What to Watch: U.S. Lifestyle Brands Expanding Overseas Presence With Freestanding Stores and Pop

U.S. lifestyle brands are accelerating their quest for freestanding stores and in-store shops at department stores worldwide, bringing their American mindset to shoppers globally. Tory Burch, which has been successfully expanding overseas since 2006, LoveShackFancy, Alice + Olivia, TWP, Ulla Johnson and Nili Lotan have all opened stores abroad and are actively looking for new freestanding and pop-up locations over the coming months. Brands such as Coach, Ralph Lauren, Alo Yoga, Vuori and Reformation are also continuing to expand their overseas presence with freestanding stores. “The biggest challenge for U.S. brands expanding into Europe and Asia is scaling relevance. Many contemporary American brands already benefit from global visibility through social media, wholesale partnerships and tourism. The harder task is earning relevance with consumers in a different cultural context,” said Meghan Labot, managing director at creative agency Love. “Localization has become a ‘meaning’ challenge. It is no longer as simple as adapting product assortments or marketing messages. It requires understanding how consumers in each market interpret what the brand stands for, and ensuring the experience feels relevant to their lives while remaining true to the brand’s core identity.” You May Also Like Tory Burch Outlines Global Expansion Strategy Tory Burch opened its first point of international distribution in 2006 at Harvey Nichols Dubai. It currently has European freestanding boutiques in cities such as Paris, London, Rome and Munich, and Middle East boutiques in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt and Jordan. On Friday, Burch will open a pop-up at Selfridges Oxford Street (followed by Manchester and Birmingham). Created in partnership with Yarō Studio and Magnus Gustafsson, the concept encompasses an Airstream café and an aerodynamic Romy pop-up, including Burch’s Romy Distressed Bucket Bag, available in Europe exclusively at this location through the end of October. The café opened Tuesday and runs through Sept. 14 and the pop-up shop continues to Oct. 21. The Tory Burch x Violet café offers coffee and baked goods from Violet Cakes, a London bakery-café founded by Claire Ptak. The partnership reflects Burch’s dedication to supporting women entrepreneurs. The company will unveil a newly renovated store in Paris on Rue Saint-Honoré next spring. “I would say we’re probably in the second chapter of the development,” said Pierre-Yves Roussel, chief executive officer of Tory Burch, noting the brand has been building its overseas business long before he joined the company. He said Burch opened its first Milan showroom in 2008, which was four years after the brand was launched. Burch formed a partnership with the Chalhoub Group in 2009 for Middle East expansion. In its second chapter, Roussel said the company’s not trying to expand its retail footprint in Europe drastically. “I think we are in all the cities like London, Paris, Rome. We had a store in Milan that we closed during COVID and were looking for another location. But we’re in a phase where we’re actually redoing our stores because after 10 years, it’s part of the renaissance of the brand. But we’re about to do Paris [which originally opened in 2015], in early 2027, then we’ll do London. We’ve done Rome, and we’re looking for a store in Milan. We also have entered Spain, which was not part of chapter one,” Roussel said. He said the brand is opening within El Corte Inglés in Lisbon later this year and Barcelona in 2027. Asked whether it has to adjust the merchandise for different countries, Roussel said, “When you have a bestseller, it works everywhere.” Sometimes the second layers of the business become more specific, whether that’s certain colors, shapes or styles. He noted that the European customer is a mix of local shoppers and tourists, and Europe is the biggest tourist destination in the world. He said there used to be a lot of Asian consumers in Europe, but it is now not at the same proportion as it used to be. “We see a lot of customers from the U.S., which is great because obviously we’re very strong in the U.S.” He noted that Burch has 114 stores in Greater China and 21 stores in Japan. “The other thing that’s really exciting when it comes to Europe at large is the development of the Middle East,” he said. The company has 23 stores now in the region. While it has had less tourists due to the war in the region, the people who live there like to shop. “It’s really their go-to place on weekends. So we’ve actually had a very resilient business [in the Middle East],” he said. Burch has eight stores in Saudi Arabia. “It’s the largest populated country in the Middle East, and for us, it’s a great customer because this is the customer who wants to have their access into luxury, but they do not want to spend $10,000 on a bag or $5,000 on a bag. Our price point is very well positioned,” he said. Discussing the operational challenges of expanding in Europe, Roussel said, “I would say the first thing is the real estate is expensive. If you want to get a prime location…it’s very expensive. And we’ll always try to find locations that are always interesting, where there is luxury, but also where there’s traffic. Regent Street does very well for us, and it’s actually more interesting for us than Bond Street [in London].” In Paris, he said, Rue Saint-Honoré, where it has a store, is more interesting than Avenue Montaigne “because in Saint-Honoré you have a mix of traditional high-end luxury brands, but you also have cafés and restaurants. What we like is to be in areas where we have the brand mix, which is qualitative but also where people enjoy going, but not just for shopping. They love going to a destination and [going] to restaurants.” Roussel said it’s not looking to open huge stores in Europe. He said people prefer an environment that has a bit of intimacy, so its stores in Europe are probably about 4,000 square feet. “They tend to be bigger actually than our stores in the U.S., in general. They are usually on two levels. They have a bit of a house feeling. They all look different. There obviously is a common thread across them in terms of concept, but we’re not just rolling it out.” He said the Paris store will have some of the vibes of the Rodeo Drive unit that it’s opened, which is an evolution of its concept. The Paris store is between Hermès and Dior. In South America, Burch has stores in Mexico and Brazil and operates those stores with partners. Rousssel said the company is launching its website in Spanish; it already has 15 websites in multiple languages. LoveShackFancy Has Touted European Expansion as Key Priority for Next Phase of Growth Stacy Lilien, president of LoveShackFancy, which has two overseas stores in Notting Hill and Chelsea in London, said, “Europe is definitely a priority for the next phase of growth. The South of France and London have always been integral to the LoveShackFancy aesthetic and point of view. Europe continues to be an incredible source of inspiration for our design team, from collecting vintage and sourcing fabrics and prints to discovering local markets, artisans and craftsmanship. “As we enter our next phase of global growth, Europe represents both a significant commercial opportunity and an important gateway to further international expansion. Through our wholesale partners, e-commerce business and social channels, we’ve already built a highly engaged customer base across the region. The success of our two London locations has further reinforced the demand we’re seeing for LoveShackFancy and our opportunity to deepen the brand’s presence across Europe.” Asked how the company decides which European cities to enter first, and what its criteria is for opening permanent locations, Katie Antonucci, head of retail at LoveShackFancy, said, “We first look at customer demand and shopping behavior across our wholesale and e-commerce businesses to identify the markets where we already have the most active and engaged communities. “Finding the right space in the right neighborhood is also incredibly important to us. A location must feel authentic to the LoveShackFancy brand and aesthetic while delivering the right combination of foot traffic, local customers and international visitors. We would rather wait for the perfect space than open simply to establish a presence,” Antonucci said. She said that “London was a natural starting point because it’s a global fashion capital, an important international shopping destination and a market where we already had strong brand recognition.” The company opened its first international store on Westbourne Grove in Notting Hill in 2022 and has since expanded with its Chelsea boutique, which was its 30th store. She said the company is continuing to expand its international retail footprint and will open its first store in the Middle East on the ground floor of The Dubai Mall in the fourth quarter. LoveShackFancy said it experienced strong e-commerce and wholesale business in international cities before it opened freestanding stores. “We had already seen really strong demand through our international e-commerce business and our network of more than 450 wholesale partners, so we knew the customer was there. Those channels gave us a great understanding of where she was, what she was responding to, and where we had an opportunity to grow,” Lilien said. Asked what metrics it uses to show that a store is successful in building the brand, Antonucci said, “We look at traditional retail metrics, including traffic, conversion, sales productivity, SPSF, full-price selling and profitability, but those numbers only tell part of the story. We also measure new-customer retention and acquisition, local e-commerce growth, cross-category purchasing, event engagement and the store’s impact on our surrounding wholesale business. A successful store should strengthen the entire LoveShackFancy ecosystem in that market, not simply generate revenue within its four walls.” Discussing the biggest operational challenge to expanding into Europe, Lilien said, “The greatest challenge has been maintaining the intimacy and consistency of the LoveShackFancy experience while adapting to the operational realities of a new market. Cross-border logistics, customs, VAT, inventory allocation, employment requirements and different retail calendars all add complexity. The key has been building the right local infrastructure while maintaining a close connection with our New York team. We want the operation to feel local and intuitive, while ensuring the customer experience remains unmistakably LoveShackFancy.” Nili Lotan Is Looking for Stores in London and Paris Nili Lotan, founder, CEO and creative visionary of her namesake contemporary brand, said, “I’ve been actively looking for stores in Paris, and I’m sure London will come next.” In addition to two stores in South Korea, Lotan is opening another two there, she said. The Korean stores are done with a distributor, so it’s easier. “We are not taking care of the operation side of things. If we open in Paris, it will be more our own operation,” Lotan said. She said it won’t operate differently than its Los Angeles or New York stores. As for which European city will come first, she said, “It will be either London or Paris, depends what we find first.” Alice + Olivia Is Scoping More Stores Throughout Europe Stacey Bendet, CEO and creative director of Alice + Olivia, said, “Our focus is on European expansion. We’ve seen tremendous success in London. We opened in Milan. We’re looking to open in Paris.” She said the brand would also like to open a third store in London. Overall, Alice + Olivia has around 50 stores globally. Bendet said it’s also looking to do some type of experiential retail — almost like doing a chateau takeover — to showcase the brand in an experience-focused environment where “we can do trips and things like that. So we’ve been looking at these properties in London and in France to do interesting things with,” Bendet said. Bendet opened her first Alice + Olivia store in London in 2022. The company has stores on King’s Road and Bruton Street. Asked how the London stores are performing, she said, “It took us a minute to kind of get them going, but now they’re doing great now. We have a really good customer base there, and the women are so excited about our clothes.” She said they did a dinner with Nicky Hilton Rothschild in June, “and it was phenomenal.” Bendet said the company decided to open stores in London because it was doing good business at its wholesale accounts there. She anticipates it will open a store in Paris sometime next year. She’d also like to do something in Saint-Tropez and Berlin, while in Asia, it is focusing on Hong Kong. Bendet said there’s a European customer who loves its dresses and loves its suiting. “I think that initially in certain cities they come to us more for dress-up pieces. As we cultivate them as customers, they come to us for more of our pants and tailoring and more lifestyle pieces,” she said. Bendet said she’d also like to open cafés in her stores, the way Ralph Lauren does. “It’s like creating the brand experience beyond the actual retail boutique,” she said. She’ll probably start that concept first in New York. Europe Is the Next Step for TWP’s Expansion Plans European expansion is the next step for TWP, the luxury womenswear firm cofounded by Trish Wescoat Pound and Andrew Rosen. “Growing your business is a requirement today. In order to grow, you need to expand your distribution. We see our brand as something that can certainly expand beyond the U.S. and Europe is the next logical place for TWP to grow,” Rosen said. TWP, which has a store in London, was asked whether it initially tested the waters through e-commerce or wholesale. “Yes, we initially entered the European market through specialty boutiques and via the TWP website, which ships internationally. Now is the time to create our own TWP environment where the customer can experience the brand as a whole. We know we have an international customer through these channels and through international customers we have met in the U.S.,” Rosen said. “Since we already had a sense of the European customer through our existing channels, we wanted to offer them our own space in Europe. A place where the brand’s aesthetic can be understood and experienced in full,” Wescoat Pound said. She said that “London felt like the right first step. It’s such an international city, allowing us to reach so many different people in one place, not just a single market. Andrew has a great instinct for locations, so when this space became available in Mayfair and we took it immediately.” The Challenges for U.S. Brands to Build Relevance in Different Cultures Discussing what U.S. brands need to look out for, Love’s Labot said, “For U.S. brands, in particular, it’s important to recognize that they are often exporting an idea of America, not just a product. Consumers are buying into a version of America that exists in the cultural imagination, whether that’s New York sophistication, California optimism, modern Western heritage or a broader aspirational lifestyle. Those cultural associations can be a powerful differentiator in Europe and Asia, where consumers are often drawn to the story and sense of place behind a brand as much as the product itself. “The most successful brand expansions protect the cultural narrative that makes them distinctively American while remaining flexible in how that narrative is expressed from one market to the next. The goal isn’t to make the brand local. It’s to make it locally relevant without losing the qualities that made consumers fall in love with it in the first place,” she said.