After private equity investment, Ron Dorff opens US store in NYC

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Oct 21, 2021

European athleisure brand Ron Dorff has opened a US flagship in New York City and worked with London-based strategic retail property consultancy Harper Dennis Hobbs (HDH) to find the property.

The six-store brand, which first opened in Paris almost a decade ago and has since expanded to London and Berlin, has ably ridden the luxe sportswear wave with its RTW, underwear, swimwear and accessories. It’s now directly targeting New York locals and visitors due to the strength of its online business there.

Its new location at 475 Broome Street in Lower Manhattan is intended to be the brand’s flagship store in the US. It’s split across two floors — street level and basement — and has a combined 4,565 square feet of retail space.

Hannah Mahoney, Director at HDH, said that the the US is Ron Dorff’s biggest online market at 35% of global sales, and New York represents 12.5% on its own, so “it was clear to the team that we should launch their flagship store in New York”.

She added: “It is impressive to see that this French-Swedish luxury sportswear brand has come out of the Covid-19 crisis stronger than ever — building its distribution on a clear omnichannel strategy where bricks and mortar plays an integral part.”  

The company recently opened a third London store with a debut in The Royal Exchange in The City of London.

Last December the company also announced a new investment of €4 million from Puma Private Equity. UK-based Puma said it injected the capital into the brand to “support the aggressive growth strategy and further geographic expansion following highly encouraging sales, notably online in 2020, despite the Covid-19 crisis”.