Zilli
is one of the world’s few authentic ultra-luxury menswear brands. Specialising in
superbly crafted leather jackets made from exotic skins, the French family-owned brand was
founded by Alain Schimel in 1970. Here, his son Laurent Schimel, now Zilli’s
CEO, reveals the brand’s first steps in China and his plans for the future.
What are the most dynamic international markets for Zilli,
and how much has turnover grown in these markets over the past year?
Laurent Schimel: Russian-speaking countries were historically our first market
from the 1990s to recently, contributing 70% of sales. Since our development in China (in 2012 five
stores, 2013 two more), the CIS represents 50% of the market as Asia, Middle East,
US and Europe are split over the other 50%. Our turnover is made up of Europe
21%, Asia 15%, US 6%, Middle East 9% and CIS 49%. Our turnover has increased by
about 15% each year since 2010.
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| Alain Schimel (far left), founder of Zilli, with his family |
In which countries/territories are you expanding?
We plan to continue our expansion in Asia in the following
year and maintain our strong presence in the CIS with bigger shops and other cities
there. We will open in the US in Miami next September in the Design District.
In the Middle East we have plans in Qatar.
How important is travel retail in your overall company
strategy?
Our travel retail distribution is strong in Russia with
three airports in Moscow, over many years. It’s great we opened last year a big
corner in Vienna, one of the best places to capture customers from Eastern European countries. Our
future plans will be focused on Asia airports in the future; we have to reach
Hong Kong, Singapore.
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| Zilli Spring/Summer 14 |
What is your strategy for Zilli in China specifically? Do
you have a Chinese brand ambassador?
First of all this year we will work on the brand awareness,
launch a digital media campaign by the middle of the year, organise some retail
events regularly, trunk-shows... We have not yet come up yet with a Chinese
ambassador but this is something in progress.
What are the opportunities for Zilli in the Chinese market?
It’s true we arrived quite late in China which is actually
a very good thing. The Chinese market is now more mature than 10 years ago. The
understanding of our brand is not easy as we are quite “niche”, extreme
luxury... we feel that the Chinese customers are very happy to discover a brand
which is not overexposed, very exclusive, with handcrafted made in France
products. They want to feel unique, and this is something Zilli can offer.
What challenges you have faced so far in China?
Our lack of notoriety in China, which turned recently to an
advantage compared to overexposed brands. Mainly we had problems at the
beginning with production, as we opened a 600sq m flagship in Shanghai. Our
production of leather and furs in Lyon is limited (we have 100 craftsmen) so we
had to increase our teams in the workshop to deal with the quantity of jackets,
belts, etc, requested, as my father and I do not want to have production outside of our own workshop.
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| Zilli backpack in crocodile leather for SS14 |
In terms of products, which categories are you expanding?
Mainly sportswear: leather jackets, belts, shoes, jeans,
eyewear. [We will expand] from 5% to 7% in these different categories. Leather
and furs are still our core business.
What other plans/initiatives are you working on over the
next 12 months?
We will focus our efforts in the US. In Europe, we are
opening a Harrods corner and our first shop in Berlin.
What was the highlight of your business year in 2013?
The achievement of our store in Hong Kong, at the Peninsula
Hotel, and Shanghai with the first Zilli Chinese flagship store: it covers 600sq
m on the historical Bund at no 6.
