Karl Lagerfeld to debut US flagship store

By

Dominique Muret

Translated by
Benjamin Fitzgerald

Published
Mar 29, 2018

The luxury label, launched by German designer Karl Lagerfeld, is accelerating in the United States with the opening of its very first store in New York. The news, now confirmed by the maison, was first revealed by American group G-III Apparel, which has a vested interest in the ready-to-wear brand, alongside British investment firm Apax Partners, which is the major shareholder.

The flagship will open in the SoHo area, at number 420 on West Broadway, in a space formerly occupied by DKNY, Donna Karan's youth-focused line, acquired by the American group in 2016 from LVMH. The opening date is still unknown, and the boutique is still under construction.

G-III Apparel has held the Karl Lagerfeld licence in North America since 2016, via a co-enterprise, through a US-specific line called "Karl Lagerfeld Paris", which is much larger and addresses a more mature customer, compared to the European collection. 

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Presenting the fiscal year results, Maurice Goldfarb, CEO of G-III Apparel, said that sales of Karl Lagerfeld had doubled in 2017. Revenues at the brand for the US and Canada markets reached $80 million, said Karl Lagerfeld CEO, Pier Paolo Righi.

G-III Apparel also announced that it plans to convert eight of its G.H. Bass and Wilsons Leather stores, which have witnessed a sales decline of late, into Karl Lagerfeld Paris stores. On its American site, the brand counts eight factory outlet stores.

Elsewhere, Karl Lagerfeld recently announced the opening of its first womenswear store in Moscow, Russia, in the Metropolis shopping mall. 

The opening follows an exclusive partnership inked in July with distributor, BNS Group.