 |
The Domitille handbag collection is available in eight colours |
FRANCE. French luxury fashion brand Zilli is launching its first ever womenswear collection this September.
Travel Retail Director Alexandra Schimel said the decision to introduce women’s clothing and accessories stemmed from the overall success of the upscale brand. “Zilli is the original sport-luxe brand for menswear. However, the interest and demand has risen so quickly that a new womenswear range has been introduced this year,” she said.
The range, which is still being developed and expanded, will initially include outerwear, such as coats and jackets, as well as jersey knitwear and shirts.
The accessories collection features scarves, hats, belts, travel wallets, handbags and trolley cases. Materials used include lambskin, cashmere, crocodile, python and ostrich.
Average retail prices for the outerwear garments start at £2,000, while the small leathergoods run from £500. Suitcases retail from £3,000 upwards.
The new women’s collection will be sold in Zilli boutiques, including key duty free locations, from September 2007.
Zilli Autumn/Winter 2007/08 collection
The Autumn/Winter 2007/08 collection combines classic cuts and luxury materials, with the fabrics and colours carefully selected to portray softness and wearability, according to the house.
This season’s new fabric, exclusively made for Zilli, is a combination of 50% cashmere and 50% chinchilla. The cameo grey colour tone is designed to add sophistication to the super-soft material.
Inspired by the stitching on the company’s shirts, triple top-stitching is now used on jackets and coats and feature white, yellow and red-gold threading.
 |
The Fes travel bag, handcrafted in real crocodile leather |
This season also sees the introduction of Zilli’s new Givre ski-wear line made of waterproof silk and fully lined for warmth.
In addition, linings in the collection feature overlays of embroidered black veiling on monochrome silk backgrounds.
About Zilli
Founded in 1970, Zilli is present in around 40 countries (150 POS) with 15 boutiques in cities such as London, Milan, Moscow, Paris and Dubai. The label’s sport-luxe objective centres on fine fabrics and tailoring – a single belt takes up to six hours to make and a jacket up to three days. Materials used include sting-ray skin, crocodile, black velvet chinchilla, silk, wool and cashmere. Zilli and achieved a consolidated turnover of €39 million in 2006, a +43% increase since 2005.
 |
Crocodile leather pilot case |
Key facts about the brand
– The family-run business employs 200 people. President Alain Schimel is assisted by his wife, the creative director, and his two children Laurent and Alexandra. Everything is made either in France (leather and fur goods and outerwear) or Italy (clothing such as ties and shirts).
– Innovation: Alain Schimel first elevated the image of the leather jacket in the 1970s by making it in lamb suede, peccary, alligator and other skins and then finished his designs with artisan details such as custom-printed Italian silk linings and fully taped seams like those applied to tailored clothing. “Before that, leather was mostly used for flight jackets and motorcycle jackets; it was not considered an upscale material for businessmen,” says Schimel.
– Some 80 staff in the French workshop turn all the leatherwear by hand. It takes around eight hours to make a single Shagreen belt.
– The first shop to open was a three-storey boutique in London’s Bond Street, which has just undergone a major refurbishment.
– Zilli has seen its profits rise by an average of +20% a year for the past 11 years.
– The Spring/Summer 2007 collection featured eco-friendly cotton bamboo and linen for suits and shirts.
MORE STORIES ON ZILLI
Zilli hits the headlines in Cannes – 31/10/06
