Secret Shopper: Polène brings elevated style and service to Regent Street

Polène, the Parisian accessibly priced luxury leathergoods brand, arrived on London's Regent Street before Christmas. We're lucky to have it. Outside of its home market, it only has physical retail stores in Tokyo, Seoul and New York. But it is slowly opening stores in those markets where it has the most fans, judging by online sales.

Founded in 2016 by three siblings (Antoine, Mathieu and Elsa Mothay), this low-key house has quietly become an social media sensation, helped in no small part by an (unpaid and unsolicited) endorsement from Tanner Leatherstein, the leathergoods expert who is famous for pulling apart handbags, examining their construction and materials, and offering his opinion on whether they are worth the often hefty price tag. Two years ago he pulled apart a Polène bag and declared ominously but, as it turns out, completely correctly: "Luxury brands are in trouble."

Luxury is challenged as consumers have tired of the unjustified price hikes and the questionable quality, and generally speaking they are pulling back on discretionary spend. Meanwhile brands like Polène and Britain's Strathberry are quietly prospering by offering considered design and luxury-standard construction and quality for around £500 a bag. You could spend five times that amount (easily) in a big luxury house – as Tanner Leatherstein points out – for a bag that is certainly not five times as good. Quite probably it wouldn't even be as good in some cases. The world's largest luxury group, LVMH has sat up and taken notice. In September of last year L Catterton, the private equity firm, which is backed by LVMH, snapped up a minority stake in Polène, and it's easy to understand why.

Polène bags are crafted from Italian or Spanish leather in the Spanish town of Ubrique, which is known in the trade for being home to some of the world's best leathergoods makers, working for some of the most high profile luxury brands, including LVMH's Louis Vuitton and Dior, among many others.

I'm a handbag afficionado/addict of many years' standing. I've collected many luxury bags over the years (I intend to bequeath them to my daughter) and currently have designs from Dior and Celine on rotation almost daily. I've just purchased my first Polène and it won't be my last. Not only because the bag I bought is chic and beautifully constructed, but the retail experience tops, or at least matches, that which I have received in the best luxury stores.

Here's how my recent visit panned out...

Minimalis aesthetic extends to product displays

Location

The store is located at the Piccadilly Circus end of Regent Street, which honestly feels a little bit too far from the rest of the fashion action. Mulberry, Burberry and all the French fashion brands (Sandro, Maje, Claudie Pierlot etc) are all clustered more towards middle section of the street.

I initially thought this was a bit of a pain as I trudged up the street, upon reflection, I think there is something quite cool about Polène being slightly separate from the crowd. It’s still a bit of an insider brand and my feeling is loyalists will just seek it out, no matter where it is. It doesn’t necessarily need to rely on people chancing upon it when shopping for other things, but there are some cool athleisure brands just across the street, such as Alo, that will bring people up to this end of the street.

In addition as the unit sits on the curve of the street as it arcs towards Piccadilly Circus, it makes for a more architecturally interesting unit both inside and out. I just love the grandiose regency architecture of this street – it's one of my favourites in London – so all in all. I'm glad Polène has chosen to be here.

Bags displayed on plinths made up of stacks of leather off-cuts

Windows & Entrance

I was planning to do this Secret Shop much sooner than this (the store opened just before Christmas), but the first time I went, there was a queue outside, complete with velvet rope. But, while it would be worth the wait if you encountered such a queue, I am generally racing around when I am in London, fitting in shopping in between work commitments, and waiting in a queue outside a store (even if I am doing so for professional purposes) feels like skiving off. Plus, I just can't be bothered with queues outside shops.

The curve of Regent Street makes for a stunning interior

According to my very chatty sales associate (more on her later), the queues outside Polène are only in place at peak times and the maximum wait thus far has “only” been 40 minutes. When I looked shocked at that, she explained that people regularly wait two hours to get into the Paris store. I visited mid-morning on a Thursday in the middle of a rain shower, hence no queue, and walked straight in. A security guard opened the door as I approached and opened it for me with a friendly "welcome to Polène" as walked in. This was a nice touch.

The floor to ceiling windows featured minimalist displays with only a few bags shown affording a clear view into ground floor of the shop, which to be honest looks more like an art gallery than any store I usually frequent.

Store Fit 

When I first entered the store my first impression was there were more staff than there were bags. There were 12 bags displayed on the wall to the left, three on plinths in the centre of the floor and a handful in the windows. That’s it.  Clearly product density per square foot has no relevance to this brand but I almost got the sense that the aim was to put as little product in this space as possible.

This ground floor space is pretty vast and initially, I was the only customer in it (many more arrived later). I was almost afraid to touch anything but the staff, clad head to toe in beige uniforms, were so nice and friendly, I quickly relaxed.

Leather off-cuts were used to clad the handrail on the staircase

Let’s start with the store fit. It’s beautiful. The main display wall, where the 12 bags are displayed, is crafted out of leather offcuts that have been compressed into tiles that seem cork-like in texture. The plinths in the centre of the store, along with the stunning cash register are fashioned from squares of leather off-cuts, essentially layered on top of each other to stunning effect. I found myself stroking them involuntarily and as I did so, a sales associate popped up to explain that the leather came from Italy and was the same leather used in the bags. This is a really nice touch as you can see exactly the kind of quality leather that Polène uses.

The same store associate explained there were more bags upstairs and I was welcome to try anything on and have a browse, so I headed for the vast staircase. As I reached for the hand rail, I jumped, as a voice behind me said: "this is made of leather offcuts, this store is very sustainable." It was another sales associate who had decided to accompany me on my journey to the top floor. "Did you see the wall downstairs?" she asked. "The table upstairs is made of the same material, come and look."

A vast table is crafted from leather off-cuts

When I reached the top floor, I saw said table. It was made of the same cork effect leather tiles and it was vast, completely dominating the entire floor. There was absolutely nothing at all on it. There are more bags up here, which displayed along two walls with one or two bags in the windows. There is also a small cabinet displaying jewellery.

Product Range

OK, there isn't much on display but my goodness it's nice. Polène's bags are often named after numbers and I was in the market for a Dix or 10, which is the 10th bag the brand designed and a saddle bag style. Once I'd got over the sense I was in an art gallery, I relaxed and started trying things on and the sales associate was happy for me to do so and made suggestions based on what I was wearing and what I said I wanted,

There are totes, shoulder bags, bucket bags, clutches and pouches for every occasion, as long as the occasion demands tan, taupe, ecru, grey, black or dark red accessories that is. I particularly liked the iPhone pouches that all the staff have slung cross body over their uniforms. The quality of the bags and the construction is sublime. If you took off the Polène branding and told me it was Céline, I wouldn't have disbelieved it. But the price tag is the give away, I picked up only one bag that was in excess of £500 in price. Most are around £400 and leather-trimmed canvas styles can by under £300.

As well as bags, there is a small selection of jewellery and a few belts in the range. I wish there were shoes. They would make such great shoes... My sales associate promises to pass my request on.

Service

It got the point when I wondered if my sales associate was aware I was secret shopping and was pulling out all the stops to be attentive, but she clearly didn't have a clue who I was and I didn't tell her I worked in the market. Her knowledge of the brand was deep and she was clearly very proud to work for Polène, even though she had apparently only began working for the company when the store opened. Every time I said something nice about the store or a bag, she would thank me "so much" and I think she really meant it.

She was also very patient with me. I was so undecided about the colour of bag I wanted and she was happy to advise me and showed me on her iPad what other colours were in stock. I eventualy landed on a grey Dix and just as I was about to descend the stairs I changed my mind and decided on the very pale grey one. "it's not problem, honestly," she said and scuttled off to get me a fresh one from the stock room. By the way, I should add when the fresh bags arrive from the stock room they are encased in beautiful branded boxes with dustbags that are of the same quality you would receive with a designer bag.

I'd asked to see the belts while I was upstairs and she told me they were downstairs. When we got downstairs, she introduced me to another staff member who was wearing the belt and was simply thrilled to give me a  demonstration. It was one of those styles that wrap around twice and she spent some time showing me the different way of wearing it and how to fasten it. I confess I may have glazed over a bit at this point as I was thinking "how hard can it be to buckle a belt?" I bought it, obviously, and when I got home I wish I had paid more attention as it was a bit fiddly, to be fair. I worked it out though.

Experiential offerings

Checkout was lovely and, as it was raining, they fitted my paper bag with a plastic jacket to protect. Just when I thought my visit was over, the sales associate asked me if I'd been shown the "experience" and pointed to a machine in the corner. To be honest I had wondered what it was but assumed it was something staff used (a small lift for handbags perhaps?) so didn't pay it too much attention. As it turns out, in every Polène store, customers are invited to create something from leather off-cuts to take away as a souvenir.

The souvenir tray-making process

London customers get to make a small leather tray using a hefty looking machine, made in Switzerland apparently, that heats up a piece of leather and then moulds it into a small kidney-shaped tray. In Paris, I'm told, you get to make a keyring (truth be told, I would have preferred a keying) but I also liked the idea of the tray. The reality of the tray, I liked less. It was basically a piece of dented leather (albeit very nice leather) that now sits on my desk with a lip balm in it. I didn't really need a tray for my lipbalm but I've got one now and I guess that is a bonus.

There is also a personalisation machine for applying initials to your purchases, but I didn't try that. Maybe if I had a keyring, I would have.

In Conclusion

J'adore. All of it. I'm going back and I'm going to buy something else. But I don't J'adore it enough to queue.