Livy appoints founder Lisa Chavy as managing director, plans retail expansion in London and Italy

Growing your own business is a difficult art. This year, French premium lingerie label Livy is expected to top the €24 million mark in gross revenue, driven by rising organic sales and new store openings in France and abroad.

Livy’s strictly French success story in the high-end lingerie segment began in 2017 with founder Lisa Chavy, backed by the Etam and Vog groups. In order to bolster its development, last year Livy hired Julie Pellet, formerly head of growth, product marketing Southern Europe, at Meta, as managing director. Just under a year later, and even if Livy is still thriving, Pellet has stepped down from the post. “We’re still very much on the same wavelength, but I think it was a little early in the company’s trajectory to introduce a managing director role,” said Chavy. “I’m upgrading [Livy’s] staff’s skills, and we’re recruiting new heads of retail, wholesale and digital,” she added.

Livy has hired Audrey Azria, formerly in charge of retail for western Europe at British lingerie brand Agent Provocateur, a sign that Livy is planning to expand the footprint of its collections, which blend glam lingerie, ready-to-wear and chic lifestyle products. The new heads of digital and wholesale will be tasked with boosting Livy’s online business and forging relationships with new partners, notably with international department store chains.

Earlier this year, Livy carried out a funding round to support its expansion plans, and is now tweaking its market positioning to a more upmarket one than in its early days. It will also need to revamp its store fleet in order to fit with the new positioning. “We’ve closed the stores in Beaugrenelle and Passy in Paris, which were no longer consistent with our style. We’re now performing best [with stores] placed alongside those of luxury labels. We’ve opened in Monte Carlo and Nice, because our swimwear range is extremely successful. In Saint-Tropez, we increased our revenue by two and a half times over the previous year, and we’ve had good results in Marbella,” said Chavy.

In the same vein, Livy is set to open in the Alpine resort of Courchevel this winter, and is planning further expansion outside France, aiming to open a second store in London, and new stores in Milan and Rome.