Joop! is expanding to the UK with its men’s collection this week as the
brand aims to double revenues. The label, founded by one of Germany’s most
famous designers, Wolfgang Joop, and owned by Swiss fashion company Holy
Fashion Group, is also planning to open more stores in its home market.
A Joop! showroom will open at 70 Wapping Wall Street in London this week
where its distributor Love Brands Limited, which is helping the brand to
enter the British market, is also based.
Its entrance into the UK is the latest step in the brand’s wider
expansion since its relaunch in 2016. At that time, Joop! focused on the
development of its menswear and brought back its casual line, Joop! Jeans.
The collection was well-received by retailers in German-speaking and
bordering countries with wholesale sales doubling within three years,
said Thorsten
Stiebing, managing brand director at Joop!. He didn’t provide specific
figures but sounded satisfied with the developments during an interview in
Berlin last week.
“We are very happy with the business development,” said Stiebing. “And we
will now double sales again – that is a clear goal and it will happen
again.”
Stores to display full product range of Joop!
Last week, Joop! presented its womenswear collections at Berlin fashion
fair Premium. Offering the women’s collection to retailers through
wholesale is another step by the brand to drive its expansion.
Joop! was selling well in German-speaking countries and in Eastern
Europe, as well as in the Netherlands and Great Britain in the past, until
the brand started to lose its lustre. In recent years, Joop! has once again
set out to re-establish itself in its core markets and has begun to show
its products at menswear fair Pitti Uomo in Florence as of last year.
The brand returned to the Dutch market four seasons ago while Germany,
Austria and Switzerland remain the brand’s main markets with a share of as
much as 65 percent of total sales, said Christoph Breitenmoser,
international sales director at Joop! in Berlin.
“We offer an entire lifestyle with bags and shoes, there are not many
brands that do that”, he said.
Joop! currently counts 1,200 points of sale and twelve franchise stores
worldwide. The company is also considering opening as many as eight stores
in prime locations in Germany to present the brand and its full range of
products. The stores of 250 square metres or more could open as early as
this year.
“It’s important that the end consumer sees the brand, and not just in
the multi-brand retail environment”, said Breitenmoser. “It is important to
have a store where a label can present and sell its entire world.”
Picture: Joop!
