Frans modemerk Grace & Mila gaat internationaal

Although the ready-to-porter brand Grace & Mila has been around for 14 years, the development of it has been crucial for the past five years. During this period, the brand strengthened its international presence with the opening of shop-in-shops in department stores in Finland, a presence in the Duty-Free shops of a dozen airports (Prague, Malaga, Sevilla, Krakow, among others) and also with the opening of franchise stores. Grace & Mila now has 1800 points of sale in 40 countries and a total of 700 wholesale customers in France. The international market currently represents 35 percent of sales, compared to 7 percent before.

The development of our e-shop international is our most important focus for the coming years.

Building on this dynamic, the brand now wants to further develop its webshop and make it accessible to its customers worldwide. “This is our most important focus for the coming years,” said Julie Gédéon, international commercial director of Grace & Mila, in an interview with FashionUnited. The webshop, which is already available in France and a few neighboring countries, will soon make worldwide deliveries possible and offer the possibility to pay in currencies than the euro.

A first flagship store abroad?

The brand also thinks about the opening of a new flagship store, but the project is not yet concrete: “After the opening of our Flagshipstore in Paris, we realized that there was a big demand from our customers. They need this ‘gathering point’ where they can find the full range of the brand. Although we are very strong, multicannall, there is a very strong in the molesale, multicannall, present in the wholesale, multicannel. Commercial director.

Grace & Mila currently has five stores in France; The flagship store in Paris and the franchises in Aix-les-Bains, Chambéry, Bayonne and Lyon. The brand now thinks about openings abroad: “We are actively working on this without putting ourselves under pressure. We have no policy of unbridled development, but rather a strategic approach. We have proposals that we are studying and we take the time to find the right store, the right location and the right partner, in accordance with our vision and values,” Julie Gédéon trusts.

After France, Belgium, Spain, Italy and Germany are our largest markets.

Julie Gédéon, who came to the company seven years ago, immediately focused on the international development of the brand. “I based myself on what worked in France to develop internationally. There are two cases here: we have our own store in Paris, our flagship store, and we have opened franchises with partners. I have looked at the results of these two formulas and today we prefer Franchises for abroad.

The most important markets of Grace & Mila

Although France remains the main market of the brand, other countries also distinguish themselves: “Historically, there is Belgium, followed by Spain, Italy and Germany,” notes Julie Gédéon. “There are differences between the southern countries, such as Portugal, Spain or Greece, and the buying habits of the Scandinavian countries such as Finland or Norway,” she adds.

A family business

Behind Grace & Mila are three brothers and sisters, Patrick, Patricia and Julie Chou. “They started this adventure with creating a few pullover models. Through the success of their pieces, they further developed the project, they designed other models until a brand with a varied range came into existence. Although they had some knowledge of trade and fashion thanks to their family, the three founders were quite young and just from school,” says Julie Gédéon.

Although the brand does not communicate any figures about the turnover, it does indicate that several of its international markets have an annual result that is higher than a million euros.

Grace & Mila will soon be planning to open shop-in-shops in department stores: three in Greece and two in Finland.