Former Hanse Distribution Director Barry Fitzpatrick has teamed up with Thomas Wesch to launch a new travel retail distribution company, SKYlink GmbH, specialising in watches, jewellery and accessories.
With an aim to introduce new brands into the industry as well as represent existing players, the Hamburg-based company will work globally across all travel retail sectors, including inflight, airports, downtown, and ferries/cruiseships.
Already well known in the industry in his role at Hanse Distribution (which he left in January), Fitzpatrick was a former director of Rotary Watches and has also worked with L’Oréal and Bulgari within their travel retail divisions.
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Thomas Wesch (left) and Barry Fitzpatrick aim to offer “a really close, personal service” to clients with the launch of their new company |
Wesch brings to the company a wealth of managerial experience from his roles at two influential German companies: Managing Director at Darboven GmbH and various senior management positions at Tchibo.
Fitzpatrick and Wesch have been looking for an opportunity to team up in business for some time. Fitzpatrick explained: “The raison d’être behind SKYlink is two-fold. First of all we felt that there are numerous established brands that – at least in some areas of the business – could benefit from using a distributor prepared to work on either a regional or sector basis, however small that might be. Secondly, we do believe that there are numerous brands out there with masses of potential for travel retail, but with little or no idea how to approach the industry.
“˜It may sound corny, but we want to offer a really close, personal service to clients – both suppliers and buyers – based on a deep understanding of the travel retail industry and the needs of all parties in the mix. Distribution companies can become very impersonal – we are very keen to hold onto the values of one to one trusting relationships where every client is treated as an individual.”
SKYlink has already secured a regional inflight distribution agreement with premium leathergoods brand Furla covering most EMEA markets and some Asian markets.
“Furla is just a fantastic brand to have in the portfolio,” said Fitzpatrick. “Gerry Munday has done a remarkable job with the brand on the ground and we’re thrilled to be working with the company for inflight. We’re even more delighted to announce that we’ve secured a listing with KLM for the iconic Furla red clutch bag,which will be featured on the front cover from May.”
The company is also exclusively representing jewellery brand Stroili Italian Jewels, owned by LVMH, as it prepares to launch into the travel retail market worldwide.
“Stroili is an incredible brand which is absolutely perfect for travel retail; it’s clear from our early discussions that the industry agrees and we will be announcing the details very shortly,” Fitzpatrick added.
“This really is a dream come true for Thomas and I. We want to gain a reputation for offering an open and honest service, based on real value and creative thinking. We’ve been really quite stunned by the positive reaction we’ve had so far both from buyers and suppliers and are in negotiation with a number of brands for distribution. We’re also working on a watch project with DFASS which we hope to reveal shortly, as well as projects with Tallink/Silja and other major players in our industry.”
For enquiries, contact Barry Fitzpatrick, Managing Director, SKYlink; tel: +49 40 350 852 72; fax: +49 40 350 85 80; or e-mail: bf@creative.travel-retail.com. Visit www.creative.travel-retail.com.
