This week, we take a closer look at John Hardy’s Reed Krakoff-led revival.
Two years into his role as creative chair at John Hardy, Reed Krakoff is proving he’s still a magical talent.
After undergoing transformations at Coach and Tiffany & Co., each of which significantly expanded its category mix and introduced less formal aspects, Krakoff has relaunched the L-majority-owned fine jewelry brand, 50-year-old John Hardy. It breathes life into the world. Five of Krakoff’s first John Hardy collections have already become the brand’s best-sellers, attracting both existing and new customers. And the semi-disruptive Josh he brought to the brand’s marketing and retail presence opened the door to new possibilities. “Casual,” “sexy,” “cool” and “confident” are the words he uses to describe John Hardy’s new direction.
“We’re not trying to follow the big brands or traditional luxury route because it’s too expensive and too difficult,” Krakoff told Glossy. “Whereas other jewelers are more formal, concealed and status-oriented, we take a more relaxed approach.”
It’s a departure from where John Hardy was for decades before Krakow joined in 2022. As Krakoff said, the brand’s overly literal approach to paying homage to Balinese roots and craftsmanship limited its creativity. On the other hand, when it came to products, there was too much variety for the minimal variety.
As such, Krakoff emphasized that the brand has a lot of room to grow. Judging by his track record, he is qualified for the job.
On Tuesday, John Hardy opened its third U.S. store in the Miami Design District, just two months after opening its second store in New York City’s Rockefeller Center. The brand also has a store in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood and several locations in Southeast Asia. Krakoff said more is in the works.
“This is just the beginning of a newly reinvented retail concept for John Hardy,” he said, referring to the new store and its “exciting” retail footprint. Both represent Bali through a “bright and expressive marigold-orange” color scheme, which is also featured on the brand’s website and packaging. And the in-store experience is a deliberate departure from traditional retailers. “Our approach is more of a ‘next generation jeweler,’” says Krakoff. “People want to try things on to get a feel for them,” he says, rather than looking at items one at a time while talking to employees at their desks.
Raising brand awareness through stores and other locations is a priority for Krakoff, who asserted that “the brand is still not that well known.” This is especially compared to brands like Tiffany and Cartier, which have comparable price points and overlapping customer bases. By comparison, works by John Hardy sell for an average of $1,250. The company does not disclose its annual sales, and Krakoff recently told the New York Times that sales were “more than $100 million, less than $1 billion.”
Krakoff said men are a big opportunity for John Hardy, in addition to taking existing market share from competitors. As new consumers of jewelry, he said, they are drawn to the brand’s more casual style compared to other jewelry stores.
But Krakoff’s main job is to build excitement around John Hardy’s products and design concepts. “[John Hardy]has always been a great sustainable craftsmanship brand, but it needed a refresh in terms of design and (modern) relevance,” he said. He pointed out that compared to fashion items, jewelry is being considered more as a purchase because it is worn more often and requires a large investment. To capture their share of the wallet, “you have to offer something that people are hooked on and can’t get anywhere else,” he says.
Krakoff is rising to the challenge. In the six months since taking creative helm at the brand, he has released nine collections. The new Spear, Surf, Love Knot, Naga and Essential lines have already surpassed all previous John Hardy collections. Overall, Krakow said, the items included are cooler, sexier, bolder, more sculptural, more colorful and more elevated than anything the brand has sold in the past. It is said that it has become. The decidedly sexy spear choker is among the company’s top five sellers, and the body chain collection, originally intended to be sold only at the Miami pop-up, has become part of the permanent collection based on demand.
“Edgier, sexier pieces are a new category for the brand,” Krakoff said. “That’s what separates us from other jewelers who don’t have permission to go there. People don’t ask them for jewelry like that.”
John Hardy has introduced a high-end, limited-edition Artisan series for the holiday season that will sell for up to $50,000. Sales are also strong, suggesting related opportunities. The unique white and black diamond treatment featured in the new Black Sand collection is positioned to become a signature of the brand. Additionally, the brand is exploring new uses of single diamonds and solitaires, which have so far been limited to pieces with pavé or accent stones.
Other new things John Hardy fans can look forward to include new versions of best-selling collections, more casual collections, new limited edition designs in time for the brand’s 50th anniversary next year, and several product collaborations . Krakoff said the home accessories category is the obvious next step for the brand.
“The hardest thing is reinventing,” he says. “You have to maintain the context that people used to like about your brand, but you have to push it far enough away that it’s new and exciting. It’s worth noting that John Hardy’s pieces are still handcrafted by 400 artisans.
When it comes to marketing, Krakoff is focused on doing more with less, he said. Now, instead of only featuring Balinese models, the brand images broadly depict beach culture, surf culture, and ideas of freedom and travel. The images also feature more modern styles of jewelry, rather than showing models wearing matching pieces from the same jewelry collection, as is typical in traditional jewelry ads.
Additionally, John Hardy recently rolled out AR-generated social posts and saw 10 times more engagement than the average post, Krakoff said. The company also actively leverages influencers and user-generated content, and last week posted a social video of style icon Jenna Lyons shopping at its Rockefeller Center store.
Going forward, the brand will place greater emphasis on communicating Krakow’s expertise and the brand’s vision. And ethical production processes, which young consumers value, will continue to be a marketing focus. Despite opening a new store in the Miami Design District, John Hardy has no plans to participate in local art fairs like Art Basel, where it’s hard for smaller brands to ignore the noise, says Krakow. he said.
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