Fabergé targets Asia, unveils second Game of Thrones drop
Legendary jewellery brand Fabergé, now based in London and renowned for its sumptuous egg-shaped creations, has stepped up the pace of its expansion in Asia, and unveiled its second collection developed with cult HBO TV series Game of Thrones.
Mainland China and Hong Kong are the two markets currently targeted by Fabergé. FashionNetwork.com met with the brand at the Vicenzaoro jewellery and goldsmithery trade show, held in Vicenza, Italy, on January 20-24. “At the end of last year, we opened a store inside the SKP Mall in Beijing, followed two weeks ago by a new boutique inside the MGM Cotai casino resort in Macau,” said Fabergé.
The brand commercialises its products mostly in Europe, followed by the USA and the Middle East. “The UK is a major market for our products, and we are growing in Italy and Germany, where we have experienced a great rise in brand awareness,” said Fabergé.
E-tail is also a very successful channel for the brand. “Our e-shop sells worldwide, and we are recording excellent results in key markets like the UK, USA and Germany,” said Fabergé. The wholesale channel too is growing satisfactorily, since last year Fabergé “increased the number of international distributors from 100 to approximately 140.”
At the Vicenzaoro show, Fabergé unveiled its second collaboration with cult TV series Game of Thrones. The limited-edition line is called “Dragon” and is inspired by Queen Daenerys Targaryen. It consists of three unique earring models matched with a necklace, and features several references to the series, notably the red and black colours characteristic of the House Targaryen. The collaboration’s first instalment, a one-off egg - Fabergé’s hallmark object - was bought when still in the design phase by a US collector for €2.2 million. It was created by Fabergé designer Liisa Tallgren with Game of Thrones costume designer Michele Clapton, under the supervision of the brand's creative director Josina von dem Bussche-Kessell.
Fabergé closed the first half of fiscal 2022, on June 30, with a revenue of $9.5 million. It operates stores in London, inside Harrods, at the Dubai Mall in Dubai, and at the Galleria Mall in Houston, Texas.
The brand was founded by Carl Gustav Fabergé in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1842, and was the official supplier to the Imperial Court of Russia from 1885 to 1916. Following the October Revolution, Carl's sons moved to Paris where, in 1924, they founded Fabergé & Cie., which operated the Fabergé Paris brand until it closed down in 2001. In 1937, Russian-born American businessman Samuel M. Rubin had meanwhile registered the Fabergé trade mark in the USA, setting up a cosmetics company called Fabergé Inc. After various vicissitudes and corporate changeovers, the latter became the property of Unilever, which sold it to British investment fund Pallinghurst in 2007. In the same year, the two Fabergé brands were reunited into a single entity. In 2013, Pallinghurst put the running of Fabergé's business in the hands of a subsidiary, London gem producer Gemfields, which undertook the production and commercialisation of Fabergé jewels.
Fabergé’s presence at Vicenzaoro in January 2023 marked the 10th anniversary of the brand's relaunch, a major milestone. Gemfields is listed on the London stock exchange and on the Johannesburg stock exchange, in South Africa. In fiscal 2022, the company virtually doubled its revenue to reach $193 million (up 99% on 2021). EBITDA was $104.8 million, a 141% increase on the previous year. Net cash flow was $86.5 million, it too up by more than 100% on an annual basis.
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