Longchamp
Making the Pliage the beginning of the story, not the end
timeframe
4 months
tools
Agile - Design thinking
category
Luxury design system
View it Live
Longchamp had a brand paradox. The Pliage — their most iconic, most accessible, most desirable product — had become a glass ceiling. Online, it captured all the attention and rendered the rest of the collection invisible. Customers came for the Pliage and left without ever discovering that Longchamp was also a house of high-end leather goods, ready-to-wear, and luxury accessories.
The problem wasn't the Pliage. It was the experience architecture that had turned it into a final destination rather than a point of entry.
The central strategic decision: turn the Pliage into an entry point into the collection, not an isolated hero product. This meant rethinking the entire discovery logic — how users arrive on the homepage, how they navigate, how customisation becomes an engagement mechanism that opens onto the full depth of the Maison.
Four months, agile approach, Longchamp teams in direct collaboration throughout: an international platform deployed across 24 markets that repositioned the brand toward high-end luxury — without sacrificing what had made the Pliage so successful.
24
countries
7 languages
4
months
on time, on budget
1st
unified omnichannel · click & collect + real-time stock
1
Design system
24 markets governed
How
Reframing the Pliage as an entry point
The first decision I made — and the most structuring one — was to refuse the original brief.
The brief asked to "better showcase the full catalogue." That's the wrong question. The right question was: why do customers who come for the Pliage never discover anything else? The answer wasn't in the catalogue. It was in the customisation logic.
The Pliage is one of the rare accessible luxury products that fully owns what it is — you choose it, configure it, make it yours. It's a strong emotional relationship. The problem was that this relationship stopped there.
We redesigned the customisation funnel to become a discovery mechanism: after configuring their Pliage, customers were naturally guided toward the Maison's universes that matched their choices — colour, style, use case. The Pliage became the beginning of a conversation, not its conclusion.
Editorial navigation as a brand decision
The second major decision touched navigation — and it created significant internal friction.
Standard e-commerce logic dictates navigation by categories, filters, and price sorting. It's optimised for short-term conversion. It's catastrophic for a brand that wants to be perceived as a luxury Maison.
I proposed editorial navigation — organised around universes and stories rather than product categories. Concretely: the homepage didn't open on "Bags / Leather goods / Accessories." It opened on narrative entry points that reflected the territories of the Maison.
The e-commerce teams were sceptical — a longer path potentially meant fewer direct conversions. The argument I defended: a luxury brand doesn't sell a product first. It sells a sense of belonging. The product follows.
Post-launch metrics validated that bet.
Outcome
A platform that repositioned the brand as much as it improved the conversion funnel. Fluent, seamless experience across digital and physical touchpoints. One-click payment, real-time in-store stock visibility, click & collect (integrated into a coherent brand experience rather than bolted on as a feature).
The metric that mattered: for the first time, the online experience was a reason to want the product, not just a place to buy it.
My take
Luxury e-commerce is one of the hardest design problems in the industry. Not because it's technically complex (it isn't), but because the brief is inherently contradictory. Luxury works through scarcity, exclusivity, and physical presence. E-commerce works through abundance, accessibility, and frictionless flow. You can't just apply luxury aesthetics to a standard e-commerce architecture and call it done.
What this project taught me is that the solution isn't in the UI. It's in the pacing. A luxury experience online is one where the brand controls the tempo, not the user. Where discovery feels curated rather than searched. Where the interface disappears and the product takes the space it deserves.
That's a fundamentally different design philosophy from optimising a conversion funnel. And it requires being willing to make decisions that look wrong by standard UX metrics (longer paths, fewer filters, more editorial content) but feel right for the brand. The courage to hold that position in front of a client is as much part of the job as the design itself.
Longchamp
Making the Pliage the beginning of the story, not the end
timeframe
4 months
tools
Agile - Design thinking
category
Luxury design system
View it Live
Longchamp had a brand paradox. The Pliage — their most iconic, most accessible, most desirable product — had become a glass ceiling. Online, it captured all the attention and rendered the rest of the collection invisible. Customers came for the Pliage and left without ever discovering that Longchamp was also a house of high-end leather goods, ready-to-wear, and luxury accessories.
The problem wasn't the Pliage. It was the experience architecture that had turned it into a final destination rather than a point of entry.
The central strategic decision: turn the Pliage into an entry point into the collection, not an isolated hero product. This meant rethinking the entire discovery logic — how users arrive on the homepage, how they navigate, how customisation becomes an engagement mechanism that opens onto the full depth of the Maison.
Four months, agile approach, Longchamp teams in direct collaboration throughout: an international platform deployed across 24 markets that repositioned the brand toward high-end luxury — without sacrificing what had made the Pliage so successful.
24
countries
7 languages
4
months
on time, on budget
1st
unified omnichannel · click & collect + real-time stock
1
Design system
24 markets governed
How
Reframing the Pliage as an entry point
The first decision I made — and the most structuring one — was to refuse the original brief.
The brief asked to "better showcase the full catalogue." That's the wrong question. The right question was: why do customers who come for the Pliage never discover anything else? The answer wasn't in the catalogue. It was in the customisation logic.
The Pliage is one of the rare accessible luxury products that fully owns what it is — you choose it, configure it, make it yours. It's a strong emotional relationship. The problem was that this relationship stopped there.
We redesigned the customisation funnel to become a discovery mechanism: after configuring their Pliage, customers were naturally guided toward the Maison's universes that matched their choices — colour, style, use case. The Pliage became the beginning of a conversation, not its conclusion.
Editorial navigation as a brand decision
The second major decision touched navigation — and it created significant internal friction.
Standard e-commerce logic dictates navigation by categories, filters, and price sorting. It's optimised for short-term conversion. It's catastrophic for a brand that wants to be perceived as a luxury Maison.
I proposed editorial navigation — organised around universes and stories rather than product categories. Concretely: the homepage didn't open on "Bags / Leather goods / Accessories." It opened on narrative entry points that reflected the territories of the Maison.
The e-commerce teams were sceptical — a longer path potentially meant fewer direct conversions. The argument I defended: a luxury brand doesn't sell a product first. It sells a sense of belonging. The product follows.
Post-launch metrics validated that bet.
Outcome
A platform that repositioned the brand as much as it improved the conversion funnel. Fluent, seamless experience across digital and physical touchpoints. One-click payment, real-time in-store stock visibility, click & collect (integrated into a coherent brand experience rather than bolted on as a feature).
The metric that mattered: for the first time, the online experience was a reason to want the product, not just a place to buy it.
My take
Luxury e-commerce is one of the hardest design problems in the industry. Not because it's technically complex (it isn't), but because the brief is inherently contradictory. Luxury works through scarcity, exclusivity, and physical presence. E-commerce works through abundance, accessibility, and frictionless flow. You can't just apply luxury aesthetics to a standard e-commerce architecture and call it done.
What this project taught me is that the solution isn't in the UI. It's in the pacing. A luxury experience online is one where the brand controls the tempo, not the user. Where discovery feels curated rather than searched. Where the interface disappears and the product takes the space it deserves.
That's a fundamentally different design philosophy from optimising a conversion funnel. And it requires being willing to make decisions that look wrong by standard UX metrics (longer paths, fewer filters, more editorial content) but feel right for the brand. The courage to hold that position in front of a client is as much part of the job as the design itself.
Longchamp
Making the Pliage the beginning of the story, not the end
timeframe
4 months
tools
Agile - Design thinking
category
Luxury design system
View it Live
Longchamp had a brand paradox. The Pliage — their most iconic, most accessible, most desirable product — had become a glass ceiling. Online, it captured all the attention and rendered the rest of the collection invisible. Customers came for the Pliage and left without ever discovering that Longchamp was also a house of high-end leather goods, ready-to-wear, and luxury accessories.
The problem wasn't the Pliage. It was the experience architecture that had turned it into a final destination rather than a point of entry.
The central strategic decision: turn the Pliage into an entry point into the collection, not an isolated hero product. This meant rethinking the entire discovery logic — how users arrive on the homepage, how they navigate, how customisation becomes an engagement mechanism that opens onto the full depth of the Maison.
Four months, agile approach, Longchamp teams in direct collaboration throughout: an international platform deployed across 24 markets that repositioned the brand toward high-end luxury — without sacrificing what had made the Pliage so successful.
24
countries
7 languages
4
months
on time, on budget
1st
unified omnichannel · click & collect + real-time stock
1
Design system
24 markets governed
How
Reframing the Pliage as an entry point
The first decision I made — and the most structuring one — was to refuse the original brief.
The brief asked to "better showcase the full catalogue." That's the wrong question. The right question was: why do customers who come for the Pliage never discover anything else? The answer wasn't in the catalogue. It was in the customisation logic.
The Pliage is one of the rare accessible luxury products that fully owns what it is — you choose it, configure it, make it yours. It's a strong emotional relationship. The problem was that this relationship stopped there.
We redesigned the customisation funnel to become a discovery mechanism: after configuring their Pliage, customers were naturally guided toward the Maison's universes that matched their choices — colour, style, use case. The Pliage became the beginning of a conversation, not its conclusion.
Editorial navigation as a brand decision
The second major decision touched navigation — and it created significant internal friction.
Standard e-commerce logic dictates navigation by categories, filters, and price sorting. It's optimised for short-term conversion. It's catastrophic for a brand that wants to be perceived as a luxury Maison.
I proposed editorial navigation — organised around universes and stories rather than product categories. Concretely: the homepage didn't open on "Bags / Leather goods / Accessories." It opened on narrative entry points that reflected the territories of the Maison.
The e-commerce teams were sceptical — a longer path potentially meant fewer direct conversions. The argument I defended: a luxury brand doesn't sell a product first. It sells a sense of belonging. The product follows.
Post-launch metrics validated that bet.
Outcome
A platform that repositioned the brand as much as it improved the conversion funnel. Fluent, seamless experience across digital and physical touchpoints. One-click payment, real-time in-store stock visibility, click & collect (integrated into a coherent brand experience rather than bolted on as a feature).
The metric that mattered: for the first time, the online experience was a reason to want the product, not just a place to buy it.
My take
Luxury e-commerce is one of the hardest design problems in the industry. Not because it's technically complex (it isn't), but because the brief is inherently contradictory. Luxury works through scarcity, exclusivity, and physical presence. E-commerce works through abundance, accessibility, and frictionless flow. You can't just apply luxury aesthetics to a standard e-commerce architecture and call it done.
What this project taught me is that the solution isn't in the UI. It's in the pacing. A luxury experience online is one where the brand controls the tempo, not the user. Where discovery feels curated rather than searched. Where the interface disappears and the product takes the space it deserves.
That's a fundamentally different design philosophy from optimising a conversion funnel. And it requires being willing to make decisions that look wrong by standard UX metrics (longer paths, fewer filters, more editorial content) but feel right for the brand. The courage to hold that position in front of a client is as much part of the job as the design itself.