Lamoda is preparing to launch its own brands of women’s and men’s clothing, sports and children’s goods

The growing demand for clothes and shoes online encourages online stores to supplement their assortment with their own brands. In April, Lamoda will begin selling its first casual clothing brands, Nume and Mademan, in the mid-price segment. Such products may be more profitable, but competition among new clothing brands is already high, experts say.

The Lamoda online store is preparing to launch its own brands of women’s and men’s clothing, sports and children’s goods. This follows from the vacancies for managers and developers published in March on Lamoda’s profile on HeadHunter. Candidates will have to create sketches of models, select materials, study markets, etc.

Cupishuz LLC, which manages Lamoda, also filed applications for registration of several trademarks, including Expect, Found, Junes, Mate, Nume, Pose, Renew, Unite, Mademan, including classes related to clothing, follows from Rospatent data . In March, Cupishuz also registered the domain mademan.ru.

Lamoda confirmed to Kommersant that they are developing clothing lines under new brands in the middle price segment. In April, it is planned to launch women’s casual clothing under the Nume brand and men’s clothing under the Mademan brand, Lamoda said. They clarified that the women’s collection will consist of more than 300 models, including shoes and accessories, and the men’s collection will consist of 200 items.

Interest in launching lines at Lamoda is explained by the high demand for casual clothing and the search by consumers for new brands after a number of companies left the market. Lamoda clothing will be produced in China and Turkey; the company does not disclose distribution plans.

Previously, Lamoda did not have its own clothing brands. Now the online store sells items under the brands Nike, Adidas, Gap, Tommy Hilfiger, etc. In May 2023, Lamoda launched sales of household goods under its Lamoda Home brand.

Some of Lamoda’s competitors already have experience selling clothing under their own private labels. Thus, Ozon has been selling clothing for adults and children under the Hola brand since 2022. Ozon reported that the share of private labels as a whole does not exceed 1% of the site’s total turnover. Such products complement the assortment matrix in niches where the supply of sellers does not completely cover demand, Ozon points out. In 2020, Wildberries refused to produce private label clothing and textiles. Now, they say at Wildberries, the company does not have its own clothing brands, but they are considering collaborations with a number of brands.

Fashion Consulting Group CEO Anna Lebsak-Kleymans believes that the creation of private labels is a logical development step for any multi-brand sales channel. Among the advantages of private labeling for an online store of clothes and shoes, she names higher profitability of sales, exceeding the size of the standard commission, control over pricing and assortment.

A Kommersant source in the fashion market says that Lamoda began to look for new niches after re-registering the lease of Adidas stores, opening Lamoda Sport points on the site. According to him, Lamoda is exploring the possibility of selling its own brands of clothing and other goods in Lamoda Sport in order to satisfy the maximum needs of its main audience – women. It is also possible that Lamoda brands will appear in other stores, adds another Kommersant source.

Nadezhda Tsvetkova, head of the retail space rental department at CORE.XP, says that the launch of private label sales in its existing stores will allow Lamoda to minimize risks. There is no need to invest in renting new space, repairs, and if things fail, the losses are zero, she notes. The success of new brands, says Ms. Tsvetkova, will depend on the brand strategy and advertising campaign. There are a lot of new products appearing on the market and the competition for buyers is growing, she warns. Non-core players have also begun to create their own clothing brands, for example Samokat and Whoosh, notes Ms. Lebsak-Kleymans.

According to Focus Technologies, the number of buyers of fashion retail stores in January-February 2024 decreased year-on-year by 4%, including due to the shift of part of demand online.

Polina Gritsenko