Vilebrequin continues to expand La Plage concept, next openings in Muscat and Miami

The historic French swimwear brand Vilebrequin, founded in 1971 by Fred Prysquel in Saint-Tropez, is deepening its already close ties with beaches and beach clubs through its La Plage concept, launched in 2023 in Cannes.

“Today, in addition to Cannes, Vilebrequin La Plage is present in Doha, in partnership with St. Regis Hotels & Resorts, and, since last summer, in Crete. In about a month we will open, again in partnership with St. Regis, our second site in the Middle East, in Muscat, Oman. In February we will also open in Miami, with a slightly different format: not on the beach but on the rooftop of the Thompson Hotel, designed by Rudy Ricciotti, where there will be a bar, a restaurant, and a swimming pool,” Mattia Reinero, the brand’s wholesale director for Europe, tells FashionNetwork.com.

“These are not mere customisations, as many do: we oversee every detail directly, bring in our own chefs, and create ad hoc recipes. We want to deliver a genuine brand experience, with locations suitable for the whole family, just as our products are,” the executive adds. “It is a business that is growing very quickly—demanding but also rewarding. It currently accounts for about 10% of our turnover, and to manage it as effectively as possible we have created a dedicated in-house department, Vilebrequin Hospitality.”

Turning to the company’s core business, beachwear, today the brand generates about 70% of its sales with its menswear offering, “but womenswear — a much younger collection, launched eight or nine years ago compared with menswear in 1995 — is developing well; in fact, we have started opening dedicated stores for it, such as those in Forte dei Marmi, Porto Cervo, and Paris. In other cases, we convert men’s boutiques in cities where we have more stores, such as Saint-Tropez, or we expand them so they can also accommodate womenswear, as happened recently in Cannes, where we doubled the floorspace of our flagship,” Reinero explains.

Vilebrequin’s apparel offering is also growing and, over time, it has come to complement its swimwear with a total look for all seasons, always staying true to the brand’s DNA: “As for menswear, if up to a decade ago beachwear still accounted for 80% of sales, today apparel has reached 52%. We offer linen shirts and Bermuda shorts, but also cotton and cashmere jumpers, sweatshirts, velvet trousers… all made in Italy,” Reinero adds. “As for swimwear, a new feature for the SS 2026 collection will be pieces in ultra-fast-drying Japanese nylon.”

The label also continues to pursue collaborations with players in other sectors, such as the one with Fiat for the Fiat Topolino Vilebrequin Collector’s Edition. Produced in a limited edition, the 100% electric microcar is hand-finished and embodies the shared vision of quality and design that unites the two companies.

“We will soon launch a collaboration with French artist Fabrice Hilbert, who is highly attuned to environmental sustainability and has designed two prints for us. Together we will roll out brand activations and organise events,” Reinero reveals. “Speaking of sustainability, one of our goals is to extend the life of our swimwear as much as possible: we have a repair service that refurbishes swimsuits even 10 or 15 years old, replacing worn parts such as the elastic or the inner brief.”

Vilebrequin — whose largest market is the US, second is France, and the third is Italy — closed 2024 with turnover of €140 million and expects 2% growth this year. “We will grow slightly despite the objective difficulties caused by the US tariff situation and by Middle Eastern countries that are experiencing a decline in tourism,” the manager concludes.