Czech glass brand Klimči breaks into the US market in style

The Czech glass brand Klimči, whose pieces have appeared on screen alongside Barbie and Bridget Jones, has officially entered the US market. Founder Lukáš Klimčák has set up his own distribution company in America and struck a partnership with a local distributor whose network of sales representatives covers all 50 states — in just its first summer season of trade shows, the company took orders worth more than 2 million crowns.

The move into the US market had been in preparation for more than two years, as legal, customs and logistical issues all had to be resolved. The investment ran into several million crowns and was financed entirely from the company's own profits from previous years. “This investment comes straight out of Klimči's profits. The company reinvests its earnings into further development to stay competitive,” Klimčák told CzechCrunch.

According to him, appearances on screen aren't the main driver of success in the US, though they do feed into the brand's overall image. A jug from the Hobnail collection appeared in the 2023 film Barbie, and two years later in the new Bridget Jones movie — without the company's knowledge in either case. “Every little thing plays its part, and together they add up to the brand's overall image. But what helps most in the US is that stores now negotiate with us not as a European partner, but as an American one,” the entrepreneur explains.

Klimčák founded the brand in 2019 after returning from London, where he had studied lighting design at UCL, to Kamenický Šenov in northern Czechia. Building on the base of his family's glassworks, he teamed up with designer František Jungwirth, who leads the creative side, to build a brand around colourful, hand-blown glass with hobnail decoration. Last year the company's revenue reached 61.5 million crowns, up 23% year-on-year. Profit also rose, though the company does not disclose the exact figure.

The brand's first American stop was a June trade show in Atlanta, where it built new business contacts and confirmed interest in combining traditional Czech glassmaking with contemporary design. Klimči counts interest from department stores Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom among the show's successes. “In the UK we managed to build partnerships with the likes of Liberty London and Fortnum & Mason, and now it looks like their American counterparts could join them too,” Klimčák noted.

In July the company took part in the Las Vegas Market trade show on the West Coast, where its stand was visited by British entrepreneur and TV personality Lisa Vanderpump, known from the reality show Vanderpump Rules. She ordered jugs and glasses from the Hobnail collection in the Rosaline and Olive Green shades, which will appear in the range of her own design brand Vanderpump Alen and in her online shop. In August, Klimči showed its products at the Shoppe Object fair in Manhattan, which twice a year draws design stores from across New York and the surrounding area.

Klimči has already toured several American trade shows — in Atlanta and Las Vegas — and picked up its first orders there. “These are orders from our B2B clients, who then sell Klimči's products in their own stores or use them in their projects,” adds the 32-year-old Klimčák. The brand's plans include working with American designers and, further down the line, opening its own store in the US, most likely in New York, following the example of its Prague showroom at the W Prague hotel on Wenceslas Square.

Production, meanwhile, remains entirely in Kamenický Šenov, where the glass is blown and finished by hand. “Right now, Klimči is a brand with one hundred percent of its production in Czechia. We're trying to keep it that way, but we'll see in the coming years how well that works out,” the company's founder concludes.