Pivoting to Hong Kong: Ariane Zagury brings luxurious fashion labels from west to east with Rue Madame

In 2010, Ariane Zagury went from investment banking to running her own boutique, offering a curated and affordable selection of luxurious French fashion labels that weren’t as easy to come by in Hong Kong. Over the decade her portfolio would expand, even going on to launch her own concept of contemporary French style with Clémence by rue Madame. From multi-label boutiques to individual stores, the group currently operates 34 outlets between Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore.

Rue Madame Fashion Group has been responsible for bringing brands including American Vintage, Hobbs, Phase Eight and Whistles to the region, and recently, women’s activewear brand Sweaty Betty made its Hong Kong (and Asian) debut with a new store at IFC Mall in Central — showing that as Asian consumers increasingly invest in fashion, these brands will continue to invest in Hong Kong.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE spoke to Zagury about her backstory, her fashion group, and what keeps brands eager to enter the local market.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: Tell me a bit about Rue Madame, the backstory, and what you do with brands in Asia.

Zagury: When I first arrived to Hong Kong in 2010, I absolutely loved the sense of fashion from the people but I felt that they were lacking affordable fashion choices that fall between luxury and high street. There are a lot of great brands in Europe doing this, so I decided to make it my mission to bring this idea to Hong Kong. Step-by-step, I built the group to what is today, bringing some really fantastic mostly European brands into Hong Kong, Singapore and Macau.

How do you decide which sorts of brands to work with?

Our group can be split into two branches, one is a multi-label concept store called rue Madame where we work with brands that we really feel bring something different and fresh to the Hong Kong market, make our customers feel and look their best, and have values and practices that we can be proud of. The other one is distribution business we really look for brands that again, bring something unique and special to Hong Kong, we also look for strong management teams that we can work alongside to help us to grow the brand to its full potential.

Sweaty Betty was a recent addition to the Hong Kong market.

Sweaty Betty is an absolutely fantastic British brand, they specialise in athleisure and have been around for 20 years. I love the Sweaty Betty motto of empowering women through fitness and beyond, and their inclusivity.  Athleisure is a very specific segment because it is very technical, there is a huge amount of work done around on our leggings to ensure every single woman who wears our leggings regardless of shape, size or age looks absolutely fantastic.

How has the reception been so far?

The reception has been amazing. People have especially loved our leggings, the quality is really excellent, they perform well and look so great on that people want to wear them all the time, not just when exercising.

It’s obviously been a challenging couple of years for Hong Kong, what makes it still an appealing place for businesses to open up new locations?

I feel when it comes to business, the decisions we make will always be partly logical and partly from the heart. Since first arriving to Hong Kong, I have absolutely loved the city’s energy, vibrancy and diversity. From a logical perspective, when it comes to any business decision, the revenue always needs to be greater than the cost, or moving forward it does not make sense. We really look into every opportunity to see whether it makes sense, that the timing is right and how comfortable we are.   

We are so fortunate in that our group has always been supported by a really great loyal customer base, who really believe and value what we do. In this difficult time, it has been a key asset for us.

How have you been able to market Sweaty Betty and other brands to new consumers in Asia?

Every brand is unique. Sweaty Betty, being an athleisure brand, is very interesting as there is a big element of community in the very grassroots way, so it really about connecting with people, teacher and studio. For Sweaty Betty, we have actually dedicated ourselves to community building and connecting to people, and that is very powerful because it makes the brand very human. Being a woman-founded brand with a strong focus on woman empowerment, balance, happiness and self-confidence was something that really resonated a lot to me. I think this is a message that is well overdue as well as being very on-trend; however, I don’t think it is a passing fad, I think it is this a belief and a trend that will stay.

China became the world’s largest fashion market in 2019, and I think we’ve seen that trend rising for a while now throughout APAC. What sort of fashion are Asian consumers looking for?

In my experience, a best-seller is going to be a best-seller in every market. It is extremely rare (it can happen, but it is rare) to have varying best-selling pieces across markets. Our world has become so connected and international I don’t advise brands to develop specific products to cater for the Asian market. That said, the Chinese market and client has become incredibly important to all brands. It’s especially important for international brands to have a strong brand story and narrative. A brand with a strong base that has defined itself, and is popular in its own market is unquestionably, more likely to excel.

How do you help brands better understand their new consumers with regards to marketing, promotion, and so on?

That takes a lot of discussion with the brand, and basically, this is my main job. It’s all about communication and a common shared understanding. I think globally brands are much more aware of the importance of understanding market and buying trends than they were 10 years ago when I first started the business.

Any favorite wins or success stories with opening a new brand here in recent years? Any surprises?

We always have surprises. I even had a situation, we are operating an extremely successful location and we decided to change the brand to another brand which was supposed to be even more successful. But actually when we did it, it didn’t work at all. In another case, we actually started and tried to open in a place that nobody has worked, but we did work. So it went in both way — that’s in terms of location — always full of surprises. In terms of communication, we clearly can see that the more personal of who we are, our value and the most outstanding but in a genuine way, the better the customer feedback is. Customers doesn’t just want random content.

There’s a fun fact as well, most of the big business steps that I have taken in my career were happening while being pregnant! When I first decided to leave my career in the banking sector and move to Hong Kong while being pregnant with my first child, I started my cooperation with the SMCP Group (Sandro Maje Claudie Pierlot – we worked with them from 2012 to 2014) the day I gave birth to my second daughter. By the week before I decided on the collaboration with Sweaty Betty, I gave birth to my twin babies!

With social distancing measures still in effect at a high rate, are there any sorts of virtual initiatives you’ve started or are looking toward in terms of marketing western fashion to the local audience?

Yes, for Sweaty Betty for the last nine months we have been initiating regular online classes. At the moment we have three online classes per week. It has been a great way to allow us to reach out to our clients and potential future clients in a personal and positive way, as well as giving us a chance to try and showcase a wide scope of teachers and different classes, it has also been a way for us to support teachers and the fitness community during this difficult time.

Anything else the people of Hong Kong should know about rue Madame?

For rue Madame, our multi-brand concept store, we already have a very unique shopping experience that honestly I have not been able to find elsewhere in Hong Kong. We deliver a unique curation of international brands in a very warm environment. Our end goal is to make the client happy regardless whether it results in a sale or not. Since COVID, many of our clients have not felt comfortable shopping outside of their homes, so we have implemented virtual shopping and styling services, so that our clients can enjoy the convenience of online shopping with our signature warm customer service. 

“Pivoting to Hong Kong” is a series created with support from our partners at InvestHK. InvestHK’s vision is to strengthen Hong Kong’s status as the leading international business location in Asia. InvestHK works with overseas and Mainland entrepreneurs, SMEs and multinationals that wish to set up an office – or expand their existing business – in Hong Kong.

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