Valérie Samuel, vice president and creative director of the Paris-dependent brand name Fred, produces precious jewelry that regularly is everyday sufficient to wear each and every working day, even when it is adorned with copious quantities of diamonds. Compared with several designers, her aim seemingly is not to innovate, but to uphold the aesthetic that has outlined the property considering the fact that it was established by her grandfather, Fred Samuel, in 1936.
“My vision is to go after my family members eyesight,” she stated in a new cellphone interview.
While Fred operates in a different way nowadays than it did in the 1930s — it has been owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton considering the fact that 1995 — the brand’s feeling of breezy but refined luxurious with a whiff of the French Riviera stays.
“Our roots and our DNA are continue to very considerably related nowadays,” Ms. Samuel reported. “It’s what I’m enriching, in a way.”
Alongside these strains, the brand name delivers current collections like Drive 10, which was at first made by her father, Henri Samuel, in 1966. (He worked for Fred, as did his brother Jean, who died in 1984.) Its unique layout features rope-encouraged braiding and, usually, a curved buckle, both equally reminiscent of objects applied for sailing. (Fred Samuel’s sons have been championship sailors.)
Force 10’s focal issue is a assortment of bracelets with rugged buckle closures that propose the form of a maritime carabiner. The buckles appear in a variety of dimensions and supplies, like 18-karat yellow, white or pink gold, normally set with diamonds or gemstones like pink or blue sapphires. The bracelets are created of every little thing from nylon cord to 18-karat pink gold with diamonds. (A version with a plain pink-gold buckle on a nylon strap is priced at 2,060 euros, or $2,260.)
Many other current collections are based mostly on the brand’s history, like the Really Woman line, encouraged by the ruby and diamond necklace by Fred that was highlighted in the 1990 movie that starred Julia Roberts and Richard Gere.
Prices from the Pretty Woman and Force 10 collections vary from €750, for the most standard solitary earring to €51,700, for a necklace with a lot more than 200 diamonds. Fred also presents pricier high jewelry, as well as sun shades that commence at €500.
For the very last few a long time, profits in Asia have been a precedence for the brand name, its executives say.
Ms. Samuel spoke by phone from Singapore, where by Fred experienced opened a boutique in the Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands shopping mall in December. (Fred shut a smaller keep there in 2020).
Fred has about 50 boutiques in Asia, the enterprise reported. “There’s a fantastic understanding of the model, a quite substantial level of acceptance of the brand’s philosophy,” Charles Leung, main govt considering the fact that 2018, mentioned from Singapore. Asian countries — South Korea, mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore — and Australia account for about two-thirds of its income, he mentioned.
Mr. Leung would not share profits figures, but in an earnings assertion released in January, LVMH said income for its jewellery and look at models over-all amplified 40 per cent past year in comparison with a calendar year before.
“I would get in touch with Fred one particular of the pépites of the LVMH portfolio,” Stéphane Bianchi, the president of LVMH’s watches and jewelry division, stated in an electronic mail, working with a French phrase that primarily implies gems. The brand name experienced “significant development in excess of the very last couple many years, but still has remarkable prospective and an remarkable tale,” he additional.
The model claimed the Power 10 collection was its ideal seller. Its name comes from a time period for a storm-energy wind, yet another nod to sailing. “It symbolizes bravery, dedication, to by no means give up,” Mr. Leung reported.
It appears that Fred is hoping that Drive 10 will be witnessed as its equal of a Cartier Enjoy bracelet or the Van Cleef & Arpels Alhambra motif — a model that’s recognizable with out a daring emblem, pretty casual and desirable to youthful prospects who may well or else come across jewelry from a heritage house daunting or old-fashioned.
It might be doing work. “It’s definitely essential for developing identification and benefit, which are the vital principles for cementing shopper believe in and loyalty,” Jane Collins, a senior strategist at the craze-forecasting enterprise WGSN, claimed by telephone from London.
“If a brand, and Fred have completed this beautifully, can place renewed concentration and conversation on familiar, timeless items, they are going to do nicely,” she included.
The style’s informal truly feel, along with the extensive option of vibrant bracelets, is also portion of its enchantment. “It actually plays into that playful, wearability issue, in conditions of each day jewelry,” Beth Hannaway, head of fantastic watches and jewelry at Harrods, which carries the model, reported by telephone from London. “There’s the flexibility and the customization element, which is actually key.”
This 12 months, Fred appears to be emphasizing its heritage even extra than typical. The firm stated it planned to unveil a large jewellery collection in July, in homage to Fred Samuel’s creations. A museum exhibition about the model is scheduled to open in September at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, a few of miles west of the brand’s flagship boutique on the Rue de la Paix in the Second Arrondissement.
In addition, Mr. Leung reported, a lessen-priced selection was in the operates, as ended up new suppliers in Asia and the Middle East.
Fred jewelry is bought in dozens of countries, but has constrained distribution in a single specially significant a single: the United States, the place it is carried by just 1 retailer, Hamilton Jewelers, which has shops in New Jersey and Florida.
Hamilton explained it experienced been selling the brand name for six a long time.
“We felt that it was created superbly, we liked the history of the property, we loved the point that it was modern yet common,” Anne Russell, the retailer’s government vice president of merchandising and branding, explained by telephone from Princeton, N.J. “We just hadn’t genuinely seen something like that in the industry.”