EXCLUSIVE: French Heritage Brand Létrange Opens Paris Retail Apartment
PARIS — Why is a giant handbag suspended from a balcony at 352 Rue Saint-Honoré?
Curiosity is exactly the reaction Sébastien Létrange is angling for.
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“It’s our way of augmenting reality,” quipped the chairman of independent French heritage leather goods brand Létrange and seventh generation of the founding family.
Tucked behind the building’s carriage entrance, after wrought-iron double doors and up a stately marble staircase is L’Appartement Létrange, the brand’s new retail concept.
Rather than a classic flagship, the 4,500-square-foot apartment on the first floor is about “another way of doing commerce,” said Létrange, who wants to move from the bustle of the street level and back to the quiet luxury of private appointments. “We are in luxury but it doesn’t have to be staid, stuffy or involve queuing.”
If not being easy to find by passersby sounds daunting, “that’s exactly what we want: the bag’s there but we are a little hidden,” he continued. Not only did it slot in with his idea of a no-logo niche brand for those in the know but is also rooted in the zeitgeist.
The cost-of-living crisis and security concerns, as well as past experiences with the often-violent yellow vest and pension reform protests, left Létrange convinced that clients “likely feel better in the apartment rather than on display behind a window on the street.”
Appetite for luxury is still strong but “the time is right to offer something more discreet, exclusive and confidential,” in his opinion. “You have to come discover us, there’s word-of-mouth.”
That’s served the independent brand well since its 2018 relaunch. Even more so in the past 24 months, where its sales have more-than doubled year-on-year, although it does not publicize figures.
It has also racked up an impressive 50-plus percent of repeat customers, according to the executive, with clients such as Charlene of Monaco, who wore one of its Empreinte purses with a sculptural handle to the Rugby World Cup and has purchased a number of bags from the label.
“It’s clients like [her] who allowed us to endure throughout the pandemic. With 80 percent of our clients based abroad, they weren’t coming to Paris for two years,” he said.
After shuttering its first boutique — a slip of a space further down on Rue Saint-Honoré — when the lease ran out during the early days of the pandemic, Paris’ “disastrous, depressed environment” didn’t feel like the right climate for retail.
Instead, the brand headed online and abroad to establish its name farther on the map, through trunk shows and pop-ups.
Qatar became its first permanent spot last February. Located between Louis Vuitton and Dior at the Printemps department store in Doha Oasis, the 1,600-square-foot boutique with large VIP salons became the blueprint for this new era.
Small leather goods start in the low three-figures. Prices for bags start at 2,600 euros, averaging around 5,000 euros. But some designs can go up to 1 million euros, for an Empreinte with a solid gold handle dotted with 178 diamonds for a total weight of 33 carats.
This particular design, featuring 40 diamonds over 0.5 carats, “allowed clients to read us as a proper luxury house,” Létrange said. “When you offer this or have the kind of boutique we have in Doha, we can’t welcome people in a 350-square-foot corridor.”
The result was L’Appartement Létrange, which could be at first glance the home of a well-heeled family, plaster moldings, painted wall medallions and all — albeit it one with an obsession for leather goods.
A photographic portrait of Henriette Létrange, the great-grandmother of the executive and the woman he credits with inspiring his “heritage with a twist” motto, takes prides of place at the top of the stairs. A right turn leads to offices, the studio and a small workshop. The main atelier remains in Montreuil near Paris.
Straight on leads to 2,700 square feet of reception spaces, starting with an octagonal Champagne bar in hammered metal surrounded by bags playing peekaboo behind sculpted panels.
One door leads to the mirrored salon, where furniture is by the likes of Gae Aulenti, Jean Prouvé and Jeanneret, all “old names that are still relevant today.” Lighting was commissioned from Japanese artist Megumi Ito, who took the Létrange saddle nail and stretched it into paper lamps as well as the looping beaded spiral chandelier overhead.
Family photos and archival material crowd the mantlepiece, to anchor the current offering into the history of the family brand, which has been in operation since 1838 — minus a 10-year hiatus in the early 21st century.
Since the relaunch, five collections have been introduced, all with names that trace back to Létrange’s history. A sixth line named Victoire after his five-year-old daughter will launch in the coming months. Its unusual V profile had the executive quipping that his family brand “makes bags to be worn, not to be set down.”
But heritage and handsome handbags aren’t enough. “Our clients have everything, know everything, so they want to discover something, be surprised and not in a superficial way,” he said.
Among the novel experiences on offer at L’Appartement Létrange is the personalization bar. Here, an Ego Mini, a design made of an origami of leather, can be assembled with initialed metal studs (precious and gem-studded versions are available in the Middle East boutiques).
Or you can try your hand at some of the 14,000 color combinations of the Attachant bag, made of seven. parts that slot together with one hidden stitch to keep it all in place. Upon order of the final combination, the bag takes 10 days to be finalized and shipped.
Létrange hopes the company’s new Paris base will be a springboard for the next step in growth. After establishing a foothold in London with its Harrods presence and further implanting itself in the Middle East with the opening of a store in the Dubai Mall on Dec. 19, Létrange is looking farther afield.
In the U.S., the brand is in advanced talk with a prominent department store with New York, which he declined to name at this stage in its sights for 2024 and is weighing its options to branch into China, with a partner.
“We managed to create enthusiasm,” Létrange said. “Now, to broaden our client base, we will go where they are.”
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