“The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.” Wise words from a man who was to become a much-quoted author and whose tale of a boy raised by wolves, and befriended by a slightly dippy bear, was to warm the hearts of millions across the globe.
The man was also to lend his name to an Antwerp-based luggage manufacturer, which late last year opened its first flagship store in London. Kipling – which took its name from Jungle Book author Rudyard Kipling, in a bid to make the brand recognisable worldwide – opened a 700 sq ft store at 205 Regent Street, W1, in October 2005, adding another new retailer to the street, which landlord The Crown Estate is trying to turn into an international shopping zone.
Kipling was one of four brands bought by US fashion giant VF Corporation in 2004. Along with Kipling, VF Corp, which is more than 100 years old, bought skating fashion retailer Vans, leisure wear brand Nautica and backpack retailer Napapijiri. And it has big plans for all its new additions.
For Kipling, VF Corp plans to open new stores in all the major European cities. It already has standalone stores in London, Milan – its first in Italy – and Madrid. Alongside those outlets, it also has plans for Paris, Barcelona, Munich and Dusseldorf. In total, it hopes to open as many as six flagship stores on major shopping streets across Europe in the next 12 to 18 months.
According to Harper Dennis Hobbs, which is retained by Kipling in the UK, the chain will be looking for shops similar in size to its Regent Street store, though the one in Paris will be slightly bigger to incorporate a showroom.
As well as expanding the retailer’s presence in Europe with the opening of more flagship stores, VF Corp is also planning to relaunch the chain in the US, where it has just four stores – three in Florida and one in Los Angeles.
Asia is also a major focus for the Kipling brand. VF Corp is planning four new stores in Japan and a couple more in Korea, where it already has 12 shops, and China, where it has seven, all in the Shanghai area.
Kipling operates from 15 owned stores in Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, Spain and Italy, and from around 75 standalone, mostly franchised stores. However, the brand is also available wholesale in more than 3,500 other stores worldwide.
Richard Hall at Harper Dennis Hobbs comments that there is often a push from brands that are wholesale to go into direct retailing as it is more profitable.
VF Corp’s plans for the remaining three brands are much the same as for Kipling. It is targeting around five European cities for new stores for each retailer. The major push for 2006 will be behind Nautica, where the group sees the greatest potential for growth.
VF Corp chairman, president and chief executive Mackey MacDonald says growth of the business and the brands it holds is one of the group’s core objectives at the moment. He says the acquisitions of Kipling, Napapijiri, Vans and Nautica added about $1bn-worth of sales to its business, but that there is still great potential for growth.
Speaking to investors after the acquisitions, he said: “Many of the brands are known globally but have not penetrated certain areas. We have the infrastructure in many parts of the world, so are rolling out some of our brands there, such as Nautica, which has not really penetrated that market.”
Nautica has just 17 stores. Since the acquisition, though, VF Corp has been keen to double this, and plans to open a further 12 stores in Europe as well as others in New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago. The group is looking at four or five locations in Europe and says the success of Nautica is vital if the retailer is to achieve its 15% growth target.
Along with its big plans for Nautica, VF Corp is excited about the potential of Napapijiri, in both Europe and the US.
Vans, meanwhile, which opened a 3,500 sq ft European flagship store on London’s Carnaby Street in 2003, has more than 160 stores worldwide. Five new stores are planned, with more expected, depending on the success of its flagship outlet in Milan.
VF Corp says it sees plenty of growth for Vans in both western Europe and Russia, and aims to open new stores in Amsterdam, Helsinki, Moscow and St Petersburg.
The four brands form part of VF Corp’s outdoor coalition, an area of the business for which it has aggressive growth plans. Not only is it planning the expansion of Kipling, Vans, Nautica and Napapijiri but the group is also keen to make more brand acquisitions and thus add to the 30-plus it already owns. VF Corp’s ultimate aim is to add another 10-15 globally recognised brands to its stable.
To quote Rudyard Kipling again: “For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.”
A good retailer added to an expanding group not only gives it strength but – in the case of Kipling, Napapijiri and Nautica in particular – gives it the strength to expand.
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VF Corp is one of the world’s largest apparel companies, with a history dating from the early 1900s. The company owns a number of well-known fashion labels, including jeanswear companies Lee and Wrangler – both of which launched successful flagship stores on Carnaby Street, London W1, in 2004. Core strategies for the company are to continue to add more retailers to its strong portfolio and to expand its international presence. It wants to stretch the brands it owns – and therefore its customers – across several new territories, including India, China, Japan and western Europe. Brands the company has recently introduced to Europe include North Face, JanSport and Eastpak. The first Eastpak store opened in Milan early last year. Kipling, set up in 1987, is named after Jungle Book author Rudyard Kipling, as the company wanted to find a brand name that everyone could pronounce, wherever they were, and that didn’t have any strange or unexpected meanings in other languages. The backpack chain, based in Antwerp, Belgium, is most famous for the monkeys that come attached to each bag. The monkeys, added as a further connection to the Jungle Book, are named after employees from around the world and have now become something of a collector’s item. Vans is a youth-focused clothing company. It targets 10- to24-year-olds with an interest in skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing and wakeboarding. The company has 155 shops in the US and Europe, including one in the UK. As well as clothing, it sells sports accessories. Nautica is a modern American classic. The retailer is best known in sailing circles in the US. It offers a range of clothes marketed as being suitable for an “active, adventurous and spirited lifestyle”. Nautica was set up in 1983. The word Napapijiri (pronounced “napapeery”) is Finnish and means Arctic Circle. The retailer has both wholesale and retail operations, with just three owned shops – in Paris, Milan and Chamonix. A further 14 stores are operated in partnership with retailers in Europe and Japan. |
