SINGAPORE. Marc O’Polo, in collaboration with Nuance-Watson (Singapore), officially opened its first store in Asia Pacific at Changi Airport Terminal 3 yesterday. The venture is also the brand’s first fashion store outside Europe.
The grand opening was held at the Marc O’Polo store, located at Departure/Transit North within the terminal’s transit area. The 62sq m store carries the fashion collection Marc O’Polo Modern Casual for Men and Women, as well as leathergoods from the Marc O’Polo Accessories line.
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A mini runway and several elegant white tables were set up outside the 62sq m store to entertain invited guests | |
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(Left) Nuance-Watson (Singapore) Category and Senior Manager of Strategic Marketing and Communication Cindy Goh (left) and Assistant Marketing Manager Caz Lee take time out from mingling with the guests for a celebratory photo | |
“We’re very proud to have our store here and we’re sure it will be successful,” said Marc O’Polo AG Chief Operating Officer of Sales and Finance Alexander Gedat in his opening speech. “I want to thank Ms Chandra [Mahtani, Assistant Commercial Director of Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore] for the trust in Marc O’Polo. I also want to thank the Nuance-Watson group. I’m sure we’ll have a successful cooperation for the future and open more stores in Asia.”
Brand, airport and retailer then sealed their partnership with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, officiated by Gedat, Mahtani and Nuance-Watson (Singapore) Managing Director and Worldwide Head of Category – Perfumes & Cosmetics Ken Tse.
Guests were then treated to a fashion show right outside the store, where a mini runway had been set up. Four models clad in the brand’s Spring/Summer 2008 collection took turns on the catwalk and posed in various parts of the store.
“We have two guys and two girls [models] because the shop will be selling menswear and ladieswear, so we want to feature the best of both worlds,” said Nuance-Watson (Singapore) Assistant Marketing Manager Caz Lee. “Yesterday night we had rehearsals until 1am to ensure that we can put up a good show. We want this launch event to be a huge success.”
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(Left) Marc O’Polo AG Chief Operating Officer of Sales and Finance Alexander Gedat gives the opening speech; (Right) To sweet success: (from left) Alexander Gedat, CAAS Assistant Commercial Director Chandra Mahtani and Nuance-Watson (Singapore) Managing Director Ken Tse seal their partnership with a ribbon-cutting ceremony | |
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(Left) Nuance-Watson (Singapore) Category Manager Jorge Rodriguez (third from left) and Marc O’Polo International Travel Retail Manager Toni Hager (third from right) pose for a photo with the Marc O’Polo models; (Right) Alexander Gedat (fourth from left) and Ken Tse (third from right) concludes the opening with a celebratory photo | |
The Marc O’Polo Spring/Summer 2008 collection
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Marc O’Polo Spring/Summer 2008 |
The store currently stocks the Spring/Summer 2008 collection, which features sharp, tailored cuts and high-quality fabrics in neutral shades.
“Our target customer is the international person who is informed about what is going on in the world,” Gedat told The Moodie Report. “He’s not going to be a show-off but someone who loves smart-casual.”
This nonchalance exuded by the Marc O’Polo man or woman is underlined in the collection by a range of flowing fabrics, including cotton, nylon, cashmere-silk, marled linens, taffeta, organic cotton and prints. Cotton mixes such as cotton-linen and cotton-cashmere are also featured.
In terms of colour, the dominant note of the collection is set by greys ranging from gravel and concrete to graphite. These are complemented by soft beiges such as putty and sand. Glowing shades include orange for men and rose and pink for women.
“We want to present our brand in the premium segment so we do not want to work so much with price discounts. We prefer to offer good presentation, a good assortment and good service. Training of personnel will be one of our key tasks for the next month,” added Gedat.
Merchandise will retail from S$55 (US$38) for a basic T-shirt to S$900 (US$625) for leathergoods.
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The Marc O’Polo models strut their stuff on the runway clad in the Spring/Summer 2008 collection | |
The store takes its design cues from the Marc O’Polo stores in Europe and features light-coloured wood panels, grey tiled floors and white and slate walls.
“The brand is all about being elegant and simple,” said Nuance-Watson Category and Senior Manager of Strategic Marketing and Communication Cindy Goh. “The store is designed to highlight the product in the simplest way and in the best way possible. The use of basic colours ensures that the products stand out more than the design of the store. But generally you will feel the Marc O’Polo experience when you enter the store.”
Buoyant sales
Business at the store has been surprisingly encouraging, given that the new terminal started operations less than two weeks ago. “Sales have been very positive. For a new brand to enter Singapore and achieve such results is actually very promising,” enthused Ms Lee.
Menswear and leathergoods have been the top performers so far, added Ms Goh. “Terminal 3 serves a lot of long-haul flights so we noticed that sweaters, t-shirts and jerseys for cold weather move very fast.”
Besides Marc O’Polo, sales at Nuance-Watson’s Perfumes & Cosmetics (P&C) Mega store have been just as buoyant.
“Generally speaking, we are quite pleased with the initial results of P&C,” Ken Tse told The Moodie Report. “We have a fantastic location and very importantly, on our side of the terminal we have 20 gates whereas on the other side there are only 10 gates – so we definitely see the potential of most passengers going to our side. We are very encouraged by this, even though we’re only in the early stages.”
The customer mix at the Mega store has also been unexpectedly varied, added Tse. “We have a very diverse mix of Asians, emerging Chinese passengers, and the Australian and European Caucasians.”
The official opening of Nuance-Watson’s P&C stores in Terminal 3 will take place on 22 February. The Moodie Report will be on hand to bring you exclusive details and pictures of the event.
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A courteous Marc O’Polo sales associate attends to a customer as the shop bristles with activity | |
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(Left) Marc O’Polo International Travel Retail Manager Toni Hager gives the sales staff a pep talk before the opening | |
ABOUT MARC O’POLO
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Marc O’Polo AG CEO Werner Böck |
Founded in Sweden in 1967 by Göte Huss, Rolf Lind and Jerry O”˜Sheets, Marc O”˜Polo has come to be synonymous with modern, casual and easy-to-wear fashion. The use of natural fabrics and materials, comfortable cuts, and cheery colours form the basis of the brand’s style. The brand targets both fashion-conscious and quality-conscious consumers.
In 2007 Marc O’Polo celebrated its 40th anniversary and designed the special “˜Since 67′ collection to support the UNICEF project “˜Schools for Africa’. The same year saw the brand open its 1000th store worldwide.
Commenting on the new store in Terminal 3, Marc O’Polo AG CEO Werner Böck said: “We are proud and delighted to open the first Marc O’Polo store in the Asia Pacific market at Changi Airport. As one of the leading brands for contemporary casualwear in the premium segment in Europe we see a high potential for our products and brand features at the new Terminal 3.
“With Nuance-Watson (Singapore) we found a strong partner who understands our philosophy and trusts in our brand values and products. We are looking forward to a successful future cooperation with Nuance-Watson.”
Underlining the firm partnership, Ms Goh said: “We found a great partner in Marc O’Polo; we share similar values in regards to quality and innovation. We look forward to cooperating with Marc O’Polo to go beyond this one store and in time to come, replicate similar success as we have done with our beauty business in travel retail.”
* Melody Ng was recently promoted to Asia Bureau Chief at The Moodie Report, based in our Singapore office. She can be contacted at Melody.Ng@TheMoodieReport.com
MORE STORIES ON MARC O’POLO AND NUANCE-WATSON (SINGAPORE)
From fragrance to fashion: Nuance-Watson wows consumers at Changi Terminal 3 – 11/01/08
Fast-growing Marc O’Polo debuts first Asia travel store – 21/09/07
Marc O’Polo travels through 40 years in style – 27/08/07
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