“The travel-related industry represents an extraordinary opportunity for exposure of the brand and its products to the widest range of potential customers.” |
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The Scottish knitwear brand has been repositioned as an international fashion house following its acquisition in March 2004 by Charme Investments |
ITALY. International fashion brand Ballantyne Cashmere has announced plans to enter the travel channel with its complete range of men’s and women’s apparel and accessories.
The Scottish knitwear brand has been repositioned as an international fashion house following its acquisition in March 2004 by Charme Investments, in partnership with Alfredo Canessa, the entrepreneur who created Italian cashmere brand Malo, and Massimo Alba, who is Creative Director.
Charme is the investment company created by Italian businessman Luca di Montezemolo, who is best known for heading up the luxury car company Ferrari.
The investment has enabled Ballantyne to develop new types of product and roll out new flagship stores worldwide.
“A newly re-launched brand like Ballantyne can strongly benefit from the wide exposure offered by travel-related environments and duty free shopping areas.” |
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Many celebrities have worn Ballantyne knitwear, including Steve McQueen, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn and Julia Roberts. Queen Elizabeth visited the Scottish factory in July 1966 |
Ballantyne now produces a full collection of men’s and women’s ready-to-wear and accessories, including footwear. The Autumn/Winter 2006/07 women’s collection made its debut on the runway at Milan Fashion Week in February to great critical acclaim.
Ballantyne’s retail presence consists of one flagship shop in London, New Bond Street; freestanding shops in Notting Hill London, Aoyama Tokyo and Osaka; three shop-in-shops and corners in London, and 13 in Japan. This Autumn/Winter 2006, a store will begin trading in Taipei along with corners in Hong Kong.
To find out more about the company’s travel retail strategy, The Moodie Report interviewed Fernando Evangelista, who holds a dual role as President and Representative Director of Ballantyne Cashmere Japan KK and Director Asia Pacific Region of Ballantyne Cashmere Srl.
Why have you decided to enter the travel retail channel?
Fernando Evangelista: The travel-related industry represents an extraordinary opportunity for exposure of the brand and its products to the widest range of potential customers. Consequently, it is an excellent opportunity for expanding the business through sales of easily accessible products with high margins. A newly re-launched brand like Ballantyne, which has been investing heavily in developing a strong and distinctive image with high quality and recognisable designs, can strongly benefit from the wide exposure offered by today’s travel-related environments and duty free shopping areas, which are increasingly characterised by sophistication and high quality of the overall shopping environment.
“We are planning to open ‘flagshops’ in major international cities with high driving commercial power, both on regional and on international markets.” |
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Ballantyne’s new London flagship at 153 New Bond Street covers 250sq m and has the same ambience as an aristocratic English manor house |
What is Ballantyne’s strategy in travel retail? Which sectors are you targeting?
With Ballantyne becoming a ‘total look’ brand and extending its offer to a variety of accessories with high appeal to a broader range of customers – as a result of a highly recognisable branding effort and high quality content, attractive price and ability to manufacture and deliver – we believe we are ready to enter a very broad market like the travel-related one.
It is our objective to cover it extensively, by targeting airlines, duty free areas in airports and also those markets in downtown dedicated areas, taking advantage of all good opportunities. Consistently we will flexibly structure and set up our selling points and their relevant offers depending on the potential of each channel.
Are you planning to open freestanding stores or shop-in-shops? Which regions of the world?
We are indeed planning to open ‘flagshops’ in major international cities with high driving commercial power, both on regional and on international markets.
The first flagship shop opened in New Bond Street, London last October, offering full ladies’ and men’s collections.
A most important ‘flagshop’ is planned for 2007, in the most exclusive shopping district in Milan. Similarly, again in 2007, we plan to open large flagship stores in Tokyo and Osaka. Great attention is also being given to New York, but this will be a next step.
“We will also display ladies’ or men’s collections separately in major department stores in important cities in all the major markets.” |
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The Lady is a Fox collection continues the Art and Craft tradition with precious inlays, handmade in Scotland |
Concerning our entire distribution network, besides flagship shops, we are considering operating shop-in-shops carrying the full ladies’ and men’s lines together. We will also display ladies’ or men’s collections separately in major department stores in important cities in all the major markets. This is true specifically for Japan. We are also considering establishing a network of leather accessories in prime department stores starting with highly developed markets like Japan.
Specifically for the Asian markets, we will follow the above-mentioned approach, but as we are a growing organisation and need to move ahead and allocate resources by priorities, we plan to establish exclusive franchisees with the most successful and reliable partners active in each market. Several negotiations are under way and a number of key markets should start having Ballantyne products available from Spring/Summer 2007.
Will you offer the whole collection in travel retail or just selected articles?
We aim to provide the widest possible selection to our customers emphasising that Ballantyne offers a total look and a complete range of accessories. Naturally, accessories and specific items in the apparel collections, like knitwear, will represent the main offer. The travel-related distribution network will be represented by a mix of full-scale shops carrying a wide offer and of corners in specialised areas mostly dedicated to accessories. Relevant decisions will be made keeping into account opportunities, but in line with a strategy designed to maximise brand exposure in high quality environments where we will be able to communicate our philosophy and business, our quality and our creativity.
Ballantyne Autumn/Winter 2006/07 fashion collections
Women’s Collection: The Lady is a Fox collection continues the Art and Craft tradition with precious inlays, handmade in Scotland. Key pieces include double-breasted overcoats, micro-designs in Harris tweed, red fox collars and upholstered buttons. Colours are green, plum and chestnut. Jewel knits in ten-ply cashmere yarn are teamed with tailored and belted jackets. Military and regimental symbols are used on duffle coats and capes featuring coats of arms, buttons and martingales. Colourful layered knits, jeans, velvet belts closed by gilded bows, wraparound coats, and red and green macro-tartans are highlights. Accessories include hoods, scarves, gloves and shoes lined in cashmere.
“We aim to provide the widest possible selection to our customers emphasising that Ballantyne offers a total look and a complete range of accessories.” |
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Ballantyne revisits its archives in a collection of ties, foulards and pochettes with a dandyish touch |
Men’s Collection: Formal clothes are matched with light striped shirts, regimental ties with tweed jackets inspired by traditional Scottish designs, with slightly widened revers. Some of the jackets have elbow patches, reminiscent of the 1940s. Trousers come in velvet with in 14 colours. Jeans feature exclusive linings and embroidery. The handmade intarsia cashmere jumper comes in 40 new exclusive colours and multicoloured yarns. Hats, scarves and coloured gloves are striped or come with hand made Jacquard designs. Ballantyne revisits its archives in a collection of ties, foulards and pochettes with a dandyish touch.
Ballantyne shoes: One of the highlights of the Autumn/Winter 2006/07 women’s collection are the new shoes lined with cashmere, designed to be worn with bare feet. Decorated with gilded love bows, the romantically inspired range includes ballerina flats, high-heel pumps and loafers. The colours come from the Scottish forest – beige, brown and mauve – while the combinations range from velvets to suede. Men’s shoes are suede, with a cashmere lining in yellow tartan.
About Ballantyne
Ballantyne Cashmere was established in 1921, in the small Scottish town of Innerleithen, in the Border region. The prestigious brand has used natural fibres of the highest quality since its creation, selecting cashmere from China and Inner Mongolia.
Today, Ballantyne has a factory at Innerleithen, a well-established production and distribution plant which represents the heart of Ballantyne’s exclusive production, and produces the group’s exclusive handmade sweaters each year. The group also includes the general management in Milan (which also includes creative and commercial management) as well as the Japanese distribution company, a market in which Ballantyne already holds the top position in the niche market.
The human touch plays an important part in the production stages of each garment. Ballantyne uses the technique of dyeing before spinning and not on the finished product. This technique is said to give optimal colour performance. The cashmere is dyed in a wide range of bright colours before being spun at the Scottish factories of Todd & Duncan. The colours chosen and dyed for Ballantyne are exclusive to the brand, a guarantee of the uniqueness of each Ballantyne garment. This exclusivity is highlighted by each label, with the words: “this is an original Ballantyne”.
“Accessories and specific items in the apparel collections, like knitwear, will represent the main offer” |
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Cashmere-lined shoes are a highlight of Ballantyne’s collections |
The next production stage is a “greasing” phase: the yarn is oiled to obtain increased resistance during weaving. In line with Scottish tradition, Ballantyne uses the exclusive 1/14000 yarn, of extremely high quality and long-lasting. Once finished, the cashmere garment is washed in the pure waters of the River Tweed: it is the purity of these waters and the time spent on hand-washing, different for each garment and inspired by the experience of craftsmen which has been handed down over decades, which open up the fibres and give each Ballantyne garment a softness, while enhancing the colour.
The production technique of the brand’s hand-made intarsia diamonds has been used since the 1930s and are still the brand’s distinguishing mark. The traditional Diamond or Argyle designs have been developed into new, highly original colour combinations.
The research into colour and the wide choice of exclusive shades are one of Ballantyne’s strengths: not only for products with the intarsia work, but also in the plain colours and special Jacquard designs. The same research into colour is used for the garments in Yuma Cotton for the Spring/Summer collections: Ballantyne offers the same cotton shades and gradations as the cashmere garments. This allows customers to combine a cotton polo shirt with a cashmere cardigan in matching shades. Ballantyne products also boast unique details such as the hand-sewn welt seam on the necklines and cuffs.
Many celebrities have worn Ballantyne knitwear, including Steve McQueen, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Grace Kelly, Lauren Bacall, Audrey Hepburn, Britney Spears, Cindy Crawford, Demi Moore and Julia Roberts. Queen Elizabeth visited the Scottish factory for the first time in July 1966.
*Ballantyne will be presenting its collections at the TFWA Asia Pacific show in May (Stand number: D2/b)>.
For details, contact, Sonia Chiarini, Ballantyne srl, Export Manager Europe, tel: +39 02 58 49 821 Visit
www.ballantyne.it
