Andrew Maag, CEO of Dunhill: "We are on the right track!"

One of the most impenetrable mysteries of the luxury sector is the ability of Parisian brands to surpbad their respected, but often very clbadic, London rivals.

The British brand Dunhill, much admired, swam in troubled waters for a decade – changes in artistic directors, management teams, general lack of orientation … This time seems well and truly over.

After a rigorous program of rationalization, and two parades very welcomed – the last of which was probably the finest example of tailoring that we saw during the menswear week of June – Dunhill seems on the road to remission.

We met Andrew Maag, CEO of Dunhill, Crillon, to learn more about his strategy to put Dunhill back on the road to profitability, in a few busy years.

In September Andrew Maag will move Dunhill to his new headquarters on North Audley Street in Mayfair, London, after having recently opened five new stores, including one at the Hong Kong Ocean Center. A Dubai Mall outlet is scheduled to open on August 24, and a store in Osaka on August 29. All of a sudden, Dunhill's future looks brighter than the brand's famous lacquered lighters.

Dubbed Alfred Dunhill at birth, today everyone is talking about "Dunhill"; the brand is immediately recognizable thanks to its logo, the elongated typography, introduced as early as 1937. Dunhill belongs to the portfolio of the Richemont group, whose Other Goods department controls eight other brands of luxury, fashion or accessories, including Chloé, Azzedine Alaïa, upmarket golf brand Peter Millar, the armourer Purdey, Montblanc, and the Milanese brand of luxury leather goods Serapian, which he offered only four months ago. His luxury house Sulka, "is dormant, even if we keep the brand alive, with a small production," says Andrew Maag.

Last year, the Geneva group Richemont, controlled by the wealthy Rupert family, in South Africa, recorded a 3% growth in turnover, which reached 10.979 billion euros. But Other Goods declined by 10%, generating 497 million euros, "affected by a number of exceptional events, both during the year and the year that preceded it," according to the company's annual report. third world luxury group. And, more worryingly, Other Goods suffered an operating loss of 65 million euros. That said, the operating income of Richemont in 2017 has increased by 15% to reach 1,926 billion euros: we do not worry too much about the Rupert family.

The success of Richemont is linked to its stable of brand names. Jewelery and Watchmaking – which includes Cartier, Van Cleefs & Arpels, IWC, Jaeger Le Coultre, Panerai and Vacheron Constantin, and which accounts for 80% of its total sales. Its fashion and leather goods brands still have some way to go. "Still, our sales are bigger than last year!" Dunhill is not yet profitable, "admits Andrew Maag," but we're on the right track! "

According to him, the problems Dunhill are linked to "an aggressive, but inadequate expansion after the fact, in bad stores."

Dunhill's activities are spread on one side in men's ready-to-wear, on the other in accessories – leather goods, cufflinks, pens, lighters, scarves, neckties. Historically, Dunhill's most iconic product is probably its famous vertical lighter – but today, smokers are becoming increasingly scarce, as are the sales outlets, and the flammability of these products makes them more complicated to

"We make beautiful lighters and we are very proud of them, but there are some problems," admits Andrew Maag

While Dunhill is essentially a British brand, it now leaves London to present its products. parades. "We tried to parade in London, but no one came in. In particular the Americans, London is always at the end of the fashion calendar, and therefore at the end of the budget of magazines and buyers. It was difficult to arouse interest, we hesitated between Milan and Paris, but in the end, we realized that the public was off the Channel, and that we just had to take the Eurostar, "he says.

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Andrew Maag had to make a particularly difficult decision by drastically reducing the brand's retail network.

"At one point we had a lot more than 200 Dunhill stores, we had to sweep it off, shut down the stores. secondary cities in China, leave the partnerships that badly represented the brand. Unhill was old and tired. We had enormous difficulties: it was essential to press the "reset" button. Today, we have started to grow again, it's exciting, "he says with a smile, noting that this year Dunhill has taken over a Brioni outlet at Galeries Lafayette.

Another major decision Andrew Maag: Recruitment of Artistic Director Mark Weston, a Burberry alumnus
"Actually, it was also me who hired him at Burberry!", He exclaims – Andrew Maag joined Burberry in the early 1990s, after working in the United States at Limited Brands, Banana Republic and Donna Karan, where he worked alongside Angela Ahrendts and Christopher Bailey, future CEOs and Artistic Director of Burberry – at a time when the once-purring British brand has risen to the top 10 luxury brands worldwide.

Graduated from New York University in Psychology and French, before studying languages at the Sorbonne, Andrew Maag lives in London, even though he travels constantly. His next long haul: to Japan, with Mark Weston, to celebrate the renovation of a store in Ginza, which includes the construction of an additional floor, a trendy bar, and a restaurant. But the Dunhill Hotel is not about to open …

"Many people ask us to make restaurants – but the lifestyle we want to promote is expressed in our clothes, bags, our shoes, that's the only change you'll ever see: everyone knew us as a brand of tailors and leather napkins, but we really developed the casual wear business, with which Dunhill started in 1905. Alfred Dunhill himself opened two stores on Conduit Street in 1905, because the car was then unrivaled, and at that time the cars were not covered, so he made coats. Special hats and gloves.This applies to what we are doing today: dungarees, jackets, duffle coats, in a luxurious setting! "

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Andrew Maag also ambitious plans to restructure the neighborhood general brand. "As there will be no offices, no badigned seats, large tables without partitions, everything will be very fluid," he promises.

The layout will remain more traditional in the outlets. In London, Dunhill also operates the Bourdon House, the former Georgian mansion of the Duke of Westminster during the Great War, where the aristocrat had made the run to Coco Chanel – today he is equipped with a tailor service on measuring, a wine cellar, a barber and a projection room.

The CEO is on the verge of signing a lease to open new stores in Manhattan, where the brand had closed his store on Madison at a darker moment in her history. Dunhill distributes its products in more than twenty major US stores, including Neiman Marcus, Saks and Nordstrom – although overall, wholesale revenues represent only 20% of its sales. But Andrew Maag wants to reorganize retail to offer a deeper and more prestigious experience to his customers.

"We do not want this inter-war, dusty and nostalgic aesthetic anymore, like in the series Downtown Abbey ".

Taming to be "British, masculine and relevant", the The house has radically transformed its clothing line, and offers more and more jeans, "a category we sell by the hundreds on Mr Porter.Our growth is 120% compared to last year on Mr Porter." [19659004] For three years, Dunhill was under the control of Kim Jones, before he took the lead of Louis Vuitton in 2011. "It was another time," says Andrew Maag, while admitting that after the departure of Kim Jones, a studio crew took over in ollectif, "difficult moment."

"Mark Weston started with me in April 2017, and we started presenting our results on September 1st. A 360 ° approach: we photograph the product, create a campaign, share it on social networks, display it in our shop windows, explain to our teams how to use it. Then, two months later, rebelote. We created six products in the first year, and we're going to make eight this year. This gives a reason to visit our stores and go on dunhill.com. For the novelty! "

During his last fashion show in Paris, Mark Weston presented an impressive collection of trendy yet adult fashion: six-button crossover jackets and wide lapels, elongated pants, jackets Seyed and current

"When I hired Mark, I told him we would not go on a parade. But we changed our minds when we realized that we had to do it to compete with our competitors, to be up to the task, "explains Andrew Maag, adding that today's men often consult shows on the Internet, and then return to the department stores with their mobile phones, to afford a complete outfit of the parade.

"In the old days, men did not!", he exclaims.