Can Slouchy Work Bags and a Selfie Mirror Grow Delvaux?

PARIS – Delvaux’s latest presentation features a new variation of its flagship “Le Brillant” handbag: a large, soft-and-slouchy variation of the top-handled style that’s in line with the trend toward bags that fuse classic glamour with utility. TikTok has been rife in recent months with content about luxury leather work bags that can fit a laptop, and Delvaux is throwing its hat in the ring.

The new style’s name, “Tempo,” underscores the 200-year-old Belgian brand’s attempt to position itself as a purveyor of “legacy in motion.”

“As the world’s oldest handbag brand, we’re by nature pioneers,” chief executive Jean-Marc Loubier said at a preview of the Belgian brand’s installation on Place Vendôme during Paris Fashion Week. “It’s not enough to talk about heritage; you have to enrich it.”

For Delvaux’s autumn-winter 2025 collection, mid-century handbag shapes were updated using oversized hardware and bright pastel hues, continuing the brand’s effort to build momentum around key styles from its archive. Products were backdropped by three monumental paintings by Saul Steinberg, a series titled “The Americans” which was first displayed at the Brussels World Expo in 1958.

Delvaux was able to borrow the Steinberg works from the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium after financing their restoration. The products and paintings are also flanked by mirrors pasted with cutouts of bag-toting models chatting, combining echoes of some recent Prada campaigns with a not-so subtle invitation to take selfies.

Those selfies would be most welcome for a brand that has struggled to gain traction in a saturated market: four years after being acquired by Swiss group Richemont, the Delvaux remains a niche outfit. With limited marketing budget, the company eschews traditional advertising, attempting to grow its visibility and consumer base by seeding products — most successfully in the case of Korean pop stars like Jihyo or BTS’ V-Style — or by staging events like a dinner last March in partnership with Condé Nast’s “Vogue 100” club.

“We still don’t have a huge awareness, but we have a very good image we can build on,” Loubier said. The brand has long been respected in Japan for its saddle-stitched, high-quality leather goods. Following a 2011 relaunch that brought it back from the brink of bankruptcy, buzz and sales growth in Korea provided a halo effect in the key China market (though the picture there has since become cloudier amid a wider luxury downturn, Loubier said).

A former Louis Vuitton executive who served under visionary CEO Yves Carcelle, Loubier helped broker a deal in which China’s Fung family acquired struggling Delvaux 14 years ago, creating a structure called First Heritage Brands that also invested in Sonia Rykiel and Clergerie. Rykiel, where Loubier became non-executive chairman, was liquidated in 2019 after a period of turbulence (including allegations of mismanagement). But top-end leather goods house Delvaux was sold on to Swiss group Richemont in 2021 with Loubier as CEO.

The brand’s anonymous design team (well-known in industry circles to include leather goods consultant Marc Valeanu) also remained in place, suggesting a hands-off approach to managing the new asset. Richemont doesn’t disclose sales or profitability for individual brands, but Delvaux is estimated to be a rounding error in the Cartier-owner’s accounting.

Investments since the deal have been focused on efforts to preserve the brand’s savoir-faire across three workshops (one in Belgium and two in France) as well as making updates to distribution. The store footprint has been roughly flat in recent years, Loubier says — with around 60 points-of-sale overall — although the network now includes fewer department store corners and more stand-alone boutiques aimed at anchoring the brand’s storytelling.

In an effort to make greater inroads in the US — currently a bright spot for many luxury brands — in December Delvaux opened a store in Orange County’s South Coast Plaza mall, replacing a department store shop-in-shop. In January, the brand opened a boutique in Bangkok, its first point of sale in the fast-growing Thai market.

“Some stand-alone stores are needed to act as a point of reference as we seek to tell our story to a larger audience,” Loubier said. “Currently our clients are the kind of people who buy for themselves, because they like it or they’re attracted by the quality. They’re still pioneers in a way. But gradually we need to widen the circle, to the kind of people who will want the bags because of their prestige.”

That’s a tall order in a handbag market dominated by luxury mega-brands like Louis Vuitton, Prada and Hermès.

A prohibitive price point — the Brilliant bag is priced €5,300 for a mini version — has been one limiting factor for growing the brand’s customer base.

As such, the new line of slouchy “Tempo” bags is being accompanied by a push on small accessories, with wallets priced from €400. The category represents a key opportunity to grow the brand’s same-store sales and audience, Loubier said.