Swap Shops: European Brands Come To U.S.; U.S. Brands Go Abroad

Tom Ford told WWD of his plans for international expansion (subscription required). His partners in the stand-alone stores in the Middle East and Russia, Villa Moda and Mercury, are the same groups that were responsible for the Gucci Group expansion when Ford was creative director and his partner, Domenico De Sole was the C.E.O. There will also be 100 shop-in-shops in the next ten years in places like Harrods in London and Joyce in Tokyo. A few of the other U.S. brands also finding success in Europe include Ralph Lauren, who recently opened in Milan and Moscow and is in negotiations for a new space in Spain; Diane Von Furstenburg, who is in London and is also working on opening stores in Spain; and Judith Leiber, opening soon in London. (Glam Chic reports that Leiber has a new collaboration with Andrew Gn for the bags we'll see this fall.)

The LA Times had an article (first published in the Financial Times, but free here) explaining how European luxury brands are now opening in the third and fourth cities of the U.S.A.: Nashville and Jacksonville, Florida get Louis Vuitton; Hermes goes to Naples, Florida. Expansion plans in India and China may sound more exotic, but most European luxury goods executives are keen to milk the U.S. for all it's worth before taking the risks required in developing nations.