Jean-Marc Loubier, CEO of the Belgian luxury house Delvaux, acquired by the Swiss group Richemont in 2021, has just arrived in Costa Mesa, a town in Orange County, east of Los Angeles, where the South Coast Plaza luxury mall is located. The luxury brand, which specializes in bags, has just opened its second store in the U.S., five years after New York, and its 62nd address worldwide. FashionNetwork.com caught up with the CEO for an update on the opening and the brand’s roll-out in the U.S.

 
FashionNetwork: You’ve just arrived in Los Angeles at a dramatic time with the fires, but one when the situation seems to be improving. How do these events make you feel?

Jean-Marc Loubier: I’ve just arrived in Orange County, but I didn’t want to stop in Los Angeles and be voyeuristic. Like everyone else, I’ve been following the images. Friends have lost their homes, their memories, and it’s affecting a lot of people, even here in South Coast Plaza. Many people are being repatriated to Orange County, in an area that is not threatened. 

FNW: You’ve just opened your first store in California, five years after New York. How would you sum up your New York adventure?

J.M.L.: The American market is a very important one for us. It’s a big country where people know a lot about luxury. We’ve been very well established in New York since 2019, with a store in a remarkable location. A place designed as an embassy, located on 5th Avenue and facing Central Park. It’s not just a store, but also a place to visit, which has proved to be a very successful operation, reaching both American customers and the whole world. 
 
FNW: Why did you choose this mall in South Coast Plaza for your second location? 

J.M.L.: At Delvaux, we work on vertical integration. We design, develop and manufacture in our own workshops in Belgium and France, and sell in our own stores. Our company has been the world’s oldest leather goods manufacturer since 1829. We invented the first modern handbag with the filing of a patent in 1908, and all our stores are designed as places of welcome and exchange. We approach them without standardization or repetition principles. Each address is unique in its location and the way we design it. At Delvaux, the notions of culture, history, originality, creation and projection into the future are important. We needed a remarkable location in the west side of the United States, and we found it in South Coast Plaza. South Coast Plaza is the other heart of California. A beautiful mall owned by the respected Sergerstrom family. We’ll be at Rodeo Drive one day, but in the meantime we’re banking on this mall, one of the finest in the U.S.

FNW: How did you come up with this new address?
 
J.M.L: We imagined it as a store on the street, with a wide façade that evokes California. Customers will feel at home here, strolling around extraordinary pieces such as this folding screen found in Paris. Spaces have been created for discussion and exchange, notably around our bar located at the entrance, a space created not to distribute beer but to create an informal contact where the person won’t feel trapped by an imposed speech. We try to bring a certain lightness to sharing information and creating contact. Delvaux is a remarkable house, but you have to be able to explain it, make people feel it, tell its story. Hence, the importance we place on choosing our teams. Employees with character who appreciate and master our story and share it with our customers. A strategy which explains why we sell our products exclusively in our stores. 
 
FNW: What kind of atmosphere have you imagined for this store?
 
J.M.L: Delvaux is indeed a big company, but we don’t have a huge notoriety. We are a brand for those who know. We are 200 years old, and our approach is to take the time to share our story. Our references to quality and creativity touch our customers. We’re not trendy. Each bag as the Pin or the Brillant, tells a story that will touch potential customers and keep them coming back. 
 
FNW: How strong is the competition from luxury brands in this mall?
 
J.M.L: I don’t know of a single major brand that doesn’t have a presence in South Coast Plaza today. Everyone is working hard to open beautiful stores. The mall’s management is particularly keen to welcome houses with significant organic development. It’s not just a stack of brands. They have been very receptive to our location strategy in other parts of the world, such as New York, London, Paris and Tokyo. They also appreciated the fact that we weren’t duplicating our concept, that we were outside the general standardization. The idea of Brussels meeting Southern California convinced them.  

FNW: What does Orange County’s clientele look like?
 
J.M.L: It’s a very diverse clientele. A lot of Americans, of course, but also people of very different ethnic origins, from China, Korea and Taiwan. They all share the same luxury culture as in Los Angeles. More generally, our customers are pioneers, who cultivate a certain elitism, who are not frantic consumers, who are interested in our values, who like to wear things for a long time and are happy to introduce our company to their community. We’re about desire and pleasure, not consumption. 
 
FNW: Do you invest in celebrities and influencers?
 
J.M.L: We work with celebrities and influencers, but our primary influence is our potential customers. The acceleration of our notoriety comes first and foremost from the quality of our locations, which will help us reinforce our development. We also put a lot of energy into our events, particularly during Paris Fashion Week. Next March, we will we present a week-long installation-performance that people can discover at their own pace.

FNW: In terms of growth, what does the American market represent for Delvaux?
 
J.M.L: Our growth is strong and our momentum is high, but we’re still in the early stages of our development, with two stores in the U.S. to date. We have a longer-established presence in Japan, Korea and Belgium. And we’re making inroads in the Middle East in Dubai. In 2011, Delvaux generated 97% of its sales in Belgium. Today, the export market represents between 90 and 95% of total sales. Things have changed. 

FNW: Where can the brand expand in the United States?
 
J.M.L: We hope to establish ourselves in Los Angeles, of course, but also in other markets such as Texas and Florida. Our success lies in finding extraordinary locations. And we take the time not to compromise on this. Then it’s about being appreciated, existing and creating a community around you. That’s the secret of our success.