Kujten, the Parisian cashmere brand, is expanding its footprint in the U.S.
A year after opening its first store in the U.S. at 831 Madison Avenue, the company has inked deals for three additional units in the States: SoHo in New York, Aspen and Miami.
First up will be the 2,700-square-foot store at 92 Greene Street in SoHo, slated to open at the end of October. The Aspen store, at 205 South Mill Street, is expected to debut in November while the Miami store in the Bal Harbour shopping center, will open by February. The Aspen and Miami stores are both around 1,300 square feet.
Carole Benaroya, who founded Kujten with Stephanie Eriksson in 2012, said the Madison Avenue store performed well right out of the box, which prompted the company to seek other locations.
She said when the company was first looking to open in the New York, it was a toss-up between Madison Avenue and SoHo, but Madison won out. “After the first six months, we realized the product and the brand was being very welcomed by New Yorkers and Americans,” she said.
Kujten will open a store on Greene Street in October.
Courtesy of Kujten
She said the customer in that shop is similar to that in the west end of Paris, in the 16th or 18th arrondissements. The SoHo store is expected to appeal more to a downtown, international and fashion-forward shopper.
Benaroya said Aspen is complementary to the mountain resorts where the brand sells in Europe.
“We have always had a very strong connection with the mountains,” she said. “Kujten has long been present in Courchevel, Megève and Saint Moritz, and opening in Aspen is a natural part of that story. In a way, it is the American counterpart to these great European resorts. More broadly, the United States has become an important market for Kujten, and we are delighted to open three new addresses there in just a few months.”
And while the weather in Miami may not overtly lend itself to cashmere, Benaroya said when the brand found a space in the coveted Bal Harbour center, it was a no-brainer. “It’s very difficult to get in,” she said, adding that the store will be located close to its competitors to offer potential customers a choice. In addition, Miami is a “getaway for South Americans,” she said.
Outside the U.S., Kujten operates 60 stores and the U.S. currently accounts for around 10 percent of total revenues, both through direct-to-consumer and wholesale.
Kujten is headquartered in Paris.
Courtesy of Kujten
“We want to double or triple that number in the next couple of years,” she said.
In the U.S., she said the self-funded brand is looking at Boston and Chicago in the near term and Los Angeles further down the road.
Benaroya and Eriksson met in school as teenagers. Benaroya opted for a career in finance and began her career at Goldman Sachs in London while Eriksson studied fashion and joined the British fashion brand Joseph. The friends reconnected in their 30s and decided to create a high-end brand focused on basic and statement cashmere pieces offered in an array of colors. They named it Kujten after the highest peak in Mongolia, a spot the founders visit several times a year to hand-select the finest raw materials.
