Global fashion chain Esprit has opened up about how its 'five year' strategy to rebuild the brand will impact its Australia and New Zealand operations.
Esprit recently announced it would invest $1.7 billion into the transformation of the Esprit brand, with plans to redefine the brand's target market, refresh stores and product, and expand its retail and wholesale networks.
On a local level, Esprit global head of retail Christophe Bezu said the five-year plan will see Esprit stores in Australia re-formatted to reflect a “cleaner and more minimalistic” store concept.
The new concept is currently being trialled in the brand's core markets of Europe and China, and will begin to roll out across Esprit stores in Australia and New Zealand within the next six to eight months.
The design changes will also extend to the brand's dedicated floor space within David Jones and Myer, with Esprit currently at work designing a new shop-in-shop concept to add “a bit more spice” to its fixtures.
According to Bezu, the brand expects to open an additional 180 stores around the world going forward, with a share of these stores slated for Australia and New Zealand, although exact numbers have not been decided yet.
The group will also seek to add an additional 200 stockists to its overall point-of-sale network, with wholesale expansion a main focus for the group in the pacific region.
“What we want to do initially in the pacific is to stabilise the operation and rebuild the faith in the brand,” he said. “However, there is the intention to relaunch our wholesale side there, because essentially pacific is a retail-led market, but we want to have a more balanced business first.”
Bezu added that the brand is also looking to reinvent its product offering, with design changes to be led by chief product & design officer, Melody Harris Jensbach, who has returned to the group after four years on the Executive Board of Puma.
New drops of product will begin to drop into Esprit stores globally from August 2012, with a “visible transformation” in Australian and New Zealand stores to be complete by December this year.
Esprit, launched in San Francisco in 1968, currently operates 55 free-standing stores across Australia and New Zealand. It also operates 11 concessions in David Jones, 92 Concessions in Myer and has boutique stockists.
