PARIS — Chalk it up to lucky timing. Calvin Klein’s first global flagship will open on Avenue des Champs-Élysées just as the storied Paris shopping street is undergoing a massive makeover and upscaling drive.
That made the location a good fit for Calvin Klein to fully develop its new design concept. The 6,500-square-foot, three-story space will open its doors with a splashy, celebrity-filled party Thursday night and welcome the public on Friday.
“When the opportunity came with this location, we found that this was the right place, and this was the right moment. So we ran to make it possible, to make it happen,” said global brand president Eva Serrano.
Taking over the former Netflix concept store, which shuttered last summer, Calvin Klein set its sights on No. 44 a year ago. And while the opening coincides with the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics and the expected 15 million-plus tourists set to hit the French capital, it’s more about long-term premium positioning.
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“We are not opening because of the Olympics. We are opening because it’s the right place to be for our brand,” Serrano said. “We’re excited by the momentum around the Champs-Élysées…when we saw its footprint, we knew it was the right store to showcase the ultimate expression of the brand.”
That includes the full Calvin Klein apparel offering, with menswear and womenswear each occupying a floor, as well as accessories including eyewear and fragrance.
For the opening, it’s offering a curated collection with special Paris branding, including T-shirts, and the store will play host to seasonal concepts and activations.
The entire downstairs is dedicated to underwear and loungewear, making it the largest concentrated offering of the category in Europe. Swim and sportswear also feature.
It’s meant to be a singular vision and 360-experience of Calvin Klein as the PVH-owned company looks to solidify its positioning and “new point of view” as a lifestyle brand.
The brand is focused on an expressive, aspirational customer, Serrano said.
“We’ve been hard at work ensuring the right building blocks are in place to do that, starting with the product, which will be further strengthened with Collection in 2025,” Serrano said.
In May, the PVH-owned brand brought former The Row designer Veronica Leoni on board as creative director for Collection, which will return to the runway for the fall 2025 season. After its debut, the Collection will be available in the Paris flagship along with other ready-to-wear offerings.
“The other important pillars are our campaigns that showcase that product and engage people with the brand and, of course, an enhanced consumer experience in stores,” Serrano added.
For the flagship, the company created a tonal environment bathed in shades of white and cream, with pine wood and stainless steel accents.
It’s the expression of Calvin Klein’s new “Chalk” concept, intended to convey the brand’s clean, modern and minimalist aesthetic.
The company trialed the concept with smaller stores in Dusseldorf and Rome before opening the Paris flagship. Its next outpost will open in Hamburg, Germany, at the end of September.
With the Champs-Élysées unit, it will bring the total number of owned and operated retail stores in Europe to 61. Calvin Klein has a stronger direct-to-consumer presence in Europe than in the U.S., where the majority of its full-price offering is online and it relies on department store distribution.
Under PVH chief executive officer Stefan Larsson, the parent company is repositioning the brand as it moves to phase out existing licensing deals and execute a multiyear take-back plan to bring most of the Calvin Klein wholesale business in-house. Those prior licensing deals sunset between 2025 and 2027.
A New York flagship is also in the works. The brand closed its Madison Avenue store in 2019 as it pivoted to a digital strategy. Under Serrano, who stepped into the role in December 2022, it’s looking to expand its physical presence once again.
“Retail is one of our channels that of course we want to grow,” Serrano said. “[We are] constantly opening new stores. Our intention is to grow our flagships, and of course New York is a very important location for us.”
