ITALY. Trussardi is aiming to capture a large slice of the growing fashion and fashion accessory sector in travel retail. Armed with a new line of gift bags and a spring/summer 2004 collection, a company spokesperson explained how the Trussardi brand is ideally positioned to take travel retail fashion into a new era.
Trussardi’s new line of Laser gift bags was introduced spring/summer 2003, and is anticipated to become a core range within the Trussardi leather accessories collection. The key feature of the bags (pictured) is the use of a sophisticated computer-driven laser technique to cut and design a motif on leather- in this line the motif is the traditional Trussardi logo.
Present now in all Trussardi boutiques and points of sale worldwide, the company said the bags are ideally suited to the Asian market, where the Trussardi brand is particularly strong and where customers appreciate logo identification on products.
Currently Trussardi develops two key lines of fashion clothing, firstly a high end collection intended for Trussardi boutiques and high end fashion stores, and secondly the Trussardi Jeans and Trussardi Sport collections which are aimed at a younger customer base.
Trussardi Jeans and Trussardi Sport are very successful worldwide, with over 3000 customers in total, confirmed company spokesperson Maurizio Ferrario. “We have very recently started introducing Trussardi Jeans at selected travel retail locations, by opening mini-boutiques. We currently have two locations- one at Rome Fiumicino airport (opened September 2003) and one in Munch airport terminal 2. Based on the encouraging results and feedback we have decided to expand,” he added.
As a result, Trussardi will be present at the TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes this year and will be introducing its spring/summer 2004 range, which new fashion lines, which are in-keeping with the image concepts and style, but which make use of different materials and colours.
Trussardi is also currently working with Nuance-Watson to open a new corner store in Hong Kong International airport in 2004.
The company is keen to maintain its high-end image in travel retail locations, so its focus is mainly on corner stores and mini-boutiques.
“Airports are ideal shopping locations, as they have a heavy traffic of potential customers and often the clientele gravitates towards the high end of the market,” said Ferrario.
“The airport is an ideal venue for high-end fashion shops. Airport authorities and operators have seen this trend and they are reacting with better space allocation and high class premises.”
Ferrario is in no doubt of the future success for Trussardi in the travel retail environment. “Trussardi is popular because its core is fine leather accessories, which is the highest volume segment in the fashion sector since the 70s.
“On top of this, Trussardi is a classic line of clothing and accessories. It is fashionable, but not to an extreme, which is good for airports and travel retail operators who do not like a collection which changes entirely every season. Trussardi has a very strong range,” he concluded.
Note: Trussardi is an Italian fashion company which built its brand on the traditional craftsmanship of tanning leathers for handbags, luggage and small leather goods.Today it has products in all fashion fields, embracing lines like Trussardi Jeans, Trussardi sport, a childrenswear collection, neck ties, foulards, fragrances and eyewear.
Trussardi will be exhibiting at Stand CR4 in the Crystal Village at Cannes.
For travel retail enquiries contact Maurizio Ferrario at Maurizio@ferrario.net
