Behind the Boom in Moncler

Behind the Boom in Moncler

Fashion doesn’t take many cues from dog kennels in Fairbanks, Alaska. But in Lance Mackey, a rangy 44 year old professional dog sled racer with a greasy ponytail and a chunk of jaw lost to a battle with cancer, a high priced parka has found a winning spokesmodel even if Mackey doesn’t seem too concerned with his head turning wardrobe.

Urban shoppers who never go near a racing sled are clamoring for the down swollen coat Mackey wears during his annual moment of global fame: his (often successful) campaigns to win the Iditarod. For Canada Goose, the manufacturer of Mackey’s parkas, which cost as much as $1,200, the snowy trails are better exposure than any runway. “I’ll take Siberia over Moscow any day,” says Chief Executive Officer Dani Reiss. “Because if I get Siberia, I will get Moscow. We make the warmest jackets on earth, and cities get cold, too.”

While most of the retail world is stressing over holiday sales and the European economy, the high end down coat could not be hotter. Once the uniform of adventurers and Aspen playboys, the big, bloated parka full of feathers has successfully made the transition from frontiersmen to fashionistas. “In a lot of places it’s what the Louis Vuitton handbag was 10 years ago,” says Mona Bijoor, whose JOOR online wholesale marketplace will process about $2.6 billion in spending this year among elite retailers and fashion labels. “You can tell that it’s a trend because puffers aren’t a core thing for certain brands, and even they are starting to do them.”

Moncler, an Italian company known for sporty, shiny down coats, posted a 60 percent jump in revenue from 2011 to 2013. In the first nine months of this year, its sales climbed another 18 percent. Moncler has been a staple in Swiss ski lodges and the rest of the world’s snowy playgrounds for more than six decades. But it wasn’t until 2006 that the company introduced a haute couture line for women, and a high fashion men’s line followed three years later. In the past year, Moncler has opened stores in dozens of conspicuously temperate places as part of a push to get its products into urban environments. It’s betting its future on Hawaii where a Moncler store is already open for business instead of the Himalayas.canada goose sale

Canada Goose has increased its annual revenue from $5 million to more than $200 million in the past 10 years. The Trillium, its best selling women’s coat, goes for about $695. This month, Canada Goose opened a New York office and showroom to better connect with the high end retailers that do much of their buying in Manhattan. It also doubled production at its Toronto factory this fall. “There’s never a slow time for us,” says Reiss, who’s both CEO and the grandson of Canada Goose’s founder, Sam Tick. “Even now, demand is far exceeding supply.”

“We’re the Land Rover of clothing,” Reiss says. “Most people driving a Land Rover are never going to take it off road, but they’re really happy to know they can. And it’s the real thing it’s not a Suzuki Sidekick.”

Also capitalizing on the trend are relatively new brands like Mackage, a Montreal based label that started selling a down heavy line of outerwear in 1999. The coats cost $590 to $1,150 and are often trimmed with raccoon fur. Even traditionally sports focused brands such as the North Face and Patagonia have moved upmarket, stitching together down coats with bloated price tags. Patagonia’s Fitz Roy jacket costs $450 and has the sheen of a Moncler garment. The North Face’s Himalayan Parka sells for $650.

“Premium down” is Nordstrom’s fastest growing category in women’s outerwear, according to spokeswoman Pamela Lopez. “Function is a huge part of the appeal,” she says, even if the average Nordstrom shopper won’t need to survive in subzero conditions. Customers are looking specifically for big logos, she says, establishing Moncler

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