Distributors are rebranding – Newspaper Kommersant No. 183 (7384) dated 10/04/2022

The distributor on the Jamilko fashion market has replenished its portfolio with Turkish women’s clothing brands Ipekyol, Machka and Twist. The first stores of some of these brands are planned to open this month in the Moscow shopping center Afimall. Experts draw attention to the fact that new brands will have to compete with Russian clothing retailers, and they also talk about a decrease in consumer activity in the country due to the crisis.

The portfolio of the Jamilko company, which mainly works with premium clothing brands, has been replenished with three Turkish fashion market players – Ipekyol, Machka and Twist, three sources told Kommersant in the retail real estate market. The Jamilco press service did not provide a comment.

As Kommersant was told in Afimoll, the opening of the first stores under the Ipekyol and Twist brands in the shopping center is expected in October. A Kommersant source notes that Jamilko plans to study the experience of the first stores of new brands, after which it will decide on the further development of networks.

In addition, as Kommersant discovered, at the end of September, the Jamilco company filed applications with Rospatent for the registration of new trademarks Bootwood, Bootland and Hike. According to Kommersant’s source, the registration of applications may be related to the possible rebranding of some of the company’s monobrand stores, such as New Balance and Timberland, but so far no such plans have been officially announced. The Jamilko press service did not comment on this information.

The Turkish fashion market is one of the few remaining available for development in Russia, so the decision of Jamilko to replenish its portfolio with the brands Ipekyol, Machka and Twist is logical, says Evgenia Khakberdieva, regional director of the retail real estate department at Knight Frank Russia. Some brands that Jamilco is already used to working with are not ready to deliver goods to Russia today, and a number of Italian and German brands prefer to work with such multi-brand stores as Stockmann, XC, Lady & gentleman City.

Ipekyol had experience of entering the Russian market in 2014, recalls Anna Lebsak-Kleymans, CEO of Fashion Consulting Group. But he could not stand the competition with European brands, Ms. Hakberdiyeva adds. The expert compares the Ipekyol range with GAP, Banana Republic and some German brands.

Twist and Ipekyol brands operate in the middle price segment, while Twist is aimed at a youth audience, says Anna Lebsak-Kleymans. In her opinion, the prospects for the luxury brand Machka are the least clear: “This market segment is very competitive, the author’s handwriting and the name of the designer are of great importance in it.”

Alexey Vanchugov, managing partner of Vanchugov & Partners, notes that Turkish women’s clothing brands will face high competition from Russian fashion retailers, who have already managed to form a loyal audience and are actively expanding their presence. According to Ms. Hakberdiyeva, the prospects for the development of Turkish fashion brands will depend on the pricing policy of clothing chains: “The cost in Russia should be at the level of prices in Turkey or slightly higher, taking into account logistics and other costs.”

According to Alexey Vanchugov, Turkish brands new to the Russian audience have more chances to gain a foothold in large regional cities, where there is less competition and higher vacancy rates after the departure of some European fashion brands. The expert believes that the owners of some regional shopping centers are even willing to pay for the finishing of stores to attract new brands. Ms. Lebsak-Kleymans also believes that Turkish retailers can get favorable conditions from shopping centers. However, the expert draws attention to the fact that the development of new clothing chains will complicate the decline in the purchasing power of Russians.

Alina Savitskaya