EXCLUSIVE: French Knitwear Label Molli Looks to International Clients With New and Largest-yet Paris Flagship
Lily Templeton
5 min read
PARIS — Save for mannequins in the window, you’d be forgiven for mistaking the new flagship of French heritage knitwear brand Molli for the ground-floor abode of a well-to-do Parisian.
What catches the eye first in the 1,100-square-foot unit located at 29 Rue François in the 8th arrondissement is the hand-painted ceiling depicting lush vegetation that was inspired by a Sicilian palazzo. Along with the rest of the store, it was designed in-house.
Handpicked vintage furniture continues the impression of someone’s interior and that’s exactly how owner and general manager Charlotte de Fayet wanted it.
“I didn’t tap an It-architect because it’s not the spirit of the brand and in the end, that’s all one talks about,” she told WWD ahead of the opening.
And what she’d rather people talk about is the collaborative library space she has set behind the cash desk stocked with titles from female authors.
The Molli storefront at 29 Rue François 1er.
“The idea came from all these WhatsApp groups I’m in where we trade recommendations for movies, plays but most often books,” said the executive. “I really want to set [Molli] in that Ralph Lauren vibe of a warm home — not somewhere you go mine for decor inspirations, but definitely where you want to have a coffee, a browse — and pick up a sweater.”
Of course, the main talking point remains the polished but unfussy knitwear of Molli, the 139-year-old brand she rebooted in 2015 as a women’s knitwear label that expanded on the garter-stitch newborn sets it was best known for.
These days, it’s a broad range that starts around 390 euros for simple tops and small accessories and breaches the 1,000 euro range with a couple of pieces. Each season has around 180 references, with 60 models in a handful of colors.
By the look of things, a growing number are joining the conversation. From the initial two stores she took over, on Boulevard Saint-Germain and Avenue Paul Doumer in the 16th arrondissement, Molli has grown to four stand-alone stores in Paris, a well-trafficked corner at Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche and just shy of 100 wholesale accounts worldwide.
Repeat purchase levels are around 50 percent and occur as early as within a month following an initial sale, both online and in person. “In terms of customer loyalty, we are closer to what happens in menswear brands,” de Fayet remarked.
Since the pandemic, the company’s sales have been growing by a double-digit factor year-over-year, passing the 8 million euro mark last year. For the fiscal-year 2025, which closes in August, Molli is on track to exceed 10 million euros given its 22 percent like-for-like growth between September and March. In the midterm, de Fayet’s goal is to triple sales within four years.
The Rue François flagship will serve as the springboard for this next step, and not only because it is three times as big as its three Parisian siblings, all under 350 square feet and described as “little wardrobes rooted in their neighborhood, with a very faithful local clientele” by de Fayet.
De Fayet expects the new store to break even in the first year, seeing as the area is on an upswing, particularly with the opening of the Hauser & Wirth gallery two years ago.
Plus, sitting catty-corner with the original Courrèges store on a shopping street perpendicular to luxury shopping artery Avenue Montaigne and a stone’s throw from the Champs-Élysées, the store is ideally placed to draw a more international clientele to Molli’s doorstep.
At present, France still accounts for two-thirds of the company’s turnover. But international sales are growing strongly, particularly with e-commerce, which now accounts for 35 percent of the business. Switzerland, where Molli is stocked at the Bongénie department store, is a buzzing market for Molli.
Meanwhile, the U.S. takes a 15 percent share and is the largest single-country market for the brand outside its home country.
Online, the average American basket is around 1,500 euros — triple the global average — while offline, its American clientele is a fervent shopper who stocks up on multiple colorways of favorite pieces to take advantage of lower prices, de Fayet noted.
Going forward, de Fayet is determined to further sharpen the brand’s drops and offer.
New directions include a sculptural summer-weight top in an organza knit, a development made possible by a new viscose thread the brand is using for the first time, and a midi-length dress with a pattern so complex it takes five hours to knit. A maximum of three dresses can come out of the workshop per day.
Charlotte de Fayet
But she’s also expanding the mid-season segment. Come fall, there will be a little knit blouson — “never-woven textiles, you can find those anywhere,” she insists — a chunky sweatshirt.
“In the beginning, I wanted to position the brand on a super elegant segment,” she added. “Going in a more relaxed direction afterward is easier than the other way around.”
While 60 percent of sales are done in colder months, summer also performs well, driven by demand for outfits for ceremonies. If anything, it’s high summer that’s not quite served.
But with the brand’s presence in the stores of the Airelles Gordes La Bastide hotel and the group’s Château de la Messardière luxury property in Saint-Tropez, it’s a direction de Fayet is open to.
“We are not yet a brand you take to the beach,” she said. “But why not, in a similar vein to Missoni swimwear? I can see that as a nice growth driver for Molli.”
