(October 2008)
Hosiery Shoot, Falke Interview, Marketing Report, Testing Support Tights, Maternitywear, Store Snoop and Setting Up Online
Are the launch of high street lingerie collections a threat to the branded market?
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It’s a brand that has a long and proud hosiery history – but these days, Wolford is as much about lifestyle as it is about legwear. From its headquarters in the west Austrian town of Bregenz, the brand has been working towards providing a fully coordinating offer for the past 18 years, vigorously extending its expertise to incorporate all facets of women’s fashion – and for 2007, everything is set to come together rather nicely. The move towards “lifestyle” has been a meticulous one. Bodywear, lingerie and swimwear were introduced during the 1990s, and have proved successful growth areas in
recent years. And, following the appointment of Holger Dahmen as chief executive of Wolford’s management board in charge of sales, production, development and quality in January 2004, the brand has been implementing several changes to reposition it as a fully comprehensive fashion label. Proof of the brand’s long-term commitment to this
repositioning can be seen in its recent link-up with British fashion designer Antonio Berardi, whose influence was already evident in a few of the feminine shirts and blouses for a/w 2006. But it is in his first full collection for s/s 2007, officially launched in Vienna in July, where the haute couture touch really shines through.
Dahmen, who joined Wolford from Hamilton International, part of the Swatch Group, was only too aware of Wolford’s positive standing with its customers. But he admits the brand’s portfolio went way beyond his knowledge. He says, “I thought Wolford was mainly about legwear, so we’ve spent the past few years communicating the message that Wolford represents a whole lot more. The company was decreasing turnover and profits, so I set myself the immediate target of concentrating on topline growth and increasing profitability. But I didn’t want the brand just to have short-term success, so I also set about building a strategy that would grow Wolford in the long term.”
Part of this strategy involved detailed research into the marketplace to determine Wolford’s position and point of difference, its customers and its in-store visibility. “It became very clear that Wolford stands for quality,” says Dahmen. “It’s all about the touch and feel of the product and the way it fits that makes it so easy to wear. However, we also learnt that we were known more for our knitted products – legwear
which was simply not enough for either existing or future customers. So we had to look at other areas and gear ourselves up towards ready-towear.”
Currently Germany represents Wolford’s largest market with a 17.6 per cent share. The UK is the brand’s sixth-biggest market with a 6.5 per cent share of sales, though this is set to ....
increase following the recent appointment of
William Palmer from John Smedley as UK
managing director.
