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Tag: bench

  • Filipino brand Bench opens in Dubai

    Filipino brand Bench opens in Dubai

    Philippine apparel brand Bench has opened in BurJuman, Dubai.

    The 1179sqft store offers women’s and men’s clothing and undergarments, perfumes and other products. The brand says it has been conspicuously welcomed by the Filipino community resident in Dubai.

    Bench has grown from its earliest incarnation as a t-shirt store in the late 1980s into an international clothing and lifestyle brand with numerous celebrity endorsements. The brand’s worldwide network of sales points includes the US, Middle East and China.

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  • Gordon Brothers acquires Bench brand

    Gordon Brothers acquires Bench brand

    US-based investment company Gordon Brothers has bought troubled UK fashion label Bench and all its related IP assets.

    Gordon Brothers has an established history of reinvigorating wounded fashion labels and retailers. It was a partner in the joint venture that bought Aeropostale out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US several years back, and it relaunched the Wet Seal brand as an e-commerce business.

    Bench has about 80 single-brand stores in Europe and North America and more than 2000 wholesale points of sale. The company recently commenced insolvency proceedings in the UK, which subsequently affected its German service companies in Munich.

    In a statement announcing the deal, Ramez Toubassy, president of Gordon Brothers’ brands division, said: “Streetwear has never been hotter than it is today. We are excited to be able to acquire an authentic pioneer in the category and bring our thoroughly modern branding, marketing and business model to bear in reestablishing Bench as a streetwear powerhouse.”

    The new owner says it will focus on “re-establishing the brand’s European e-commerce presence while it methodically re-builds the business’ wholesale footprint in that territory”.

    In North America, Gordon Brothers will continue the brand’s long-standing partnership with Freemark Apparel Brands Group.

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  • Jins Philippines opens first store

    Jins Philippines opens first store

    Japanese eyewear retailer Jins has opened its first store in the Philippines.

    Located at SM Aura Premier in Taguig, the Jins Philippines store will offer up to 1000 styles of frames and match them with lenses within about 30 minutes.

    Jins has about 350 stores in Japan and has recently started to expand into Greater China and the US.

    The company pioneered the use of a new, lightweight material for glasses in its patented ‘Airframe line,’ as well as functional eyewear such as blue-light cut glasses, popularly known as Jins Screen.

    The brand has been brought to the Philippines by Suyen Group, the parent of fashion brand Bench.

    At a formal launch ceremony this month, a traditional sake barrel-breaking ceremony was led by Suyen Corp’s chairman Ben Chan, Taguig City mayor Lani Cayetano, Carol Sy of SM Supermalls, Dr Takeo Okada, first secretary of the Japanese embassy in Manila, Steven Tan, senior VP of SM Supermalls, Hitoshi Tanaka, CEO and president of Jins and Virgilio Lim, president of Suyen Corp.

    “The breaking and partaking of sake from the sake barrel symbolizes prosperity and fruitful partnership between parties,” said Lim.

    Jins Philippines offers a visual experience with stores designed like a pop-art gallery, collaborating with graphic artists and architects from Japan and other countries in designing both the eyewear line and their stores.

    Recent collaborators include British product and furniture designer, Jasper Morrison, and Japanese graphic artists and architects Teruhiro Yanagihara and Sou Fujimoto.

    View the gallery below (3 images) :

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  • Jins, Japan’s biggest eyewear chain, to open in Manila

    Jins, Japan’s biggest eyewear chain, to open in Manila

    Japan’s largest eyewear chain Jins plans to open in Metro Manila this summer.

    Brought in by Suyen Group, the parent of fashion brand Bench, Jins will add a broad variety of eyewear design to the Philippines.

    Each Jins store regularly stocks more than 1200 frames, ranging from classical styles to fashionable.

    Jins offers a visual experience with stores designed like a pop-art gallery, collaborating with graphic artists and architects from Japan and other countries in designing both the eyewear line and their stores.

    Recent collaborators include British product and furniture designer, Jasper Morrison, and Japanese graphic artists and architects Teruhiro Yanagihara and Sou Fujimoto.

    Customers usually spend less than an hour having their eyes checked and spectacles prepared at Jins.

    Jins has around 60 stores in Tokyo, and 300 nationwide.

  • Bench Café Opens At The New Bench Flagship Store

    Bench Café Opens At The New Bench Flagship Store

    Philippine clothing brand Bench has opened its own cafe, in its Bonifacio High Street flagship store in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

    The interior was designed by Miguel Pastor, and the food is by the Foodee Group under executive chef Carlo Miguel. He has lined up such Filipino dishes as Binagoongan Caesar and “bento boxes” with soup, vegetables, rice and choice of ulam (entree) like fried tilapia and bistek (beef steak).

    “Through food, we tell stories of our past, present and future by making local traditions accessible to more Filipinos and Filipinos at heart,” says Bench, a casual clothing brand that now has a presence in China and the US. It is endorsed by local and international celebrities including Adam Levine, Bruno Mars, Lee Min Ho, Liam Hemsworth and Nicole Scherzinger.

    The company that owns Bench also has franchise rights to such international brands as Aldo, American Eagle Outfitters and Jo Malone. It also manages international restaurant chains like Pablo Cheese Tart and Paul boulangerie.

  • Natuzzi Announces Consolidated Results for the Second Quarter and First Half of 2017

    Natuzzi Announces Consolidated Results for the Second Quarter and First Half of 2017

    The Board of Directors of Natuzzi S.p.A. has approved second-quarter and half-year 2017 consolidated results. Consolidated net sales for the second quarter of 2017 were €117.9 million, up 7.3% from €109.9 million reported in 2016 second quarter. Revenues generated by core business (sofas, beds and furnishings) were €109.1 million, up 5.0% compared to the second quarter of 2016.

    In particular, furnishings net sales increased by 15.3% over prior year same quarter at €7.4 million and represented 20.2% of the Natuzzi Italia branded sales.

    Natuzzi branded revenues increased 4.1% to €79.6 million, also due to an increase of 5.2% of the average price per seat. Within Natuzzi branded sales, we saw an increase from the Americas (+6.5%), and Asia-Pacific region (+13.8%). EMEA reported a decrease in sales (-1.1%) over the same period of last year, mainly due to our Italy-based Divani&Divani by Natuzzi network.

    Our direct retail operations (DOS) generated sales of €15.1 million during the second quarter of 2017, increasing by 32.3% over the same period of last year. These sales represented 13.8% of our core business, compared to 11.0% of one year ago.

    The actions implemented over the past few quarters on the Company’s owned stores have produced good results. In particular, during the second quarter of 2017, sales generated by our DOS network on a like-for-like basis have shown an increase both versus first quarter of 2017 (+17.7%) and second quarter of last year (+6.1%). Furthermore, considering the same like-for-like parameter, the DOS operating result for the second quarter of 2017 was positive (+€0.8 million), improving with respect to both 2017 first quarter (when we reported an operating loss of -€0.3 million) and 2016 second quarter (with an operating income of +€0.3 million). We saw improvements in our DOS in the UK, China, USA, Spain and Switzerland, while our Italy-based Divani&Divani by Natuzzi retail network is still under a restructuring phase. The recently acquired Mexican stores were still in the start-up phase in second quarter 2017.

    More recent sales data for DOS confirm the positive trend experienced in the first part of the year: our order flow through the third week of September on a Like-for-Like store basis increased 3.4% over the same period of last year. When we include sales from our new stores, the increase over last year is 38.3% in DOS.

    Consistent with the Group’s strategy to expand its presence in the direct-retail market to better control the entire value chain, we opened one DOS in West Palm Beach, Florida, USA, and acquired three Natuzzi Italia stores in Mexico, during the second quarter. Two directly operated Natuzzi Editions stores also opened in China in the second quarter of 2017. As of the date of this press release, the number of DOS is 60.

    We already have plans to open five new-generation stores, three in the last quarter of 2017 and two in the first quarter of 2018.

    Sales from our Softaly Division were €29.5 million, up 7.6% compared to the second quarter of 2016, as a result of the 15.2% increase in the Americas and 4.5% increase in EMEA. Sales from Asia-Pacific decreased by 31.2% in the second quarter of 2017, after increasing by 101.7% in the first three months of this year. In spite of such positive results in the quarter, Softaly “Private Label” division of the Natuzzi Group is still challenged by the limited number of accounts on the North American market which has caused a reduction of the volumes. We will present an extended program at the coming High Point market in October with the aim of adding new major Accounts. Europe keeps growing while in the APAC market the activities planned should bring the targeted results during the current year.

    In the second quarter of 2017 the Group increased the industrial margin to 35.1% from 34.2% reported in the second quarter of 2016. The slight decrease in upholstered seats sold was more than offset by a better mix and by the double digit increase in furniture sales.

    Transportation costs as percentage of net sales also improved to 8.9% as opposed to 9.8% in 2016 second quarter.

    Over the past few quarters the Company started implementing its retail strategy in priority markets, such as North America and China. The execution of this strategy has required investments in the organization, which resulted in increased SG&A. We expect that such investments, whose return started to appear in second quarter 2017, will support additional turnover in the future.

    For the reasons highlighted above, in spite of the overall improvement of the business, the Company reported a net operating loss of €2.9 million versus net operating loss of €1.0 million in the second quarter of 2016.

    The Group reported a net loss for the second quarter of €4.0 million, from a loss of €0.8 million in the same period of last year.

    For the first half of 2017, the Group reported a net loss of €14.7 million. Excluding €9.3 million as extraordinary accrual accounted for in the first quarter of 2017, net loss for the first semester would have been €5.4 million, from a net loss of €1.1 million in the same period of last year.

    The Group’s Net Financial position was positive at €13.6 million, up from a €12.8 million reported at the end of first quarter of 2017.

    Chairman and CEO Pasquale Natuzzi said, “Despite the troubles confronting our industry and retail in general, I am pleased to report the Natuzzi grew both revenues and industrial margin in the second quarter. This is a direct result of the work we are doing to grow our direct retail network through which we are generating sales of higher end product as well as more complete home furnishing packages. Focus on continuing to build for this growth is our highest priority. At the same time, we are taking steps to strengthen management in critical areas and are managing closely our administrative expenses during this period of rapid investment. Our brand has never been stronger and our drive never more directed. All indications are that our strategy is and will continue to succeed.”

    Chief Financial Officer Vittorio Notarpietro added: “We have continued with the execution of the direct retail expansion program to boost our branded sales and the scale of the entire value chain. This has resulted in the opening of new points of sales, acquisition of existing stores and reinforcement of the retail organization, both at central and regional levels.

    “All these activities require, by their nature, start up investments. We are just in the initial phase of such programs, and first results from our retail business model are emerging.

    “We’ll continue to pay attention in managing capital needs for investments and working capital in order to successfully accomplish the DOS development program globally so to benefit from higher margins.”

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