The latest creation by Cacharel is called Yes I Am Bloom Up [sic], a perfume launched a year ago by L’Oréal, the group that has held the French womenswear label’s fragrance licence since 1978. Thanks to its perfumes, notably Anaïs Anaïs, which sells some 12 million units each year, Cacharel continues to enjoy a remarkable brand visibility. And there is more to come, since a new fragrance, whose name has not been revealed yet, is set to be released at the end of this year.

Cacharel’s owner and founder Jean Bousquet is looking to make the most of the brand’s enduring reputation and, after a three-year hiatus, he has decided to relaunch the label’s ready-to-wear line. While fragrances are a consistent asset for Cacharel, the value of its ready-to-wear line has gradually declined, steadily losing money after being worth up to several dozen million euro three decades ago, when it used to operate a 1,000-square-metre Parisian flagship in Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

Last autumn, Cacharel set up a team of a dozen people, based in the label’s headquarters in a historic building in central Paris, and tasked them with relaunching the ready-to-wear line. Bousquet, 92, founded Cacharel in 1958, and five years ago he made an unsuccessful foray into e-tail in an attempt to give the label new impetus. This year, Cacharel’s womenswear is back with ambitious plans.

“For this relaunch, we are relying on elements that might have been missing in the past. We will have a new, well-established creative director who will give us a powerful style,” said Valérie Lavocat, now in charge of sales at Cacharel. She is well acquainted with the label, having been associated with it in the past. “We will also deploy a high-impact global communication campaign. Our collections combine quality and value for money. They are made with European fabrics and will be initially sourced in France, with the option of producing elsewhere in Europe when we’ll expand the range,” she added.

Back to multibrand retail

The name of the designer currently developing Cacharel’s Spring/Summer 2025 collection (who, FashionNetwork.com was told, has worked for another French label in the last few years) will be revealed in the coming months. But Cacharel will re-start its fashion narrative from the end of May.

“In 2024, we’ll be back on the scene with various capsule collections,” said Julia Arendt, who is in charge of the label’s communication. “We began by setting up an Instagram account, and a website will follow, showcasing our new brand image. Our advantage is that Cacharel has a very high brand awareness. Thanks to our perfumes of course, but also because young consumers are buying vintage [Cacharel] clothes. We’ll be targeting young women aged 25-30, offering a quality range at affordable prices, with a carefree, vibrant and timeless style,” she added.

The first capsule collection consists of a dozen items, made in France and featuring the label’s distinctive codes, bright with colours and prints. Notably, dresses and blouses with an Art Nouveau vibe, like those made famous by photographer Sarah Moon at the end of the 1960s. The collection includes floral blouses in cotton (€200) or silk (€250), shorts-and-top sets in pleated cotton (€180), jackets and trousers in washed lambskin (€589), as well as a handbag and various accessories, featuring a redesigned logo. This first drop will soon be followed by another high-energy capsule collection, tapping this summer’s sporting mood in Paris. A third drop is scheduled for the autumn. Cacharel is able to fund the collections’ development through the royalties it earns on fragrance sales – overseen by Guillaume Bousquet, the founder’s son, who is in charge of licensing for the label. L’Oréal too will undoubtedly appreciate Cacharel’s relaunch in the ready-to-wear segment.

“Although our perfume customers are a touch younger than our fashion ones, young women under 30 years of age rarely have the means to buy clothes priced above €1,000. We decided to concentrate our efforts on a value-for-money range, producing the clothes in Europe and streamlining our margin as much as possible,” said Lavocat. “We want to offer a degree of quality. We believe we’re delivering what the market is looking for in an established name, a recognised label with a high spontaneous brand awareness, and products that are well-positioned price-wise,” she added.

According to Cacharel staff, the label has had positive feed-back from department stores. The latter are Cacharel’s primary target in terms of multibrand retail distribution, though the ready-to-wear line’s relaunch could also be supported by pop-up stores. The label’s first activations in 2024 are designed to reconnect the brand with retailers, and forge stronger emotional links. But Cacharel’s plan will become reality with the commercialisation of its new creative director’s first collection, which is expected to be initially dropped in France. Cacharel is planning to commercialise its new line in the rest of Europe in Fall/Winter 2025, before deploying on a global scale the following season.