Elie Saab Group CEO & Vice Chairman: Elie Saab Jr. – Vision, Family Business, & Building a Global Luxury House

0:00The Gstaad Guy:This episode is brought to you by Indeed. Stop waiting around for the perfect candidate. Instead, use Indeed Sponsored Jobs to find the right people with the right skills fast. It's a simple way to make sure your listing is the first candidate C. According to Indeed data, Sponsored Jobs have four times more applicants than non-sponsored jobs. So go build your dream team today with Indeed. Get a$75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Score more with the college-branded Venmo Debit Card and earn up to 5 % cash back with Venmo Stash. Got paid back? With the Venmo Debit Card, you can instantly access your balance and spend on what you want, like game day snacks, gear, tickets, and more.

0:42The Gstaad Guy:The more you do, the more cash back you can earn. Plus, there's no monthly fee or minimum balance. Sign up now at Venmo.com slash college card. The Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank N.A. Select schools available. Venmo Stash terms and exclusions apply at Venmo.me slash stashterms. max$100 cash back per month. Elie, it's great to be here with you. Such a pleasure to have you here. I really love this showroom office, this building in London. It's really beautiful. Yes, honestly, it's a very unique place for us because it allows us to express all the brand universe. So the ready-to-wear, the ready-to-wear bridal, the haute couture, soon the furniture.

1:24so it allows a nice brand expression to come to life. How many of these types of Alisab buildings or townhouses do you have around the world? We have a few, but recently we've been also pushing a lot of the retail concept all around the world and we've developed more than 15 stores in different capitals of the world, the key fashion capitals. and of course there's a lot of plans to double this footprint in the next three to four years beautiful so how many doors do you have open now today we're at 15 so we're mostly expanded all over the middle east europe and now we're starting our expansion plan in the u.s where historically we had our New York store and this 2026 will be opening Miami and Los Angeles so

2:24The Gstaad Guy:Around the World with your host the Shtad Guy, we welcome you back to the Shtad Guy podcast sharing stories of excellence with those in the know for those who just know I'm sure lots of the audience listening already know but you are Elisab Jr named after your father who started the maison and you both share the name on the front door and i know today you're running the business i'd love to know more about what it was like growing up with your father starting this business and what your path towards running it today has looked like So where was the inception of the business like? Well, first, I'm very honored to carry the name.

3:16My father is still very active in the business, and we run it together. And we have a shared vision that he has managed over the years. actually since I can remember, showed me the passion and the vision and that I really wanted to absorb. So today it's part of my DNA. I grew up with the brand. I saw the brand going from a man driving a vision to the brand that it is today. Even though there's still a lot to do and even though a lot has been done, we still feel that it's still day one because the ambitions are important and we have a lot to do. The dream is big and you need a lot to make it happen.

4:17The Gstaad Guy:I had the pleasure of meeting you for the first time through our dear mutual friend Henri. Yes. And we became dear friends ever since. And I had the pleasure of meeting your beautiful family, meeting your father, your mother and the entire Elisab family at your headquarters in Paris and it's really amazing how it really feels like a family business with the word family first there's this amazing energy that you feel in the room and all rooms that you and your father are in and I'd love to know more about that and about what that looked like to you growing up into this and being around it and now being such a big part of it.

5:00Growing up in this environment that is built on love first and unconditional love is a foundation that is very important and that keeps us close as a family. For us, family comes first. in a way we are not a family business we are a family owned business and I remember from day one my father always told me you do not and told me and my brothers that there is zero pressure for you guys to be part of this vision to be part of my dream or to be part of the company in any way or form even though your name wasn't on the door yes exactly but for them it was about us being able to do whatever we wanted to do absolutely so and for me it was always my dream to be driving this vision forward alongside my father and And so it was by choice.

6:20And it didn't come easy. Because my father built it with blood, sweat, and tears. And he was not just going to let it go or allow anyone to come in, even if I'm his son or to come in and just test it out you know it was built by merit I would say and for them it's all about deserving the position that you're in absolutely and being able to prove that you can handle it so it did not come easy but in general when we talk about Elisab's culture and corporate culture. Family is at the heart of it. And anyone that joins the company, I believe is part of a bigger family. And this is how we like to see things.

7:20The Gstaad Guy:I felt it when I was in Paris with you at the headquarters. I wasn't sure who was family and who wasn't. I just felt like everyone was part of the same sheet. You know what I'm saying? Everyone was on the same page. This amazing flow of conversation and opinion, which I think is quite rare to the world of fashion in particular. I think there's some fashion brands, of course, that have these family values within, but particularly when it comes to haute couture and dresses, you imagine this scary environment, which I didn't see at all. Yeah, scary, unhealthy, toxic, etc. And this is everything we don't want.

8:00We want everyone to work at peace. We want people in our organization to thrive and to feel reward in what they do every day and that they are part of a bigger mission than just coming and doing their job.

8:17The Gstaad Guy:I'd love to talk a bit more about Lebanon and the foundation of the brand in Beirut. I feel like Lebanon is a small country that has such a massive impact around the world through its people that have this incredible sense of grit. If I go to universities around the world or hospitals or even business environments, There's always an incredibly high achiever that happens to be Lebanese. So it's this small country that somehow has spread its people around the world with an incredible desire for success and this incredible grit, which I think is in many ways uniquely Lebanese as well. It's something I've observed.

9:05The Gstaad Guy:And from what you're telling me, a lot of that grit your father has carried transcended to you, transcended to the whole team. is something that may have to also do with the culture and environment you grew up a part of in Beirut and in Lebanon. Can you tell me more about that? If you were growing up in Lebanon at a certain period or any period, you definitely went through a challenge in one way or another. Lebanon was rebuilt many times. You have many cities under Beirut of different generations. And if I take the example of my father, he started in the midst of the war. I had to flee his hometown to go to Beirut and then flee many times different parts because of the war.

10:05so imagine while doing everything that he had to do and build the dream that he had to build going through those challenges and rebuilding the level of resilience that it brings you so any challenge in your life would be of course I wouldn't say easy but shadowed it would be shallow compared to what you have to face and it's something that is embedded in any Lebanese's DNA of resilience and never giving up and keeping on going even when the times are hard, so it's not just a motto it's real because if you didn't have that you wouldn't survive

10:53The Gstaad Guy:and there's also this beautiful positivity and celebration of life within, I think that's also quite unique to Lebanese culture, which I'd love to acknowledge, is there's always this beautiful pleasure of enjoying moments. And people say that, I mean, I've heard that even during times of war, the restaurants are so full, people are partying and trying their best to enjoy life. Yes. And you see it around the world that when I see people from Lebanon in these incredible positions around the world. There's always this joie de vivre. With all the challenges that they face, they say, you know what?

11:35Let's enjoy while we can. And it's in the subconscious. So it's in the DNA of any Lebanese. It's like, live now, live for the moment and enjoy while you can. So, and I think it's something that became part of the Lebanese philosophy. Absolutely. The ambition of the Lebanese was never to survive. It was always to thrive. To excel. So it's not about surviving during the most challenging time. It's about also thriving during the challenging time. And this is what the Lebanese have managed to do.

12:15The Gstaad Guy:So you grew up amongst a culture of grit, of resilience, but also of this desire to thrive that you talk about. And you also had that growing up with an entrepreneur like your father extended to another degree as well. Watching someone build something with their own hands and being a part of that journey I'm sure was inspiring. But nevertheless, I think it can also be scary as a young man to say, do I want to go down this path? Do I want to go down my own path? Now in hindsight, we all know listening that you ended up joining your father and working on the business. But I'd love to know more about your growth towards that decision and what that looked like for you.

13:06It was always my dream to keep up, to step up and to drive that vision forward. So for sure, scary you cannot not be scared because if you're not scared then you don't know what you're getting yourself into

13:34and the idea of being scared helps a lot because it makes sure that you understand very well the importance of and the responsibility that you have towards anything that you're going to do because if you take everything at ease and not worry about anything then for sure there's something that's going to be that's going to go wrong or you're going to take a decision that is not well thought of but at the same time we i had the utmost conviction that i wanted to be next to my father driving uh this business forward and i always had the vision for the brand to be where it is today and of course where we're planning to take it and it's it's it's it was not easy.

14:39I can tell you that. It was not easy because of course I was very young. How old were you when you joined the business? I feel I have joined the business way before I joined the business. When my friends went on Christmas holidays and Easter breaks and all of that for me my priority is to be with my father because i knew this is where i could learn the most and and this is what happened because my father did many things he was not just designing he had to design he had to run the company he had to support expanding the company and this is what was unique about being close to him is that i was able to touch different facets of the business through him and I would sit in all the meetings most important to the least important and he would allow me to be part of this journey and to allow me to be part of those meetings and I would be there sitting and listening and observing and debriefing with my father after the meetings and slowly things evolved.

16:03We started we were living in Lebanon and then we moved to Switzerland when Nakhstal. Where in Switzerland? In Geneva. How old were you when you moved to Geneva? I was 12 years old and my brothers were younger. It was just after the war in Lebanon. This is where my father said, you know what, that's it. I don't want my kids to grow up in this kind of environment. I don't want them to endure what I had to endure growing up in an environment of war. And this is where we moved with my brothers and my mother was with us.

16:54So so it was very important for them to keep this family, to keep this home and my mother played a big role in making this possible because she was juggling between being with us in Geneva and being with my father as well supporting him in the key moments and being part of his life. So, of course, it was very enriching for us to be there and we would find a way to always be together and to maintain this family spirit even though we were living apart. All over the world. My father, of course, was very present in Paris. so we would any occasion I would go and meet him and see him there since I moved to Geneva I remember I had never missed any fashion show well even there was an exam on the same day let's say say I don't care find a way to make it work with and just like be there even if I had to go for the day just to be with my father to witness uh the work that he has been doing because it takes

18:22The Gstaad Guy:a lot of time to do a show i'm sure all those listening can assume an undeniable difference in the way that your father grew up and that you grew up around this privilege that you're always very grateful for. You always threw lots of awareness and gratitude to communicate the things you're grateful for around you. And I think growing up in an environment like Geneva with your parents and your brothers and being able to go to the fashion shows and still focus on your school is undeniably different to the challenges your father had to face in Lebanon. But somehow both your parents managed to prescribe lots of those values that they acquired and that grit that you very proudly share as such a deep part of your culture and your family without necessarily having to go through all the same hardships that your parents went through.

19:27The Gstaad Guy:I'd love to know what that looked like in the household growing up, how did your parents manage to teach you what to value without actually having to put you through the same hard times that they went through? I think you touch on a very important point and you're spot on in terms of what makes a difference is that my parents and my father's biggest priority was for us to understand the value of anything we had. And this is what makes a difference between someone that is spoiled and not spoiled. Because growing up in a privileged environment and having everything you wish and desire while understanding the value of what you have is different than having all of that and not caring about what does it mean.

20:30And that's a big difference.

20:33The Gstaad Guy:I was at a dear friend's wedding this summer and his dad gave a very funny speech with lots of jokes, but one of the things he said was actually very touching. My friend has a daughter and his father on the microphone said, there's nothing wrong with raising a rich daughter, but there is something wrong with raising a spoiled one. so I hope you'll know the difference. And I found that very touching because it's such a simple thing, but I found it quite deep. You chose to become a husband and father quite young while being an operator. And I'd love to know what you looked for in that process of looking for your partner to continue to build the family of your own that you want to build and what lessons you were able to take from your parents and build into your family while starting a family of your own.

21:25I think the most important part in all of this is finding the right partner. And this was the most important decision probably I had to take in my life. Make sure that that partner, which is my wife, Christina, who's here with us today that is here with us today most importantly share the same values and the same principles which is the most difficult part to be able to find someone that really understand and undeniably understand the the values that we share.

22:16The Gstaad Guy:I'd love to actually get into that specifically because I remember the two of us had lunch in Paris at La Venue and you told me that when you met Christina you immediately knew because there were certain things you noticed and picked up on very quickly where you were like, this is it. Immediately, from the first day I saw her I knew this woman will be my wife. so what did you see and what were you looking for because I think defining values I've spoken about this a lot on the podcast it's quite a difficult process and seeing them in others takes a lot of self-reflection first to understand what it is that means a lot to you and how you can notice those things in someone as you said it starts from within so first you need to know who you are and what you want And when I met Christina, I was at that point where, of course, I was young, but still I had been through a lot.

23:19And when I met Christina, I knew that was the person I was looking for. And, you know, it starts by being with someone and not needing to explain and to speak about certain things. that are obvious to us. And today, of course, when we're thinking about building this family together, and this is the most challenging part because at the end, it's easy when you're going out with someone, but when you're building your future, especially when we think about the next generation, it's about also building a family that understands the values that we both carry and I can tell you that Christina is doing an amazing job.

24:20I have noticed actually lots of similarities between the way that you really value the future generations

24:31The Gstaad Guy:and the next generation in your household and also in the business. When I had the pleasure of visiting you at the atelier in Paris and seeing the way you and your father have this amazing partnership of you're the CEO, you're running the business, and your father's running the creative, and together you have this nice synergy of, of course, working on the project at hand, but also making sure that all those around you have the skills to build on what's next and what's to come after. And I know you also have the Academy of Elisab teaching young craftsmen? Is that the right word? Artisans, maybe?

25:17The Gstaad Guy:Next generation of craftsmans, of designers. Exactly. with lots of those same values that I felt I saw in the household as well as in the workplace can you tell me more about the importance you see in the next generation in this world that's continuing to become digitized I feel that lots of your priorities continue to be in things people do with their hands and the artistry that people work on with their hands? I think the craft today is at the heart of what we do. And when we talk about technology, when we talk about AI, today we're evaluating how will AI help boost and fuel our vision and how we're going to integrate AI in the company in every department.

26:23And we have already done an important job in this and we cannot deny it. We have to know how to live with it and how to be able to utilize it in the right way. but when we talk about AI in creativity it helps facilitate and it will help elevate in many ways the creativity but it will not replace the creative

26:54The Gstaad Guy:A friend of mine said recently AI, he said to his team it could be a famous saying but he said AI won't replace you but people who use AI will so it's not about the actual tech replacing a human it's about people who actually leverage the tech to be more efficient produce more they'll replace those who don't so when we talk about creativity when we talk about craft at this level which is not far from being industrialized craft is the most precious thing and the scariest thing that we will have in the future because this is really something that is far from being industrialized. It's something that is personalized.

27:42It's a technique that needs hands. And today the foundation of our craft is built on hands. Of course, we've seen machineries in our ready-to-wear development and in our ready-to-wear production that really you can see that at one point it would be producing and developing 90-95 % of the piece itself. But when it comes to haute couture, hands, people, soul will always remain irreplaceable.

28:26The Gstaad Guy:So today you are the CEO of the group. and I know that the Haute Couture is the DNA of the brand and that craftsmanship behind the DNA but I've also seen you're ready to wear you're retailers with Art of Living and Home you have a partnership with Bombardier who are the manufacturers of my favorite plane the largest plane for its size that can land in Staud the 8000 the global 8000 you also have residential projects which I know you have one in one of my favorite towns in the world in progress in Andermatt in Switzerland as well as one in Dubai in Saudi yeah we have more than 25 projects all over the world residential projects 25 more than interior design can you tell us more about all these different spokes of the business and how they, at the end of the day, continue to be inspired by that artisanal core of Haute Couture.

29:35Yeah, we spoke a lot about Haute Couture because Haute Couture is at the heart of everything we do. And it's the key driver of the DNA of the brand. but the vision of my father starting the business even was never to only be an haute couture brand but also to develop the business beyond haute couture in ready to wear and to have that product and vision accessible to a wider stream of audience and of course we developed the ready-to-wear as a natural extension to the haute couture and of course we when we talk about haute couture craft and ready-to-wear craft there's a lot of similarities in terms of the philosophy and the aesthetic and also part of the craftsmanship that we do because a lot of the ready-to-wear is produced by us and that is scaled all over the world We have our own production facility that were inspired by the haute couture techniques.

30:53And that was the base of also the plan to grow the business. was to make sure that we have the right capacity, the right ability to be able to keep up to the demand that was going to come and that already is here. So for sure, the brand has grown exponentially from a product standpoint, but also geographically. It has been a great journey because historically we're in Paris, London, New York, Dubai, and Beirut. But then five, six years ago, we accelerated that expansion plan with a priority to expand the business where the brand equity was the highest. So, of course, obviously the Middle East, the brand equity is there.

31:55and Europe as well. It was to also optimize our presence in Europe. So in the Middle East, we rolled out all the key capital. So Riyadh, Doha, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait. In Europe, we developed Milan on top of Paris and London, Milan, Monaco. And now we're rolling out in the US. Beautiful. And that's focused on ready-to-wear. And that's mostly focused on ready-to-wear. Nice. and of course while we go into any region we have a regional office and a presence for haute couture and for other lines of business but of course the main focus when we talk about the retail expansion is driven and fueled with ready to wear ready to wear bridal as well that is also doing great as an important line of business that is growing and that's the difference between someone ordering something totally custom totally custom then having access to a bridal dress that is made to order rather than made to measure and that you could walk in the store have an appointment and just pick up the style you like of course there's no room for customization and it's uh but it's still a very unique and special product beautiful um of course five years ago six years ago also our goal we decided that we want to position the brand as a lifestyle brand and not just because we uh it was just an idea it's because it's also part of who we are.

33:43Growing up, I always saw my father building homes, designing his own homes, designing furniture. And it's a natural extension for the brand because we know we have something to add into this world. And we have a very strong point of view when it comes to interior design,

34:07The Gstaad Guy:furniture design. For the young people listening today who really want to work in fashion. I know it's an aspiration for many and a difficult path for many and even most actually. It's a difficult world to get into and an intimidating world to get into. And I know that you're always looking to hire young and ambitious people and grow with them within the business and help them grow within the business. and I was wondering what you look for in people who may not have lots of the experience you might be looking for but may have some other skills that stand out to you. Yes. So what should they work on and what is it that you value in young people that you hire and grow?