Lace has its own place: Agent Provocateur opens Hong Kong stand-alone store

Think saucy lingerie and Agent Provocateur will be one of the names that springs immediately to mind. Established in 1994,  the London-born brand has come a long way from its humble beginnings in London’s Soho district, helped by  advertising campaigns  featuring the likes of Kate Moss and Daisy Lowe. Recently, international expansion has been hotting up: the label moved into China two years ago and now owns seven shops there  – a number which is set to double over the next three years.

In Hong Kong, Agent Provocateur has been sold at  Lane Crawford in the IFC mall  for some time, but has now opened  its first stand-alone shop in the city, in On Lan Street, Central,   to capture more of the local market.

Buying underwear in Hong Kong was  until recently  a chore for many women, with few options  beyond cheap market stalls, Marks &  Spencer, and Lane Crawford. Only in the  past few years has a wider range of  sophisticated undergarments  become widely available with the arrival of  Intimissimi and several local on-and offline start-ups,  the expansion of Calvin Klein Underwear and, recently, the arrival of La Perla with its flagship store in Russell Street, Causeway Bay.   

On a recent trip through Hong Kong, Agent Provocateur CEO Garry Hogarth  reflected on  how far the company has come in the past decade. “In  10 years, we have grown from 14 shops to 114 worldwide,” he said. “Asia is a very important market for us with enormous growth potential. We have only been in China a few years so the challenge is to build brand awareness and educate the customers to understand what we have to offer.”

Agent Provocateur’s offering  hasn’t changed much over the years: quality has always been paramount, but  perception was  now key, said Hogarth. “Agent Provocateur’s offer is unique in the lingerie market. We use the finest lace and fabrics in the world with 90 per cent of our fabrics coming from France. But it is important that [the customer] understands that we have lingerie for  every day and not just for special occasions.”

The brand’s reputation has been burnished by advertising  campaigns that are risqué  but always tasteful. As proof of that, look no further than its  award-winning website, which  receives more than 20,000 visitors a day, or  the brand’s 2009 promotional campaign, which saw Kylie Minogue  star in a video in which she spends close to a minute riding a velour-clad bucking bronco, wearing only Agent Provocateur  lingerie. Not surprisingly, the video was named number one cinema advert of all time by the Digital Cinema Media Poll.