PARIS — Digital native brand Balzac Paris is expanding its retail footprint with a new boutique in the Marais.
It marks the third outpost in the French capital for the sustainable fashion brand, cofounded by Chrysoline and Victorien de Gastines, along with Charles Fourmaux, in 2014.
Balzac’s first flagship opened in the 10th district of Paris in 2022, and its second on Rue du Bac in the tony 7th arrondissement last September.
The Marais store cues up the next big step for the brand — opening stores throughout France. Balzac’s first store outside of Paris will open in Toulouse on Dec. 6, and plans are underway for openings in Bordeaux and Lille.
It also launched worldwide shipping in July, extending its reach to the U.S.
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Still, the brand is taking a careful approach to growth and aiming for large stores in key markets. “It’s a very good opportunity for us to continue building the relationship with [our clients], for them to see all of our offer and a way to express our lifestyle as well. Because we are really trying to fill our stores with our DNA,” Fourmaux said in an interview.
He defines that DNA as “traditional but eccentric,” expressed in its mix of prints, such as leopard knitwear paired with a striped button-down, star-spangled shoes with a checkered blouse or high-necked ruffled Victorian collars mixed with leopard jeans.
Balzac is branching out just as several French retailers have been hit hard post-pandemic, resulting in a spate of closures in the midrange market such as Burton, Cop Copine, Kookaï and Naf Naf, among others. Those high-street stalwarts were victims of retail oversaturation, with some operating dozens of doors in Paris alone.
Balzac’s strength as a digital native brand and measured plans to retain a relatively small retail footprint will position it more strongly for the future, Fourmaux asserted.
“I don’t think [a lot of stores] is a good solution. We prefer to have fewer, bigger shops with really strong DNA that is consumer-centric,” he said. “We’re very close to our clients, and they’re really at the center of everything.”
The B-Corp firm also maintains a full-price strategy that is in line with its overall philosophy to produce less. “It’s respectful for the brand, for the customer and for the planet, and that’s one of the big differences we have with a lot of big brands,” he said.
Sales have been growing at a steady clip of 30 percent year-over-year. While about 85 percent of the privately held brand’s sales are generated online, its expansion into physical retail has been a success, Fourmaux said.
The first Paris store brought in 4 million euros in turnover last year, with a demographic mix of mostly locals and existing brand fans. The Rue du Bac store is off to a strong start with a larger basket per customer, which bodes well for that retail space.
Slightly off the beaten path of popular shopping streets in the Marais, the location at 18 Rue Mahler is just steps from the new Courrèges store which has proven to be a draw, and across from new shops under construction on the up-and-coming street.
“We hope to take up flow of those other brands so they can come into the Balzac store,” he said. “It gives them the opportunity to discover the brand.”
The online to physical-to-online sales ratio should hold steady, despite the expansion of its physical footprint as it continues to grow its sales online. “We would like to stay as a firm web brand. We would like to increase turnover in our stores, but we will continue to develop it on our website, too,” he said.
The brand’s two main markets after France are the U.K. and Belgium, followed by Switzerland, Spain and now the U.S.. It’s carried at the department store Bongénie in two of its locations in Switzerland, but other countries are web sales only.
With strong sales in the U.K. and Belgium, Balzac planning a pop-up strategy to test the retail waters in those two markets.
With the launch of worldwide shipping via its website in July, it is looking at the U.S. market cautiously. “We know that the USA is a specific market, so we are going to strengthen in France, the U.K. and Belgium and then look to the USA. We don’t want to move too early,” Fourmaux said. “We want to prove ourselves in France and in Europe.”
The brand’s penchant for prints is reflected in the store concept, which boasts leopard print flooring or leopard print bean bag chairs paired with striped accents. The interiors are a created as part of a long-term partnership with Guillaume Gibert and Baptiste Rischmann, the design duo behind the Parisian studio RMGB.
Although its popular leopard print tote is seen all over Paris, its bestselling item is its Cesar handbag, which comes in two sizes and a variety of patterns and colors, and retails for 275 euros. The introduction of new stitching and shades each season has propelled its popularity.
The brand also introduced the Amaïa bag in September, and sales have so far been strong, Fourmaux said. Handbags account for about 30 percent of overall sales for the brand.
The other strand of that DNA is its manufacturing ethos. Many of the items including tote bags, small leather goods, cardigans, hats and scarves are made in France, while denim is made in Morocco and other items produced in Portugal.
“It’s in our DNA since our beginning, that we want it to be a responsible firm,” he said. “’Made in France’ is really quite a challenge to have a reasonable price with top quality, but we are really proud of that.”
In June, the brand launched its first fragrance line with Honorine, a four-piece collection of scented personal care items. It’s been “a really big success” and will be followed up by a range of beauty and skincare products in February, Fourmaux said.
It’s also branching into homewares. After a successful collaboration French stalwart retailer La Redoute in 2022, the brand intends to expand that category as well within the year. More menswear is on the horizon too after the successful test of T-shirts earlier this year.
Popularity has skyrocketed in the U.K. following two collaborations with Barbour, which sold out within an hour.
“Collaboration are really good for us, because it permits to us to see if the market is responsive,” Fourmaux said, as it looks toward opening its own retail store there.
It’s now developing a collaboration with Liberty using its iconic prints, which will launch next year, and seeks to further establish the brand identity in the U.K.
