Embrace the Present, Develop the Future
The house ofKARL LAGERFELD shares the iconic vision and design aesthetic of its founder, Karl Lagerfeld across the spectrum of fields in which it operates, all fused together with a contemporary, forward-looking spirit. Here, RLI spends some time with company CEO Pier Paolo Righi to talk about the brand’s growth into new territories and new touchpoints.
Knowing they are now the sole custodians of Karl Lagerfeld’s legacy, the mission of the KARL LAGERFELD brand is to take Karl’s legacy into the future and inspire people to unleash their own inner Karl.
The signature KARL LAGERFELD aesthetic combines Parisian classics with a rock-chic attitude and tailored silhouettes. Its portfolio of accessible, aspirational collections includes ready-to-wear for women, men and kids, plus bags and small leather goods. Additional lines include watches, eyewear, footwear, perfumes, candles and fashion jewellery.
“Today we have a global footprint of around 250 stores, which is a mixture of owned and operated sites, along with franchise stores. Two of our major markets are North America and China where we have around 50 stores in each,” explains Pier Paolo Righi, CEO of KARL LAGERFELD. “We operate flagship sites in major European cities such as London, Paris and Munich and recently the key focus in terms of openings has been new geographies for us like Central America. So in locations such as Panama, Ecuador and Chile for example we have opened in the last 12 months around 10 stores there and we are planning the same for this year.”
In addition, the business is introducing new dedicated store formats for certain categories or divisions, like KARL LAGERFELD JEANS (KLJ), which is targeting a new and younger audience. They have introduced a KLJ store in Madrid and recently opened a new site in South Africa as well. Another specific format is an accessories concept, focusing on their bags and shoes collections.
In terms of what is on the horizon, Righi comments that they have earmarked India as a major potential market and have plans with partners to open several stores in the coming two to three years.
In recent years the company has expanded its reach outside of retail, launching into the luxury residential and hospitality markets through a selection of branded residences in Marbella, Dubai, Lisbon and the brand’s first hotel, THE KARL LAGERFELD in Macau.
This extension outside of traditional retail began with the hotel project, which today is still rated number one out of around 120 hotels in Macau on Tripadvisor. From here, the company has worked on a range of very different residential projects in terms of size, appeal, look and feel. Each site is an individual approach and not a cookie-cutter one.
The first of these was the Marbella project, an unprecedented development that consists of five spectacular villas that celebrate Karl Lagerfeld’s passion for architecture, photography and interiors, while also setting a benchmark for innovation and sustainability across every design detail.
“On the other side of the coin, our KARL LAGERFELD VILLAS project in Dubai was a much larger undertaking, which consisted of 51 beautiful residences that range from 700sq m to 1,800sq m. It’s a substantial project that we worked on with developers Taraf and was inspired by Karl’s fascination with the 18th century,” says Righi.
Their third project was more of a boutique offering in the centre of Lisbon, which is an exquisite residential apartment scheme. It features 11 floors and 10 apartments, with each floor housing one apartment aside from the top duplex which is spread across two floors.
The company has also recently announced a major project worth around $1.4bn dollars in the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, which will feature around 660 units with around 20 podium villas, 10 ultra-exclusive sky villas and beachfront villas.
One of the first social community builders, the CEO says Karl was a version of social media before it even existed, an icon that resonated across genders, geographies and ages. Righi believes that Karl’s thirst for reinvention and for being relevant and connecting with people is something that has really been engraved in the brand’s DNA.
“When social media itself did come into Karl’s world, he was one of the first to really embrace it, because he saw it as a new way to connect with the world. So for us today, it is a crucial element of our operations and is a fantastic asset for us.”
As we move onto the topic of sustainability, Righi explains that for the brand, a core value is care. Care for their people, care for their partners, care for their customers and care for the world we all live in.
Back in 2019 they were named as one of the founding members of the Fashion Pact, which today represents a large majority of all fashion revenue around the world. They also partner with people such as Amber Valletta, Supermodel, UN Environment Programme Goodwill Ambassador and activist. The brand has partnered with her as their sustainability ambassador and made her a part of their Sustainability Steering Committee.
As our time with Pier runs out very quickly, lastly we ask him about the challenges facing the business moving forward?
“It will be to continuously create meaningful engagement and excitement with consumers across multiple touchpoints. Branching out into areas such as residential and hospitality offers us this chance to reach consumers on multiple levels and continue to follow Karl’s mantra of embracing the present whilst building the future.”
