Pascal Millet diversifies international presence

By

Anaïs Lerévérend

Published
Mar 4, 2015

Launched a little less than six years ago, Pascal Millet’s eponymous brand is continuing the adventure with new international ambitions. The women’s luxury ready-to-wear brand overseen by the former artistic director of Carven, who has also worked at Givenchy and Balenciaga, now aims to diversify its international presence while focusing in particular on the United States.

Faced with the crisis in Russia, which made up nearly a third of its sales until recently, the brand is looking for new partners in other parts of the world. While it has had a Japanese partner since the beginning for Asia, it’s now looking toward the US.

To begin with, the designer has formed a partnership with a local representative beginning with the fall-winter 2015 pre-collection that has already borne fruit. In the coming weeks, between five and ten US stores should be added to the 22 retail locations around the world where the brand can already be found. Only three of these are located in France, including Les Galeries Lafayette.

Patrick Ney, the brand’s president, also intends to accelerate expansion into China where the brand operates through the stores of its Japanese partner, with which it has developed entry-level luxury diffusion for Asia. It is now a question of taking the next step with its primary line, which it has presented in Paris for many years as part of the official ready-to-wear calendar.

To sustain its business model, the brand isn’t only working to balance its presence abroad - it is also working to balance its business activities. Besides the second line exclusively available in Asia, it continues to offer custom-tailored services for expensive orders from the haute-couture designer.

Its primary line has found its positioning: clearly luxury in terms of its production, from the design of the products to the traditional prototyping in the brand's workshop. In some markets, such as in the United States, the brand would like to prevent the line from being mixed in with brands that describe themselves as "affordable luxury". Stylistically, Pascal Millet aims to offer perfection in terms of cuts, with marked shoulder lines and especially pieces that are easy to wear. 

With four shareholders - the designer, its president, as well as Patricia Lemoine and Isabelle Mill (members of the family which owns Les Galeries Lafayette who have invested privately) - the brand doesn't exclude the possibility of looking for further investors in order to further its development. But before that, it must establish its brand's status - an objective that will be furthered with the visibility afforded by Paris fashion week, during which it presented its main fall-winter 2015 collection on Tuesday, March 3.