Lerros Moden GmbH continues to grow and wants to expand this particularly in existing markets. After a positive financial year, selected new markets such as the USA are also being targeted.
Managing director Alex Ibakasap explains what other goals the (still) Neuss-based men’s fashion retailer has that is moving to Düsseldorf on the other side of the Rhine, and why the current success of the 1st Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen is also good for Lerros the current order round.
For this order season you have changed the showroom location with Lerros…
We were in Düsseldorf in Hall 29 for twelve years and are currently in an interim showroom at Plange Mühle. Our showroom and office are currently being expanded there. From July we will move the entire administration from Neuss to Düsseldorf. Then we have our showroom at the headquarters at Plange Mühle.
Speaking of changing locations: How do you react to the lack of trade fairs in Berlin? Will you focus on international formats in the future?
We tend to go to the purchasing associations – Katag and Unitex. The events were very successful last year. We reached more new customers there than in Berlin the year before.
Will you focus on international formats in the future?
We exhibited at the Modefabriek in Amsterdam until a year ago, but they only focus on womenswear. That was actually always a very nice trade fair. Organization, brands and price-performance were always great.
Florence [Anm. d. Red.: Standort der Herrenmode-Messe Pitti Uomo] is not our playing field at all and Copenhagen [Anm. d. Red.: Standort der Modemesse Ciff] is also very women’s fashion-focused. I would be very happy if there was something in Germany again, but since we are not a newcomer or a premium brand, we are very satisfied with the specialist events organized by the purchasing associations, as all relevant retailers from Germany are represented there.
Back to Düsseldorf. How did the current order round go?
Basically, the order so far has been as expected. Of course, the changes at Galeria kept us very busy in this order round. But after a few discussions, we are confident that things will continue into a positive future. Overall, we have planned a significant increase compared to the previous year and, as in the last three or four seasons, we will be rewarded for the good performance on the surfaces.
And what was the mood of the buyers?
The mood towards us is still positive, although the general mood of buyers is somewhat cautious. The collection has been very well received, so we are very satisfied at the moment and have not had any unpleasant surprises so far. The jacket collection, which is an important part of the season, was also well received.
Didn’t the warm autumn put a damper on your plans?
We had a very good jacket season. Despite all expectations, it started very late, but was very successful. With In-Season and Never-out-of-Stock, we have several options for repurchasing jackets, so in the end we left the season with hardly any inventory. We now really stand for the jacket and have been growing significantly in the product group for almost the fourth season. Some new customers are now joining us precisely because of the jacket.
After the supply chain issue calmed down last year, the first delays are now occurring due to the situation in the Suez Canal. How does it look for you?
The issue does impact our supply chain, but we always plan our deliveries very early. There are still a handful of relevant articles that are ten days late, but we don’t have any dramatic failures or delays of three, four, five weeks now.
As a precaution, we are planning with our suppliers to send the goods out even earlier for the autumn-winter season. Of course, everyone else also organizes the rerouting and that alone takes two weeks longer. Therefore, we of course also take this into account for the new deliveries. However, we do not expect this to continue until autumn/winter. There are already more drastic measures taken by various governments that are coming together and taking action against it.
What goals have you set for yourself for 2024?
We have grown significantly again in the last two or three years and are now well above pre-Corona levels, which is also our direction for 2024. We had a very successful financial year and want to continue to grow internationally and get white spots that we have on our wish list.
Which are they?
Currently, Austria and Belgium are markets where we want to grow even further. We have been there for a long time and are sometimes represented with our own organization. We are also currently conducting initial discussions for the US market, where we may be able to work with partners. But there are still enough potential trading partners on the home market that we would like to get in touch with.
Which markets are particularly strong outside of the home market?
After the domestic market, the Netherlands is particularly strong. We have our own entity and have been very successful for around 28 years. After that comes Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and the Czech Republic. Then there are some markets in Central Europe and Eastern Europe that are important for us. On the other hand, there are also markets in Europe that are not relevant at all. Scandinavia, Italy, France and Greece in particular do not play a role at the moment.
Why are these markets not relevant to you?
Because we want to concentrate on the existing markets and see enough potential there before we enter new markets. France and Italy in particular are rather difficult for us in terms of trends, modernity and fit. That doesn’t suit us at the moment and we would have to put a lot more energy into it and develop some pieces in the collection more specifically for this direction.
There are enough brands – including from Germany – that have tried there again and again, but have been very less successful. It would be different if we now specialized in clothing, then it would be much easier. All the clothing manufacturers naturally always have a very high export share. But if you’re making mainstream sportswear or casualwear, it’s a lot more challenging.
In the past, Lerros also had other concepts such as the bottom line
New in town. Would a portfolio expansion be conceivable again?
In general, I can imagine a second line. Whether this necessarily has to be for men remains to be seen. But if I did, I would go in a different direction than what was being done with New in Town. New in Town only existed for a very short time and was not thought through to the end because the positioning and the competitive environment were not that clear. The product was good, but the distribution and market potential also have to be well thought out for a new line. Currently the focus is on the main brand.
How do you want to further strengthen and make the Lerros brand better known?
We invest in business-to-business marketing, but especially in business-to-consumer, to increase brand awareness – social media, advertisements in target group-oriented magazines, in all forms in sports-related areas.
We are currently in the Bayer Leverkusen sponsor club and will join the team as a premium sponsor and supplier next season. So we will become even more visible in the media – with perimeter advertising on TV and shoots with the team. Of course, this is also an investment. And it looks like they will also become German champions and are very successful at European level. So we didn’t choose a second-class team, but rather a very successful team in order to further increase our popularity.