The French ready-to-wear and accessories brand plans to double the size of its team, open its first freestanding stores and reach deeper into several markets.
In its series A funding round, Destree made quite the entrance. The French ready-to-wear and accessories brand locked in a roster of all-female A-list investors including Rihanna, Beyoncé, Reese Witherspoon, Jessica Alba and Gisele Bündchen, says Géraldine Guyot, co-founder of the Paris-headquartered brand.
Investors also include designer Gabriela Hearst and venture capital firm Sequoia Capital China by way of partner Angelica Cheung, expanding on the firm’s ever-growing fashion portfolio (SSENSE, AMI, WE11DONE).
Music icons like Selena Gomez and Beyoncé are among Destree’s clientele, the latter being one of the first big-named celebrities to flaunt the “graphic and structured” brand. Beyoncé wore Destree’s Alvar bag during New York Fashion Week, about a year after Guyot sent a few pieces to her stylist, Zerina Akers. “We were so excited!” Guyot told WWD, which broke the news.
Guyot and co-founder Laetitia Lumbroso plan to distribute the funding across efforts to double the size of their team, open the brand’s first freestanding stores and reach deeper into markets including China, Japan, the Middle East and the U.S. They also plan to double down on social media efforts across platforms like Facebook, Instagram and, next year, TikTok, as well as their influencer strategy.
Having exclusively women at the table was an intentional move, Guyot said. “We were not only looking for money, because money is easy to find. What’s hard to find is people with different expertise,” she told WWD. Guyot and Lumbroso targeted potential investors with backgrounds in sustainability, fashion-tech, entrepreneurship, communications, beauty and entertainment.
All investors considered, Guyot and Lumbroso still retain majority control of the business, WWD reports.
