Since its inception in 1992, Dutch brand Barts hasn’t strayed from what it started with: a range of accessories for winter and summer. This year the company celebrates its 30th anniversary. FashionUnited had the opportunity to speak to founder and CEO Bart Koene. According to him, the consistency the brand has maintained over the years is something that is valued by its most loyal customers and builds on its success.
It wasn’t until 2018 that Barts took an extraordinary step in a new direction when the brand launched their first swimwear collection. Back then, too, FashionUnited sat down with Koene. Four years later, the CEO looks back on this step as a welcome challenge: “We really had to prove ourselves, but that was a lot of fun.”
“From Beanies to Bikinis”
“When we got into swimwear, I said, ‘We’re going to take five years and during that time, we need to feel like what we’re doing makes sense,'” explains Koene. “And that definitely happened, but the process was longer and more difficult than launching our winter products.” In 2018, Koene said he wanted to straighten out the split between the summer and winter seasons; the goal back then was a 30/70 split. “And we’re well on our way there. We are now moving towards 20/80, so there is real movement. There will never be equal distribution.”
With this focus on winter fashion, it’s almost easy to forget that Koene entered the fashion world with swimwear in the 1980s, before Barts was founded. Back then, he designed and sold beachwear on the beaches of Saint-Tropez. “In fact, I started out in swimwear once, but I soon learned that winter is more accessible. That’s why I’m glad I chose winter clothing. If I had only focused on bikinis, Barts wouldn’t be where it is today.”
“It’s a lot harder to make money in swimwear,” Koene continued. “It’s incredibly fun, but everything is more complex. Not only the production, but also the sale. The fit, for example, is a big challenge: no body is the same. This is of course a bit different than a hat. The return rate for swimwear is also much higher than for hats. This raises completely new strategic questions.”
Despite all that, Barts thoroughly enjoyed the challenge. “There is so much variety. We found a way around this by simply selling. Our network of good retailers helps with this. Some of them really dare to take risks, which also gives us a lot of insight. And of course they don’t want to stand still. Change brings growth.”
Growth for Barts: “immeasurable developments”
Incidentally, for Koene, growth is not necessarily about numbers. “The goal is to keep growing with Barts, but not in the traditional way where a company aims for 10 or 20 percent revenue growth. Of course, increasing sales is important and that is at the core of sustainability and success. But the good response from customers and the level of development and creativity in our company, for me that is the real sense of achievement.”
“These are actually immeasurable developments. The collections must be strong and surprising. This is sometimes a problem, because how are you supposed to develop new hats after 30 years? It shouldn’t be possible, but it still works every year. Our success is also so great because we focus so much on a small product group and maintain the quality within it.”
For example, Koene reports on a conversation with one of his loyal customers, the owner of the Ko shop in Amsterdam. “Recently she told me how much she appreciates the fact that all the other brands, when they are very successful, add other things while we focus on what we started with. And that the quality always remains the same. ‘It’s just fun and you don’t get a headache,’ she said so beautifully. When I heard that, I of course offered her to come to our sales talks,” Koene concludes with a laugh.
For Koene, these anecdotes are a good example of his measures of success: “My goal is that ten years from now my customers will still be saying how Barts surprises them every time while maintaining the good quality.”
The value of the by-product
With that, stability seems to be a key factor for Koene and the Barts brand. Specializing in accessories makes this possible, Koene concedes. As a “niche supplier” and accessory brand, Barts is less affected by social and economic developments, which is particularly advantageous in times of lockdowns and rising inflation.
“Accessories are a by-product. You often come across this when buying a jacket or a suit, and then it is often an impulse purchase. In good times you buy that on top of it. In bad times, people may put off big purchases, but they’re quick to put their hats on. So the highs and lows are a bit more balanced: we have fewer highs when the economy is doing well, but the lows hit us less.”
In short, Koene’s desire is to continue what the brand has been doing for 30 years. In his own words: “With a small, fine team that makes beautiful things that make people happy”. Looking back, Koene seems to have exceeded his own goals: “I’m surprised that after thirty years I’m still having so much fun!”
Barts currently has offices in The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, UK, Ireland, France, Austria, Spain, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Serbia, Hungary and Croatia. In winter, the brand has 3,000 to 3,500 points of sale; in summer about 1,200 to 1,500.
This translated article originally appeared on FashionUnited.nl.