The French shoe label Bobbies opened its first store in the Netherlands at the end of October. The new store is located in the heart of Amsterdam. According to co-founder Antoine Bolze’s expansion plans, other large cities in Europe are to follow – Berlin and Hamburg are high on the list.
The Dutch Bobbies store is located on a typical Amsterdam canal street – this was particularly important to the co-founder when choosing the location. Each Bobbies store has its own concept inspired by its surroundings, so the Amsterdam store’s style is based on the Dutch weather. Inspired by the cloudy sky, the shoes and accessories are presented on white, cloud-shaped platforms. The wall shelves are also designed in the shape of clouds and the blue marble staircase is reminiscent of the Amsterdam sky. FashionUnited met Bolze at the store opening and spoke to him about the Dutch market and further expansion plans.
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Where is your label currently?
When Alexis Maugey and I founded Bobbies in 2010, we were still students. We started with the idea of producing a line of loafers for men in a minimalist style. We added many colors and the line turned out to be very successful. Over the years we have expanded our products and also launched a women’s line. Today we have an extensive range of shoes, ranging from ballet flats to loafers and boots to sneakers and also includes leather goods and accessories.
Bobbies has now grown into a company with around 200 employees. We have 300 points of sale worldwide, including three stores in Paris and one each in Bordeaux, Lyon, London and Amsterdam. We also work with nine Portuguese factories and have had our own factory with 16 employees for a year. Ten percent of our products are currently manufactured there. Our goal is to produce 25 to 30 percent of our shoes ourselves.
How has the business developed?
Bobbies has grown enormously in recent years and will continue to do so in the future. I won’t comment on financial details, but Bobbies has been profitable since its inception. We finance everything ourselves, so we are very independent, and I like that. We can’t do everything we would like to do, but it gives us more options and freedom. And so it should stay.
How has the industry developed since you were founded?
The industry has changed a lot in the last twelve years. Many brands from the 90s and 00s no longer exist. New brands – like us – that are very web-oriented are doing well. From the beginning, Bobbies had three sales channels, of which the online shop and wholesale were always very important. When it comes to online stores, 2010 was a very different time. Back then, the standard delivery time was six to seven days. Nevertheless, this sales channel already played an important role back then. Today, customers in the US get their order delivered within 48 hours and European customers receive their order the next day. We have always been involved in online trading, which made it easier for us to adapt to the changes in the industry. During the pandemic, our online shop was essential and fully developed, which relieved us of many worries.
In addition to the online shop, we work with around 300 retailers, half of which are based in France. The remaining 150 dealers are spread all over the world. We don’t currently work with retailers in the Netherlands, but we recently started a partnership with an agency – so who knows, maybe that will happen soon. I also think that the shop in Amsterdam will make the brand better known so that Dutch retailers will follow suit.
The Amsterdam store is Bobbies’ first store in the Netherlands. What makes this market interesting for your label?
What drives us are our feelings. I’ve been coming to Amsterdam since I was young and love the atmosphere of the city. When I look at people on the street and the way they dress, I think there are many common values between the Amsterdam lifestyle and our brand. We also received feedback from Dutch customers who bought our products online that Bobbies belongs on the Dutch market.
The Dutch wear a lot of streetwear. Although Bobbies is not a streetwear brand, 20 to 30 percent of our product range consists of sneakers. People talk a lot about streetwear – a pair of flat boots can be streetwear, it just depends on how you style and wear them.
In addition, Bobbies’ target audience is very broad. We have customers between 18 and 50 years old. Anyone can wear bobbies. Besides, I think that the Touch Bobbies meets the needs of Dutch customers.
What is special about your products?
The special one Touch from Bobbies has to do with its minimalist design. It’s a way to look stylish without a lot of frills. We try to go a little beyond the ordinary with our products.
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Image: Bobbies
Image: Bobbies
Are further expansion plans on the agenda?
Yes definitely! Today we have [Anm. d. Red.: am Tag der Ladeneröffnung] accidentally started a project to open a store in Brussels. Another Bobbies store will open in Paris in April 2024, and another store in the south of France will follow in a few months.
Due to the Corona crisis, all of our plans were put on hold and we are now making up for them. Our dream is to set up a Bobbies store in every major city in Europe. So Barcelona and Madrid, Berlin and Hamburg and Milan are very interesting. Italy already has its own shoe labels, so locations may not be as important.
What sets your stores apart?
We strive for quality stores that serve as both physical points of sale and showrooms. This way, customers and retailers can get to know the brand by seeing and feeling the products. For regular customers, the store always works together with the online shop. We have around 350 pairs of shoes per collection, so we can’t fit everything in the shop. Customers can simply place an online order in the store. We also have our own logistics. This allows us to be very reactive.
What is the long-term vision of Bobbies?
Bobbies’ long-term vision is clear: continue to open stores and continue to expand the leather goods segment. We started with leather goods three years ago and this segment is doing quite well. But I think Bobbies has more to offer. At the beginning we were a little slow in development because the factories are very small. Now that we have our own factory, we can take over some of the production and expand it. The general rule is: continue steady growth.