Philipp Plein held a black-tie event to celebrate creations in fragrances, timepieces and eyewear.
The party took place Wednesday night at his fabulous domain perched high up in the hills above the city of Cannes, France. The event took place in tandem with the Tax Free World Association trade show in Cannes’ Palais de Congrès below and just days before the birth of his third child was expected. The new creations were all developed through licensed categories.
Plein shined a spotlight on his brand’s fourth fragrance, called No Limit$ Gold, which comes with the tag line “The alchemy of success.” It is the third men’s scent in the No Limit$ collection and was created by master perfumer Alberto Morillas, who used olfactive notes including bergamot, elemi, amber woods and patchouli.
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“It’s very sunny, orange flowers, Mediterranean and brilliant,” said Morillas.
Plein said the aim was to offer something unique and linked to his brand’s DNA.
“The bottle has a credit card shape,” he said, referring to the gold-colored flacon. “The idea was to sell the dream of having a credit card with no limits on it. Who did not ever dream of that?
“I wanted to have something ironic, something fun — not just an amazing, sophisticated smell and juice,” said Plein. “It’s very nice to give not only a great juice, but also a message in the bottle. It’s playful.”
For Plein, fragrance is a great entry point into luxury. His first scents ever were from Joop and Calvin Klein, with the latter — CK One — concocted by Morillas.
“He also created my mother’s favorite fragrance — Opium, by Saint Laurent,” said Plein, who decorated his childhood room with those initial perfume bottles.
Plein also feted his brand’s launch into the Swiss-made luxury watch segment, following its entry into the luxury fashion watch segment through a license with Timex Group that spans 4,000 sales points in 60 countries.
“It’s very exciting. We reached about 100 million euro retail value of turnover within two years,” said Plein. “This is something from zero to hero in a very short period of time.”
Out first from Plein’s luxury watch division, based in Lugano, Switzerland, will be the Crypto King and Crypto Queen collections. So far, they have been sold by preorder only through exclusive events staged worldwide.
“We are basically sold out until the end of the year,” confided Plein. “This is a super exciting project. We are expanding more in this direction.”
For spring 2024, he is introducing an upper-luxury eyewear collection with licensee De Rigo, comprising 18 models, including sun- and prescription glasses.
The designer said Philipp Plein has reached all its targets in the category and is now 40 percent over budget for 2023.
“We have not only a great sell-in but also great sell-out in the industry,” said Plein.
Altogether he has 14 licenses today, including ones for wallpaper, children’s shoes and golfwear and accessories in South Korea, a big jump from 2020, when the first license began. Plein said those licenses have added value to his core business and for his consumers.
“I’m very blessed and happy to have partners in the industry which gave me the freedom to really be part of the project,” he said. “I wanted to do it with my DNA.”
The licenses, he added, are “an amazing opportunity to expand the brand, its distribution and awareness. With the license partners alone, we added nearly 10,000 new points of sale. We are leveraging from this. It’s giving the brand another accelerator and helping it be even more established.”
Fashion-wise, tailoring is the category that’s fastest growing for Philipp Plein — especially blazers, for men and women.
“Everybody who is wearing a blazer nowadays has a hard time finding alternatives in the market,” he said. “Philipp Plein is not only a niche market specialist. It is also a specialist in finding demands in the market.
“We listen to what’s going on and what the consumer actually wants and is looking for,” continued Plein. “Now, after COVID especially, while everybody was focused on loungewear and jogging [clothes], people are going again to dinner parties, like tonight, and festivities where you dress up. There’s a demand — much more than before COVID. We have a great product and a really high-end Italian sartorial division.”
Plein’s women’s blazers are worn with everything from hot pants to denim, for day and night. He has implemented a sartorial corner in all Philipp Plein stores.
“This will also help us again to sell shoes which are not sneakers,” said Plein, explaining the brand offers a total look. “Today we sell more easily a tuxedo jacket for $3,000 than a leather jacket.”
He explained that despite his brand turning 25 this year, it still has tremendous growth potential.
“We are still at the very beginning,” said Plein. “We have plenty of time ahead of us, where we can keep on growing organically.”
That is to say, without external investors. Plein feels this is an important message to share, especially with entrepreneurs, such as young designers, in the increasingly competitive landscape dominated by a handful of large groups.
“If ever somebody tries again to create a brand from scratch, the only advice I can give is that at the beginning, you are not a brand — you are just a product,” said Plein. “This is why we have always been a maximalist brand, because we had to create a product which delivers such a strong message.”
Also to command elevated prices, the products have need to be valuable, he reasoned.
“We are still driven by product,” said Plein. “That’s why we are so playful in all our designs and what we do. This, actually, is the secret of success of this brand over 25 years. It was always the product which was selling — never the brand.”