Womenswear label L’Agence, founded in Los Angeles in 2008 by Jeff Rudes, Margaret Maldonado and Ron Herman, has entered the European retail market this summer, having opened its first store on the continent in Paris at the beginning of July.

L’Agence’s first showcase on the European market is located at 25 rue de Saintonge in the trendy, vibrant Marais district, brimming with art galleries and stores by many international fashion labels. Farm Rio from Brazil and Edwin from Japan have recently opened stores there.

“Driven by strong growth in the US market,” the casual-chic label is keen to deploy internationally. The Marais store is L’Agence’s first outside the U.S., where the label operates four monobrand stores, three of them in Los Angeles (in Beverly Hills, Melrose and Malibu) and one in New York (on Madison Avenue). 

A first foothold in Europe

“The Marais was the perfect place to open our first flagship on the European market, since it enables us to connect with both local and international customers,” said founder and creative director, Jeff Rudes.

L’Agence has taken over the former premises of a Jerome Dreyfuss boutique, a large, 130-square-metre upmarket store on two levels, with 1930s-style Art Deco interiors designed by Rudes, in collaboration with New York-based architect Paul Bennett. In a nod to L’Agence’s origins, the store’s walls are decorated with original wallpaper from the Parisian home of actress Marlene Dietrich, giving the place a touch of Hollywood glamour.

In the new Marais store, the upmarket Californian label – whose fan community includes celebrities like Cindy Crawford, Jennifer Lopez and Drew Barrymore – is showcasing its sophisticated ready-to-wear collection featuring poppy silk tops, vaporous cocktail dresses, jeans, and its best-selling statement blazers, as well as footwear and accessories.

“The share of revenue generated by exports is doubling year-on-year,” said Rudes. L’Agence is exporting its elegant items to the UK (the main market after the USA), France, Italy, Canada, Australia and Asia. Rudes added that L’Agence is planning a series of activations, for example “jeans bars,” in its key stores and in “a dozen more shops in Europe.”

Also on the cards, an opening in Seoul scheduled for autumn 2024, to consolidate the label’s international footprint, and further openings in the USA. 

L’Agence’s omni-channel retail strategy features an international e-shop that went live last autumn, and the label is also available at nearly 300 multi-brand retailers in the U.S., Canada and the UK. It is notably distributed by leading department stores and high-end retailers like Bergdorf Goodman, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Revolve, Harvey Nichols and Harrods. L’Agence is close-mouthed about its financial results. The company has 170 employees and the wholesale channel accounts for 50% of revenue.