A SCANDINAVIAN IN PARIS: For Swedish German casualwear and lifestyle label Marc O’Polo, opening its flagship store in Paris on Saturday was as easy as moving into a great flat.
Previously home to Gucci, its two-level 2,700-square-foot store on Rue des Archives was still in a very good condition after the Italian luxury house had moved out.
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“So we thought the most sustainable way [to open a store] would be to do as little changes as possible,” said chief executive officer Maximilian Böck. After all, he noted, the brand was founded in Stockholm in 1967 by Rolf Lind, Göte Huss and Jerry O. Sheets, “two Swedes and an American obsessed with the idea of sustainability and who thought that [then novel and on-trend] synthetics could not be the future.”
Needing only a light hand to change the space to the sparse lines of its Scandinavian-inflected retail concept sat well with the “01 Journey — 10 Pathways” roadmap the brand implemented in 2020, in which it plans to offer sustainable products by 2023 and to be climate neutral by 2025. Marc O’Polo is also working on attaining B Corp and Science-Based Target Initiative certifications.
As for the buzzy arrondissement, it hit the sweet spot for more pragmatic concerns. Its current retail mixture of “food and fashion, with cool local brands, international signatures, accessories” also met two other goals: rejuvenating the Marc O’Polo consumer base, very loyal but currently averaging around 50 years in age, and growing the proportion of male consumers to 40 percent from around 30 percent.
The new Paris flagship will be home to its women’s and men’s lines. Rotating selections will range from its home goods or kidswear to collaborations with jeweler Saskia Diez and tech gadgets with Native Union.
In parallel, the brand is opening a monthlong 1,000-square-foot pop-up at the Galeries Lafayette flagship on Boulevard Haussmann, as part of the department store’s “Urban Nature” sustainability-oriented campaign, showcasing its linen designs, grown and made in Europe.
“We are still obsessed with natural innovation and products,” so linen, with its lighter carbon footprint and Europe-based supply chain, continues to appeal, Böck explained.
But for the 55-year-old brand, the French capital isn’t a destination — it’s a stepping stone.
In the context of ongoing global inflation, Marc O’Polo also expects to find greater resonance among consumers looking for more sustainable choices without paying a premium, thanks to prices that start around 30 euros for a T-shirt to less than 300 euros for coats or a dress from the It’s On Us collection developed with Masters of Linen textiles.