Jean Cassegrain is the person behind at the moment’s development and enlargement at French label, Longchamp. With an understanding of methods to run a profitable family-led enterprise that he picked up from his father earlier than succeeding him as president of the corporate, the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris graduate labored as a administration guide earlier than working for Longchamp in 1991. For over 30 years, Jean has served as an lively member of the household agency and has enhanced Longchamp’s place from a solely bag and baggage participant to a worldwide life-style firm including equipment, ready-to-wear, eyewear and sneakers, whereas protecting the authenticity and sincerity of the Maison. Quick ahead to 2024 and Longchamp sees the opening of its flagship retailer at TRX Mall Kuala Lumpur and the biggest boutique in Malaysia up to now signaling the enlargement of the leather-based items firm from Paris to Kuala Lumpur. Spanning throughout 2,893 sq. ft, the shop pays homage to the model’s wealthy heritage by means of its décor that exudes a chic but vibrant ambiance. Modeled after a non-public Parisian condo, the area provides a full vary of luggage, small leather-based items, equipment and sneakers alongside a collection of ready-to-wear items. By no means one to be complacent, Jean Cassegrain takes the hands-on on the subject of particulars, from the collections and campaigns, down to selecting the artwork displayed inside Longchamp’s boutiques. LUXUO speaks to Longchamp president Jean Cassegrain in a one-on-one interview for an perception into the model’s long-term plans, future development prospects and sustainability initiatives.

Since its founding in Paris in 1948, Longchamp has developed enormously. Inform us extra in regards to the French Maison and its core DNA?

Our model’s key phrases are leather-based, household, enjoyable, high quality and creativity. We now have managed the model by means of the years to maintain a very good mixture of these and our function is to proceed to create and take dangers. Our independence offers us the capability to develop our initiatives and stay free to create, innovate and take dangers as we couldn’t in any other case. Being an impartial household firm permits us to take a long-term view in most of our enterprise selections. From leather-covered pipes to the primary Nylon baggage, or from Longchamp’s Le Pliage success to our collaboration with Kate Moss, improvements made our option to what Longchamp is these days, a world luxurious model. Even when a whole lot of issues have modified since 1948, we’re nonetheless as targeted on innovation and high quality as we have been within the early days.

What’s the key secret behind the model’s longevity?

The basic cause behind Longchamp’s success is to have the ability to suppose on a long-term foundation. Longchamp just isn’t a listed firm, it’s a family-led firm with a brand new technology (the fourth one) on the point of take the management of the corporate in a couple of years from now. It’s fascinating to notice that Longchamp has solely had three CEOs over the previous 75 years. One of many issues that we now have succeeded in doing is to remain present and to all the time be up to date and adapt to the instances. We now have all the time been in a position to be within the second and to be related to every time frame. The most recent testomony to Longchamp’s resilience and success is the staggering +44 % development of the corporate’s turnover in 2023.

How strategic is the opening of this very good Longchamp boutique at TRX Mall in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia?

Malaysia has been a incredible marketplace for Longchamp over the previous twenty years. The opening of this flagship boutique is a powerful testomony to our dedication to this nation and its extremely discerning prospects. The color palette of the boutique is contemporary and alluring, the full area permits for a relaxation, and the unique artworks by French artist Geneviève Claisse (1935-2018) have been chosen with nice care to supply an immersive expertise. A Longchamp boutique resembles no different. We like our purchasers to really feel “comme à la maison” — at residence and welcomed.   

You appear to have been very concerned with the opening of this Longchamp flagship retailer at TRX Mall Kuala Lumpur?

Sure, certainly, I’ve been closely concerned. In a retailer, each element counts and each element is usually a supply of emotion, whether or not it’s a constructive emotion or generally a damaging emotion as effectively. It’s actually a 360-degree strategy, notably as digital grows and turns into extra environment friendly, shops should deliver one thing else to the desk aside from effectivity, as a result of digital is all the time going to be extra environment friendly. Shops have to deliver emotion, and that’s I feel the path that we’re heading in, to make it possible for the emotion is there.

Your efficiency is making another manufacturers envious, particularly due to Asia. How do you see this?

We now have the excellence of being current in Asia for the reason that Nineteen Fifties, particularly in Japan. My father (Philippe Cassegrain, the son of Longchamp founder Jean Cassegrain Sr.,) might let you know about his boat journeys to Singapore and Hong Kong in 1956 to promote Longchamp merchandise, so this story goes approach again. Traditionally, we have been among the many first European manufacturers to be bought in Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore. Asia has been an necessary contributor to our development by way of turnover, particularly in Southeast Asia and China.

How would you describe the Longchamp girl?

Comfy together with her time, lively and engaged, and related by way of type and adaptation to our up to date world and tempo. Even when our model has now grow to be absolutely worldwide, our merchandise are all the time designed with the French girl in thoughts. Our typical Longchamp girl is a Parisian and her type is easy. She enjoys life and desires to have enjoyable. Our prospects like our sense of high quality and the informal type of our baggage and ready-to-wear.

What’s your precedence to proceed strengthening the model and its worldwide attraction?

Our precedence stays to keep up a sustainable steadiness between our totally different markets throughout all continents. We’re this month [February] opening an outstanding boutique in Malaysia at TRX Mall. Additionally, on the similar time, we now have opened a strategic flagship retailer in New York on 5^th Avenue. It tells quite a bit in regards to the worldwide attraction of Longchamp!

What’s the function of Longchamp ready-to-wear, one you appear to be pushing strongly?

Prepared-to-wear is immensely serving to to outline the Longchamp girl. Apart baggage and equipment, a shirt, a gown assist for example the imaginative and prescient of the model and that of its creative director, Sophie Delafontaine. Prepared-to-wear tells a powerful story, a direct illustration of the model’s DNA. Prepared-to-wear is at the moment on the very centre of the Longchamp universe.

Longchamp has but to enter licensing, resembling for fragrances and eyewear. Why is that?

We delight ourselves on being curious and speaking about one growth at a time. Fragrances and eyewear should not inside our priorities at the moment. It could change, however as already talked about, we wish to develop the enterprise on robust and sound foundations.  

The place do you see development coming from for the model?

The boys’s universe inside Longchamp represents 20 % of the turnover, we consider that, due to a rising unisex development in vogue (suppose Korea and its enormous affect on Gen Z prospects), the boys’s phase will improve over the approaching years. We additionally produce other concepts about which developments are in progress. Really, It’s a kind of issues that we very a lot consider by way of administration practices, to attempt a whole lot of issues. So, we fail quite a bit however we attempt quite a bit, and generally we discover success after which we attempt to journey on that success. It’s a trial-and-error course of with a whole lot of misses after which a couple of hits, which is what makes us final and what makes us nonetheless related after 70 extra years.

Kim Se-jeong, the favored Korean singer and actress, stepped into her new function because the star in Longchamp’s newest campaigns. How is the Maison’s Ambassador chosen?

Certainly, on 6 February, we introduced that singer and actress Kim Se-jeong had been chosen as our Asia area ambassador. The affect has been virtually instant and overwhelming! We couldn’t have dreamed higher than Kim Se-jeong as ambassador as she embodies the core values of Longchamp. The large crowd of followers welcoming her and cheering wherever she goes is wonderful. Longchamp has by no means been so interesting on this a part of the world, and partly due to a brand new and vibrant ambassador.

Over the previous two years following the COVID pandemic, there was a change in shopping for habits. What do you suppose your prospects are actually searching for in a product?

There appears to be a powerful and renewed urge for food for going out and purchasing. Longchamp is benefitting from the very robust uplift within the enterprise with our prospects in many alternative nations. I feel one other factor that’s altering is there’s a fast-growing curiosity in CSR and sustainability. And I feel that is changing into extra a part of the equation; a extra necessary a part of the connection between a model and its prospects.

What are your ideas on sustainability? How is Longchamp appearing there?

One in every of our massive issues is clearly local weather change and all of us must be concerned and act at our personal stage. As a enterprise, we make and transfer merchandise world wide, so we now have a carbon affect. What we should do is use methods to function our enterprise and scale back the carbon affect on the similar time. That’s what we try to do at Longchamp. At our personal stage, we can’t resolve the world’s issues alone, however we are able to every act in a approach that contributes to decreasing international carbon emissions. We now have a number of initiatives for that, and we attempt to proceed growing our enterprise as a result of it’s also our accountability to our staff and companions. Due to this fact, we have to proceed growing our enterprise, however on the similar time, we have to scale back our carbon footprint.

Will Longchamp quickly enter the M&A sport and purpose at buying one other luxurious model?

No, this isn’t in any respect a precedence. Our focus is on Longchamp, its purchasers, its groups and its cautious but vivid enlargement worldwide.

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