Australian womenswear label Zimmermann to open first store in Paris

Zimmermann is stepping up the pace of its expansion in the USA and Europe. The Australian womenswear label, renowned for its zesty style, with flowery dresses and swimming costumes at once bohemian and sexy, is set to land in Paris, opening a store in the city’s Golden Triangle.

The 300-square-metre premises are located at 29 rue François-1er, according to information published on the specialised real estate website Business Immo, and were formerly occupied by a Diane Von Furstenberg store. Zimmermann has declined to comment. Last month, the label stated to Australian media it had entered final negotiations for a retail location in Paris, for an opening scheduled in June 2019.

Last June, Zimmermann inaugurated its first store in France, in Saint-Tropez, a 60-square-metre boutique located at 58 rue François-Sibilli. The label began to deploy in Europe just over a year ago, in summer 2017, opening a store on Bruton Street, in London’s Mayfair district. The Paris store would therefore be Zimmermann’s third in the continent. The label is also distributed in Europe via a series of multibrand retailers, and its swimming costumes are among Net-A-Porter's best-sellers.

Zimmermann is currently positioned in the second-line segment, alongside brands like Isabel Marant Etoile or See by Chloé. It was created in Sydney in 1991, and in just over twenty years it has become one of Australia’s best-known fashion labels, with its pretty, appealing clothes featuring original prints and cute details, a hymn to sunshine and a light-hearted holiday mood.

Zimmermann operates 20 stores in Australia, plus the zimmermannwear.com e-shop launched in 2008, and has ventured outside its domestic market cleverly. It has been showing in New York for the last seven years, winning over several US celebrities. Zimmermann’s second-largest market is in fact the USA, where the label is distributed via the main multibrand retailers and operates nine monobrand stores, including the recent openings in San Francisco and Los Angeles, whose interiors were designed by Australian architecture studio Don McQualter, like the previous stores.

Designer and Creative Director Nicky Zimmermann and her sister Simone, the label's COO, have come a long way. Nicky Zimmermann was passionate about fashion since childhood, influenced by her seamstress grandmother, and began by designing clothes for her friends, and selling them at local markets.

The label developed a typically Australian style, with a signature fun, outgoing mood, and made a name for itself above all by adding a highly coveted swimwear line to its ready-to-wear collections. By featuring models in a range of sizes and styles, Zimmermann gave greater depth and variety to its collections, and managed to reach out to a broad clientèle, from younger to more mature women. It then added to its range by introducing accessories (handbags, jewellery, shoes, etc.), a childrenswear line and a men's swimwear line.

Australian womenswear label Zimmermann to open first store in Paris

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