Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand

Background
Elie Saab born in 1964 began his sartorial career by cutting cloth and drawing sketches for
his sisters at home in Beirut, Lebanon, sewing table cloths and curtains into new designs at
the age of nine. In 1982, when he was only eighteen years old, the largely self-trained
designer opened his own fashion store in Beirut with an employee base of 10. Soon his
reputation rapidly transcended Beiruts borders, attracting women from high society who
desired an elegant Elie Saab dress, in the 1990s he expanded his presence to Europe by
opening up a store in Paris
In 1997 Saab was the first non-Italian designer to become a member of the Italian Camera
Nazionale della Moda, and in 1997, showed his first collection outside Lebanon in Rome and
he started ready-to-wear in Milan
He became an overnight success after he became the first Lebanese designer to dress an
Oscar winner, Halle Berry, in 2002. In May 2003, the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute
Couture invited him to become a member, and he showed his first haute couture collection in
Paris in July 2003.
Organizational Structure
The Group was organized around 2 main functions - Creative function and Business function
The company has total employee base of 150 as of 2012 in 3 different locations. 130 were
located in Beirut the headquarters of Elie Saab, 15 were located in Paris handling the Sales,
Communication and Public relation and administrative tasks, 5 were located in Harrods store,
London handling mostly the sales activities.

Product Base
Haute Couture - Elie Saab provided personalized service for the customers buying these
products. Customers consulted with him on color, designs, fit, hairstyle and jewelry selection.
Saab insisted on the finest details, including the finest detailing, including hand-made
beading and embroidery

RTW(Ready to wear)- It included casual wears but also had semi formal gown collection.
Elie Saab outsourced the RTW line production to very select manufacturers in Europe,
mainly in Italy and France

Wedding dresses - The wedding dresses were classified as either the Haute Couture or the
RTW. The dresses were sold through the ES Couture salons in Beirut and Paris. Elie Saab
made the wedding gown for Countess Stephanie of Lannoy, Luxemburg
Accessories- The accessories line included shoes, handbags, scarves, jewellery, belts,
fragrance and cosmetics

Distribution Strategy
Company-owned flagship stores which were present in Dubai, London, Paris, and
Honk Kong
multi-brand retail channel and department stores across the world
Through licenses and third-party distribution

Marketing Strategy
They followed three different platforms for marketing their product.
Through events, celebs and crowned heads- Presence in the Academy awards,
Grammy awards, and the British film festival this fetched them free media coverage
across television, internet, and print media. In 2002 when Halle Berry wore the dress
designed by Elie Saab, it fetched the brand an estimated media coverage of $1 Billion.
Saab had big celebrities like Jolie, Dianne Kruger, Penelope Cruz, and many Blue
bloods such as Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan in his customer base

Communication and public relation- The primary communication objective was to

build the image of the company, which is built through wide media coverage and
other communication tools. It has 3 external public relations offices in London, Los
Angeles and New York, as well as 2 in-house offices in Beirut and Paris.

Fashion Shows- Saab and his team developed four major collections, two for Haute
Couture and Two for the Ready to wear line. Retailers, along with the select customer
members in the media, were invited to attend the yearly fashion shows. The dresses
worn in the fashion show was not sold but were rather archived.

Present scenario of haute couture

The number of couture design houses declined from 106 in 1946 to 11 in 2010. The taste and
preferences of the new world billionaires from countries like Russia, China and The Middle
East was less about wearing Authentic Western culture and exquisite handmade creations.
The clothing trend specially of the extremely wealthy class was shifting to a to a more casual
style of clothing as now there were less dinner parties, and grand royal meals where women
would wear the exclusive gowns and many Ready to Wear clothing line companies were
increasing the quality and the price yet keeping the volumes thereby maintaining exclusivity
and attracting more customers.

FOUR PS OF MARKETING
Place
The brand is Present in 32 countries and was also available in 45 multi brand retailers and
department stores across the world. It has 3 external public relations offices in London, Los
Angeles and New York.
Product
Elie saab has four major products, Haute Couture - Specifically for extremely wealthy/ elite
class such as actors or royals, Wedding Dresses A very niche clothing sector, RTW
Casual wear for rich class of the world, and Accessories.
Price
The price range of custom-made couture is $30,000$1,000,000. The RTW line begins at
$1,200 and goes up to $21,000. Pricing was done keeping in mind the consumers who are
interested in high fashion and have the ability to afford them.
Promotion
The personal service workmanship, unique designs, and exquisite materials used by Saab
kept the ES collection on the forefront of the elite with stars and royalty alike. The three
techniques used for promotion were, Communication and PR, Events and celebs, Fashion
show.