The Tamesis
Cult Gaia is getting ready for the European Summer. The brand’s first pop-up store of the season opened in Cannes this week, and a follow-up to last summer’s successful event in the Riviera town is about to open in Saint-Tropez, just before the brand heads to Ibiza’s Jondal Beach Club. It’s all part of founder Jasmin Larian Hekmat’s plan to build the Cult Gaia universe.
The brand just experienced a landmark year. Cult Gaia’s revenue in fiscal 2025 will be $100 million, compared with $75 million the previous year, a significant increase that the founders attribute to their persistence over the past 14 years.
Hekmat says that when the brand launched in Los Angeles in 2012, people around her felt strongly about how she should design and build her brand. “I was told along the way that I needed to be core, core, core; business, business, business; wholesale, wholesale, wholesale,” she said. Instead, Hekmat favors bolder statement pieces, like the feathered dress ($2,000), sculptural top ($500) and bulky bamboo Ark bag ($200) that helped put the brand on the map. She also limited the brand’s wholesale exposure in favor of direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales, which paid off after the multi-brand woes. (Cult Gaia’s channel mix is currently 70% DTC and 30% wholesale, including stockists such as Net-a-Porter, Revolve and Bergdorf Goodman.)
Cult Gaia’s seven company-operated stores are currently concentrated in the United States (from New York to Los Angeles to Miami) as well as four seasonal outposts. But Hekmat was determined to build brick-and-mortar stores globally and felt that opening stores, rather than relying on online sales and wholesale stockists, was the only way she could control the experience. “I worked on the interior design, music and architecture to really create a feeling that transcended the objects,” she said. “Our days are so monotonous. So if you can go into a Cult Gaia store and experience some novelty and a dopamine hit, we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing.”
Now, the founder is doubling down on his efforts, with plans to more than double the brand’s existing store count over the next two to three years, expand its recently launched menswear categories and invest in future shows after debuting in New York for fall/winter 2026.
constructed
For a brand that opened its first physical store in Los Angeles three years ago (2023), opening 10 to 15 stores by 2029 may be a huge boost, but many stores have been in the pipeline for some time. It took a while to get the details right, Hekmat said. “The most important thing is to sign a good agreement that protects the business in the long term,” she said, meaning one that would provide the brand with a high-profile location, neighbors that fit its positioning and, of course, a fair price. “The biggest risk is also the biggest reward, which is obviously we can attract new customers and bring them into our space, but that could lead to a heavy income statement [profit and loss] If you don’t sign a good agreement. “
