Club Monaco
Club Monaco Fifth Avenue Main Gallerie, Photo By Peter Margonelli
The Evolution of Club Monaco's 1980's Minimal Style into one of a Cultured Global Brand was 6 years in the making. Collaboration with internal and international teams, along with Partnerships between Artists, Artisans, Chefs, Boutique Brands and Influencers; cultivated an Experience of surprise and delight for our Customers. Each Store and Event Design, was carefully positioned in its Local Context to become part of the fabric of the Neighborhood and feel 'Approachably Aspirational'.
Branding & Design
Transforming the Store Experience was the first task in making Club Monaco stand out from the crowded market of Contemporary Fashion Brands. Customers flooded the Store Managers with Compliments of the new Store Designs asking if the Furniture, Decor and Art were for sale as well, which a few years in became a real focus for the brand expansion into Home Goods. The profitability of each renovated store saw the comparative analytics from the previous years increase up to 200% in sales. Clearly, the customers liked what we were giving them and wanted more.
What made the difference in these new Store Designs was taking the team's genuine experience in High-End Residential Interiors and Hospitality; then using these products, techniques and artisans in a retail environment, when retail environments still felt cold and commercial at the time. Customers felt at ease in the spaces and wanted to spend time exploring the lifestyled merchandise and style guides. I genuinely believe that the biggest impact on the brand was our 'Hospitable' approach to Store Experience, which quickly influenced Club Monaco's Customer Service, Social Media & Events.
Aesthetically speaking, we wanted to position the brand within a European Context (or Traditional Architectural Envelope), connecting the atmosphere back to the fictional and glamourous idea of what 'Monaco' was like, based on a quote from Alfred Sung, one of the founders of the brand in the 1980's whom had actually never been to Monaco before but liked the idea of it so much he named his fashion line after the small country. We also wanted the stores to feel Editorial and Modern, but modern in the way that Europeans casually place Contemporary Furniture in their Belle Époque era Apartments.
Club Monaco was never looking to flood the market with stores, which allowed for the Design Team to carefully curate a unique experience for each market, play with architectural and design styles especially as the Brand began to expand globally. This approach allowed for us to not make another generic fashion brand, but one that had a personality and depth to it, that keeps evolving like we all do in life.
International Work
Club Monaco has more store abroad than in North America, most being located in China and South Korea. Working closely with the Head of International Merchandising and our Brand Partners ImagineX (Hong Kong, China, Macau, Singapore & Thailand) and SKN Networks in South Korea was our platform to find the right partners in new Markets such as Japan, the Middle East, Turkey and Australia.
Our Partners insights and knowledge were invaluable for binging a 'New Fashion Brand' to a New Market; that in turn let us develop the brand as one that offered something different than the rest which Landlords were desperately looking for to fill their new Luxury Malls and Commercial Developments.
Social Media & Events
Club Monaco's increased brand awareness was attributed to our intelligent and innovative PR & Marketing Team, which the Store Experience Team partnered with often to recreate the Store Experiences off-site or for in-store Events, such as the Garance Dore Book Tour, which was housed in our new Store Locations throughout North America and Europe. Club Monaco felt highly inspired by Culture and wanted to express these 'Core Values' through Customer Events. Events included Farmers Markets, Book Signings, Music Performances, Flower Arranging Classes and 'Makers & Muse Events' for the male customers that featured Craftsmen alongside lectures by Restauranteurs/Chefs such as 'Danny Meyer, Rene Redzepi and David Cheng while sipping on some strong drinks by a resident Cocktail Master.
Together we created our first Fashion Presentations for Club Monaco, the first one at Grand Central Station, which featured kiosks from our Food & Beverage Partners: Gjusta, La Colombe & Milk Bar, as well as a Putnam & Putnam Flowerstand and a Newstand by Rizzoli.
NYFW Spring 2017, Video by the IMAGINEXGROUP (Hong Kong)
Partnerships
Having worked with Food & Beverage Brands and Operational Partners as a Designer on Large Hospitality Projects paved the way to introducing small business Partners to the Club Monaco Flagship Stores. The complexion of the Flatiron District in New York become dominated by large businesses and chains where local businesses could not afford the rent on 5th Avenue, meant that local coffee shops, bookstores and florists had disappeared. Receiving additional space from the Landlord of what used to be the Building's Main Lobby, while designing the Interior of the 5th Avenue Flagship revealed an opportunity to create space for a small European Style Coffee Shop with it's own 5th Avenue Entrance.
The success of the 5th Avenue Flagship Partnerships with Toby's Estate, the Strand Bookshop and Putnam & Putnam Flowers, proved that the model of sub-leasing areas in our stores to Small Businesses who had similar values as Club Monaco would become the new 'Brand Standard'.
Over the years I oversaw Partnerships with: Jessica Koslow at Sqirl (whom we were designing a rooftop Restaurant and Garden for in LA), Momofuku/Milk Bar, Daniel Burns of Luksus/Noma, Rizzoli Books, Cafe Myriade, Drawn & Quarterly, Toby's Estate, Putnam & Putnam, Rachel Vosper, Hugh Acheson's Spiller Park, Butcher & Bee, Sugar Bakeshop, Mah ze dhar, Coqui Coqui, and Derek Brown of the Columbia Room.
Home Goods & Decor
Increased Customer requests to purchase the Furniture, Decor & Art in our Stores inspired the CEO to grow the Brand into that category through a mix of Antique Furnishings, Established Brands and Customized Collaborations. Club Monaco tested the Concept with One King's Lane, which proved to be successful.
Organizing a new cross-functional team internally, I oversaw the curation and selection of Home Products with the Merchandisers and planned trips to European Markets to obtain Antique Furniture for the Store Designs that could also be available for purchase. The First location to have a selection of Homegoods was the Club Monaco Summer 'Pop-Up' Store in Southampton, which then grew to new stores in Greenwich, Charleston and London.
Product categories included: Furniture, Tableware (Formal & Casual), Kitchenware, Bathware, Home Textiles, Rugs, Books & Candles. Many vendors I had worked with when designing Residential Interiors and were only available to the Trade were approached to do a bespoke line fore Retail. ABC Home was approached to collaborate on a line of Private Label Products that included Rugs and Furniture. Partnering with Independent Furniture Manufacturers and our internal Logistics Team; allowed for a new Supply Chain format to be developed based on Ralph Lauren's Distribution Center and experience with 1stDib's on-line Store.
'Look & Feel' Inspiration Boards for Beverly Drive Flagship by Jennifer di Leonardi