The company Lola Casademunt has exceeded its own expectations in 2023. The fashion and accessories firm based in Cardedeu (Barcelona) reached 45 million euros in sales last year, a 59% increase compared to the previous year, when it invoiced 28.5 million. This increase has led the family company to quintuple its sales in three years.
"We have exceeded expectations at the close of 2023, having surpassed our sales target," proclaimed Paco Sánchez, CEO of Lola Casademunt. Sánchez, who joined the company from Pronovias in 2020, believes that this increase is due to the company "remaining faithful to the company's strategic plan, which is solid and coherent." This commitment translates into strengthening the firm, consolidating existing markets, and venturing into new ones, "as long as they are consistent."
The firm has grown in all channels in which it operates: retail, multi-brand, and online. The most significant increase has occurred in online sales, which the brand carries out through its own e-commerce in eight countries, through El Corte Inglés, and through the Zalando marketplace. Specifically, Lola Casademunt's online sales increased by 90% in the last fiscal year compared to the previous one. The progression of the multi-brand channel was also significant: it was 59%. For its part, it also registered a 52% increase in the retail channel.
The company has 23 own stores in Spain, four franchises, and 42 corners in El Corte Inglés. Internationally, it has three spaces in Portugal and two recently opened stores in Saudi Arabia, in addition to a concept store in Andorra that opened in 2023 jointly with Perfumeria Júlia on the renowned Meritxell Avenue. Furthermore, in the multi-brand channel, it has a presence in 30 countries in more than 1,500 points of sale, with 815 of them distributed in Spain and Portugal.
New stage
With the close of 2023, Lola Casademunt closes a stage that opened in 2021 and opens a new phase with a new three-year strategic plan. With a key objective: to position itself as a fashion benchmark nationally and, increasingly, internationally. The company precisely in 2021 began its international expansion, which has gained weight and now represents 27% of its total turnover. Looking ahead to 2024, the company plans to open four own stores in Spain and continue its international expansion, through its online store in new countries, entering other marketplaces and with new commercial partners for the multi-brand channel.
"This positive evolution of the company drives us to continue growing sustainably to be as profitable as possible. We are a healthy company that grows with its own resources," Sánchez claimed. "If we manage to make these increasingly larger, it will allow us to reinvest them to take advantage of opportunities and optimize our growth," concluded the firm's general director, which has two lines: a more casual one under the name of Lola Casademunt, and Lola Casademunt by Maite, premium and more personal from the creative director, Maite Casademunt.
The brand's name originates from the mother of the current creative director. Lola Casademunt founded the firm in 1981, initially focused on accessories and complements, and it was in 2018 when the company, owned by Maite Gassó and her husband, Ferran Espona, launched onto the runway with a collection at 080 Barcelona. The firm, with more than 40 years of history, premiered the remodeling of its headquarters in Cardedeu, a municipality where the alma mater of the brand began to make its first accessories, at the end of 2022.
The renovated building, of 3,200 square meters and with four floors, is being expanded again to respond to the increase in staff that the company expects to occur due to its progress. This growth runs parallel to the company's strategy to advance in sustainability, in which it plans to increase its share of local production and increase the use of sustainable materials. All framed within the purpose of consolidating itself as a national and international benchmark in the field of fashion and accessories that accumulate four decades of history.