Valextra is bringing a touch of Milanese sobriety and its “engineered beauty” to Paris with its first flagship store within the French capital, opening today at 267 Rue Saint Honoré.

“It took a while. I wanted to search out the best location, the best cradle for Valextra because we’re quite a specific brand with a protracted history and an aesthetic that could be very unique.” said Xavier Rougeaux, chief executive officer of the Italian leather goods firm.

In an interview, he called Paris a “very vital place for luxury on the earth, due to what it represents — also due to tourism that there may be.”

The brand new Valextra store sits on certainly one of the French capital’s most vibrant and upscale thoroughfares, and boasts such famous neighbors as Fendi, Christian Louboutin, Loewe, Celine, and Valentino.

“I feel for the French customer or for the international customer who won’t know us, I feel it’s reassuring to search out us in a location that speaks to the values of our brand and expresses a way of luxury,” Rougeaux commented.

Indeed, the manager expects Paris to quickly turn into certainly one of Valextra’s top five stores on the earth, “if not the highest three.”

Founded in 1937 by Italian engineer Giovanni Fontana, the posh house currently operates 38 freestanding stores on the earth, with its online boutique bringing the overall to 39.

The brand is prized for its sophisticated, hand-crafted bags and leather goods marked by a signature black-lacquer piping hand-dabbed on cut edges. This feature is echoed within the outstanding black frame around the massive store-front window of the Paris store, while the door handle resembles certainly one of tabs used to open Valextra’s popular Tric Trac wrist bag.

The expansion into Paris comes amid strong business momentum for Valextra. While Rougeaux didn’t provide revenue figures, he said net sales in 2022 jumped 43.6 percent, supporting a double-digit EBITDA margin.

As of the tip of September, net sales are up 31 percent versus last 12 months, he added.

While Valextra has long welcomed French clients in its Rome, London and other international boutiques and its online store, the brand has only been present in France since 2016 via shop-in-shops at Le Bon Marché and Galeries Lafayette in Paris. A location inside Printemps was added more recently.

“The French market is a very important one for Valextra, and it represents greater than 25 percent of our business in Europe,” he noted.

Rougeaux said it was vital the architecture and decor of the Paris boutique mix signifiers of Valextra’s Milanese roots with its Parisian surroundings.

Hence a classic French facade that’s capped with dark green marble from the north of Italy — green being an iconic color for the brand that recurs inside on partitions, carpeting and glossy carrier bags.

The inside template was conceived by Milan-based firm Andrea Tognon Architecture, which has signed several Valextra boutiques in China, including in Chengdu, Shenzhen and Hangzhou, and executed in-house.

Rougeaux described its boutiques as venues for storytelling, engagement and glorifying the product. Echoing other Valextra locations, the design is predicated on clean lines, a restrained color palette of mostly plaster white and dark green, with some quirky, contemporary furnishings and bespoke artworks for “personality” and “tension.”

Among the many latter is a Plexiglass sculpture incorporating an ancient wood beam and resting on a marble base. Titled “Inclusioni B,” the work by Italian architect and designer Andrea Branzi underlines Valextra’s links to Milanese design.

Rougeaux described a novel design approach in mid-century Italy that was all about “creating something beautiful, but at the identical time, it must be balanced with a way of functionality.

“Valextra designs products… with a beauty that comes out of function. And it’s dropped at life by design and texture,” he explained. “Buying a Valextra handbag is an investment, something that you simply pass on to the following generations.”

Upon entering the 650-square-foot store, customers alight on displays of luggage and leather goods. Past a central seating hugged by a curved shelving unit, which heightens a residential “salon” atmosphere, is a 3rd zone with cases displaying bags in exotic skins, and men’s business cases.

Amongst exclusives are Iside bags customized with embroideries by artist Sandrine Torredemer, who works under the nom de plume La Filature, and Iside bags available in a special Palmellato leather that’s hand-finished with the palms of artisans for a special textured effect.

Rougeaux, who had been Valextra’s marketing and industrial director from 2015 to 2016, returned to the firm as CEO in January 2021 after a three-year stint as CEO of Smythson in London. He previously held senior positions at luxury brands including Loro Piana and Sergio Rossi.

Valextra is planning a slate of events later this month to have a good time its retail enterprise in Paris, including an in-store cocktail and a gala dinner.