One of the most enticing aspects of Longchamp\u2019s offering \u2014 and a clear draw for the notably discerning Gen Z consumer \u2014 is the custom offering, My Pliage, initiated in 2003. Over the years, this service has evolved and was updated in 2025, allowing customers to select everything from the canvas and monogram details through to hardware finishing. From the outset, more than 20 years ago, Asian customers showed strong demand for this personalizable element, although it\u2019s been a globally popular proposition. The draw? \u201cIt\u2019s a product that\u2019s reliable and very well identified, but at the same time, it\u2019s not the same as everyone else\u2019s,\u201d says Cassegrain. \u201cThe customer can buy into the safety of the brand, but at the same time, have something totally unique.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scaling a family business<\/p>\n
Part of Longchamp\u2019s success lies in it being a family business. Cassegrain is the company\u2019s third-ever CEO, following his father and grandfather. This means Longchamp can invest quietly and discreetly in the brand, think long term, and avoid stock market or private equity pressure to deliver flashy quarterly results.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also a largely women-led company. The workforce is 79% women, the executive committee is 40%, and the international subsidiary of directors is 58%. The creative director and general manager, Sophie Delafontaine, sits across business and creative decisions, giving her a clear view of product performance and strong relationships with the CEO. \u201cSo, disclosure: Sophie is my sister,\u201d Cassegrain says, chuckling. \u201cSo it makes things easier, and we work together very closely.\u201d<\/p>\n
That said, Cassegrain is keen to note that the stability and safety that come with family businesses also mean Longchamp has to self-motivate. \u201cWe need to make sure we\u2019re not becoming complacent, so we need to be able to reinvent ourselves \u2014 even without outside pressure.\u201d In practice, that\u2019s resulted in an evolving wealth of SKUs across bags, footwear, and ready-to-wear, comprising new releases and updates on brand heroes. Le Cadence, a slouchy, grained leather bag launched in August, sold out 70% of the season\u2019s initial inventory by the end of September. It quickly became a company best-seller.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the most enticing aspects of Longchamp\u2019s offering \u2014 and a clear draw for the notably discerning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":636028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[700,111,139,69,145],"class_list":["post-636027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-latest","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=636027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/636028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=636027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=636027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=636027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}