Close-up on fashion Lloyd Shoes

CLoSE-uP oN FAShIoN

Lloyd Shoes is a European market leader in the design and manufacture of premium fashion shoes. The company’s innovative styles and ergonomic technologies are complemented by its fresh approach to its ‘Concept Stores’ now being opened in China. Furthermore, Lloyd Shoes’ latest collections can be viewed in close-up in 3D via its special ‘ShoeViewer’ app. Philip Yorke reports.

Lloyd is a well-established European shoe brand that was founded in 1888 in Bremen, Germany and has been headquartered in Suligen, Germany since 1942. Under the management of Poul Haugard Petersen, Andreas Schaller and Jorg Wetzel, it has seen consistent growth and in 2017 generated consolidated sales of more than €130 million. Its growing export sales accounted for almost 30 per cent of its total revenues last year. Currently over 7000 pairs of shoes are manufactured every day by Lloyd, which has 15 subsidiaries and more than 1600 employees worldwide.

Pioneering greater comfort

Comfort has always been an important element of footwear fashion, especially for sneakers. To extend this concept Lloyd has presented models combining a sporting character with a business shoe in its latest Summer collection. The new innovative sneaker models play a significant role as the casual business trend has long since been established in the fashion world. New sole developments pioneered by Lloyd have established innovative trends in both style and form.

Optimal comfort is the new luxury offering, providing a perfect fit coupled with ‘high comfort finishing’ such as cushioning for the ball of the foot, soft impact inner soles and lightweight micro-cellular outsoles, all of which are blended with a special passion for design that is unique to Lloyd.

Ambitious growth

With the ‘restart’ in China carried out earlier this year, Lloyd wants to build on its past achievements and to pursue a programme of ambitious growth in the years to come. In response to its new drive for growth, Lloyd Shoes has opened two new Lloyd Concept stores in Beijing under the aegis of its partner Lloyd China Ltd. The special feature established in the two new stores is their automatic storage system, which has been adapted from existing technology developed in-house by Lloyd Shoes. Each store’s fully automated storage system is located behind a glass wall within the retail space and is therefore fully visible to customers.

With expert advice from a sales staff member, the customer looks for their model of choice, which is then called up in the storage

area by means of a tablet. After that, it is automatically issued from the storage area to the staff member or directly to the customer. In doing so, sales teams and technology are able to interact optimally with each other, without the consultation being interrupted by the walk to the storage area. In addition, the customer is witness to a new, and unique shopping experience.

This modern service concept continues until the purchase is finalised as the customer has the option of paying via ‘WeChat’ with his or her own smartphone and can have the goods delivered directly to their home if they choose.

“The new store concept is innovative, even for China, and shows that Lloyd thinks one step ahead, not only in fashion, but also in technical terms. This inspires the shopping mall managers and the customers alike,” said Andreas Schaller, Lloyd’s managing director. The leading fashion shoe manufacturer is also planning another store opening utilising the same principle, as well as a number of mobile pop-up stores for malls, airports and train stations.

Futuristic 3D fashion

In good time for next year’s new fashion season, Lloyd Shoes is offering retailers and customers the opportunity to view its new editions in high definition 3D. With the new Lloyd ‘ShoeViewer’ app its shoes can be viewed in close-up, with each small detail becoming clearly visible. The Lloyd app can be obtained free of charge from any Apple App store and Google Play.

“We are delighted to be able to show digital age consumers our products in this way so that the shoes look deceptively real. The image resembles the shoes so much that you think you are holding them in your hands,” Andreas Schaller said. “It is important for end customers to see each model for themselves with exact details in order to influence a possible buying decision positively. No questions remain unanswered, whether this is in regard to the nature of the shoe inside or which sole has been used. Specialist dealers also benefit from the new presentation as the stock catalogue offers a considerably more exact picture of the models than it did previously,” added Schaller.

After successfully downloading and opening the app on the smartphone or tablet, the pages in a magazine or catalogue marked by a special icon can also be scanned. The shoes then appear as deceptively real 3D models in the Lloyds ‘ShoeViewer’. In the future the company is planning to extend the app’s functions with the object of providing its dealers and customers with an even better service.

Anyone interested in the new app option can gain direct access to the desired app store using the link: www.lloyd.com/de/de/shoeviewer.