Bluemarble: Meet the brand reshaping menswear in Paris – VOGUE BUSINESS
Wed 22 Jun
As temperatures climbed to 35 °C in the French capital last weekend, menswear designer Anthony Alvarez was busy filling his studio with fans ahead of fittings. “We need to keep the models cool!” he smiled.
Alvarez’s Bluemarble arrived on the Parisian menswear scene in 2019 with a louder voice than most fledgling labels. The brand showed its first on-schedule runway show in January for Autumn/Winter 2022, represented by leading PR firm KCD and brand accelerator Tomorrow Ltd. Since then, Bluemarble has been selected as an LVMH Prize semi-finalist and nominated for the Pierre Bergé Prize for young French labels at the Andam awards, taking place 30 June. The brand declined to disclose exact sales but annual revenues are below €1 million. Sales grew 100 per cent in 2021 and a further 50 per cent during the AW22 season in January, Alvarez says.
Bluemarble isn’t Alvarez’s first bid at a fashion label. After quitting a career in finance and moving back to Paris from London in 2017, he launched streetwear collective One Culture with some friends. The experience taught him the nuts and bolts of sampling, pattern cutting and negotiating the halls of Paris fabrics trade show Première Vision before he opted to strike out on his own, funding and launching his own brand in 2019. “When I decided to launch Bluemarble, the vision was already clear, because I had the experience,” he says. “I think that’s impossible to achieve when you start out with your first brand.”
Alvarez wants Bluemarble to establish itself as a French heritage menswear brand. However, first he must combat the growing pains of fledgling status, seek to carve out a strong brand DNA and build a wholesale network. And all of this while facing production challenges similar to those endured by many brands launched during the pandemic.