The soft beige walls match the subdued tones of the carpeting and furniture, creating a calm effect inside the new Eleventy boutique that recently opened in Beverly Hills, just a block away from Rodeo Drive.
The color scheme blends in well with the soft-hued Italian-made men’s jackets, blazers, lightweight sweaters, joggers, T-shirts and suede sneakers that fill the 1,800-square-foot store that spans two stories as well as pieces from the womenswear collection.
The outpost at 9546 Brighton Way is the Italian brand’s first U.S. location beyond the East Coast. For 18 months, the label, founded in 2007, tested the Southern California market with a pop-up store at the same location. Eleventy was so successful that Geoff Schneiderman, Eleventy’s chief executive officer for North America, said the company signed a 10-year lease and hired Italian architecture studio Parisotto + Formenton Architetti to renovate the interior and add more selling space. This is the same architecture studio that designed the label’s large location on Madison Avenue in New York.
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“We wanted to make every single shop have the same atmosphere and DNA of our collection. It is the same color palate as our collection,” said Marco Baldassari, one of the label’s founders and creative director of Eleventy, who traveled in Milan to Beverly Hills to celebrate a very service-oriented outpost. There is a spacious fitting room on the second floor and plush, beige love seats for clients to view the collection while sipping coffee, drinks or savoring lunch.
The interior colors perfectly match the soft hues of the label’s fall collection, with many pieces hand-sewn in Italy. Beige is a predominant influence as well as a dusty gray blue and light forest green. “Our mission is for you to come in and leave the stress away,” Baldasarri explained, noting that customer service is the way brands are distinguishing themselves these days from each other.
Eleventy already has nameplates in New York City; Greenwich, Connecticut, and Palm Beach, Florida, but its mission is to grow its North American business beyond its wholesale partners in the U.S., which include Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus as well as Holt Renfrew and Harry Rosen in Canada. Eleventy is actively eyeing retail locations in Aspen, Colorado, expected to be debut in 2025. A store in Bal Harbour, Florida, is opening in November.
The Milanese label’s recent retail expansion was helped last year by a capital infusion by VEI Capital, an investment vehicle belonging to Palladio Holding, which is a major shareholder in the corporation, and an unnamed group from the Gulf region.
Schneiderman said the goal is to grow revenues 30 percent year-over-year in the next couple of years after annual revenue reached $50 million last year, according to a company press release.
Eleventy’s exquisitely made merchandise is produced entirely in Italy with factory and textile partners providing the company with exclusive colors and fabrics that help sell the brand for less than other high-end luxury labels. For example, there are items including a reversible men’s blazer for $2,895, and a single-breasted jacket selling for $1,595. Womenswear is a newer category, which now makes up 35 percent of revenues. Childrenswear was introduced last year.
“Women have seen the men in their lives enjoying the brand for, let’s say, five or six years. And now they trust the brand,” Schneiderman said, noting that outerwear is one of the bestselling categories for women. “It is probably where you have the highest proportion of value to price.”
Some women’s pieces include a wool and cashmere turtleneck sweater for $895, a knit jacket for $1,795, and wool and cashmere blend trousers for $695. “The value proposition is really unique,” Baldasarri said. “This happens because we make a choice to invest in our product with quality.”
Eleventy has stores around the world, with global flagships in Milan, Geneva, Paris and London. Currently, the North American market accounts for 30 percent to 35 percent of revenues, but Baldassari sees that reaching 40 percent to 45 percent in the near future. “The U.S. is a strong market,” he observed. “Our style of smart luxury is exactly what people want.”
This story originally ran on WWD.
