PARIS — Just nine months after unveiling its first Paris flagship for men, Korean luxury brand Songzio has doubled down on its presence in the French capital with a second stand-alone store dedicated to womenswear.

Located at 10 rue Charlot in the heart of the Marais, the two-level, 1,615-square-foot space sits adjacent to the men’s store and reflects the same architectural codes as conceived by brand creative director Jay Songzio, who also served as the project’s lead architect.

Songzio calls it “stripped classicism,” and the interior follows the raw steel and concrete classic-meets-Brutalist design of the men’s flagship next door. Working with Studio AMV, which has also collaborated with Balmain, Songzio played with brightness and flow, and added wood to his material palette. Curved walls and rounded furnishings soften the store’s otherwise severe aesthetic.

The expansion came serendipitously. Shortly after the men’s store opened in December, its neighbor, a longtime independent hatmaker, closed up shop, offering the perfect timing for a store dedicated to Songzio’s new women’s line, launched just two months later.

While the men’s store is more enclosed and “almost feels like a vault,” Songzio said, the building housing the women’s unit boasts a large central courtyard. He wanted to utilize the traditional Parisian architectural characteristic to bring in natural light.

Songzio continues to personally design all of the brand’s stores, though this latest project also involved a new creative partner in Belgian furniture designer Arno Declercq, who is known for his minimalist work in burnt wood and patinated steel.

“You would instantly recognize that his work resonates a lot with our brand’s aesthetic,” said Songzio. “With every angle [in the store] there’s a piece, and I think that creates a much more artisanal look, because sometimes these concrete stores can look a bit cold.”

Opening physical stores in Paris has become a key strategy for the brand. “This particular store [is] arguably the most important store for me and for the brand internationally,” he said, both in establishing the women’s line as well as Songzio’s overall international presence.

Prior to the men’s opening, Songzio’s Paris presence had largely been limited to runway shows. That flagship has allowed him to deepen ties with local customers.

Company data shows that 70 percent of in-store customers are local, he said, with American tourists making up the majority of the international clientele.

That direct connection with customers has yielded valuable insight. “We get almost daily feedback about what the French customers want. It’s helped sharpen my understanding of what people want from a brand like ours, which isn’t always what we imagined from Korea,” he said.

The retail experience has helped him refine the collection and product mix for the international market, which focuses on basics and classics and prefers a level of consistency.

That’s in stark contrast to the domestic Korean market, where Songzio has opened 16 women’s stand-alone stores over the last year, with two more doors planned before December.

“Korean customers want new things every season, every month, even every week,” Songzio said. “To keep up with that energy, you have to move fast in Korea.”

That pace has fueled the rapid retail expansion. “If you don’t have enough stores in the beginning when you are trying to test the market, you’re going to be dead in the water in a year or two, because you wouldn’t have enough variety compared to the competitors,” he said.

This appetite for constant novelty is a stark contrast to European buying habits, and can be a design challenge for Songzio, who grew up in Paris. However, designing the women’s collection has pushed him into new territory.

“It’s really changed the silhouette that I was kind of stuck on for a while — very oversized, very angular,” he said. “Working on womenswear in the last year or so has really made our [core men’s] collection much more fluid.”

Songzio previously stated a 1 million euro annual sales target for the first year of the men’s store, but the brand surpassed that goal within the first eight months, he said, in part because it is the only way for customers to get their hands on the goods outside of Seoul.

“International clients really have nowhere to shop but our first flagship,” Songzio said. “That has been very instrumental.”

For now, that means no global e-commerce. Songzio will reassess that strategy in about six months, based on the success of the women’s store, he added.

However local, the Paris flagship will import one success factor from the Seoul store: rotating art exhibits. “It brings a new energy, and we wanted to replicate this experience in Paris as well,” he said.

In Seoul, the store has hosted seven artists so far. The first Paris exhibition is slated for November, in conjunction with a three-way collaboration between the brand, an unnamed artist, and a Copenhagen-based brand. “We are likely to do like a trilateral collaboration to create a more immersive experience.”

That forthcoming collaboration is also a key part of Songzio’s growth strategy. The brand generated good buzz with its capsule collection with Anti-Social Social Club. Shown on the runway last season, it will be available in the Paris flagship.

A collaboration with a Japanese brand is also in the works for 2026. “These collaborations really help us expand our presence internationally,” he added.

The brand has also brought on board key ambassadors, including Seonghwa from the K-pop group Ateez. He debuted in a campaign in July. The relationship blossomed naturally after Seonghwa attended a show and became a loyal customer; now the two are friends. “It wasn’t a calculated move like, ‘We need a K-pop star right now,’” he joked. “It came very naturally.”

The brand also announced its first female ambassador, Korean actress Choi Heejin, for its fall campaign.

Paris is only the beginning of the brand’s international expansion. A planned New York City flagship is still on track, Songzio added, expected to open in the fourth quarter of 2026.