreciation of the Pellat-Finet model was the inspiration for rescuing it out of administration. “I adopted my intuition, and I really like the model. It’s a love affair. Now I’m making an attempt to construct that model story,” he mentioned.
In the meantime, he’s positioning Zadig & Voltaire as a life-style model, with its thriving perfume line and extension into hospitality with the Paris lodge Château Voltaire. The perfume line will proceed to broaden in 2025.
It’s additionally an equipment model: Gillier mentioned that fifty % of Zadig & Voltaire’s gross sales now come from purses, significantly its bestselling Rock bag, versus 35 % in 2021.
Pellat-Finet and Zadig & Voltaire contained in the blended boutique.
Stéphane Pasadovic / Courtesy Zadig & Voltaire and Pellat-Finet
The corporate reported 450 million euros in gross sales for the Zadig & Voltaire model in 2023.
In 2021, the corporate said its ambition to develop its footprint in China to 60 shops by 2025, however Zadig & Voltaire has now shuttered all shops there. Gillier mentioned it’s at the moment reevaluating its technique for the nation. “We at the moment are taking a look at China differently, and we’re speaking to a accomplice in China,” he mentioned.
Zadig & Voltaire bought the 50 % share that belonged to its former accomplice within the nation, IT Group, in 2020. It at the moment operates round 400 shops worldwide.
Gillier added that South Korea and Japan have been performing strongly, in addition to Mexico, the place it opened its first bodily boutique in December 2023.