Karl Lagerfeld namesake label expanding e-commerce

New York - Karl Lagerfeld will be diving into the world of e-commerce in true Karl Lagerfeld fashion. The legendary designer will be launching e-commerce for his eponymous label in multiple languages and in multiple countries, with artnet.com as his retail partner. Artnet.com will be auctioning off three of his one-of-a-kind bags as part of the partnership, because, of course, Lagerfeld had to do something one-of-a-kind to make sure he's set apart from everyone else.

The man who has said he has no intention to stop designing until he dies is taking his namesake brand global in 97 countries and five languages including Japanese. The launch is planned for early November in partnership with the newly formed Yoox Net-a-Porter group. According to Pier Paolo Righi, CEO of Karl Lagerfeld Group BV, online sales already make up a large part of the brand's business.

Lagerfeld's eponymous namesake label was relaunched in 2012 with exclusive distribution on Net-a-Porter. Over the last year, the company has also added luisviaroma.com, stylebop.com, zalando.com, Harvey Nichols, and Harrods as retail partners. The karl.com site is expected to begin housing a much wider array of products, specifically women's wear products like accessories and ready-to-wear. The men's and children's lines are not yet featured on the website.

Karl Lagerfeld brand expanding their e-commerce presence in 97 countries

Karl Lagerfeld also has quite the amount of social media traffic that has certainly helped them do well in sales. The brand has an Instagram following of over 1.6 million people.

As for their partnership with artnet.com, the one-of-a-kind bags will debut on November 2, with bidding opening on November 5 and closing on November 10.

Every two weeks, karl.com will unveil new designs, along with occasional capsule collections developed for their e-commerce channel, like the Karl Around the World capsule collection based on Lagerfeld's travels. The capsule collection will include sweatpants, sweatshirts, in addition to nylon handbags and crossbody bags for travel.

In addition to their e-commerce development, the brand is also opening a Dusseldorf women's flagship store. When Lagerfeld began his eponymous label's retail rollout in 2013, he focused on France and Germany. They currently have 20 franchise locations, with eight in China and six in the Middle East.