MANILA, Philippines—In the race to capture a bigger chunk of the global retail pie, the English luxury house Alfred Dunhill thinks a youthful vibe may just be what it needs to go head to head with other leading menswear and accessories labels.
Over a year ago, it hired the British actor Jude Law to be the brand’s face in all its major markets except North America. In March, the 2006 British Menswear Designer of the Year awardee, Kim Jones, came on board to head the design team.
And to further up the ante, the house will open ultra-luxurious flagship stores in its major markets—in London next month, and in Shanghai in October—just like the one that was launched in Tokyo’s Ginza district a few weeks ago.
“We’ve been aiming to go younger and we’ve done that step by step,” said Gable Merrick, Dunhill general manager for travel retail and export for Asia-Pacific, in an interview this week. The brand’s typical customer is the 30-50-year-old man and the woman who buys for him.
As if to signal this new direction, Merrick unveiled a new accessories collection that, apart from traditional leather, highlighted nylon as a key material for the bags, in messenger style, for instance, with practical compartments for modern-day gadgets like the iPod, and extendable subway/train-cardholders.
“With this nylon collection and Jude Law, these are all bringing a new direction to the brand,” he said. “The difficult part is trying to keep the tradition, history and heritage and at the same time bringing a younger dimension. You don’t want to go straight to a younger dimension and forget about tradition.”
Unorthodox
Which brings one to ask how Jones fits into the equation. While minted by the British Fashion Council and has designed for such brands as Louis Vuitton, Hugo Boss, Uniqlo, Topman and, until recently, his namesake label, Jones is regarded as unorthodox in his approach with men’s casualwear.
Jones addressed this concern as a guest blogger for the New York Times website in June.
“When thinking about moving the company forward and how I fit into that process, I always consider what would inspire and drive Alfred Dunhill if he were alive today. The similarities between us, although perhaps not immediately evident, are profound,” Jones wrote. “Along with his classic aesthetic and eye for the modern, he was a big traveler and loved the idea of exploring the world.”
Jones also spoke to Style.com early this year and described the Dunhill archives as “so perfect, they need very little to make them relevant for now.”
The brand was founded in 1893 in London as a leathergoods company, providing apparel and accessories to motoring enthusiasts, thus the slogan “everything but the motor.”
It would take another season, however, before the Dunhill customer feels the full imprint of Jones in the brand. “I decided not to touch menswear for the first season, as it wouldn’t feel right to rush in. Instead, I just cleaned up the collection and styled it for spring/summer 2009,” he wrote in the blog. But he will roll out several Art Deco-inspired accessories—shagreen lighters, a MacBook case, leather briefcase—for spring.
Competition
Given Dunhill’s varied product range today, which includes leathergoods, menswear, timepieces, accessories, writing instruments and fragrances, it goes against several labels in every segment. In RTW, for instance, Merrick cites Zegna as its competition.
“We’re lower-priced, but we have the same quality, of course.” The brand offers custom tailoring in its major markets.
Owned by Compagnie Financière Richemont SA, along with such brands as Cartier, Piaget, Vacheron Constantin, Montblanc, Dunhill is now boosting its upscale image with the opening of its by-invitation, gentlemen’s club-style flagship stores.
The Ginza flagship not just houses some exclusive limited items, it also has a spa, a bar, a barbershop. The London space, the former residence of the Duke of Westminster in Mayfair, will also include similar accoutrements plus a museum of the brand’s archives, a private cinema, a suite akin to the duke’s own and several bedrooms, among others. When the Shanghai flagship opens, Law is expected to attend.
In the Philippines, its exclusive distributor is Stores Specialists Inc., which recently took over the business from its sister company, Rustan’s. Dunhill has been in Manila for over a decade, selling only leathergoods and accessories, and some casual wear at the Rustan’s Makati branch.
“The Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand are smaller [markets] but are growing,” Merrick said. “It doesn’t mean that because we’re small now, we won’t be big tomorrow. These [markets] could be tomorrow’s stars. China wasn’t this big 12 years ago when we went in, so you never know.”
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