Moncler, the luxury outerwear brand, opened its first New York store on 90 Prince Street in SoHo on Wednesday. At more than 3,000 square feet, it is Moncler’s largest store in the world, and the only one big enough to house all the brand’s collections in their entirety, including all the designer collaborations.
“We are quite new on the U.S. market, and we really want to show the American client what Moncler is,” said Moncler president Remo Ruffini.
The store is the company’s second in the U.S. after Aspen, Colo., which opened in 2008. Chicago and Boston could be next, said Ruffini. There are about 20 Moncler stores worldwide in ski resorts and major capitals.
High-fashion collaborations helped make the Moncler puffer a favorite of the fashion crowd. Currently Giambattista Valli designs Moncler Gamme Rouge for women and Thom Browne designs Moncler Gamme Bleu for men. Those ranges are available at the new store, as are styles by Japanese designers Chitose Abe of Sacai and Hiroki Nakamura of Visvim, which are part of the main line. Also carried in SoHo is the new Moncler Grenoble collection, a head-to-toe line for city men and women.
Moncler entered the U.S. market about three years ago, and it has since become an area of primary importance, according to Ruffini. Moncler opened a New York office just a year ago to help serve its wholesale accounts including Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale’s and Barneys New York.
The interior of the store, designed by Gilles & Boissier architects, is meant to evoke a French chalet. There are refined elements like French boiserie in carved wood with floral motifs in relief, as well as a sense of bringing the outdoors inside, with tree trunks and fur throws.