Polène opens a 1,300-square-foot South Coast Plaza store in California

Polène has opened a 1,300-square-foot boutique at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, California. The French accessories brand's latest location follows the opening of its first U.S. store in New York's SoHo neighbourhood, and it is the brand's newest step in international growth.

Cofounder Antoine Mothay framed the opening as a milestone. "The opening of our South Coast Plaza boutique marks an important step in Polène's continued growth in the United States," he said in a statement to WWD, pointing to a customer base the company says is deepening.

"California has become an increasingly meaningful market for the maison, and we are excited to establish a permanent presence in Orange County," Mothay added. He said strong consumer interest had reinforced the brand's investment in brick-and-mortar retail.

The company chose South Coast Plaza, according to the brand, for its established reputation as a luxury shopping destination and its curated mix of retailers. The store brings Polène closer to its West Coast customer base.

Recent Polène openings have spread across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific, and the company says it continues to expand internationally. California is the latest address in that run, and it gives the brand a permanent base in Orange County.

Inside the boutique

The design is built on light and glass. Frosted glass walls reveal a garden of oversize, colourful leather flowers, while wood and leather, which the brand says recur in its stores, appear in the furnishings.

The floor is made from pressed offcuts of leather left over from Polène's own manufacturing. The material was designed in its workshops in Ubrique, Spain, and forms an irregular pattern inspired by stone that nods to the architecture of South Coast Plaza.

At the centre is a custom stained-glass installation made with Judson Studios, a family-owned workshop in Los Angeles founded in 1897. The collaboration places a craft house with more than a century of history inside a contemporary retail fit-out.

The store also has a "Craft at Work" space. Any customer buying a bag can make a complimentary leather flower charm there, using leftover leather from the Ubrique workshops, so the offcuts travel from Spain to California.

Visitors select individual petals, shape them using a thermoforming machine and assemble their own accessory. The feature gives shoppers a hands-on piece of the manufacturing process rather than a finished product alone.

What the expansion means for Polène

Mothay returned to the personal experience the company is betting on. "With this new boutique, we look forward to welcoming both our existing community and new clients into the Polène universe," he said.

He went on to describe the aim as "offering them the opportunity to experience our collections, craftsmanship and creative vision in a more personal way." The pitch is about the workshop and the maker as much as the bag.

Mothay called the store a permanent presence, and the word is deliberate. Orange County now has a fixed Polène address, where before the brand's physical U.S. footprint was a single New York store in SoHo.

The opening is part of a run of U.S. store news we have reported, including Tom Ford Fashion's three American stores and Missoni's second South Florida boutique inside Aventura Mall.

Polène has not disclosed sales for the new location or the wider U.S. business. Mothay's statement stops at ambition and enthusiasm, so the boutique's performance will have to be read from future openings or disclosures.

The company named no further U.S. sites or opening dates. What it has stated is that international expansion continues, and that the Costa Mesa boutique is a permanent presence for its California customers.

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Images: Courtesy of Polène; Courtesy of Polène