Vuitton opens stand-alone ready-to-wear shop

Luxury brand Louis Vuitton has opened a stand-alone ready-to-wear shopping space in Harrods earlier this month. The new space is located on the second floor, among the Gucci, Prada and Chanel spaces, while its leather goods will still be sold on the ground floor. This is the first time that Vuitton will be recognized as a ready-to-wear brand.

"It's a pragmatic decision," Vuitton president Yves Carcelle told the FT. "We would have like to put everything together in our leather goods space on the first floor, but we would have needed the whole floor, and I don't think Mr Al-Fayed (Harrods owner) would have liked that. We think of it as one store in two locations."

With the bulk of its sales derived from leather goods, the fashion industry is watching for the effects of this new ready-to-wear space on the rest of the Vuitton business. Especially brands such as Hermes, Tod's and Bottega Veneta, who began as leather goods companies but are raising their fashion stakes, this experimental venture will be of great significance.

The ready-to-wear space in Harrods is but part of Vuitton's plan to reach new markets. Another part is to open stores in cities that are not generally perceived as fashionable, such as Leeds, where it will open store in October.

The brand is also venturing into e-commerce. This past November, the brand was the first in the LVMH stable to launch its own internet shop in France. Last month, Vuitton opened an internet shop in the UK. Parent company LVMH already sells products from its range of luxury brands via its American internet subsidiary, ELuxury.

"There is a generation whose access to the world is partly through the internet," said Carcelle. "They might feel more comfortable on the web. Why refuse that contact? In any case, it will always be a minority of the business - probably the size of the biggest store in every market, but no more. I remember when they said a few years ago: sell all your real estate, because people are going to buy everything on the internet. Bullshit." Instead, the brand is investing aggressively in real estate. Carcelle said that the company wants to open at 50 more locations worldwide.

Vuitton's move into accessible luxury does not mean that it its downgrading, says Carcelle. "I hate it when people start talking about the democratisation of luxury. It has a connotation of going downmarket, cheapening your products. We may be more accessible, but our offerings get more and more sophisticated."

Of the brand's 347 worldwide stores, only 70 carry fashion, which was positioned as a "destination purchase". The Harrods space, where according to Carcelle "the whole world shops", changes all this.