Lola Casademunt faces 2021 with more optimism than ever. The Catalan fashion and accessories firm celebrates its 40th anniversary this year with a growth plan that includes the internationalization of the brand, the promotion of online sales, and an approach towards a younger woman to expand and rejuvenate its customer base.
It is the first time that the family business, headquartered in Cardedeu (Barcelona), has decided to begin conquering the foreign market, and it does so after having renewed its management team and prepared its structure to usher in a new, much more ambitious phase that foresees a 60% sales growth for this year. To this end, Lola Casademunt has just opened markets in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Italy, and has also launched two showrooms in New York and Los Angeles to showcase its collections in the United States.
To undertake the challenge of internationalization, the company owners, the married couple Maite Gassó Casademunt and Ferran Espona, hired Paco Sánchez a year ago, an executive from Pronovias who joined the company on February 17, 2020, just one month before the pandemic began. Sánchez worked for 34 years at the Catalan bridal fashion giant, where as operations director he supervised a team of more than 250 people. Pronovias is a highly internationalized company, which gives the new general director of Lola Casademunt extensive experience in foreign markets and the textile sector. The executive has also strengthened the company during this last year of the pandemic with new hires and now believes it is time to take the leap and begin conquering Europe and the United States, and later, Latin America and the Middle East will also be addressed.
"This commitment to the internationalization of Lola Casademunt comes at a very good time: with a solid structure, good health as a company, and a strong national presence that encourages us to leave Spain," explains Sánchez. According to the executive, the 2020 fiscal year has not been as bad as could be expected due to the pandemic and closed with a turnover of 8.5 million euros, which represents a 12% decrease compared to the 9.5 million in 2019. "We have an ambitious project on the table, and this 2021, we expect to grow by 60% thanks to international sales and the opening of new establishments in the national market," the executive tells The New Barcelona Post.
Until now, the firm was only timidly present in Portugal, so 98% of its income comes from the Spanish market, where it operates through 13 own street-level stores and 17 corners or differentiated spaces within El Corte Inglés centers, where four new points of sale are planned to open this year.
Commitment to the multi-brand channel for international expansion
For the implementation of the brand in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Italy, Lola Casademunt has chosen the multi-brand channel, where it believes it has great growth potential. "We will not open our own stores for now; we believe there is a lot of room for us to make a place in the multi-brand women's clothing store channel positioned in the premium segment of the market," explains Sánchez. "Lola Casademunt is not a low-cost brand, but we also do not operate in the luxury spectrum: we are a premium, aspirational brand," he points out, to define the area in which the Barcelona fashion and accessories brand wants to position itself.
Once the journey in these four countries has begun, Sánchez explains, the next challenge will be entry into Germany, another market he considers key in Europe. In parallel with the expansion in the old continent, Lola Casademunt has simultaneously set foot in the United States, where it has just opened two permanent showrooms or exhibition centers for its collections in New York and Los Angeles. The idea is also to find agents who want to market their garments and accessories and see what acceptance the brand may have among the American public.
The entry into the foreign market will be exclusively with Lola Casademunt by Maite, the company's most premium line and the most personal collection of Maite [Gassó] Casademunt, creative director and daughter of the founder and alma mater of the company, Lola Casademunt, who has just turned 90. She started the business in 1981, when she began designing hair accessories. Little by little, the product range expanded to scarves, handbags, and shoes, but it wasn't until 2017 that the company ventured into the fashion world with a clothing collection that she presented at the 080 Barcelona fashion show in 2018. "Now we are a total look brand," highlights the director, who is satisfied with the first collections designed at the company's headquarters in Cardedeu.
"65% of our clients are women, aged 40 to 55, with a certain purchasing power who like fashion and an elegant product that doesn't clash. They are women looking for 24-hour garments, that allow them to go to work and also go out to dinner at night," he explains. According to the director of Lola Casademunt, the challenge now is "to rejuvenate" the brand by approaching the segment of women aged 30.
Relocation of production to Catalonia
Lola Casademunt has a workforce of 109 employees and has also initiated, in parallel with its commercial internationalization, a process to bring production closer to Catalonia. Until recently, 100% of the products designed by the family business were manufactured in Asia, but Sánchez's arrival at the company and the coronavirus crisis have led to part of the production being diverted to workshops in Catalonia ---located in the Vallès area--- and also in Andalusia, Portugal, Morocco, and Turkey. "Little by little, the idea is to bring production closer, we want to bring it here, where there are many workshops that work with high quality," says Sánchez, who also emphasizes that this strategy responds to the need to improve the company's and clothing's sustainability.
Along with the commitment to improve and grow its network of own stores and corners at El Corte Inglés and the opening of the multi-brand channel abroad, Lola Casademunt's growth plans also foresee relying on strengthening the online channel. "This past year, Internet sales have given us much joy," states the executive. Before the pandemic, in 2019, Lola Casademunt had a residual presence online. The coronavirus crisis has quadrupled online turnover, which has already generated 6% of sales this 2020. The goal for 2021 is for the online store to contribute 10% of the business.