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flaunt the imperfection
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excerpt fr wwd...
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Le Coq Sportif's Rooster Crows Again
By Melanie Kletter
NEW YORK — Le Coq Sportif is the latest old-school brand being readied for a comeback.
“Le Coq Sportif has a great heritage and it brings an element of sport and style to the marketplace, which is needed and wanted today,” said Epstein, managing partner of the new company, Le Coq Sportif North America, which holds the license to market and distribute the brand in the continent.
The initial items for sale are primarily footwear, with a small selection of apparel and accessories bowing for fall and holiday. A larger apparel collection will roll out for spring 2006.
... the company is targeting stores such as Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale’s for some of the more upscale footwear and apparel, as well as Urban Outfitters for the lifestyle looks and sports specialty chains for the performance items. Wholesale price points in apparel are about $15 for T-shirts, $30 for tracksuits and $100 for some of the outerwear looks.
Le Coq Sportif dates back to the Twenties and is best known for its upscale tennis and soccer offerings and its association with top-tier athletes and team sponsorships. The brand, which had sales of about $35 million in 1993, has had various incarnations in the U.S. For more than 40 years it was owned by Adidas, and was then sold to Brown Shoe in 1995 before that company sold the trademark back to a French concern run by Olivier Jacques in 1999, who now runs Le Coq Sportif International and is based in Sausheum, France. While it has sold a small selection of products in the U.S. in recent years, this is the company’s first significant return to the American market.
A number of retro brands have reentered the market in recent years, often with updated fashion twists and new corporate parents, and Le Coq will be competing with those labels for floor space. Among them are Fred Perry, Penguin and Le Tigre. At the same time, brands such as Lacoste and Puma have updated their fashion direction toward more lifestyle offerings with less sport-specific products.
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Le Coq Sportif's Rooster Crows Again
By Melanie Kletter
NEW YORK — Le Coq Sportif is the latest old-school brand being readied for a comeback.
“Le Coq Sportif has a great heritage and it brings an element of sport and style to the marketplace, which is needed and wanted today,” said Epstein, managing partner of the new company, Le Coq Sportif North America, which holds the license to market and distribute the brand in the continent.
The initial items for sale are primarily footwear, with a small selection of apparel and accessories bowing for fall and holiday. A larger apparel collection will roll out for spring 2006.
... the company is targeting stores such as Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale’s for some of the more upscale footwear and apparel, as well as Urban Outfitters for the lifestyle looks and sports specialty chains for the performance items. Wholesale price points in apparel are about $15 for T-shirts, $30 for tracksuits and $100 for some of the outerwear looks.
Le Coq Sportif dates back to the Twenties and is best known for its upscale tennis and soccer offerings and its association with top-tier athletes and team sponsorships. The brand, which had sales of about $35 million in 1993, has had various incarnations in the U.S. For more than 40 years it was owned by Adidas, and was then sold to Brown Shoe in 1995 before that company sold the trademark back to a French concern run by Olivier Jacques in 1999, who now runs Le Coq Sportif International and is based in Sausheum, France. While it has sold a small selection of products in the U.S. in recent years, this is the company’s first significant return to the American market.
A number of retro brands have reentered the market in recent years, often with updated fashion twists and new corporate parents, and Le Coq will be competing with those labels for floor space. Among them are Fred Perry, Penguin and Le Tigre. At the same time, brands such as Lacoste and Puma have updated their fashion direction toward more lifestyle offerings with less sport-specific products.
