Shoemakers will be greeted by clothes – Newspaper Kommersant No. 226 (7427) dated 06.12.

Russian fashion market players have begun experimenting with new formats. For example, Munz Group, a large shoe manufacturer, plans to launch clothing lines under its own brands. Such products should replace the goods of Western brands leaving Russia on the market. However, experts warn, in clothing retail, in contrast to shoe retail, there is already high competition.

The Munz Group (the operator of the Thomas Munz and Salamander retail chains) plans to open a new Thomas Munz Store format with clothes, shoes and accessories of its own brands and international brands, the company told Kommersant. Under the development of this format, Munz Group considers objects with an area of ​​400 sq. m.

The company notes that they are developing collections of women’s and men’s clothing in the middle price segment under the brands Thomas Munz and Salamander. The launch of the first mini-collection Thomas Munz is planned for the spring of 2023, Salamander – for the fall of 2023. The Munz Group also began developing a collection of clothing for its own brands Briggs, Lolli I Polli and O2.

The NF Group notes that many shoe retailers have begun to expand their range through clothing lines, in particular, Rendez-Vous, Ralf Ringer, Abricot. So, Ralf Ringer said that they introduced clothing to the range starting from the autumn-winter 2022/23 season. At the same time, they specify in the company, clothing will not become the main category in Ralf Ringer, but will serve as an accompanying assortment.

After the departure of some international fashion brands in Russia, the trend for multi-brand and multi-format stores with an increased area has intensified, says Mikhail Burmistrov, director of the Infoline-Analytics agency. Therefore, it is logical that a major player in the footwear market wants to expand the range through new product categories, the expert adds. According to Aleksey Vanchugov, Managing Partner of Vanchugov & Partners, a successfully built shoe brand does not mean that the company will be able to achieve a similar result in the apparel segment, where the level of competition is much higher.

Mr. Vanchugov notes that today retailers have the opportunity to test new formats without a significant amount of investment, since the cost of equipping one clothing store has decreased by about five to seven times due to the appearance on the market of retail equipment that is sold by the owners of closing stores.

At the same time, Russian clothing retailers are also thinking about launching new projects. So, Melon Fashion Group (brands Zarina, Befree, Sela, Love Republic) plans to launch a new brand of women’s clothing, three sources told Kommersant. According to one of Kommersant’s interlocutors, the new brand may appear on the market as early as next year. This is also confirmed by the vacancies posted by the company on the HeadHunter portal for clothing, footwear and accessories designers, product directors, and sourcing managers for the company’s new project.

Melon Fashion Group in October-November also filed several applications with Rospatent for the registration of trademarks IDOL, SYMBL. Another interlocutor of Kommersant heard that the new brand of the company could be called IDOL. The company did not provide a comment.

Melon Fashion Group is one of the main contenders for the sites of outgoing foreign fashion retailers, says Evgenia Khakberdieva, regional director of the NF Group retail real estate department. According to her, the company plans to open stores in new formats of increased area. Against the backdrop of a shortage of certain categories of goods, in particular, in the fashion segment, expanding the offer, according to Ms. Khakberdiyeva, becomes an opportunity to meet the needs of customers and increase their loyalty.

Alina Savitskaya