SCABAL’S RETAIL IMAGE Sylvain Gadeyne has worked at Scabal for ten years. This stylish and easygoing gentleman lives in the Belgian fashion capital of Antwerp, and is in charge of the conception, creation and implementation of all Scabal’s retail material worldwide. Based in Brussels, Sylvain Gadeyne travels the world designing creative and commercial installations, for both Scabalowned shops and retailers’ stores. Passionate about design, art, fine food and timeless elegance, Sylvain Gadeyne was involved in the first shop concept launched in the London Savile Row flagship store five years ago. He has been personally involved in the brand-new decoration concept of the Belgian shop. From the architects’ first briefing to the final touch, including the choice of furniture and the selection of many other fine materials, he has led this project with passion and creativity. For Bespoken, Sylvain Gadeyne provides his personal view on this new store’s concept, and the challenges he has faced during the year to finalize this huge project. After several months’ work, what is your first impression when you visit the new Scabal flagship store ? Sylvain Gadeyne : After all those years it is still ‘strange’ to see the store for real. The concrete result is great and the sensations are cool, when you remember the many sketches, drawings and prototypes you produced to get this result. What was the main challenge that you faced ? The main challenge was to create a place to remember where you can feel our entire luxury fabric heritage in pleasant light, smell the leather and talk to someone who knows about our products. Online stores have much success, but they cannot create this warm and comfortable retail environment. What are the differences, improvements and novelties compared with the previous shop concept ? The current concept is much warmer than the previous one. The brown cognac leather and natural walnut wood give the store an English atmosphere – very cosy and original. Can you describe the new shop concept ? It is a place that responds to each customer and presents the world of Scabal. What is your next retail project ? We are still working on the construction of the new Scabal showroom and building in our Brussels headquarters, and we will also open new corners, shops-in-shops and stores in the next six months. We are also dealing with incredible retail and brand challenges in China, where we have decided to invest a great deal.
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To attract customers, Scabal is also highlighting its English roots, which have always been part of the brand’s success story – Scabal has its own weaving workshop in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, and its flagship store is located in the heart of London, on the legendary Savile Row. Made-to-measure and ready-to-wear garments, as well as high-end accessories, will all be available from the new boutique. As Scabal CEO Gregor Thissen explained : “The ideal proportion that we want to keep for each of our points of sales is 50% made-to-measure, 30% ready-to-wear and 20% accessories in order both to honour our heritage and be in tune with our customers’ expectations.”
THE NEW CHALLENGE OF RETAIL
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ince 1938, Scabal has been internationally recognized as the leading manufacturer of high-class fabrics and high-end men’s clothing. Many prestigious tailors and fashion houses rely on Scabal for both the quality of fabrics (original materials, ‘Made in England’ weaving and technical skill) and Scabal’s truly impressive range (more than 5,000 fabrics references are always available in Brussels and sold by the metre). Since the 1980s, Scabal has developed into one of the leading experts in traditional made-in-Europe garments. Today, Scabal dresses the gentleman from head to toe, be it in made-to-measure or ready-to-wear clothing or accessories. In recent years, many new accessories have been added to Scabal’s range. With a ‘made in Italy’ guarantee of quality and creativity, these are available as shirts, bags, belts, ties, scarves, coats, luggage, shoes and many others.
“The Scabal range has grown so extensively, it seemed appropriate to provide it through our own retail stores,” added Thissen. “This will expand our retail sales network, primarily to serve two purposes. On the one hand, it is better to present our product range in the most elegant of environments. On the other, we want to be even closer to our customers to meet their needs by offering a personalized service. From a broader perspective, our retail strategy is now aligned with our business strategy, which is based on the internationalization of the brand, which has always been one of our key objectives. Our products are entirely manufactured in western Europe (Germany, England and Italy) and are sold in more than 65 countries. We have no doubt that the opening of this new shop will expand our reach even further.”