Peuterey Makes South Korean Push
MILAN — Outerwear specialist Peuterey is heading into 2023 with more confidence as it pressed on through the pandemic and found new growth internationally.
“We’ve finally achieved a solid global strategy, although we’ve always had the strongest footprint in Italy,” said Francesca Lusini, the company’s president.
More from WWD
Although the company’s fiscal year ends March 31, 2023, Lusini forecast revenues to hit 68 million euros, up from 59 million euros in fiscal 2021.
She pointed to strong recognition in German-speaking countries and the Benelux area, where the brand “is consolidated and not seen as a start-up,” she said.
A strategic push in South Korea is expected to significantly boost overall sales, as the executive said the country accounted for 7.5 million euros in revenues in fiscal 2022, with plans to reach the 21.5 million euros threshold in 2025.
The performance is to be boosted by a strategic partnership sealed with a local distributor for the opening of 22 monobrand stores inside department stores and malls. The most recent opening in King Wang Jlang follows eight units that already bowed in Seoul.
The country represents a stepping stone for the Asia region, as Peuterey plans to ramp up its presence in Japan from 2023, forging an alliance with its local distributor AOI to position the label at premium department stores and specialty boutiques before rolling out flagship stores beginning in 2024.
The retail rollout in Asia complements Peuterey’s wholesale-oriented strategy elsewhere.
“We’re decidedly wholesale-oriented and have always forged strong ties with our clients, and even throughout the COVID-19 pandemic we safeguarded our network supporting them,” Lusini said. “It paid off, as we are perceived as reliable,” she added.
Last September the company obtained the SA8000 certification for its social sustainability efforts, especially aimed at its workforce and suppliers.
“When I started in my role, I felt there was misalignment between the company and retailers as we would send out visual merchandisers, inquired about sell-outs, it was an outdated approach, when in the end the communal goal is customers’ satisfaction,” she explained.
A push of directly operated retail is not entirely off the table but needs to be supported by other strategic investments, in product development and communications, the president noted. The brand operates two stores in Paris and Milan.
Peuterey is working on expanding its offering to other categories. For spring 2022, the brand debuted its first footwear collection and it plans to introduce small accessories geared at life in the outdoors for fall 2023.
Targeting Gen Zers, the company’s fall 2022 ad campaign, developed by Armando Testa, centered on uniqueness and is flanked by the recently launched digital project envisioned by the Italian social media star, actor and author Paolo Stella, a longtime brand collaborator, who invited five stylists to appear in images styled by themselves.
In addition to the flagship brand, the family-run Peuterey Group comprises outerwear brands Geospirit, Dekker and Post Card. The last label, an Italian luxury sportswear specialist popular in the ’80s for its high-end, elegant women’s winter jackets, was acquired by the group in 2012 and has enjoyed momentum in the U.S. Lusini said it is now ready to address the domestic and European markets again.
At the same time, the company is pressing on with Geospirit’s fully sustainable ethos — from material sourcing to manufacturing processes and packaging — and investing in advancing the eco-bent of Peuterey, too.
“We’re always on the hunt for materials that are either recycled or apt for waste- and carbon-minimizing processes,” Lusini explained, citing examples including the use of Econyl’s regenerated nylon, recycled down and the Peuterey Recycle collection crafted from textiles and paddings from production waste.
