A reason to celebrate: The Italian fashion brand Garcia is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. On this occasion, FashionUnited spoke to Managing Director Mark Hommelberg about the company’s history and future.
The last time FashionUnited spoke to Hommelberg was in 2018. Garcia had just opened a showroom in Düsseldorf. At that time, the concept of ‘kitchen table stories’ was presented and the launch as a shop-in-shop was planned. Garcia should have more weight as a brand, it sounded like that at the time, but it should also be more innovative. These innovations then took the form of the Radygo collection, which featured a special pocket that prevented a phone’s radiation from penetrating the fabric. Following the last meeting between FashionUnited and Hommelberg, the ‘kitchen table stories’ were launched and express what Garcia stands for: it is a family-oriented company and the kitchen table symbolizes the moment when the family comes together. This can be the traditional family with parents, grandparents and children, but also a group of friends.
But while Garcia has been busy introducing the concept and innovating within its collections in recent years, the company – like any other – has been going through the pandemic. The fact that Garcia is a family-focused brand offering clothing for men, women, and kids and operates in multiple countries hasn’t hurt the company. If stores were closed in one country, the brand could easily move its inventory to another country where retail was open, the CEO explains. “We don’t bet everything on one country or one division. That helps with risk diversification.” It also enabled Garcia to be flexible with his partners. “We were and are financially healthy. Of course there was stress, but we were able to help the customers.” For example, through extended payment deadlines, the return of clothes and, above all, because there was no pressure on the partners to buy clothes. “The season after that, everything just fell into place. The retailers then said, ‘You helped us, now you’re getting the budget you deserve’.” Accordingly, Hommelberg says that wholesale sales in the last four seasons – i.e. in the last two years – have grown in double digits.
Now Garcia decides to surround himself in wholesale with brands that are more expensive than the brand. During the interview the word ‘entry brand’ is mentioned but later changed to ‘the affordable alternative’. “I just like that better,” laughs Hommelberg. Thanks to this positioning, the CEO also sees the future positively, even with the current price pressure. “People who used to buy jeans for 130 euros are now buying jeans for 79.99. There are only a few brands that offer jeans for less than 100 euros.”
It is therefore important for Garcia and Hommelberg to remain this ‘affordable alternative’, even with the current price pressure. Prices within the collection are increasing by five to six percent on average, but the brand wants to reduce this increase where it can. That’s not always easy, especially with all of the brand’s sustainability initiatives. For example, Garcia signed the Denim Deal, which obliges the company to ensure that all denim parts are made from at least five percent recycled material (PCR). Together, the participants of the denim deal want to apply 20 percent PCR to at least three million pairs of jeans during the term of the deal. Garcia wants to use 20 percent PCR cotton fibers for all new denims. “If we can do more, we will do more,” he says. In this way, initiatives like these become a prerequisite for working with partners like Zalando and Breuninger. “You don’t get your brand on the website if you don’t work on sustainability. We’re really under scrutiny and they want to see a denim deal signed.”
Hommelberg is happy that the same conditions prevail in the area of sustainability, also due to stricter controls and new regulations. “We’re still a long way from that — a lot of people are still getting away with it,” he says. Hommelberg says he learned a lot about sustainability from Scotch & Soda and PVH and that other brands are now knocking on Garcia’s door and asking for help. “It’s nice to see that a collaboration is suddenly possible when it comes to sustainability.” In the meantime, the innovations announced for 2018 in the Garcia collections have largely shifted towards sustainability, says Hommelberg when asked. “We are among the pioneers. That is beautiful. We’re not Patagonia, but we can confidently say, ‘You’re really buying something good from us.’” That doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges. Portability, affordability, and commercialism all play a part, of course. “So it’s in flux. But when you celebrate a 50th anniversary, you also have a responsibility for the decades to come. We try that every day.”
Garcia celebrates 50th anniversary: ’Continuity is our top priority’
The past 50 years have certainly left their mark, as shown last summer in Urbania, Italy. This is where the originally Italian brand had its own denim factory. Co-founder Isabella Garcia passed away in 2021 at the age of 88 and last summer a street in the village was named in her honor. Hommelberg was invited to unveil the street sign and cut a ribbon. The whole village was there and the mayor was there too. According to the mayor, Garcia made the village of Urbania what it is today thanks to the acceleration that the brand brought. “It was a small village and our factory grew and became a success story. A fabric scavenger was added and supplies for production. 50 percent of the entire village today had family in the factory, knew someone who had worked there, or worked there themselves. Everyone knew the Garcia family and when the street of Isabella Garcia was revealed, people were emotional. We really made a difference and it feels like a responsibility for us to continue to lead the company for decades to come,” says the CEO, visibly proud.
Why has Garcia been around for so long? “Not many clothing companies have existed that long. Then you have to do something right,” laughs Hommelberg. According to the CEO, it’s partly because of the things the company mostly hasn’t done. “We didn’t follow certain clothing trends. We have never relied on Logomania, which afterwards takes you down the wrong path. We never denied the brand with trends that didn’t suit us, but were very big.” However, the company was quick to pick up on some business trends: “You can say that we are the big trends in the areas of online, IT, retail and wholesale have developed well. But you can only do that if you don’t do other things on the side.” Hommelberg is quick to add that Garcia didn’t do everything right by a long shot either. “We are not strong enough on social media yet. Sometime ten years ago we really should have picked this up. Fortunately, we also make a lot of mistakes, but as long as you get more right than wrong, you’ve done well.”
Garcia’s focus remains on strengthening the brand. This is done step by step, because the company doesn’t want to “buy in” with big TV spots. “We still have a lot to do in direct sales. We need to be more visible.” That’s why Garcia’s clothes these days have a small logo anyway. Hommelberg says he wants consumers to instantly recognize Garcia, both online and in stores and at wholesale partners.
Garcia CEO on anniversary, sustainability and growth plan
The wholesale partnerships are an important part of Garcia’s growth plan, the CEO says in an interview. “Ultimately, our biggest business is the shop-in-shop and our own retail business. That’s where we want to place the ‘kitchen table stories’ and relieve the entrepreneurs.” Garcia supplies the interior design for the shop-in-shop and can take care of the pre-investment for the warehouse. In doing so, it uses a variety of data to ensure the retail store is generating the best possible returns. “Then the retailer or retailers can think: ‘How do I get people into the store? How do I make a beautiful store that people flock to and how do I train the staff up to date?’ After all, the retailer is ultimately responsible for this. That he has an attractive store that looks good and that people come to for advice.” Hommelberg points out that Garcia relies on consumers who need advice and just want to look good. “Most people don’t know exactly what they want,” he says. Shops offering advice and a day trip are therefore very popular with Garcia. “Customers who know exactly what they want simply buy online.”
That doesn’t mean Garcia isn’t investing in its own stores and online. “To continue to grow the brand, we need to be visible everywhere: physically, online and in marketplaces.” Garcia’s own stores are mainly there to tell the story of the brand. But 100 stores in Germany is not necessary. “If we have 20 stores there If you have that, that’s fine.” The locations Garcia is reviewing for the opening of a new monobrand store are all said to be ‘family destinations.’ “A place where you can go shopping with the family for a day,” says the CEO. A city that Fulfilled these conditions was Den Bosch, where Garcia has been based for some time. The family values are also reflected in how Garcia treats its employees. The company likes to work with solid faces in the shop. “For example, if you are the store manager If you take Jannie out of business, you easily lose 40 to 50 percent of your customers, and a business goes from profitable to loss-making in no time.”
In the marketplace space, Garcia is able to quickly connect new businesses. “We are one of the few brands that have a large warehouse. If a marketplace from France comes knocking, we can deliver photos and EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) in no time. Our scale is very suitable for this.” The marketplaces also help Garcia to spread the brand in Europe. “We now have four core areas, but I still see great potential for European expansion. It’s good for our spread and at Garcia, continuity always comes first. This is a difference between family businesses and private equity firms. It is not profit that comes first or the best offer today, but continuity. Without this perspective we will no longer exist in fifty years.”
This article was similarly published on FashionUnited.nl. Editing: Barbara Russ