Consolidation is increasingly the story of the luxury market. Over 70% of luxury brands are owned by conglomerates, according to Bloomberg. Just one conglomerate—LVMH—accounted for roughly 20% of the $413 billion (€358 billion) personal luxury market last year. And Kantar reports only ten luxury brands—led by Hermès, Louis Vuitton and Chanel—command some $322 billion in total brand value.
Against the consolidation stampede, the remaining holdouts stand firm on one principle they won’t compromise—independence. Among them is Swiss luxury brand Akris founded in 1922 by Alice Kriemler-Schoch. Akris is known for its timelessly elegant architectural tailoring using the finest materials, and it’s built a loyal following among professional women at the top of their game.
Akris was quiet luxury before it became a force in the luxury market. In a rare 2011 interview, creative director Albert Kriemler, grandson of the founder, told the Wall Street Journal: “Style is all about the woman, it’s about her personality. The clothes are incidental. You should notice the woman first and what she is wearing follows. It should never, ever be the other way around.”
With brothers Albert overseeing design and Peter handling the financial side of the business, global CEO Melissa Beste—who knows the brand and the industry inside-out—has been managing day-to-day operations for the last nine years. She’s on her second stint with Akris, after taking a three-year sojourn into private equity, following five years leading the brand in North America and the U.K.
Having walked on the financial side of the luxury industry, Beste’s commitment to Akris’ independence is notable. “It allows us to make decisions that prioritize craftsmanship over convenience, relationships over transactions and stewardship over scale,” she shared.
Virtues Of Privacy
Stewardship is a word that comes up often in discussion with Beste. Whereas managing a brand focuses on running the business to meet quarterly sales goals and KPIs, stewardship aims to foster, preserve and advance the brand over time.
“We hope that Akris will be thriving 100 years from now. The shareholders are the family, the family’s children and grandchildren,” Beste explained. “Wall Street rewards the next quarter. Families reward the next generation.” The Bilanz list ranks Albert and Peter Kriemler among the 300 wealthiest families in Switzerland.
Following the guiding principle of stewardship coded into the brand’s DNA, Akris is rewarded by fierce customer loyalty. “In 1922, Alice, our founder, was a female entrepreneur ahead of her time. She built a company dedicated to serving women and creating beautiful clothes that support their ambitious lives,” Beste continued.
She defines the core Akris customer as women whose lives are defined by purpose. “Our women are CEOs, entrepreneurs, artists, philanthropists and leaders in their community. And our job is to make that woman feel like the best version of herself with our clothes there to support her journey, not speak for her.”
That loyalty has rewarded the brand even as the luxury fashion market pulled back after peaking in 2023. Akris did not falter, though it felt some negative impacts from Saks Global’s bankruptcy, which was and remains a major wholesale partner for the brand.
Building Relationships
Akris has built enduring relationships with its customers by putting them first—“Our customers trust us because we put the customer at the center of our decisions,” Beste said. And the company uses the same model of relationship building in its retail operations.
Beste explained that her first introduction to Akris came during her time as Saks’ European Couture buyer from 2003 to 2005. “I started a relationship with Akris on the other side of the table, then seven years later I joined the company,” she noted.
Having worked closely with Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman before the group was acquired by Saks Global Group in late 2024, she knows the post-bankruptcy leadership team at the newly renamed Exemplar Luxury Group well and has confidence in the future direction of its three luxury retail brands—Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman—under Geoffroy Van Raemdonck. The U.S. is a critical market for the brand, accounting for roughly half of company revenues.
She particularly favors Van Raemdonck’s decision to limit concessions in its stores, saying he is returning the department stores to the classic model where one salesperson can service a customer across every department.
“When you silo brands into concessions controlled by the brands, not the store, the customer service piece can be compromised,” she explained. “As I understand his thinking, Geoffroy wants to represent all the brands under one roof, so a customer can buy a Chanel jacket and pair it with Akris pants or vice versa.”
Besides its premier presence in Exemplar stores—“Akris has been the number one ready-to-wear brand at Bergdorf for about the last 15 years in terms of volume,” she said—its more accessible, secondary Akris Punto brand is a top performer at Nordstrom.
Dressing Women With Purpose
Beyond the suiting Akris is famous for, it can also dress a woman from work to evening and from weekday to weekend. Notably, the brand’s evening wear has been widely embraced by Bergdorf customers.
Ready-to-wear currently accounts for about 90% of the business, while the company continues to press into accessories, including handbags, scarves and shoes. “We want to dress a woman head to toe, but accessories is a harder piece to get right,” she admitted.
Alongside its wholesale partners, the brand operates nine dedicated boutiques in the U.S., ten company-operated stores in Europe and one in Japan. In total, Akris has roughly 500 points of sale worldwide, with presence in Korea and China as well.
Akris remains an independent, purpose-driven brand for a purpose-driven woman. “Women with purpose is not something that we invented. It’s something we inherited from our founder Alice, and so today the women that we dress are extremely loyal to us. Our women have lives are defined by purpose, leadership, creativity and impact,” Beste concluded.
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