Sporty italian designer label suited and booted for China

Like the football players and clubs it occasionally outfits, Italian menswear brand Dirk Bikkembergs is happy to proclaim the goals and predict the results of the forthcoming season.

"Dirk Bikkembergs conquers the East with a series of store openings in Asia," boasts the company in the latest entry for 2013 on its website's timeline.

By Asia, it means China mostly, and "conquering" can be read as "significantly expanding".

But the menswear brand's image is very much interwoven with a sporting one - fusing the "sensuality and exclusivity of fashion" with the "strength of sport", and particularly the "universality of football" - and talking about challenges, competition, confidence building, and such like, is all part of the business game.

So, barely half way through the season in the China league, how is Dirk Bikkembergs playing?

Well, there's been a major change in tactics this year, moving from multi-brand stores where it has had a presence for five years, and concentrating on its own stores. It set up two in China in 2011.

"By the end of 2013, there will be four new mono-brand stores - one in Beijing, one in Shanghai and two in Shenyang (capital of northeast Liaoning province)," says Fabio Piazza, managing director of Dirk Bikkembergs Asia-Pacific. "We are also going to have 10 new franchising outlets within the next year."

In January, the company established an office in Hong Kong to promote the Asian market, with a branch in Shanghai.

The Shanghai boutique in the International APM mall in Huaihai Middle Road will open in June.

"The Shanghai store is a very good deal, as we are going to be on the ground floor, next to Gucci, Miu Miu and Prada. It is very important for the brand's positioning," says Piazza.

Dirk Bikkembergs has also reached an agreement with Galeries Lafayette to open an outlet at its department store in Beijing in September.

China accounted for about 12 percent of the brand's total turnover last year, according to Andrea Cresci, managing director of Dirk Bikkembergs Srl.

"The main markets for us, like China and the Middle East, are growing by double-digit figures year-on-year, but in Spain and Italy, our business is a little flat. This is why we want to directly develop in China."

Piazza elaborates: "I expect 70 percent of our Asia business will be generated from China, and we hope that we can achieve 30 to 40 percent of the company's total turnover."

This is not unlike the target of many other fashion brands that are better known and more experienced in the Chinese luxury market. But when it comes to facing fierce competition, Cresci says it is counting on its tough but stylish sporting image to win over customers.

"It is very difficult to identify a main competitor as we stand for something different than the others," Cresci says. "We do not do sportswear. From sport, we only take material and function, but we transfer them in a very elegant and formal way."

Using technologically developed fabrics, like those used in sports kits and uniforms, allows more movement and style alternatives, without losing shape. Men's suits may look tight, but they are comfortable to wear. And they can be used both for casual and formal occasions. Jackets can be matched with shorts, sports shoes with suit trousers.

"The main consumers in China are 30 to 40 years old," Cresci says. "We believe this new rich generation spends a lot of time traveling. They don't have time to change three times a day. They need to have something that they can wear all day long."

With a range of clothing, footwear and accessories priced from 2,000 yuan ($325; 255 euros) to 50,000 yuan, the label is clearly hoping to attract the leisurely element of China's burgeoning wealthy class.

Despite being bought by Italian fashion group Zeis Excelsa Spa in 2011, the fashion house is still headed by its Belgian founding designer.

Dirk Bikkembergs stood out as a member of a group of groundbreaking designers at the Antwerp Academy of Fine Arts known as the Antwerp Six.

From 2001 he started drawing inspiration from sportspeople and dedicating his collections to all aspects of an athlete's life.

In 2009, Bikkembergs opened a flagship store in downtown Milan, conceived as a luxury apartment adapted to a sportsman's lifestyle. He even recruited a football player to live there.

Footballers also acted as models for his runway show at the San Siro stadium in Milan, home to AC Milan and Inter Milan in 2011. Bikkembergs was official designer to the latter club in 2003-05.

Football, as with most sports in China, has as yet little glamour attached to it, so Dirk Bikkembergs has found it difficult to connect with any celebrity group, event or individual for marketing.

But despite the lack of promotion and advertising, it is happy with its returns, Piazza says. It may not be "conquering", but it is winning.

yaojing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 05/31/2013 page15)