Philipp Plein has bullish plans for the imminent relaunch of the Plein Sport label, which is being taken up again under a revamped strategy.
Amid the company’s restructuring, the Swiss businessman is keen to grab a slice of the lucrative sportswear market, which is valued at €312 billion and is expected to reach €400 billion by 2025. and that, according to him, no other luxury brand has fully exploited so far.
Detailing the plan at the sprawling new Milan headquarters, he argued that the segment offers broader opportunities than luxury, as market shares are only split between six giant brands, including Nike, Adidas and Under Armour.
He is confident that the redesigned Plein Sport can erode market shares there, becoming the most important choice for consumers.
Introduced in 2016, Plein Sport was reportedly discontinued as the designer claimed that its success cannibalized and interfered with the perception of the brand’s main line, despite generating a turnover of 30 million in the first year.
Plein is committed to avoiding these same mistakes, he said.
“It’s extremely important to me not to create competition within the group between the different brands,” Plein said, mentioning the company’s flagship line and the Billionaire label, which is also expected to undergo a revamp.
“We are doing everything possible to avoid cannibalization between the three brands,” he explained. “A lot of luxury brands have created second lines… The idea was just to gain more market share, open up distribution, and open up potential customers that they wanted to reach,” but they couldn’t create second lines with a unique USP. .
“Plein Sport was not born to be a second line or a cheaper option… it is here to complete and not to compete… so we began to identify what makes Philipp Plein successful and purposefully excluded those elements from Plein Sport “, said. .
Positioned in the premium sportswear arena, Plein Sport’s prices are slightly above the levels of Nike and Adidas, for example, while its designs are significantly flashier than regular training gear.
Plein maintained that there will be no skulls, rhinestones or appliqués, and of course no tailoring or denim pieces, in the Plein Sport collection. Everything was supposed to revolve around functionality and performance, but items seen at HQ revealed that the designer’s usual over-the-top approach is all but gone.
A Plein Sport sneaker.
Courtesy Philipp Plein
The collection will be fully unveiled with a fashion show next February at what is sure to be another Plein show. The brand’s e-commerce site will launch in April, while the first retail experimentations are planned for September 2022 with the debut of in-store stores and pop-ups.
The businessman described this new undertaking of the Plein Sport brand as defined by innovation in terms of communication, commercial channels and even brand extensions, which, he anticipated, could include branded food supplements and gyms.
The project was delayed for a year due to COVID-19 and in the meantime the group reformed, with the introduction of 10 licenses and a new headquarters.
Source: wwd.com