Operator Lady & Gentleman City launches a new direction

Lady & Gentleman City clothing chain owners are considering launching new lines for their Just Clothes brand, including cosmetics and home goods. Plans to sell related categories under their own brand are now being considered by other clothing retailers. But now it is not the most stable time in the economy for retail companies to enter new segments, experts warn.

Registered in the UAE, JC Universal DMCC has filed an application for registration of the Just Cosmetics brand, similar to the designation of the Just Clothes clothing store brand, found “Kommersant” in the Rospatent database. A trademark is registered by class, including cosmetic products, hygiene products, bijouterie. Just Clothes is a new clothing chain from Trade Management, which manages Lady & Gentleman City stores.

The first store under the new brand opened in the Moscow shopping center “Aviapark” in July this year, now the network, according to its website, has eight points of sale across the country. Prior to this, Trade Management developed only clothing stores: in addition to Lady & Gentleman City, these are mono-brand Armani Exchange, Hugo, EA7 Emporio Armani and others.

Igor Grigorash, Vice President of Trade Management, confirmed to Kommersant that the company is considering the possibility of creating new Just Clothes brand lines – Just Kids, Just Home (household goods), Just Cosmetics. Now the company is studying demand, which requires at least two seasons, he said.

Now, for fashion retailers, adding new categories to their assortment looks like a promising solution, says Mikhail Burmistrov, CEO of Infoline-Analytics. After the suspension of work in Russia of the international brands H&M, Zara, which developed, among other things, the direction of household goods and cosmetics, Russian clothing retailers also thought about entering these markets. Trademark Lime Home in July last year began to register the owner of the Russian network of clothing stores Lime Dmitry Khokhlov. The 12 Storeez network also planned to launch its line for the home. There, Kommersant confirmed that they keep such plans for 2024.

There are also reverse examples. Perfume and cosmetics retailer Golden Apple adds household goods and clothing to its assortment, recalls Marina Malakhatko, senior director of CORE.XP.

So far, only the international chains Zara and H&M have managed to form a strong umbrella brand, although the representation of their sub-brands of household goods was not as wide as clothing, Mr. Burmistrov notes. The cosmetic market now has room for new brands and new manufacturers, but they will need significant investment in marketing and advertising, says Petr Bobrovsky, executive director of the Association of Manufacturers of Perfumes, Cosmetics, Household Chemicals and Hygiene. According to him, it is necessary to take into account the high competition with products imported from the countries of the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

Home goods look like a logical continuation of the brand’s development after it becomes recognizable, says Marina Malakhatko. In the meantime, in her opinion, it is advisable to launch new directions only in partnership with another retailer. Just Clothes is a startup that does not yet have a loyal audience for which it would be possible to sell related products, says Mikhail Burmistrov.

Director General of the Stockmann department store chain Gennady Levkin believes that in order to open new directions, it is necessary, first of all, to increase expertise, and this requires “more or less stable economic conditions”. Stockmann itself planned to open the first store with goods for the home, Stockmann Home, in January-March. But now the company has abandoned these plans, Mr. Levkin told Kommersant. “All the forces of the company are thrown this year and next year on the development of the main format – the department store,” explains the top manager, not excluding a return to this idea in the future.

Polina Gritsenko, Alina Savitskaya