All change: Apparel brands adapt and adjust
At a time when the country?s commercial map is being redrawn, a number of prominent brands in the apparel and footwear sectors are changing hands and being relaunched.
Following the demise of Ridenco – a company which specialized in the import, wholesale and retail trade of clothing, footwear, sportswear and cosmetics – two brands for which it was the exclusive representative in Greece, Nautica and La Martina, have now joined the portfolio of Notos Com. While two La Martina corners are already operating under new management at major Athens department stores Attica and Notos Galleries, new wholesale deals have also been signed with other multibrand stores around the country. At the same time, Nautica?s current market presence stands at 15 spaces in department stores such as Notos Galleries, Attica, Fokas and Hondos Center, while no plans for the development of monobrand outlets are in the cards at present.
Since last August, German apparel and accessories brand Hugo Boss has been developing in the Greek market through a subsidiary. While two franchise outlets are currently operating in the northern suburb of Kifissia and Glyfada, southern Athens, a new, directly owned outlet recently opened at the McArthurGlen discount shopping village in Spata. Furthermore, the company has already organized sampling sessions of the spring/summer 2012 collection for selected wholesale partners around Greece and has not ruled out the opening of new stores if this is deemed profitable. The Hugo Boss business plan in Greece also includes a relaunch of the brand?s womenswear collection beginning in 2013.
Following the meltdown of luxury brand importer Lakis Gavalas SA, Gruppo Pagoni has now taken over the distribution of Canadian brand Dsquared. Two years ago, a freestanding Dsquared boutique was inaugurated in Kolonaki in the presence of the luxury brand?s founders and designers Dean and Dan Caten. Two monobrand Dsquared stores currently operate in Athens and Thessaloniki, while the Pagoni group maintains a chain of about 80 wholesale collaborations.
Besides Dsquared, in the last year Gruppo Pagoni has also taken on the representation and distribution of other well-known brands, including Love Moschino, Balmain, Frankie Morello, MM6 Martin Margiela and Diesel Black Gold. These and other brands represented in Greece by the Pagoni group are distributed through the company?s four Eponymo outlets, which are located in Glyfada, Psychico, Kolonaki and Maroussi, six discount outlet stores at the McArthur Glen discount village, as well as company stores operating in the areas of Elliniko and Zografou.
Meanwhile, Italian luxury denim brand Diesel came under the control of the parent company in early 2011 and as a result, stores which were not directly controlled by the company have now closed their doors.
The brand?s current operations in the local market include three stores, with one located in Kolonaki, another at the Golden Hall shopping mall in Maroussi and a third in Thessaloniki, while the first Diesel Kid store was recently inaugurated at Golden Hall. The company is working with 200 wholesale partners around Greece and is interested in developing its sales network through an increased presence at shopping centers and other spaces of commercial value.
