The L.A.-based upscale fashion brand L’Agence is in the midst of a major growth period.
The brand, which had revenue under $10 million just before the pandemic, is now making well over $100 million from online sales alone. And that’s not even counting its many retail stores, with more being opened both here in the U.S. and internationally all the time.
L’Agence’s presentation at New York Fashion Week this season was evidence of the way the brand has expanded. Every season, the venue it picks has gotten progressively bigger. From filling the second floor of the Bowery Hotel in 2023 to taking up the entire Celeste Bartos Forum at the New York Public Library in Bryant Park. Founder Jeff Rudes said he wants to keep checking off iconic landmarks. His dream for future seasons: the Guggenheim Museum.
The last year has proven to be especially fruitful for L’Agence, with multiple new stores in places like Fashion Island, Houston, Seoul and Paris. But Rudes said, despite the flurry of new stores and category expansions, he thinks about growth in a measured way.
“What works for us is slow and steady,” Rudes said. “It’s a combination of rhythm –—wanting to have regular new things happening — and lining up the right locations and right opportunities.”
While Paris was an obvious choice for its first international store earlier this year, given the brand’s L.A.-Paris-that fusion designs, Seoul has proven to be an unexpectedly successful market for the brand. The first South Korean store opened last year is already being joined by a third L’Agence store in Seoul that opened this week.
“If you can demonstrate success in South Korea, the rest of Asia opens up to you,” Rudes said. “The rest of Asia has its eyes on Korea. The market there is so strong — the culture, the music, the fashion. It’s really influential.”
And it’s not the brand’s footprint that’s expanding. L’Agence’s fashion director, Tara Rudes Dann, said it’s also about regular product expansion. She told Glossy that the L’Agence customer is loyal and willing to buy multiple categories in one trip to the store. In addition to the brand’s core products of denim, T-shirts and blazers, it has continued to add new categories like footwear and swim. The collection shown this season was more focused on dresses, gowns and occasionwear, while other categories like intimates and beauty are in discussion, though with no concrete plans attached just yet.
“We’ve really captured our customer on the essentials,” Rudes Dann said. “We’ve succeeded in those core categories, and now we’re creating the next evolution of the brand. But our woman is hungry. She’s hungry for great product.”
Jeff Rudes said NYFW events are a great way to keep track of what the customer and the retail buyers are looking for. The attendance at the event on Wednesday was a mix of editors, buyers, top clients, influencers and A-list celebrities like Lindsay Lohan.
“Of course, we have our buyers come into the stores to see what we’re working on beforehand,” Rudes said. “But for the show, it comes down to who’s going to scream about your brand the loudest.”
