Façonnable

Façonnable is a French high-end retailer specializing in tailored men's and women's clothing. The company started humbly as a small custom tailor shop that Jean Goldberg opened in 1950 on Rue Paradis in Nice, France. By 1958 the small tailor shop was making custom tuxedos for Hollywood stars that were in the Cote d'Azur for the annual Cannes Film Festival. In 1961 Jean Goldberg's son, Albert, took over the shop and renamed it Façonnable, a variation of the word "Façonner," which means "to create." Under his watch the company expanded and in 1973 opens its first boutiques in Monte Carlo, Cannes, Saint-Tropez, Lyon, and Marseilles, however it was not until 1984 that Façonnable opened an outlet in Paris.

By 1988 Façonnable came to the United States through an exclusive agreemment with Nordstrom and in 1993 it opened its first US boutique on New York City's Fifth Avenue. The success of the line in the US led the company to expand its product US line to include clothing and accessories for women in 1995. By 1997, the company expanded its US presence by opening two new boutiques on the West Coast in Beverly Hills, and Costa Mesa.

In September 2000, Nordstrom paid $170 million to buy the French design firm. Albert Goldberg sold the company to Nordstrom, Inc., however design and product creation operations remain in Nice. Nordstrom operates 36 Façonnable boutiques in Europe and the brand has been sold exclusively at Nordstrom stores since 1989.

Nordstrom Inc. is selling its Façonnable boutique brand for $200 million to the M1 Group, a Lebanese private equity firm, the New York Post reported on June 29, 2007. The deal was finalized in July, 2007.

In 2008, a Façonnable Boutique was opened in Damascus, Syria.

External links

* [http://www.faconnable.com/ Façonnable web site]
* [http://about.nordstrom.com/ Nordstrom, Inc. web site]