Vivarte expands internationalization to Asia

By

Jean-Paul Leroy

Published
Oct 3, 2014

One thing that Marc Lelandais realized when he became president of Vivarte was that the retail and fashion group did not have a significant international presence, especially outside of Europe. While certain retailers have locations in Spain, Switzerland and Belgium, Lelandais has taken it upon himself to go further.  

The first major milestone has been reached with the announcement of a distribution agreement between the French group and the Hong Kong-based GRI Retail Group to open 200 stores across eight Asian countries (China, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao) for retailers Minelli, Andrew and Cosmoparis. The agreement also extends to e-commerce, also launched in the same areas.

Minelli’s first store should open in January 2015 at the Grand Gateway shopping mall in Shanghai, followed by two stores in Hong Kong and Macau in the second half. Cosmoparis, meanwhile, expects its first store in the first half 2015. 

With the agreement, Vivarte aims to generate revenues of nearly 350 million dollars within four years. 

Vivarte’s partner, GRI, is a heavyweight in the region. It has more than 1,200 shoe stores in China, Southeast Asia and Korea and generates more than 1.2 billion dollars in turnover. 

Among others, GRI’s distribution in Asia includes Anne Klein, Ba&sh, Stuart Weitzman, Nine West, Joan & David, Karen Millen, Pringle of Scotland, Steve Madden, as well as its own brand EQIQ. 

For Marc Lelandais, the president of Vivarte, “the agreement was made possible thanks to serious work focused on renewing the attractiveness of our brands and through the cleaning up of the company’s financial structure.”