Marc Cain, the Bodelshausen, Germany-based “quiet luxury” brand, is ready to raise its volume in the U.S.
In 2015, the Marc Cain brand, which is best known in Europe particularly for its knitwear, started easing into the U.S. with modest growth by wholesaling to upscale specialty stores.
Now a decade later, “We are investing into the U.S. market at this time to build the Marc Cain business in the right way. It’s the right time for our U.S. expansion,” Stephen Belfer, managing director of Marc Cain in North America, told WWD in an exclusive interview. “We believe that our product has changed a bit and is ready for the U.S.,” including the addition of a pants subcollection in 2023.
“We have a lot to offer. We find ourselves filling a niche in the market.”
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Here’s what’s happening:
- A 2,000-square-foot wholesale showroom in the Dallas World Trade Center, and a 2,800-square-foot wholesale showroom in the Cooper City building in Los Angeles, are both launching in March.
- In New York, the brand is enlarging its showroom, located at 210 11th Avenue in the Chelsea Arts Building, from 3,000 square feet to 9,000 square feet. The project is expected to be completed in June.
- A 1,200-square-foot, two-day pop-up opens at 42 Grand Street in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood, with a press day Friday to show the fall 2025 collection, and on Saturday for the general public to shop the spring 2025 collection.
Last fall, Marc Cain launched e-commerce in the U.S., and this season, Neiman Marcus started selling the collection on its website. The women’s-only brand is eager to sell other upscale department stores such as Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s and Saks Fifth Avenue.
Additionally, last September, Marc Cain hired a new creative director and a new head of design. “We are evolving with the times and with what the market is looking for,” Belfer said.
Marc Cain only operates two stores in the U.S., at The Westchester mall in White Plains, N.Y. and in the Cherry Hill Mall in New Jersey. No additional stores in the U.S. are planned. “Right now, the focus is really on the wholesale market, building up the brand awareness in the U.S., and getting Marc Cain into a lot of the right stores,” Belfer said.
Currently, Marc Cain in the U.S. is sold inside approximately 80 different small, independent retailers, such as the four-unit Julian Gold chain in Texas; Leigh’s in Grand Rapids, Mich.; Lisa Moran in Woodmere, Ohio; Rosenthals in Highland, N.C., and the Wildflower in Naples, Fla.
Worldwide, the brand sells in 1,400 doors in 51 countries, including 128 Marc Cain stores in 29 countries. In Canada, there are 10 Marc Cain stores, with an 11th scheduled to soon open at the Royalmount, Montreal’s new center that offers an extensive collection of luxury boutiques and is considered the largest private development in Quebec.
The 51-year-old Marc Cain is owned by its founder and chairman Helmut Schlotterer. He’s 78 and plans to leave the company to its employees within the next few years. There is no Marc Cain associated with the brand, just a name Schlotterer devised for the brand he started. Volume is listed at $240 million in 2023.
“We’re one of the only companies that currently still produce our own knitwear in Germany, in our factory in Bodelshausen, which is a small village,” Belfer said. There are 119 knitting machines currently in use; 112 of which are flat knitting machines; seven are circular knitting machines designed for producing apparel fabrics. The company’s “3D Knit & Wear Technology“ facilitates production of a piece in just one work step, i.e., a completely finished knitted collection item comes out of the machine without any seams.
In addition to the knitting facilities, Marc Cain has its own finishing, printing, sewing and twisting park and an in-house laboratory in Germany, where the garments are finished. Each piece is handled up to 90 times.
“The aim is not only to create special visual and tactile effects, but also to optimize the quality and material properties,” the company indicated in a statement. “Brilliant and color-intensive prints are used in the print shop, which are characteristic of the unique Marc Cain style. Marc Cain‘s characteristic yarn creations, which give the knitwear highlights their special feel, are produced in the twisting department. Every material is put to the test in the in-house laboratory.”
Of all the merchandise produced outside of its own facility, 80 percent is still done in Europe.
Regarding the brand’s positioning, it’s tough to put a stamp on it. “Some call it just under luxe. Some call it a higher premium, higher contemporary brand. We’re sort of in the middle,” Belfer said. “We fall where there is a great core customer who is in between luxe and contemporary and looking for quality product that offers really great design and a great price.”
“Our collection is very big and and it serves many purposes,” Belfer added. “A 25-year-old can find something and an 80-year-old can find something. It really spans the ages. But I would say the core customer is somebody who’s 40-plus, loves fashion, likes color, likes prints and just really nice fabrications.…And you can dress it up or dress it down.” The most recent marketing campaigns are geared to a younger customer.
Marc Cain offers several separate lines with Collection for more sensual silhouettes and career-wear; Sports, for casual and leisure wear and body-conscious styles; Glam for day-into-evening looks, as well as the Additions, Essentials and Pants lines.
Asked how well recognized Marc Cain is in the U.S., Belfer replied, “I think we have a very nice independent store business. We really go across the entire country, so our biggest concentration is in Texas and the East Coast. We are doing some business with Neiman Marcus that just started but we need to build our brand awareness so we can go grow our business.”
