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Tag: Maison Kitsune

  • Maison Kitsune opens first store in Vietnam

    Maison Kitsune opens first store in Vietnam

    Luxury fashion house Maison Kitsune has opened its first physical presence in Vietnam in conjunction with local distributor Tam Son International.

    The store, located on Trang Tien, one of Hanoi’s busiest streets, combines French and Japanese influences, as well as Vietnamese fine arts and local cultural identity.

    The store features a stone-paved facade and a warm colour tone running throughout, with four interconnected sections divided by wooden walls inspired by wicker art, furniture, and ceiling lighting, trying to commemorate Vietnamese heritage and workmanship.

    According to the firm, Maison Kitsune’s store setting captures the essence of the “Paris – Tokyo meets” lifestyle. Kitsune’s signature is light oak, herringbone floors, and marble counters, which highlight the brand’s minimalist design philosophy.

    Created in 2002 by Gildas Loaëc and Masaya Kuroki, Maison Kitsune offers a variety of brands, including Art de Vivre, integrating a fashion brand (Maison Kitsune), music label (Kitsune Musique), and coffee shops (Cafe Kitsune).

    The company operates in several countries and territories, including Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, and the United States. In 2021, the brand made its debut in Beijing, China.

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  • Maison Kitsune makes Thai debut at Bangkok’s EmQuartier

    Maison Kitsune makes Thai debut at Bangkok’s EmQuartier

    Maison Kitsune has opened Thailand’s first Kitsune boutique and cafe at EmQuartier shopping center in Bangkok. The boutique and cafe occupy a 145sqm area with two entrances. The store design is a fusion of Japanese and Parisian style.

    The boutique’s facade features three white arches, “creating an impression of the endless sky”. The brand’s latest collection is displayed behind the glass windows. Located in the middle of the entrance is the brand’s signature Fox.

    The store interior features brass frames and wooden elements in contrast with white walls and marble floors. Meanwhile, the Kitsune cafe wall features “ Japanese-inspired panels in varnished bamboo stalks, a nod to Thai traditional craftsmanship”. The cafe houses an outdoor area with four tables set up in front of the store.

    The cafe offers a variety of drinks to pair with sweet and savory treats. The Cafe Kitsune collection of tableware, ready-to-wear and accessories is also available to bring home.

    Maison Kitsune is a French-Japanese electronic music record label and fashion brand created in 2002 by Gildas Loaec, Masaya Kuroki and London-based company Abake.

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  • Maison Kitsuné Targets $100 Million in Sales from Its Expansion Plan

    Maison Kitsuné Targets $100 Million in Sales from Its Expansion Plan

    Parisian ready-to-wear label Maison Kitsune has announced plans to expand in Asia. The firm is targeting €100 million in sales with an ambitious store rollout in the region, as well as establishing a genderless label and branded hotel in Bali. It already operates 16 stores in Paris, the US, Japan and Hong Kong, with a product line carried at 400 additional stockists.

    On Friday, Maison Kitsune will open its first flagship and cafe in Seoul, partnering with South Korean conglomerate Samsung. Next year, the brand will open in Indonesia and greater China, where it plans to open more than 50 stores within the next four years.

    Japanese fashion group Stripe International took a minority stake in the company two years ago, helping the firm achieve €40 million (US$46 million) in sales last year.

    Co-founder Gildas Loaec says the company is at a turning point.

    “We have a good momentum and a lot of followers; we want to expand our growth further. Within the next five years we aim to generate €100 million in annual revenue.”

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  • High street brands replace luxury stores that exit HK prime space

    High street brands replace luxury stores that exit HK prime space

    From fast-fashion chain H&M to lifestyle brand Maison Kitsune and cosmetics firm Innisfree, mass-market retailers are setting up shop in premises previously occupied by luxury brands in Hong Kong’s prime shopping districts.

    Aided by falling rents in top locations, accessory, sport and lifestyle retailers are emerging as a new driving force of Hong Kong’s US$60-billion (S$80.4-billion) retail industry, part of a major makeover the city is going through amid a slump in retail sales.

    “This trend will continue,” said Mr Joe Lin, executive director at property consultant CBRE. “We are going to see more mass-market brands reappear in prime locations.”

    Weak sales of luxury goods drove Hong Kong to report a 16th straight monthly drop in retail sales on Tuesday.

    Sales of jewellery, watches and valuable gifts tumbled 21 per cent in January to May, driving a 10.8 per cent fall in overall retail sales, while cosmetics and medicines posted a 2.7 per cent sales decline and furniture and fixtures reported a 5.3 per cent drop, government data showed.

    Luxury retail in Hong Kong exploded over the past decade as increasingly wealthy Chinese flocked to the city to buy high-end Western brands, pushing out local jewellers and other shops that once dominated the high street.

    “Back in the day, we used to see only (jewellers) Chow Tai Fook, Luk Fook and pharmacies,” said Ms Cynthia Ng, director of retail services of Colliers International.

    “They (new retailers) are not necessarily local brands, but tend to be cheaper in pricing and younger… Not only does the adjusted rental fit their budget, but at the same time the craze and demand for fitness and sports are also helping them.”

    Still, mass-market brands might struggle to achieve the margins and profitability needed to justify prime rents in a weak retail environment, said Mr Kevin Lai, an economist at Daiwa Capital Markets in Hong Kong.

    “The luxury sector usually has much more value added,” Mr Lai added. “So these guys may not be able to do exactly the same.”

    Retail rents in Hong Kong’s core shopping districts, still among the world’s highest, are likely to fall another 5 to 8 per cent in the second half of this year, bringing the full-year correction to 10 to 15 per cent, said CBRE.

    Those declines are attracting new tenants to shops large and small.

    On Russell Street in the prime Causeway Bay shopping district, the 400 sq ft space that jewellery group Follie Follie occupied has been replaced by footwear outlet Joy & Mario, while Swatch Group’s Jaquet Droz luxury watch shop has gone to South Korean cosmetics brand Innisfree.

    Nearby, H&M opened a flagship store last year.

    “For us, best location is always key, and when opportunities arise, we look at the possibilities for opening new stores,” a spokesman for H&M in Stockholm said.

    Sports brand Adidas last year leased a 13,000 sq ft shop in the city for 22 per cent less than its former occupier, Coach, as the premier American brand closed its fourstorey flagship store in Central amid weak retail sentiment and a drop in tourist arrivals from China.

    Big shopping malls are renovating and offering attractive terms as vacancies grow, and stores on street level have also become more affordable.

    Swire Properties’ Pacific Place, where British fashion house Burberry will halve the size of its store by next year, is reshuffling its tenant mix, bringing in more food and beverage stores.

    Lifestyle store Homeless recently opened a store in CityPlaza shopping mall, after years of effort to secure a place in a prime shopping district, and is planning to relocate its shop in Tsim Sha Tsui this year to a location with much better traffic.

    Retail and property experts see the trend continuing as sales of luxury goods remain weak, despite steep discounts.

    “In the second half of May, many brands kicked off their summer sales much earlier than before, offering much higher discounts than they normally did,” Mr Thomson Cheng, chairman of Hong Kong Retail Management Association. “It failed to significantly boost sales. The situation is worrying.”

    In early June, French fashion house Chanel slashed prices by as much as 70 per cent on selected items, while Coach cut some prices by half, in line with moves by Burberry and French luxury group Kering’s Gucci.

    “The spending pattern of mainland tourists has changed and their consumption power is weakening,” Mr Cheng said.

     

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  • Kitsune touches down in Hong Kong

    Kitsune touches down in Hong Kong

    French fashion label Maison Kitsune has opened its first permanent store in Hong Kong.

    Kitsuné is a French electronic music record label and fashion label created in 2002 by Gildas Loaëc, Masaya Kuroki and the London-based company Åbäke. Kitsune is the Japanese word for “fox” and the brand uses references to foxes in its marketing material.

    “Following the success of our Maison Kitsuné Gallery, the brand’s first ever pop-up shop in Hong Kong inaugurated last March 2015, we’re now settling down in the city for good with the opening of our very own Hong Kong pied-à-terre,” the company announced on its blog.

    Located in Causeway Bay, the 80 sqm store reveals a ‘post-modern chic space fusing the brand’s Parisian heritage with some subtle touches of traditional Asian decors’.

    Co-founders and creative directors Gildas Loaëc and Masaya Kuroki have created a unique retail experience that aligns fashion, music and design, featuring industrial-style floor, black and white tiles, oak shelf with white painted wood bracket, white walls and Asian antique furniture bargain-hunted in Hong Kong.