PARIS — With its juxtaposition of limewash partitions, volumes wearing Okoumé wooden paneling and tasteful objects befitting of a gallery, French menswear label Lafaurie is consistent with the arty vibe of Paris’ Marais neighborhood.
Even the painter jackets and cuffed denim denims within the window appear curated to echo the buzzy retail stretch.
For many who cease to take a more in-depth look, Lafaurie isn’t an up-and-coming menswear line — it’s the brand new chapter of a 34-year-old model that’s caught the eye of a budding however fervent American clientele interested in their “arty stylish” wares.
Contained in the Lafaurie Paris flagship on Rue Vieille-du-Temple.
Jules Focone/Courtesy of Lafaurie
For brothers Théo and Pablo Lafaurie, the 650-square-foot unit at 56-58 Rue Vieille-du-Temple designed by Paris-based structure studio Corto is the fruits of a seven-year pivot for this model based in 1991 by their father — and a daring step ahead.
With a heat Nineteen Nineties minimalism sensibility, the shop affords signed ceramics from Robert Picault and Richard Avedon’s uncommon 1976 “Portraits” e book, together with editions of seminal French Nineteen Eighties journal Égoïste and artwork books.
A 1975 summary work by French artist Jacques Soissons hangs on one wall. It impressed the colour palette of a spring 2025 lineup that performs on destructured jackets, simple trousers and toothsome light-weight knitwear.
General, the brothers intend the model as an homage to the earlier two generations of the Lafaurie household and the art-filled Saint-Germain-des-Prés neighborhood — powered by heritage, however not constrained by it, as they put it.
A Household Affair
Evacuated in the course of the Second World Conflict, their grandmother and great-aunt — Mimi and Mafa as their grandsons knew them — returned to Paris and settled on Rue Guynemer, a avenue bordering the Luxembourg gardens. They quickly constructed a life full with a duck, a canine and a younger baby plus a enterprise making high-end lampshades for the realm’s upscale clientele.
Lafaurie, spring 2025
Valentin Hennequin/Courtesy of Lafaurie
In time, Pierre Lafaurie lived and labored within the space, though the primary Emile Lafaurie retailer opened on Rue de Birague, a quiet avenue off Place des Vosges on the Proper Financial institution. A photobooth image of him framed within the retailer reveals him across the similar age his sons are actually.
It’s his sudden passing in 2018 that set the brothers and the model on their present trajectory.
On the time, the corporate was in a rut, “not in default however going by difficulties,” stated Théo Lafaurie. The workforce had whittled all the way down to the founder and two business folks, plus a dozen retailer employees for its seven addresses throughout France.
Motivated by “a community of producers our father had spent over 30 years constructing” on the one hand and on the opposite “excessively well-placed shops,” the brothers determined to proceed the household enterprise.
HEC Montréal enterprise faculty graduate Théo turned president whereas Pablo graduated highschool and headed to the Paris-Dauphine college to check administration science.
The primary go well with below the Emile Lafaurie model from 1998 and a enterprise card for his or her grandmother’s made-to-order lampshade enterprise.
Jules Focone/Courtesy of Lafaurie
Resilience was the secret within the early levels at Lafaurie however that quickly gave approach to decisive motion. The Paris shops have been overhauled in 2019, and a nook on the Printemps division retailer and an e-commerce store additionally bowed in.
These early strikes paid off with an inflow of latest shoppers.
Inside a 12 months of Théo Lafaurie’s formal arrival on the helm, the corporate was again on a path to progress, with the 4-million-euro mark in sight proper earlier than the onset of the pandemic. The model additionally turned merely “Lafaurie,” to mirror its multigenerational nature.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, Pablo Lafaurie joined the corporate as basic supervisor, whereas his brother focused on picture, product and business growth.
Now, the general workforce is nearing 50, together with 4 within the studio. Whereas the brothers declined to share gross sales figures, turnover has tripled within the post-pandemic years and there are actually 11 stand-alone boutiques throughout France and three division retailer corners. The brand new retailer idea shall be rolled out in Paris and division retailer corners by the top of the 12 months.
E-commerce is 1 / 4 of the enterprise and division retailer wholesale accounts take a 5 p.c share, serving as “an unimaginable window that results in consumer acquisition for us,” stated Théo Lafaurie.
On a regular basis Wardrobe at Costs for Everybody
What enabled the model to construct again stronger was “different suiting,” a suggestion of matching however extra casually tailor-made every day wardrobe necessities for customers with an urge for food for painterly colours and textures.
A photobooth portrait of Pierre Lafaurie inside the shop, with the spring 2025 collections and objects starting from artwork books to Robert Picault ceramics.
Jules Focone/Courtesy of Lafaurie
However what actually hit the spot is the accessible luxurious worth level of the model. Shirts go from $125 to $170, whereas knitwear goes as much as $290. On common, an informal jacket is round $220 whereas a handful of basic tailoring sees jackets priced at $515 and round $250 for trousers.
“A big a part of our shoppers come from luxurious and have been uninterested in worth will increase [that put] sweaters at 2,000 euros,” stated Théo Lafaurie. “15 years in the past, that form of pricing might have a pejorative connotation as a result of folks didn’t perceive why however when you clarify the economic coverage we’ve and that we work immediately with craftspeople, they get it.”
It additionally helped when skyrocketing materials costs led to a rise that went into the early-teen proportion. These days, occasional single-digit will increase are available in when a higher-grade materials comes into play.
What’s fueling the corporate’s progress now’s its worldwide enterprise. The U.S. has been notably fertile floor. It accounts for 60 p.c of e-commerce gross sales.
Warning is the North Star of their method, much more so since U.S. President Donald Trump introduced tariffs in early April.
Lengthy earlier than tariff talks, Lafaurie had put in place a hybrid logistic construction between France and the U.S. for delivery and returns that facilitate a 72-hour supply promise.
Lafaurie, spring 2025
Valentin Hennequin/Courtesy of Lafaurie
Having a worth perceived as accessible on the American market offers the French label confidence to navigate the tariff hurdle.
Now, the duo has plans for a pop-up later this 12 months or early 2026, with the West Village and NoHo as areas of curiosity. Whereas Théo Lafaurie stated it wasn’t essential to be a everlasting retail presence within the U.S. to do enterprise there, he’s eager to construct an emotional reference to American shoppers, whom he perceives as placing a excessive worth on neighborhood.
However shrewdly, Lafaurie desires to make sure a balanced worldwide growth that doesn’t lean too closely on one explicit territory.
Subsequent in sight: Asia, with China as the primary vacation spot the place they’re in talks with potential companions.
“At a second the place there’s plenty of challenges, notably for luxurious, we actually really feel there’s a card to play [there],” notably in gentle of evolving expectations from Chinese language high-end shoppers, stated Pablo Lafaurie.
