Marta Hidalgo Tristany Communication and Media 1st Fashion Marketing and Communication
HISTORY Custo Dalmau was born in Tremp, Lleida in 1959. He is Spanish fashion designer and the creator of the popular T-‐shirts with original and attractive designs with the signature of Custo Barcelona. Custodio’s life was linked to his brother David, and his childhood and adolescence was in Barcelona, awakening to artistic trends from abroad, art exhibitions, modern buildings or fashion shows.
Custo Dalmau
Custo and his brother David always liked graphic design, and Custodio chose a career in architecture with the idea that this was a creative profession. One summer, Custo and his brother made a motorcycle tour of the United States. During that trip they discovered different cultures, especially the Southern California surfers, with its own lifestyle and fashion sense who didn’t follow the dictates of New York, London or Paris. They were impressed by the innovative colorful fashion they found there, especially a style of shirts that didn’t exist in Spain at that time. Upon returning to Spain they started designing shirts mixing illustrations. David Dalmau
Using this as a starting point, the brand was launched under the name of Custo Line. Dalmau brothers set to work learning all about printing techniques and finishes, but all the attention went to the area of graphic design, in which they felt comfortable. Over time, research in the use of color and prints became innovation, boldness and sophistication. The peculiar form of sewing shirts, combined with silk prints, gave a very original result. It’s something that you couldn’t find anything similar around the world. The
brand was named as Custo of Barcelona, which, over time, becomes Custo Barcelona. They were the first designers who made printed shirts, initially only for men, and had immediate success. They began showing their collections in London and other big cities, and were associated with the Catalan textile company Meyba to deal with all matters relating to the management while they were engaged in product development.
SUCCESS For eleven years they worked with Meyba and the lack of competitiveness and the foreign competition from Italy and other countries, led them to break the contract and direct their eyes to new horizons. They moved to America with two huge suitcases full of shirts and following the rejection of several stores in New York dominated by minimalism. In March of 1996 they founded Custo Barcelona after Custo Line, and began to supply the market of Los Angeles, where they managed to place their clothes in four shops frequented by Hollywood stars. They chose to show their collection first in the American market, in a moment that was very open to innovative ideas and in a little while their Custo Barcelona clothes caught the attention of Hollywood stylists, directors and wardrobe designers, both on the big screen and TV. People in "show business" began to wear the Custo Barcelona t-‐shirts and shortly after they adopted them for their private lives. Thus was the birth of a total phenomenon, which some US media named "Customania". Since its introduction to the United States, Custo Barcelona has become a favorite in Hollywood featured on "Friends" and MTV. The actors of the American TV series “Friends” and ‘Sex and the city” popularized his clothes to wear them more than once in several chapters. Stylists also dressed some presenters of the MTV music television, and actors and models such stars as Claudia Schiffer, Julia Roberts in “Runaway Bride”, Penelope Cruz or Brad Pitt. In addition, musicians such as: The Dixie Chicks, Sarah McLachlan and LeAnn Rimes have been regularly spotted in Custo. (It was difficult say, at some point many circumstances in my life met each other and we ended up in Runway Bright with Julia Roberts wearing one of my creations, Beyoncé photographed in one of runway look for an American magazine, Antonio Banderas was seen constantly wearing my t-‐shirts, all of suddenly we were everywhere, in Sex the City 2nd season, to mention one TV show. I realized that they like what I do and I feel much honored to see them wearing my creating.)
This phenomenon stirred up the attention of the organizers of the NY '97 Spring/Summer Fashion Week, and they requested Custo Barcelona to take part in it. Each season they keep on showing their fashion collections there. Their first show set out a great impact, as the prevailing minimalism had dyed the grey catwalk. The overflowing colouring of Custo Barcelona clothes, the daring mixture of fabrics and the intensity of its graphics caught the attention of the most influential domestic media. Their continuous appearances in press and TV shot up sales in the US, raising the interest of the European markets and after in the rest of the world. (When I think back on, I remember we were so nervous that day, it felt uncertain of what was going to happen. Undoubtedly it was huge step forward for us as designers. We were there, in Word’s glass window showing very critic press) Custo Barcelona firm has not stopped thinking about new challenges. To those t-‐ shirts, symbol piece of Custo Barcelona clothing, they have incorporated other items, until achieving their full line fashion collections and accessories, both for men and women. The key of Custo Barcelona's success is a distinctive product that has let Custo Barcelona to be placed among the most leading international fashion brands. The Custo Barcelona firm has continued devoting a good part of its efforts to explore new graphic affects and stamping techniques in order to keep on designing innovative items. Custo Barcelona clothes are sold in multi-‐brand stores all over the world. From 2000 on, Custo Barcelona considered a policy change and in 2004 Custo Barcelona was in international expansion, reflected in the growing number of its stores around the world: Chicago, New York, Mexico, etc. With its first official store in Barcelona and installed base in El Prat, machinery worked in Thailand, where the Dalmau brothers moved often. They appeared many times on the catwalks of New York or Milan, where they dedicated in no sell only fashion but also exported image of the city of Barcelona. Somewhat later, printed T-‐shirts that identified Custo Barcelona were paired with all kinds of garments like skirts, pants or coats, building a complete collection. At
present, we can say that Custo Barcelona exists as a style in itself that might suggest a particular way of seeing life. Although his most famous prints were the flowers, animals and the iconography of Japanese manga comics, Hindu imagery and pop art of the seventies, in the collections of 2002 and 2003 the Dalmau brothers evolved into the patchwork and stripes. Copied throughout the world, in the early twenty-‐ first there were thousands of imitations of their jerseys. In 2004, Barbie, the most famous doll in the world, held its forty-‐fifth birthday wearing a unique model designed by David Dalmau and Custo Dalmau. They have created the design that Barbie has been released on this special occasion. The celebration was also to introduce the new look of the doll, designed by Jorge de la Garza. Custo Barbie has a total look that will swell its exquisite collection of exclusive models designed by famous fashion designers. The outfit is a double face coat made of lambskin leather, with fur inside and visible stitching, printing photographic motif and adorned with precious stones in his pockets. The coat is combined with a long dress in cotton jersey with printed patchwork. An initiative by MTV Vueling and Custo Barcelona was aimed to young audiences and combined all the elements that they can come to appreciate. Custo Barcelona was responsible not only to color and design to the fuselage of the aircraft, but also interior details such as the menu and the headrests. The designs were inspired by Mediterranean Spain, bright, warm and vibrant, both day and night. And so the plane Spread Love is a day at the beach, sun, sea, summer and youthful spirit, while the aircraft Play Rock realizes the night with the use of stronger colors and aesthetics more intense and sophisticated. The project took off and was seen in the skies of France, Italy and Portugal who served as catwalks. Innovation, originality, design, contests, music, festivals and more, all designed to a modern audience.
OBJECTIVES AND FUTURE As always, the Custo Barcelona collection was for those who want to stand out in a crowd: a vibrant rainbow of colours, fluttering fabrics, and an eye-‐catching mix of prints. Feather-‐light to the touch, the pieces conveyed a youthful and easy sexiness. They show its passion for fashion and colours, promote their brand name during the last edition of Bread & Butter in Barcelona and other fairs and be present in the most centric, exclusive and fashionable area of the city. Today, although their shirts are still its core product, the Custo Barcelona Company also offers a complete fashion line. Since 2000 they have brought about a change in their policy. The brand goal is to reach the public more directly and offer them the entire collection. Their strategy to achieve it has been opening its own stores, as is the case of “Barcelonam”, the store with they debut in the city. Their designs can be purchased at more than 3000 outlets, including Spain and abroad. And they want to go much further with the franchise model. They are expanding the franchise in Europe and Asia because Custo Barcelona wants to achieve greater size and entry into the world of franchising. The company is currently present in 3000 multi-‐brand stores, boutiques and department stores worldwide that sell garments of several designers. In the same vein, the company which runs Custo Dalmau has stores in central locations of the most important capitals of the world, which has enabled the brand to have their own points of sale in Paris, Rome, Tokyo and in several Spanish and U.S cities. Selling in multi-‐brand stores has made Custo Barcelona increase and extend the brand presence. (We are quite satisfied with 2008: we have opened stores in new markets such as Hong Kong, Kuwait or Venezuela; we have launched an eyewear collection, watches collection and our first fragrance. For the next years we are focusing in opening more flagship stores in Middle East, Asia, Latin America and the US.) Its main goal now is to develop a true network of franchises. In addition, the firm now is focusing its efforts on opening six new stores in the United States, and wants
to expand in Europe and Asia by the way of franchising. This is a business for which you need to set the initial fee, the royalty and the conditions of purchase of goods. The general director of Custo Barcelona, Carlos Sagalés, says that brand needs to go to the Asian market by way of the big retailer. Therefore, its goal is to master franchise agreements and grant the rights to implement Custo Barcelona stores in a given territory. *Custo Barcelona Stores:
After launching Custo’s first children’s collection, the designer has now created a second, much larger and complete collection. Custo and David Dalmau have put much love and care into creating Custo Growing, and the result of so much dedication has produced formidable results. Designed for boys and girls of 4 to 14 years, Custo Growing is a complete and extensive comprised of colourful and fantastical garments and accessories. The collection shows the essence of the Custo brand (the power of prints, the nature of the materials, the details, the style of the garments…) and adapts them to the particularities of the children’s world. The garments were designed to withstand children’s boundless energy, incessant movement and crazy ideas. The clothes can all be put in the washing machine, even the footwear and environmentally friendly leather coats. With an optimistic and positive spirit, Custo Growing’s philosophy encourages fun, expressivity, mixing, and the desire to give kids the opportunity to wear original clothing that is uncommon in the children’s world, and not at all boring. * Fragrances, the future of Custo. Currently, the brand wants to break into the world of perfumes, creating the ‘Custo Barcelona’ fragrance and It was created by IDESA PARFUMS and launched in October 2008. This is an edition for women, an eternal combination of fashion, culture, journeys and mysterious secrets that will be revealed by the future. This modern edition was presented in creator Custo Barcelona's style: with a wide range of colours and unusual modernistic expression worth your attention. Custo Barcelona Perfume is a warm perfume, which introduces sensual experience, full of spices, life, joy and power. The woman who will use it is a real cosmopolitan, has adventurous
spirit, is unconventional and open to styles of future. Perfume Custo Barcelona is available as 30, 50 and 100ml edt, with an accompanying line of body care products: 200 ml lotion, 200 ml bath and 150 ml deo spray. After the successful first perfume, Custo Barcelona presented a new fragrance for men, ‘Custo Men’ in October 2009. It will accompany last year's edition for women, Custo Barcelona. The sweet, sexy, optimistic and spicy new fragrance by Custo Barcelona was created in cooperation with perfumer Francis Kurkdjian, as an eternal combination of fashion, beauty, journey, culture and mysterious secrets brought to us by upcoming days. Custo Man repeats the theme of the last year's edition while combining various materials: green glass and metal board, decorated with relief names. Its stopper is eccentric and shows escape from conformism. The fragrance is available as 50 and 100 ml EDT. Two new fragrances, one feminine and one masculine, that follow the footsteps of Custo's first fragrance. The magic of Custo Barcelona transformed Pure Custo Barcelona. “With the fragrance I wanted to go back to the beginning, remembering
what we were looking or when we launched the brand: Freshness and creative freedom to do something new, different, something that didn’t exist on the market”. This is what Custo Dalmau says about the new challenge. Freedom and freshness are part of the purest concept of Custo Barcelona. Pure means the essence and also gives its name to the clothing range that is most intrinsically linked to the concept of Custo Barcelona. The fragrances symbolize the very essence of the brand and the new perfume, the ad campaign accompanying the launch takes an element borrowed from the symbolism of Custo Barcelona: The peacock. Often used in the prints, the peacock is admired for the particular texture of its feathers. It is also the perfect representation of the first principle of perfumery (seduction) because this bird uses the incredible display of its feathers to attract attention during its courtship ritual. The female version of the fragrance is bright, bold and addictive. Its vocation, like the peacock, is to seduce. It is fresh and free, just like the fashion of Custo Barcelona at the beginning of its adventure. Custo Dalmau presents the bottle and the box in an original context. A printed neoprene case, in pink for girls and blue tones for boys, covers the glass of the bottle and is closed with a zip that recalls the wetsuits used by surfers to combat the cold ocean waters. The cases add a surprising touch that marks everything that this daring creator does: cutting-‐edge fabric and the idea of dressing up the bottle of a fragrance. The box, vertical and rectangular, enhances the graphical power of the prints chosen to dress the bottle. Psychedelic pink and silver images with touches of color in the feminine version of the fragrance, and a jungle of overlapping leaves in blue, silver and black for the masculine version. In both cases, the finish is metallic and bright, vibrant with flashes of silver.
AUDIENCES CUSTO BARCELONA GROWING The audiences of Custo Growing include ages from 4 up to 14 in its new line. This line is very colorful and different from other kids brands. Use powerful colors, floral prints, bright colors, designs, shades of pink, stripes, graffiti prints, drawings, cartoons and paintings on t-‐shirts and coats characterize it. The pants are in solid colors and shirts decorated with small items and patterns on pockets and cuffs. In the dresses, on the sleeves there is a print and on the central and back parts there are a completely different patterns. Of course the children of this age do not choose their clothes, so those who wear these clothes are children whose mothers want to mark a trend, which are different from other children and felt in their dress. With an optimistic and positive spirit, Custo Growing’s philosophy encourages fun, expressivity, mixing, and the desire to give kids the opportunity to wear original clothing that is uncommon in the children’s world, and not at all boring. These children release energy and vitality through their clothes. *BOYS:
*GIRLS: CUSTO WOMAN&MEN Men and women who wear Custo Barcelona are the one who want to show positive energy, freshness and free sprit. They have a lot of personality, love colors and geometric prints. They want to wear loose clothes for the day and be attractive and sexy for the night. When women wear Custo in the night they show through these sexy and unique pieces for young women. Fun prints, neon colors and luxurious maxi coats create a refreshed image that show a rebel side expressed through style. People who wore Custo Barcelona are young and move in the university and work environment, they feel like grown ups. They don’t have big responsibilities or duties such as mortgage, loans, family expenses…) and a big part of their budget goes to clothing. They are on the top of the world and have full liberty so they want to show this freedom through the colorful and powerful Custo Barcelona clothes. They have different types of dressing depending on the occasions (university, going out, week-‐ end, night…) so their closet is full of different kinds and styles of clothes, the brand and clothes help them to build their own identity. The average of size is a Small or Medium size and the truth is that they are unloyal to brands and stores; young people change constantly their way of dressing.
MESSAGES “I think the secret is being faithful to our original philosophy when designing every collection and not worrying about trends. “ “The graphics are the DNA of Custo Barcelona. People remember the Custo Barcelona brand because of our bold, geometric and expressive prints. We produce “mood-‐ clothing”—pieces that our fans seek out to express their emotions. Over the years, countless fans have approached us to share their favorite Custo piece; most of the time that has had something to do with an image from one of our graphic print tees. Initially, Custo Barcelona gained momentum because we were doing something nobody else was doing. Over the years a solid fan base has developed of loyal followers.” “The graphics are based around dreamlike and surreal images like jewels, diamonds, lips, perfume bottles, butterflies and feathers. Each of these images is mixed with images that are more figurative and typical of Custo Barcelona. The colors of the gems also served as the color palette this season; black and pink diamonds, sapphires, turquoises, emeralds and amethysts are used alone or mixed together.” “Nowadays the markets are more globalized than ever, people tend to follow the same seasonal trends; however we know that we have large market in warm countries.” “Well, it is business and what we design has to be translated into the in store collection and I hope into the wardrobe of thousands of loyal clientele we have word wide. But sometime from time I leave the business obligations and design for fun, reedit print that we truly love, experiment with new fabric and play with colors, only for fun.”
COMPETITORS *DESIGUAL: Desigual is a street wear brand based in Barcelona. It was founded in 1984 by Thomas Meyer. Desigual is famous for its patchwork designs and its philosophy based on positivity, tolerance, commitment, fun and un-‐leveling. It is built around one single concept and one common thread that make the line to the same philosophy. Desigual is a brand that has achieved sustained, sustainable, profitable growth in all sales channels throughout its history. Each Desigual season prepares a collection of over 1,000 items. Real Life, Magic Stories, Luxury Feelings, Me&You, Better&Better, Wow, Life is Cool, All Together and Handmade are some of the leitmotifs that Desigual has brought to the fore. Desigual has a women's section, a men's section and a kid's section. In July 2008, Custo Barcelona announced a lawsuit against Desigual because the similarities of the products marketed by Desigual with Custo Barcelona are too many and too obvious for a long time, "because our lawyers have advised us to act to end this situation." As he had explained, "is a case of systematic and repeated copying of a global project to exploit the creativity and the philosophy of a brand like ours". Custo Dalmau is also particularly hurt that this opportunism is produced by someone of the same city, and because with this way of doing what it does is dilute the perception of genuine creativity that have Barcelona and Spain. Desigual chose to deny categorically these accusations and referred to his roots to prove it. But nowadays, Custo Barcelona said that the company has already forgotten about it and made it into the hands of his lawyers. In Desigual, managed by Manel Adell, president of the company are pending legal action that a reality
*MISS SIXTY Established in 1991, MISS SIXTY was the answer to the absence on the market of denims exclusively dedicated to women. From this intuition, the brand rapidly established itself as an International reference fashion brand. Particularly appreciated for the wide offer of denims with a unique and original style, the collections distinguished themselves from others season after season for their feminine, seductive, contemporary and ironic style. The brand is completed through lines of shoes, accessories, sunglasses, jewels, fragrances and also recently by a mobile phone and a household linen collection. (http://www.sixty.net/miss_sixty.php)
Custo Barcelona Miss sixty Custo Barcelona Miss sixty
Custo Barcelona Miss sixty
Custo Barcelona Miss sixty
*ENERGIE Energie was established with the desire to create something new, different and original. The brand takes its inspiration from the name of the first clothing store opened in Rome, meeting point in the first Eighties of many artists working together to create installations and special exclusive windows. From its launch in 1989, the brand is renowned in the world for its strong personality and capacity to combine vintage elements with urban details and artistic inspirations. Committed to testing, experimentation, research and innovation since the very beginning, the brand now comprises shoes and bags collections, beach wear and underwear lines and, as of Spring 2009, a new collection of eyeglasses and shades. (http://www.sixty.net/energie.php)
Custo Barcelona EEnergie
Custo Barcelona EEnergie
ECONOMY Custo barcelona prices are not excessive but they are not cheap. We could say that there is a balance and relationship between quality and price. They use very good materials for their collections and have a price, a price most people can pay if you love fashion and are identified with that mark. Prices of dresses ranging from 60 € to 200 €, t-‐shirts from 30 € to 70 €, trousers from 80 € to 160 €, the sweaters from 50 € to 150 €, skirts from 80 € to 120 € , and coats from 120 € to 350 €. From the marketing point of view, on sales time Custo Barcelona sells all pieces of clothing at 50% through their online clothing store, which means that more people can buy clothes of the brand and better promote and sell well. Making the purchase of its clothes a motivation for the consumer. For customer care, the web page provides information on which size is best suited to your body, caring for the clothes and also if you are not satisfied with your purchase you can return it within ten days, starting from the date it was received.
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