Company profiles

Jacquemus

Company name: Jacquemus SAS 

Industry: Jacquemus is a luxury goods company focusing on ready-to-wear clothes, handbags and accessories.

Ownership: Owned by Simon Porte Jacquemus 

Revenue: 11,5 M in 2018. Estimated to be between 23-25 million in 2019 

Founding date: 2009

Dimension: 60 employees 

HQ: 69 rue de Monceau, 75008 Paris


Brief History

Jacquemus SAS was founded in 2009 by Simon Porte Jacquemus when he was just 19. With little to no money and a desire to become financially independent, Simon opened his first studio at 59 rue Ganneron, in Montmartre, Paris. Working on the side at Comme des Garcons to finance the business, Jacquemus worked on his designs in his spare time and presented his first Autumn-Winter women’s collection in 2009 called “L’Hiver Froid” with the help of model and French It Girl Jeanne Damas. 

Jacquemus started from the very beginning with a digitally native business model, using social media to get his designs across. In an interview with Le Monde, he stated that “[…] social media were decisive for the brand’s rise. I posted my first collections on Tumblr, and some shots were shared hundreds of thousands of times”. The brand made its first public impression when many influencers and friends of Simon Porte Jacquemus wore the label’s designs during Vogue’s Fashion Night Out in 2010. Soon after, during the 2010 Paris fashion week, Jacquemus boldly presented its Fall-Winter 2011-12 collection “L’Usine” outside the Dior show, catching Vogue Paris Editor in Chief Emmanuelle Alt’s attention. 

The label made its official debuts at Paris Fashion Week with the Spring-Summer 2013 show “La Maison”, but truly captured the press and VIPs’ interest during the Autumn-Winter 2013 show “La Piscine”, set in an incredibly unique setting: an actual public swimming pool. In 2015, with a jury composed of some of the industry’s biggest names like Karl Lagerfeld and Nicolas Ghesquiere, the brand was awarded a special prize at the LVMH Prize for young fashion designers, receiving a year-long mentorship from the LVMH group. In September 2017, through the breakthrough collection “La Bomba” the label truly reached international recognition and conquered the general public with its infamous Chiquito bag and the La Bomba oversized straw hat, increasing the brand’s revenues 54% between 2017 and 2018. 

Since then, the brand has continuously been very talked-about, through its unique catwalk settings. “Le Gadjot”, Jacquemus’ first menswear collection was set on a beach in Marseille and “Le coup de Soleil” was set in the middle of lavender fields in the south of France. Jacquemus was also the only brand to do a show with a socially distanced audience amidst the covid pandemic in July 2020, inviting a limited number of guests to see “L’Amour” collection set in wheat fields, near Paris. The show, which was also broadcasted live on Instagram, attracted more than 1 million viewers, making it one of the most viewed digital fashion shows. Listed as number 11 on Lyst’s hottest brands index in 2020, Jacquemus has become a leading luxury brand in just 10 years, rising as a powerful competitor to some of the greatest Maisons


Financial Analysis

Jacquemus SAS belongs to Simon Porte Jacquemus, who is also the brand’s artistic director and CEO. This was an important strategic decision for Jacquemus, as it allowed him to remain independent, while also directly understanding demand and creating clothing that can sell well accordingly. 

Since 2015, the company has witnessed a tremendous increase in its sales, doubling revenue in 2016 and 2017 compared to their respective previous years. Overall, in 4 years, the company’s revenue jumped from 1,4M€ in 2015 to 11,5M€ in 2018 and was estimated to be between 20M and 23M € in 2019. 

The brand employs more than 60 people, sells its products through 230 retailers and owns two stands in Galeries Lafayettes in Paris, but its revenue and success mainly come from online sales and social media. 


Product and Strategy Development 

“My name is Simon, I like blue and white, stripes, the sun, fruits, circles, life, poetry, Marseille and the 80s. “

As founder, owner, CEO and creative director of the label, Jacquemus has full control over the entirety of Jacquemus’ product line. The brand’s aesthetic is minimalist, naive and effortless yet unique and sexy. For many years focused on womenswear, Jacquemus has expanded its accessories collection with handbags like the notorious “Chiquitos” and  “Bambinos”. The company also distributes hats, sunglasses, shoes and jewellery inspired by his childhood, home, mother and the south of France, and French 80s movies. In 2019, Jacquemus launched its first menswear collection and simultaneously announced that it would henceforth be presenting two collections per year according to the Men’s Fashion Week calendar. 

The brand’s strategy is based on three pillars: nature, inclusivity and accessibility. Jacquemus emphasises nature in its textile choice; using linen, cotton and viscose as its main fabrics and creating monochromatic looks inspired by colours found in the Provence landscapes. The brand is also committed to inclusivity and accessibility, offering a more extensive range of sizes than some of its competitors with a much lower price range. The main goal was to have a high-end luxury clothing brand with a strong visual impact, but with premium prices, corresponding to prices between the “affordable luxury” brand and luxury fashion house. 

The brand’s success is also due to Jacquemus’ innovative social media strategy, using Instagram as its most important communication tool. With a visually appealing feed and IG friendly products, the brand has become one of the most influential brands on Instagram, accumulating more than 3.2 million followers. What’s even more unique is that Simon Porte Jacquemus is also in charge of handling the brand’s social media, offering a very transparent look at the Maison and trying to build a strong relationship with its community. Through its digitally native business model, Jacquemus has mastered the art of community building and social media engagement over the years. 


Jacquemus: present and future

Always looking for more opportunities to innovate and express his creativity, Jacquemus continues to go viral with his various projects. In 2019, the brand opened its first 2 Mediterranean-inspired restaurants, Oursin and Café Citron, in collaboration with Caviar Kaspia, on the Champs Elysées in Paris. During the pandemic, Jacquemus was also the first to come out with a facetime campaign, starring Bella Hadid in the Jacquemus SS20 collection. 

Jacquemus is also striving for a more sustainable line. He announced in 2019 that he would reduce the number of shows to two a year, and has been working on selecting more sustainable fabrics. As Simon Porte stated in an interview, “I think we have to get back to something more pure and minimal, and I’m making clothes that will last”. 


Sources: Jacquemus, L’Officiel USA, Vogue, Vogue Business, Le Monde, Vestiaire Collective, Retviews, Lyst, Highsnobiety, Forbes, Fashionnetwork, Marie Claire, Sleek Mag, LVMH, L’Amour Spring 2021, Vouge: Bella Hadid & Jacquemus, Vougue: Fall 2020, Vougue Business: Breakout Brands, Le Monde: Unique Equilibrium

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