Gabriela Hearst officially Forges Her Own Route After Chloé 2024
After a three-year educational stint at Chloé, the designer Gabriela Hearst is now back to work on growing her own brand.
Gabriela Hearst pursues her goal of having her own brand, leaving Chloé behind
Together with CEO Thierry Colin, the designer has laid out a three-year plan to build on the groundwork she established eight years prior. In an effort to double sales over the next three years, the brand plans to open two more retail locations after debuting its third store in Los Angeles in November 2023. The company is growing its fine jewelry and footwear lines in addition to growing its core leather goods and ready-to-wear business.
Established in 2015, Gabriela Hearst has strong supporters such as LVMH, which in 2019 acquired a minority interest through its “Ventures” investment unit, and the designer’s spouse, Austin Hearst, the heir to the publishing empire. Nevertheless, Hearst’s vision will have to spark curiosity and introduce new clients, which will be difficult for a tiny company to accomplish.
Hearst says she’s thinking about her long-term plan for the brand:
“We will be the luxury brand of the future. It’s not going to be in ten years, it’s going to be in decades.”
Stephanie de Lavalette, a co-founder and close friend of Hearst, has taken to referring to her as “The Oracle of Paysandú.”
“She has been expressing things that will happen, sometimes right after she says them,” de Lavalette, a senior advisor who also joined Hearst at Chloé, said.
Hearst was discussing decarbonizing runway shows, non-virgin materials, and traceable supply chains before “sustainability” became a catchphrase on every earnings report. Hearst has always been anti-logo, and discreet wealth is booming. Although many fashion startups have had difficulty in recent years adjusting to the growing costs of digital marketing, Hearst never paid for it in the first place, choosing instead to use more conventional methods of self-promotion.
The only thing humanity can hope for is that, like her other predictions, her beliefs about fusion energy, which she used to design a collection for Chloé and anticipates could save the planet from a catastrophic climate shift, come to pass.
Even her merchandise, which from the outset featured opulent knitwear, the bulbous “Nina” bag, and contemporary suits, felt foresighted. Her style appeals to those who value all things DIY and who are drawn to so-called “quiet” luxuries at the same time. It is simultaneously authentic, ultra-refined, and crafty. Gabriela Hearst is against plastic, emphasizes creating clothing that will last generations, and primarily uses non-virgin materials that she can trace back to their source, as well as recycled or deadstock fabrics. Her own ranch produces the merino wool used by the brand.
“She arrived with a finished product. There was not anything ‘emerging’ about Gabriela. She had a point of view from the very beginning, she had good production, good quality and a good fit”- Julie Gilhart, Tomorrow Consulting’s president.
Hearst is renowned for her painstaking fabric sourcing, her connections to specialized manufacturers such as the woman-led knitwear collective Manos del Uruguay, and for being one of the few advocates in the United States of America for true luxury and craftsmanship. Her gowns range in price from $1,500 to over $15,000.
Through traditional advertising methods like magazine placements, billboards, and placements in niche publications like The Paris Review, the brand reaches consumers. The brand’s sweater was most recently worn by Sienna Miller on the cover of Vogue’s Winter 2024 issue, which was photographed by Annie Leibovitz.
Retail partners (such as Bergdorf Goodman, Net-a-Porter, Elyse Walker, and Neiman Marcus) and regular customers are also increasing awareness: according to Yumi Shin, chief merchandising officer at Bergdorf Goodman, “the product sells itself” when Gabriela Hearst reaches the right consumers, those who also buy The Row, Loro Piana, Chanel, and Dior.
Shin stated that this year was one of the store’s best years with the brand. “If you get your customer in a fitting room and give her a few pieces of Gabriela Hearst, they just immediately fall in love with the quality and the fit,” Shin said. “There’s no denying her increasing reach.”
Gabriela Hearst hopes to attract more of these consumers into its own fitting rooms as the brand grows by progressively increasing the proportion of retail sales through a program of new stores, shop-in-shops, and concessions. Its current fleet consists of a flagship in Manhattan that is next to The Carlyle Hotel, a location in London’s Mayfair neighborhood nestled between Claridge’s and the Argentinian embassy, and a recently opened outpost in Beverly Hills that features hand-molded ceilings, repurposed sycamore shelves, and custom furniture.
Its stores are uncluttered, light-filled spaces without mannequins, featuring white walls, sparsely stocked racks, and bags on display. Gabriela Hearst commented:
“Skimming all that excess, you think it will leave you with no beauty. On the contrary, it just focuses the beauty and the message.”
The brand distributes several styles exclusively, such as its highly sought-after Nina and Diana handbags, in order to generate demand and increase profits within its own retail locations.
LVMH and other strategic investors need to be answered to. But unlike other backers, such as a private equity fund, they allow the brand to expand at its own speed. Colin added:
“They expect for us to hit some financial results. But, when we discuss our financial trajectory, [LVMH is] always on the side of making the most uncompromising decisions when it comes to making sure we are not cutting corners on the product, the distribution and the marketing.”
Conclusion: Gabriela Hearst focus is to grow her brand and focus on a sustainable path, leaving Chloé behind.
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